Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

“Several weeks later, following his tour through Africa, Prigozhin was waiting at a Moscow airport while safety inspectors finished a check on the plane. It was during this delay that a small bomb was placed under the wing, said Western intel officials.”
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Piece on the ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine.

Unlike in almost all other parts of Ukraine, many people here feel little connection to the war raging in the east of the country. “This is not our war,” agreed János and Béla, two sturdy men in their 60s, as they saw away shots of pálinka moonshine one recent evening in the house where Béla has lived his whole life. It is a phrase that comes up again and again in Zakarpattia.

One villager said he admired Orbán and Vladimir Putin, whom he considered as a “real man” standing up against the “gay and transgender lobby” in the west, a frequent claim in Hungarian and Russian state media. He said Volodymyr Zelenskiy was “a clown”.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ight-as-orban-threatens-to-block-eu-accession
 
Prof. Timothy Snyder did an amazing job!

Timothy Snyder, along with four professors from the world's leading universities, has raised $950,000 for the Safe Skies air target detection system. The funds cover the cost of 2500 sensors and will help protect Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson oblasts from drones and missiles. The Yale University professor continues the fundraiser, with a second goal of another $950,000.
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https://u24.gov.ua/news/safeskiessensorsystem
 
Putin Quietly Signals He Is Open to a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
Despite its bravado in public, the Kremlin has indicated its interest in striking a deal to halt the war — so long as it could still declare victory.

Mr. Putin has been signaling through intermediaries since at least September that he is open to a cease-fire that freezes the fighting along the current lines, far short of his ambitions to dominate Ukraine, two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and American and international officials who have received the message from Mr. Putin’s envoys say.

“They say, ‘We are ready to have negotiations on a cease-fire,’” said one senior international official who met with top Russian officials this fall. “They want to stay where they are on the battlefield.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/23/world/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-war-cease-fire.html
 
nimic said:
Current fronts? Not happening.
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Yup. The article also mentioned that. I do think that in time the Ukrainians might warm up to a deal in which they accept autonomy for parts of the Donbas and losing Crimea. So in other words, pre-invasion borders. But as for now, they definitely won't agree to losing all that's been occupied post-invasion.

Still, senior American officials said they did not believe that any prominent Ukrainian politician could agree at this time to a deal leaving Russia with so much Ukrainian territory.
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VorZakone said:
Putin Quietly Signals He Is Open to a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
Despite its bravado in public, the Kremlin has indicated its interest in striking a deal to halt the war — so long as it could still declare victory.


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/23/world/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-war-cease-fire.html
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Despite attempts by the Western media (who all receive their briefings from the agency) to positively spin this, Russia is actually in the driver's seat and is likely to secure a better deal than what was on offer in Istanbul at the start of the conflict. This has been disastrous for Ukraine, and Europe in general. The only clear winner seems to be the U.S., but now it's time to move on and shift our focus to the Middle East and the Far East.
 
Suedesi said:
Despite attempts by the Western media (who all receive their briefings from the agency) to positively spin this, Russia is actually in the driver's seat and is likely to secure a better deal than what was on offer in Istanbul at the start of the conflict. This has been disastrous for Ukraine, and Europe in general. The only clear winner seems to be the U.S., but now it's time to move on and shift our focus to the Middle East and the Far East.
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Ukraine don't have a choice, you can't make a deal with someone like Putin, its out of the question.
 
Morty_ said:
Ukraine don't have a choice, you can't make a deal with someone like Putin, its out of the question.
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It's such a Suedesi thing to insinuate that Ukraine should or even could have taken the disingenuous peace that was 'offered' early on in a war against an aggressive imperialist state. The end result would have been the complete destruction of an independent Ukraine.

Then again, he probably sees that more from the perspective of his anti-woke conservative hero Putin - so in that sense it's correct.
 
VorZakone said:
Putin Quietly Signals He Is Open to a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
Despite its bravado in public, the Kremlin has indicated its interest in striking a deal to halt the war — so long as it could still declare victory.


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/23/world/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-war-cease-fire.html
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https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/12/16/fiona-hill-amanpour-intw-part-1.cnn

Pretty insightful interview with Fiona Hill on CNN - according to her "Putin is not negotiating, he is laying down the terms of Ukraine's surrender", "a win for Putin will be disastrous for NATO/US reputation", "US/European efforts to weaken Putin through sanctions have failed", "Putin's regime is stable", the "Russian economy is booming", "Putin is feeling no pressure from world actors (Middle East, China etc) to end this war, in fact all the pressure is on the United States and Europe" etc
 
Suedesi said:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/12/16/fiona-hill-amanpour-intw-part-1.cnn

Pretty insightful interview with Fiona Hill on CNN - according to her "Putin is not negotiating, he is laying down the terms of Ukraine's surrender", "a win for Putin will be disastrous for NATO/US reputation", "US/European efforts to weaken Putin through sanctions have failed", "Putin's regime is stable", the "Russian economy is booming", "Putin is feeling no pressure from world actors (Middle East, China etc) to end this war, in fact all the pressure is on the United States and Europe" etc
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Obviously, a win for Putin would indeed be a disaster for NATO/US, but "the russian economy is booming" is not true, its not doing as badly as one predicted, but saying that it is booming is not true.

An interest rate of 16% is not a sign of a booming economy.
 
Suedesi said:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/12/16/fiona-hill-amanpour-intw-part-1.cnn

Pretty insightful interview with Fiona Hill on CNN - according to her "Putin is not negotiating, he is laying down the terms of Ukraine's surrender", "a win for Putin will be disastrous for NATO/US reputation", "US/European efforts to weaken Putin through sanctions have failed", "Putin's regime is stable", the "Russian economy is booming", "Putin is feeling no pressure from world actors (Middle East, China etc) to end this war, in fact all the pressure is on the United States and Europe" etc
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If you were Ukraine, what would you do? What concessions would you give to Russia?
 
Suedesi said:
Despite attempts by the Western media (who all receive their briefings from the agency) to positively spin this, Russia is actually in the driver's seat and is likely to secure a better deal than what was on offer in Istanbul at the start of the conflict. This has been disastrous for Ukraine, and Europe in general. The only clear winner seems to be the U.S., but now it's time to move on and shift our focus to the Middle East and the Far East.
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Did you watch the documentary I posted? It’s a warning from history.
 
Ukraine arrests senior Defense Ministry official accused of embezzling $40 million

A senior Ukrainian Defence Ministry official has been detained over allegations he embezzled 1.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($40 million) relating to an artillery shells contract, according to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

The SBU says the official signed an agreement with a special export company to purchase a wholesale batch of artillery shells in December last year.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/23/...fficial-detained-embezzlement-intl/index.html
 
Simbo said:
Imagine living in a country that actually dealt with its corrupt politicians. Jealous.
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Stealing during a time of national emergency... would never happen in the UK of course :nervous:
 
Events from October 7th and onward didn’t help Ukraine at all. Just activity on this site alone can tell a story of how interest shifted from one conflict to another. Poor Blinken looks like he hasn’t slept at all in his latest press events.
 
Hopefully it makes a difference, looks cool at least.
 
Suedesi said:
There aren't good choices for Ukraine at the moment but the strategic goal should be to stop the war and start rebuilding the country.
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If they stop the war there won't be a country to rebuild.
 
ExoduS said:
Events from October 7th and onward didn’t help Ukraine at all. Just activity on this site alone can tell a story of how interest shifted from one conflict to another. Poor Blinken looks like he hasn’t slept at all in his latest press events.
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I sort of doubt social media activity influences support for Ukraine. The republicans were always going to oppose whatever the dems were supporting.
 
Suedesi said:
If they continue fighting a losing war, I agree - that's not what I'm suggesting though.
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Your a joke. They gave up Crimea. Then they will give up the Donbas and the south this time.. next time Kyiv. Appeasement doesn't work.
 
Asking Ukraine to sign a peace deal with Russia is on the same level as asking why Gondor didn't accept a peace deal with Sauron.
 
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