Ukraine war mega thread

[panama hat]

Ukrainians are dropping grenades from drones...

If only that were happening far more often

I really think we should really be making more effort to broker Peace.

Who is this 'we'? How about Putin and his Russian war criminals just leave the country they invaded and killed hundreds of thousands of people? We? Fuck that.

But obviously that is not the prevailing viewpoint, among the huddled masses

The huddled masses hiding from Russian bombs, soldiers etc . . . you mean?

[sabang]

Yes, as I pointed out that is the prevailing viewpoint with the Great Unwashed, as fed to them (relentlessly) by western politicians and MSM. The cynical viewpoint is "we will fight them to the very last Ukrainian". How valorous. I disagree, OK? I think we should be making more effort to broker Peace, less to prolong War- a war which hurts everybody. Can I put it to you any simpler?

[bsnub]

Asshole mod deleted my comment. Enjoy this vid of Ukraine spec ops handing the Russians their asses...

[bsnub]

This one is superb. They put a grenade down the sunroof of a Lada.

[David48atTD]

^^ That was a joy to watch ... especially how they took the drones down.

^ "This video is age-restricted and only available on YouTube"

[panama hat]

Can I put it to you any simpler?

Yes. Putin has to withdraw his troops, pay restitution and be tried as a war criminal . . . unless we're lucky and he carks it from cancer and/or the operation.

Can I put it to you any simpler?

[sabang]

No simpleton, I gotcha, Shame Vlad ain't listening.

[Bonecollector]

Yes. Putin has to withdraw his troops, pay restitution and be tried as a war criminal . . . unless we're lucky and he carks it from cancer and/or the operation.

Can I put it to you any simpler?

Well there are obviously some factions within Russia that are trying to sabotage his war. Lets hope when hes under the knife, they will turn off the life support and that will be that.

[sabang]

Hope springs eternal! Do we actually know he is going under the knife? What if dementia, Parkinsons, or "et tu Brutus" gets to him first? Or what if this is just a load of baseless speculation and wishful thinking, and you are stuck with him for quite a while yet? His GF seems pretty fit, anyway.










Maybe she should be the next President.

[misskit]

Russia Denies New Warship Strike by Ukraine as Makarov Rumors Swirl



The Kremlin has denied that it has any information about a reported Ukrainian strike on a Russian warship in the Black Sea.


Speculation has been growing on Friday over the fate of the Admiral Makarov which Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said on his Telegram account had been hit in a missile strike and burst into flames.


Russian forces sent helicopters to rescue the crew of the ship, according to Ukrainian news site Dumskaya. The vessel was said to have been sailing close to Snake Island in the Black Sea.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters "we do not have such information" about the reported strike, RIA Novosti reported.

Commissioned in 2017, Admiral Makarov is a modern frigate loaded with guided missiles.


If the strike on the vessel is confirmed, it would be another blow to Russia's Navy. Last month, the warship Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, sank after a Ukrainian missile strike.


This is a breaking story.


Russia Denies New Warship Strike by Ukraine as Makarov Rumors Swirl

[sabang]

Jeez mods, you face an impossible task keeping this a News thread with this rabble. I will start posting select analysis/ opinion pieces here too- not trash, honest.

[NamPikToot]

^

[harrybarracuda]

Jeez mods, you face an impossible task keeping this a News thread with this rabble. I will start posting select analysis/ opinion pieces here too- not trash, honest.

Everything you post should be in the drivel thread.

[harrybarracuda]

Maybe they'll put out the fire the same way they did with the last one.

[sabang]

Everything you post goes straight to the 'unhappy buffoon' bin.

[sabang]

Russian President Vladimir Putin provided a wake-up call for the United States and its European allies, reminding us collectively of a number of truths: Hard power matters. Borders can be changed by force. Attempts to erase nations have not been relegated to the past. And conflict and competition will define the international landscape for the foreseeable future. If we are to deter the former, and shape the latter, we need partners.

While Russia’s invasion and its atrocities have repulsed much of the Western world, many nations in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America sit on the sidelines. Moreover, Putin retains the support of China and countries such as Iran, which has no interest in accepting the norms that the West believes should guide international behavior.

Even as Putin continues his war against Ukraine, the United States must begin thinking about building coalitions for the period after the war ends. When Putin decides to conclude this war, we cannot return to business as usual.

Mobilizing the democracies of Europe and Asia is just a start. President Joe Biden often speaks about being at an inflection point in the struggle between democracy and autocracy. But if we divide the world only along those lines, we exclude many nations that we need to be part of any global coalition capable of countering Russia’s and China’s efforts to impose their rules on the international system. We cannot afford to write off those nations that might not be democracies but are also not revisionist states. In the struggle against powers that are determined to create a new normal in which might makes right, we must be able to join with those that add to our leverage and assets.

Consider the Middle East. Because Biden understood the importance of denying Putin the ability to finance his war, he needed to find alternatives to Russian oil—not just to meet Europeans’ needs, but also to try to minimize the explosion in energy costs. The administration’s effort to get Saudi Arabia, the only country with substantial spare production capacity, to pump more oil was unsuccessful. A number of factors may have led the Saudis to say no, but as one senior Saudi official recently told me, “You in America are quick to ask us to respond when you want something and nonresponsive to us when we call you.” (He spoke on condition of anonymity, in order to offer a candid assessment of the situation.) He went on to say that in the past, the Saudis tried to be responsive to our requests because they saw the U.S. as “a reliable friend” when their security was threatened. After being hit repeatedly by the Houthis and their Iranian-provided drones, cruise missiles, and rockets, and seeing us hesitate in the region and in our responses, they no longer feel that way.

From an American standpoint, other factors have been at play here. The murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi; Donald Trump’s readiness to give the Saudis a pass for his killing; other human-rights violations; and the way the Saudis prosecuted their war in Yemen, all understandably generated bipartisan criticism of the kingdom, and led to the Biden administration’s decision to “recalibrate” U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia. But Putin’s war brought the reality of our needs back into focus. And the reality is that Saudi Arabia is strategically important in the competition with Russia and China.

Saudi oil is needed now and for the next couple of decades, as the world manages the transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Saudi Arabia is among those states in the Middle East that are trying to build modernizing, resilient societies, and face an Iran that seeks to perpetuate the region’s conflicts in order to exploit them. Tehran’s support for Russia is not an accident. Iran is a revisionist power, seeking to dominate the Middle East, offering a pathway of imposed austerity for the sake of a narrow, intolerant ideology of resistance. What the Iranians call the “axis of resistance” is really an axis of misery; Iran’s main exports are drones, missiles, militias, and failed or failing states. (Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq are testaments to what awaits states where Iran exercises its influence.)

Perpetuating a Middle East that is shaped by conflicts may serve Russian and Iranian interests, but it does not serve ours. Thankfully, a growing coalition that includes the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Moroccans, Bahrainis, and Israelis is already cooperating to counter Iranian plans for the region. America’s Central Command provides both a mechanism to support their security needs and an umbrella under which they can integrate their intelligence, counterterror, and early-warning-, cyber- and missile- and drone-defense activities—making them collectively more secure than they would be on their own. The more we encourage the sort of economic cooperation and trade that Israel and the UAE are now establishing, the stronger a basis for regional peace we will create, and the more we will foster a robust coalition supporting the rules of the game we seek internationally.

Does this mean we have to surrender our concerns about human rights and walk away from our values? No, but it means we will do what we have always done: weigh our priorities and try to balance values and interests. We must prevent Putin’s rules—by which stronger states dictate to their weaker neighbors, and civilian populations are the target of choice—from defining our collective international future. We need to build a broad coalition of states that share that goal—a goal that reflects our values, and not just our interests.
We Can’t Face Down Putin Alone (msn.com)

Good luck with that. It seems like a nostalgia piece to me, but well written. Your 'International community' is too small to dictate, these days.

[Backspin]

The only conceivable purpose for putting out this information (along w/the claim that US intelligence helped target Russian generals) is to provoke Russia into a retaliatory act of war. Hopefully Putin does not rise to the bait.

There are a lot of people in the world who have internalized the "Putin=Hitler" narrative & don't realize that he is a guy who doesn't like using military force, clinged to the one-sided Minsk treaty for 8 years & is currently surrounded by generals urging him to push the button.

[misskit]

^ The US has stated it did not help the Ukrainians target the Russian ships. The Ukrainians did it in their own.

US Denies Sending Ukraine Targeting Info to Help Sink Moskva Warship

So, perhaps the only conceivable purpose anyone has for repeating the claim that the US was involved would be for warmongers who want Russia to retaliate.

[misskit]

Russian Firms Seek ‘Mobilization Experts’ as Officials Deny Mass Recruitment Plans – Reports


Russian state enterprises with seemingly little affiliation to the military are recruiting “mobilization and wartime experts,” the independent Sota news outlet has reported.


The report comes as top Russian officials continue to deny speculation that the Kremlin plans to announce a full mobilization as soon as May 9, when Russia celebrates the Victory Day holiday.

Vacancies seeking experts in “wartime mobilization readiness and training” began appearing on the popular jobs platform Headhunter over the past week, Sota reported Thursday.

MORE Russian Firms Seek ‘Mobilization Experts’ as Officials Deny Mass Recruitment Plans – Reports - The Moscow Times

[Troy]

^ Fill ya boots Skiddy, time for your expertise, a self proclaimed expert in Ukraine politics and war strategist extraordinaire...

...I can hear Zalensky's boots quaking from here.

[David48atTD]

Maybe they'll put out the fire the same way they did with the last one.

[David48atTD]

Maybe she should be the next President.

Only if she can bend over backwards to promote world peace.

[bsnub]

Your 'International community' is too small to dictate, these days.

You live in an alternate reality.

[bsnub]

Good god look at the horse teeth.

[panama hat]

I will start posting select analysis/ opinion pieces here too- not trash, honest.

You'll stop posting then

No simpleton, I gotcha, Shame Vlad ain't listening.

I think we should be making more effort to broker Peace

Luckily he's listening to you?