Absolutely. Our government(s) has/have been embarrassing. For years and years they appeased Putin and financed his mafia state, while ignoring the warnings of our eastern neighbors. Steinmeier was one of the key people behind this policy first as Schröder's (Putin's rent-a-mouth) closest confidant and then as foreign minister. It's crazy to paint him/Germany as a victim, because he was denied a nice little photo op to salvage some of his image. He deserved that.
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Absolutely. Our government(s) has/have been embarrassing. For years and years they appeased Putin and financed his mafia state, while ignoring the warnings of our eastern neighbors. Steinmeier was one of the key people behind this policy first as Schröder's (Putin's rent-a-mouth) closest confidant and then as foreign minister. It's crazy to paint him/Germany as a victim, because he was denied a nice little photo op to salvage some of his image. He deserved that.
I think this is a nothing episode as I can't imagine the Ukrainians want Scholz to come to Kyiv anyways. Scholz has been against helping them significantly even after the invasion started, moving at a snail's pace. I think other coalition members in the GER government have put pressure on Scholz and his party to now increase the actions against Russia, starting with this supposed oil embargo. My hope is that this will all be rectified at a later date, post a UKR victory or favorable ceasefire.
I'm not surprised by Scholz's statement and I can understand the logic behind it. But you still have to wonder whether now is the time to put protocol first. Aren't great leaders the ones who know when to put formalities second, so they can act when it's really necessary?
Also: leave it to Melnyk to call him a "sulking liver sausage".
Agreed with the great leaders part, sometimes you have to put your ego aside and take the high road, it leads to better outcomes for the leader and the country in the long run. That's one of many reasons why Trump was such an awful president.
The wording was harsh for sure and unjust of usual European diplomacy, as it's been kind of a meme like https://twitter.com/ISEUConcerned Twitter account profiles us. Ukraine during the war has been a lot more strict and very brief and shockingly honest. Something the slow working European diplomacy hasn't been. So it was a shock, but it hopefully changed something, for the better.
There is nothing wrong with being strict, brief and honest. There is something wrong with expecting other countries to follow orders, that's where the line should be drawn, and Ukraine tried to do that by using the "Germany is helping Russia and therefore must now act as we say" argument, which wasn't received very well and is the reason for this diplomatic mess.
There have been reports that Ukraine wanted a visit from Scholz instead of Steinmeier because Scholz has the practical power to do something, while Steinmeier is mostly there for representation. Nonetheless the president is the protocollary highest ranking office, the chancellor only comes third (the head of parliament is second).
Anyway I don't want to derail this thread further, maybe we should move to Geopolitics, if there is more to discuss?
You can’t even legally send troops to Ukraine without their consent since there’s no war. They still do, of course, and they try to pressure those who refuse going, but they have no legal right to send them (and the few cases that we have that stood they ground until the end didn’t suffer any judicial consequences… yet, at least).
It isn't. $3.756 trillion annual GDP for Germany vs. $3.4 trillion for California
https://www.destatis.de/EN/Themes/Economy/National-Accounts-Domestic-Product/_node.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California
If the smaller figures are the daily increase then that’s pretty abysmal for the Russians. There aren’t many armies in the world who can lose 400 men a day for any length of time. I’ve no doubt that Ukraine is inflating the figures, though I’ve no idea by how much.
Kremlin on high alert as coup rumours grow in Moscow: Disgruntled generals join FSB looking to oust Putin and end Ukraine war
https://www.cityam.com/kremlin-on-h...sb-looking-to-oust-putin-and-end-ukraine-war/
https://www.cityam.com/kremlin-on-h...sb-looking-to-oust-putin-and-end-ukraine-war/
Apparently Germany will send 7 PzH 2000 (self propelled and armoured howitzer) to Ukraine (additional to the 5 the Netherlands will send): https://www.welt.de/politik/deutsch...efern.html?cid=socialmedia.twitter.shared.web
To give context to the number: The Bundeswehr currently has 40 of these fully operational.
To give context to the number: The Bundeswehr currently has 40 of these fully operational.
Such a shame, it always hits the good guys
Bear in mind that this is 400 dead, plus an assumed 3 times that many wounded.
They can absolutely say “sure someone can come visit… No, no, not you. Him.”
Yep, I meant to post that but forgot. So even assuming Ukraine adds 60% to its figures that’s 1000 Russian soldiers a day being taken out of action. And I’d assume that doesn’t include the active attempts to avoid fighting that we keep hearing about.
Sure, but then they shouldn't be surprised or complain if no one comes. That was the whole point
My point is that it isn’t “questioning Germany’s sovereignty”.Sure, but then they shouldn't be surprised or complain if no one comes. That was the whole point
It depends on the way you phrase it. Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk often makes demands and tries to give orders, he doesn't make requests and doesn't ask for stuff.
What if the officers hold a gun to the soldier's head and says either you kill the innocent or I kill you. It still doesn't excuse them but many will take the path of becoming a murderer.
Has that happened?
In that hypothetical scenario yes many will and yes they will become a murderer.
After the fact they can't say they were forced to do it as a defence. Soldiers who carry out orders they know to be wrong are complicit with them.
They can get as much on high alert as they wish, but disgruntled enemies from the inside will often find the weak spot in the armor.
The thing is that things could get far uglier until it gets better for the Russian people because they would walk into the unknown if Putin's removal is anything but peaceful. Those guys from United Russia - Putin's ruling party are like Trumpists in the US.
If the aftermath of WW2 has shown us anything, it would be the fact that such defense no longer holds in an official court dealing with cases of war crimes. Several Nazis from to the lowest grunt in certain areas to the top military/political brass have served sentences going from jail time to capital punishment. War criminals from those days have been hounded up to this day, and thus we can imagine that the same will fall upon several Russian soldiers in this day and age with far greater amounts of evidence that can be gathered.
My own guess is that Ukrainian figures are exaggerated by much less than 60%, maybe 25% at most.
The latest British MoD estimate was 32% less than than the Ukrainian estimate of the same date, but I tend to think that the Ukrainian estimate is more accurate than many assume, even if still an exaggeration. This is for various reasons: for example, I would be surprised if Ukraine doesn't have at least one agent embedded within the Russian MoD, with access to casualty figures.
Im not sure how true that is. It seems like NOW that ex nazi soldiers are sometimes charged but I think at the time the Allies made a point of not going after the rank and file. But whether that was more pragmatic than ethical I don’t know.
In all honesty I used 60% because there’s a chance it’s realistic, but also because it reduces the killed and injured from 1600 to 1000 (if we assume the wounded rates are what they have been historically), which is a round number. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s later shown that Ukraine was largely accurate, and closer to the truth than my example. Either way I seriously doubt that the Russians could replace lost soldiers at that rate, whether it’s a 1000 or 1500 per day. They both seem unrealistic. And even if they can replace the sheer numbers of men, they’d need to be able to make up for the lost equipment and knowledge to use that equipment. Which from my fairly ignorant assessment of war seems unrealistic.
I once read that during the 1973 Yom Kippur war between Egypt and Israel, Ariel Sharon, who was a general in Israel’s southern command at the time, specifically based his battle plan on the concept of letting as many experienced Egyptian soldiers as possible die of thirst/starvation in the Sinai desert. He did this on the basis that Egypt could get new weapons from the Soviet Union far far quicker than they could train people to actually be soldiers and use them.
" When approached by City A.M., no one at the Kremlin was available to comment. "
Made me chuckle.
It’s unlikely to get “far uglier” considering that it’s already, well, the worst possible scenario. And if you will imagine that there’ll be a coup it will most likely be done by someone who’ll hope to get something from the West (ease the sanctions) by drastically changing the situation in Ukraine. A coup to replace Putin that doesn’t include change in the foreign policy, at least, simply doesn’t make sense.
Seems like a likely source of inside information from Putin’s close circles.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/05/03/ftse-100-markets-live-news-russian-oil-energy-apple/
Russia apparently paying in dollars from their reserves to avoid default…pressure cranking up on Vlad.
Russia apparently paying in dollars from their reserves to avoid default…pressure cranking up on Vlad.
I watched a report earlier today on a portuguese news channel, where ukranian soldiers were knocking on some doors, confronting people with pro-russia posts they had posted on social media, and taking them away. Looked shady as feck.
Or Scholz can just stay home instead of going to the photo op he's invited to.
Well done Lavrov.
If Serioja continues talking they might send the dome together with the operators.