Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[Seat68]

When Putin plays Skyrim he activates the cheat mod. 

[FrenchVillaLova]

6 hours ago, Genie said:

BBC

 

Nice to see Facebook and Instagram shamelessly give up on some of the most elementary ethics and values...

[HanoiVillan]

10 hours ago, Mozzavfc said:

EU starting the process of integration with Ukraine. Big day for the Ukrainians

Eh?

[Sam-AVFC]

3 hours ago, bielesibub said:

Did anyone else just fast forward to the bit where he fell over?

It's worth re-watching. The 'goals' are the funniest bit. My 3 year old niece would have called me out for not trying if I was that blatant.

I know he's surrounded by sycophants, I just find it hard to believe he's so delusional as to not be embarrassed by that being broadcast to the world.

[Genie]

It sounds like quite a lot happening today, despite this thread being relatively quiet.

Quote

Russia makes claims - without evidence - of US biological weapons activities in Ukraine at a meeting of the UN Security Council

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China’s representative to the UN Zhang Jun has described multiple peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as “positive steps towards achieving peace”.

He says China will “play its part in de-escalating the situation”.

He also says China attaches “great importance to bio-safety and security” and “firmly opposes the development, possession and the use of biological and chemical weapons by any country”.

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Ukraine's state Centre for Strategic Communications has warned that it cannot rule out the possibility that Belarus could join the Russian invasion in the coming hours.

According to preliminary data, Belarusian troops may be drawn into an invasion on March 11 at 21:00 (19:00 GMT)," the centre, which was established under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, said in a statement. 

Officials alleged that Putin could order Russian bombers launched from Ukrainian territory to shell targets in Belarus, giving Lukashenko a pretext with which to launch an invasion. 

The warning follows reports, which the BBC cannot independently verify, that Russian bombers launched an attack on a southern Belarusian village on Friday afternoon.

All quotes from the BBC summary page.

I wonder if “the West” or NATO are saying that Belarus joining the war would be seen as escalation and trigger a response.

[Jareth]

I say we go and invade Belarus.

[Genie]

9 minutes ago, Jareth said:

I say we go and invade Belarus.

Looks like Russia are gonna bomb them first.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Genie

[KentVillan]

 

[bickster]

It appears that Major General Andrei Kolesnikov, Commander, 29th Combined Arms Army, Eastern Military District was killed by the Ukrainians today. Third Major General killed, fourth General if you include the Chechen General Magomed Tushayev

 

[foreveryoung]

21 minutes ago, Jareth said:

I say we go and invade Belarus.

I wouldn't be sleeping if I lived in Poland, never mind Belarus. Russia getting closer and closer to there border. Only needs a stray one to trigger the big decision. 

[Brumerican]

1 minute ago, bickster said:

It appears that Major General Andrei Kolesnikov, Commander, 29th Combined Arms Army, Eastern Military District was killed by the Ukrainians today. Third Major General killed, fourth General if you include the Chechen General Magomed Tushayev

 

Belongs in General Chat

[mjmooney]

I did an open mic night last night. Didn't expect that would be of relevance to this thread. But one of the performers was a young Ukrainian woman, who had fortunately made it to Leeds on a student visa. The rest of her family had just made it out, and are currently somewhere in mainland Europe. She performed two absolutely beautiful pieces on the bandura, which is the national folk instrument of Ukraine. But it's much more important than that. My curiosity piqued, I looked up the Wikipedia article on the bandura. And that taught me not only about the instrument, but more about the history of Ukraine's treatment by Russia (over several centuries) than I had found elsewhere. I highly recommend reading the whole article, but here's a short extract: 

Quote

In the 1930s, Soviet authorities took measures to control and curtail aspects of Ukrainian culture (see Russification) they deemed unsuitable. This also included any interest in the bandura. Various sanctions were introduced to control cultural activities that were deemed anti-Soviet. When these sanctions proved to have little effect on the growth in interest in such cultural artifacts, the carriers of these artefacts, such as bandurists, often came under harsh persecution from the Soviet authorities. Many were arrested and some executed or sent to labor camps. At the height of the Great Purge in the late 1930s, the official State Bandurist Capella in Kyiv was changing artistic directors every 2 weeks because of these political arrests.

Throughout the 1930s, bandurists were constantly being arrested and taken off for questioning which may have lasted some months. Many were constantly harassed by the authorities. Whereas in the early 1930s those incriminated received relatively light sentences of 2–5 years, in the period starting with 1937-38, the sentences were often fatal and immediate - death by shooting. In 1937-38, large numbers of bandurists were executed. Documents have survived of the many individual executions of bandurists and kobzars of this period. So far, the documentation of 41 bandurists sentenced to be shot have been found with documents attesting to approximately 100 receiving sentences of between 10–17 years. Often, those who were arrested were tortured to obtain a confession. Sentences were pronounced by a Troika and were dealt out swiftly within hours or days of the hearing. The families of those who were executed were often told that the bandurist had been sent to a camp without the right to correspond.

 

 

[Jareth]

1 hour ago, KentVillan said:

 

That's very interesting - the whole thread sounds like Russia are doing as badly as we all thought and are prepping their reasoning for coming out. 

[ml1dch]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Eh?

The leaders of the 27 members agreed in principle to allow Ukraine's candidature.  Which is a bit of a big step, as previously over half were against it.

So they're now at the beginning on the ten year or so journey to meet the entry requirements. 

So while it's a big step, it doesn't really change anything tangible at the moment. 

[Awol]

1 hour ago, Jareth said:

I say we go and invade Belarus.

We can’t fight Russia because of the nuclear escalation risk, but there’s nothing to stop NATO disintegrating Belarusian formations that cross into Ukraine. The same logic that stops us defending Ukraine applies to Russia defending Belarus. Also gives Russia a graphic example of what NATO can do if he chooses that path. 

[StefanAVFC]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

I wouldn't be sleeping if I lived in Poland

Don’t be so dramatic, my word. 

[Ingram85]

2 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

I wouldn't be sleeping if I lived in Poland, never mind Belarus. Russia getting closer and closer to there border. Only needs a stray one to trigger the big decision. 

Stop being part of the problem man, ridiculous post. 

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, KentVillan said:

 

You do wonder how the oligarchs are feeling, yes they are close to Putin but they have had the luxury international lifestyle taken away from them. Abramovich for example he obviously loved being Chelsea owner and his amazing yachts. Now he cant really leave where he is 

[Genie]

8 minutes ago, Zatman said:

You do wonder how the oligarchs are feeling, yes they are close to Putin but they have had the luxury international lifestyle taken away from them. Abramovich for example he obviously loved being Chelsea owner and his amazing yachts. Now he cant really leave where he is 

I think that’s the plan, they put pressure on Putin, or better still, mount a coup.

[foreveryoung]

A bit of reality, scary.