Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

11101 said:
Here's a first hand account of it. As the guy says, they get to know the daily routines of their targets through watching them for days on end. Families and other activities are often part of that as he says. It used to happen a lot in Northern Ireland where the targets were living a 'normal' civilian life until the balaclava went on and guys would be hiding in hedges for days on end watching them play happy families.



What you're thinking of is probably the overwatch job where they do pick people off without much forward planning.
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Happened with an assassinated politician in Donegal decades back. He would have visitors asking for donations to cancer charities, go get his wallet and when he came back the visitor was running down his stairs and out the door. Obviously checking out security.
Fullerton was shot by Loyalists with UK government help and, a few days after, a farmer in a nearby field found planks, trampled down grass etc overlooking Fullertons house that showed he was being watched for days.
 
TMDaines said:
Found it. This was a good primer on the history of Donbas that was written back in 2015 by Hiroaki Kuromiya, who is one of the leading academics on the region even prior to the wars in the last ten years: https://www.historians.in.ua/index....-donbas-how-to-understand-its-past-and-future
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Really interesting article, good to get a proper historical perspective from a specialist. (The?) Donbass seems like a bit of a world unto itself, straddling the Russian and Ukrainian frontier without fully identifying with either. There’s nothing in the article to suggest that a measure of autonomy within Ukraine and protection of language rights wouldn’t satisfy the concerns of the people in the event that Kiev-Moscow relations can be improved.
 
Raoul said:
Powerful video that will make Putin apoplectic, especially given that its subtitled and will get shared quite a bit across Russian social media and telegram channels
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Indeed. Very well done Arnie.
 
Dancfc said:
If he's turned into a recluse since Covid and is still largely as such now that suggests to me he's terrified of losing his own life.
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Indeed. There are stories today of him having sacked and replaced 1000 staff and having someone taste his food to avoid being poisoned.

I listened to a podcast by Misha Glenney on Audible last year about the rise of Putin and the conclusion from the experts was that his big problem was that he has taken such decisive action to protect himself, there is nobody viable to hand over to who will be a) loyal; and b) can protect him. he can't retire and enjoy his money because he'll always have to look over his shoulder in case the new man does what he did - kill off the threat, including him. The only option therefore seems to be to retain power until he dies.
 
The Firestarter said:
Its forbidden to be gay in Russia, you are asking about gender determination...
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It’s not forbidden but I won’t be surprised if they’ll forbid it in the future. There’s a horrible law that forbids “propaganda of LGBT values to underage children” whatever the hell that means (so if you were to say to a gay teenager that it’s, well, okay to be gay, you’ll be liable).
 
harms said:
It’s not forbidden but I won’t be surprised if they’ll forbid it in the future. There’s a horrible law that forbids “propaganda of LGBT values to underage children” whatever the hell that means (so if you were to say to a gay teenager that it’s, well, okay to be gay, you’ll be liable).
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Didn't they pass a similar law in Hungary?
 
harms said:
It’s not forbidden but I won’t be surprised if they’ll forbid it in the future. There’s a horrible law that forbids “propaganda of LGBT values to underage children” whatever the hell that means (so if you were to say to a gay teenager that it’s, well, okay to be gay, you’ll be liable).
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Must have mixed those up . I had heard about it being listed as a medical condition that prohibits some liberties, but that was years ago.
 
harms said:
It’s not forbidden but I won’t be surprised if they’ll forbid it in the future. There’s a horrible law that forbids “propaganda of LGBT values to underage children” whatever the hell that means (so if you were to say to a gay teenager that it’s, well, okay to be gay, you’ll be liable).
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Yet madvlad has been known to kiss the bare stomach of a young child? Conflicting.
 
TMDaines said:
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Only 57% think Russia is headed in the right direction. That's not a great figure for Putin, considering his total control of Russian media.

And 20% didn't opt for saying they support the military action in Ukraine - again I'd say that's a figure which will concern Putin. According to his recent comments, that's 20% of the population who are either traitors or potential traitors.

Both figures can only move in a negative direction for Putin from here on.
 
GlastonSpur said:
Only 57% think Russia is headed in the right direction. That's not a great figure for Putin, considering his total control of Russian media.

And 20% didn't opt for saying they support the military action in Ukraine - again I'd say that's a figure which will concern Putin. According to his recent comments, that's 20% of the population who are either traitors or potential traitors.

Both figures can only move in a negative direction for Putin from here on.
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Opposition to war is larger. The question on armed forces is lower down (64% support, 13% neither/nor, 17% oppose, 6% don't know). What you're reading is that 80% of those who support the Ukraine invasion also believe Russia is going in the right direction.

Edit: My guess is that it's very difficult to conduct an online poll with any sort of demographic accuracy given the current state of affairs.
 
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Ekkie Thump said:
Opposition to war is larger. The question on armed forces is lower down (64% support, 13% neither/nor, 17% oppose, 6% don't know). What you're reading is that 80% of those who support the Ukraine invasion also believe Russia is going in the right direction.

Edit: My guess is that it's very difficult to conduct an online poll with any sort of demographic accuracy given the current state of affairs.
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You're right. So Putin must now see 36% of the population as either traitors or potential traitors. He's going to have to build many more gulags.
 
golden_blunder said:
I used to work with an old Vietnam vet whose job was as a sniper, protecting LZs. He would literally lie in undergrowth for days staring into a jungle. I couldn’t imagine what type of focus you’d need, it would surely send you crazy
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I watched a Youtube interview with a sniper who said that basically he couldn't take his eyes off his rifle for days at a time, so much so that when he needed to shit he'd very quickly roll over and shit into tupperware before rolling straight back to his rifle and his spotter would have to wipe his ass for him.

EDIT: Ah, literally this video.

11101 said:
Here's a first hand account of it. As the guy says, they get to know the daily routines of their targets through watching them for days on end. Families and other activities are often part of that as he says. It used to happen a lot in Northern Ireland where the targets were living a 'normal' civilian life until the balaclava went on and guys would be hiding in hedges for days on end watching them play happy families.



What you're thinking of is probably the overwatch job where they do pick people off without much forward planning.
Click to expand...
 
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The Firestarter said:
Must have mixed those up . I had heard about it being listed as a medical condition that prohibits some liberties, but that was years ago.
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It was criminalized in USSR, I think, although I don’t think that they’ve arrested anyone for it in the last couple of decades of its existence. The discrimination is there though, lawful or not.

The most horrible situation is in Chechnya where they kidnap, torture and kill gay people — or even force their families to kill them themselves (even sometimes kidnapping people that have escaped to different region in Russia or even abroad).
 
Zarlak said:
I watched a Youtube interview with a sniper who said that basically he couldn't take his eyes off his rifle for days at a time, so much so that when he needed to shit he'd very quickly roll over and shit into tupperware before rolling straight back to his rifle and his spotter would have to wipe his ass for him.

EDIT: Ah, literally this video.
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Grim. Shooting someone is one thing but wiping someone’s ass..
 
From the UN Ambassador to Ukraine:
The American biopharmaceutical company AbbVie has joined the sanctions against Russia and stopped the supply of Botox and fillers used in aesthetic medicine. This was reported in the company's press service.

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That's one way to piss off the oligarchs :lol:

 
So Pentagon now estimates 7k Russian soldiers killed, 14-21k wounded, so roughly 1/5 of Russian forces in Ukraine cannot fight.
 
Revan said:
So Pentagon now estimates 7k Russian soldiers killed, 14-21k wounded, so roughly 1/5 of Russian forces in Ukraine cannot fight.
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That's just nuts. But I'm not sure if those maths add up to 1/5th. Didn't the Russians employ 190,000 troops in Ukraine?
 
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