Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

VorZakone said:
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You can tell from this that Putin knows the sanctions are going to utterly devastate the Russian economy.

However, since he's likening sanctions to a declaration of war, it does make me wonder, whether he's going to threaten a nuke against one of the Baltic states unless the sanctions are lifted. He might just be desperate and crazy enough to make such a threat.
 
do.ob said:
From a German perspective the bare minimum would have been to check the usability of the equipment, before promising it to the Ukrainians and having them waste their time on it while they are at war. I can understand that the Bundeswehr might not have a lot of weapons to give in its current state, but this is just shameful. And in general the sanctions, while still having an effect, seem half-assed.
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It's probably the biggest set of sanctions ever put down on a country in the history of the world. It's literally cut off a huge modern economy off from the rest of the world and was done with swift action that also had to be agreed upon by every member of the EU and the rest of the west . It probably took weeks to fine tune.
 
Mihai said:
They will encounter the same sentiments in all ex-soviet regions.
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I agree but clearly Putin had also mis-read the Ukrainian sentiments too. Who expected him to invade Ukraine a month ago? Makes zero sense but maybe not in his mind.
 
Dr. StrangeHate said:
Is this true?
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The RBMK concept consists of a lot of nuclear fuel "pipes" that are embedded in a graphite block (which acts as a moderator for the neutron radiation that keeos the reaction ongoing. This design makes it possible to replace nuclear material without the need to shut down the whole reactor. You can take it out once you have reached the maximum plutonium concentration, which is after a relatively short time (some months)

This is not possible with other designs, so in usual water moderated reactors it stays much longer inside (some years are possible), and a lot of plutonium is actually used up as additional fuel.
 
GueRed said:
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This has been one of the most eye opening things for me: It feels really weird to have a war unfold through social media and the battle being fought in digital space too. People will correctly say there's always been propaganda and resistance that's been broadcast though media channels and that's true, but it's so much more immediate now.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60629851

I wonder what Russia's excuse is for reneging on the ceasefire and continuing to bomb Mariupol. Something about Ukrainians or the West provoking them I imagine.
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Pretty sure Lavrov already blamed Ukraine forces for not ceasing fire. Classic ‘no he did it first sir!’.

Problem is, even if it was Ukraine who fired first, whatever Russia say now after the constant lies which are refuted with evidence against them just makes them untrustworthy. Who, aside from the Russian public (if that) is going to believe them?
 
I wonder if we'll see Russians defect. Plenty of Soviets defected. Then again, you might find your coffee poisoned one day.
 
VorZakone said:
I wonder if we'll see Russians defect. Plenty of Soviets defected. Then again, you might find your coffee poisoned one day.
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There is a legal case to be made that Russian deserters are refugees eligible for asylum.

 
Ananke said:
Pretty sure Lavrov already blamed Ukraine forces for not ceasing fire. Classic ‘no he did it first sir!’.

Problem is, even if it was Ukraine who fired first, whatever Russia say now after the constant lies which are refuted with evidence against them just makes them untrustworthy. Who, aside from the Russian public (if that) is going to believe them?
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It's likely, that russians tried to advance during the ceasefire (someone mentioned they might try it as they've been doing it in Syria), ukranians opened fire, and then russians took that as breaking cease fire. I mean, sure as hell if someone tried to advance or flank me during cease fire, I'd not allow it.
 
This ceasefire is basically the boy who cried wolf. No one would believe the Russians based on their track record of previous campaigns and the Ukrainian 'special operation'.
 
Where are we on how we think all of this is going right now ? Are the Russians still gaining or are they bogged down already ?
 
Raoul said:
Also not mentioned in the headline, all the intel that Ukrainians are receiving about Russian troop locations and movements.
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Can someone remind me how NATO are not involved in this war?!

For all Russia's bluster about taking revenge on countries getting involved, it's clear that NATO are 100% actively involved in this war.
 
Raoul said:
Where are we on how we think all of this is going right now ? Are the Russians still gaining or are they bogged down already ?
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I think this is probably right:



I don't see how, even if the Russian military encircles Kyiv, which is questionable, Putin thinks he can control Ukraine short of mass murder. Controlling the Russian population who have been under authoritarian (at times totalitarian) rule for over a century is one thing, but the Ukrainians won't be so easily cowed. Huge caveat that it's still very early, but Russia has committed almost all of its forces and is still making slow progress. It seems that Putin wanted to follow the Rumsfeld plan for Iraq but with far worse equipment, preparedness, and soldiers.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
What and him invading a country and bombing the shit out of it isn’t declaring war? :wenger:

This fella is beyond reasoning with.
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These sort of people only understand strength. I'd say NATO should first hack into Russian main information sites flooding them with Videos of how Moscow and St Petersburg would look after being nuked and then it should impose a no flight zone over Ukraine.
 
Champ said:
Can someone remind me how NATO are not involved in this war?!

For all Russia's bluster about taking revenge on countries getting involved, it's clear that NATO are 100% actively involved in this war.
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Well of course NATO is involved. The sanctions for one are a form of economic warfare.
 
Champ said:
Can someone remind me how NATO are not involved in this war?!

For all Russia's bluster about taking revenge on countries getting involved, it's clear that NATO are 100% actively involved in this war.
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Nato countries are pouring weapons daily into Ukraine, of course they are involved.
 
Sir Matt said:
I think this is probably right:



I don't see how, even if the Russian military encircles Kyiv, which is questionable, Putin thinks he can control Ukraine short of mass murder. Controlling the Russian population who have been under authoritarian (at times totalitarian) rule for over a century is one thing, but the Ukrainians won't be so easily cowed. Huge caveat that it's still very early, but Russia has committed almost all of its forces and is still making slow progress. It seems that Putin wanted to follow the Rumsfeld plan for Iraq but with far worse equipment, preparedness, and soldiers.
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It seems the Russian plan is slowly falling apart before our eyes, which is why they have changed tactics in recent days to go far more violent. Between their calamitous logistical problems, terrible C2 of their forces, and the looming Armageddon of the Russian economy, I'd say I'd say its all going very wrong for Putin at the moment.
 
Seeing some quotes in Polish media of Putin saying operation is nearly complete, is it actually becoming probable that they leave in the next few weeks, he feeds his country some bullshit about mission accomplished and things get much better? Wouldn’t get my hopes up but it doesn’t seem nearly as outlandish as it would have a few days ago.
 
big rons sovereign said:
Putin "I'm a massive bellend"
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I wouldn't be against NATO telling Russia that they will remove all sanctions as soon as the last Russian troop is out of Ukraine.

I know the idea of the sanctions is to punish Russia but I think the main priority is to try and bring peace back to Ukraine. Russia would realise if they try something like this again the sanctions would immediately come back and Putin could sell it to the Russian public as him saving the economy.
 
VorZakone said:
Whoever is her husband or boyfriend is a lucky man.

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CNN's coverage of this war has been top notch, which is not surprising given that they have been doing it well for decades. I remember watching Gulf War 1 in the early 90s with Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnette, and John Holliman reporting from Iraq as the US bombing started.
 
Sarni said:
Seeing some quotes in Polish media of Putin saying operation is nearly complete, is it actually becoming probable that they leave in the next few weeks, he feeds his country some bullshit about mission accomplished and things get much better? Wouldn’t get my hopes up but it doesn’t seem nearly as outlandish as it would have a few days ago.
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how would he sell that?
 
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