Ukraine conflict - im Westen nichts Neues

[Totally not Gorgon]

Well that's sorted then, they will have to withdraw

[bugarup]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-no-longer-needs-diplomatic-ties-with-west-ex-president-medvedev-2022-02-26/

Quote of the ducky house owner from there:

"He condemned as "really unfair" a decision by the Council of Europe, a rights watchdog, to suspend Russian membership, but added the move provided a good reason "to slam the door" for good on the organisation, giving Russia an opportunity to restore the death penalty for dangerous criminals"

So a way to spite vile foreigners is to start killing own citizens. It's so...Russian.

 

[Totally not Gorgon]

1 hour ago, Hiro Protagonist said:

Russia just got banned from Eurovision.

Well that's sorted then, they will have to withdraw

[Totally not Gorgon]

We shouldn't have **** footed around regarding NATO membership. A bit like exposing your jugular vein to a tiger. 

[BruceVC]

Im watching on Al-Jazeera and I am very impressed with number of East European countries opening their borders to Ukrainian refugees, its great to see that type of solidarity 

[ComradeYellow]

39 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Im watching on Al-Jazeera and I am very impressed with number of East European countries opening their borders to Ukrainian refugees, its great to see that type of solidarity 

But not Syrians, right?  Racist pigs.

Also,

 

Interesting

[kanisatha]

3 hours ago, Hiro Protagonist said:

Russia just got banned from Eurovision.

They've also been booted from FIFA and the Grand Prix.

[kanisatha]

There's a part of me that feels sorry for Belarus. For the people of Belarus, they are just as much victims here as the Ukrainians. They too have essentially lost their country to Russia and now face, effectively, a Russian occupation.

[BruceVC]

15 minutes ago, ComradeYellow said:

But not Syrians, right?  Racist pigs.

Also,

 

Interesting

What a strange expectation, many East Europeans have ethnic and cultural ties with Ukrainians ....they dont have the same ties with Syrians. So no its nothing to do with racism

[majestic]

28 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

What a strange expectation, many East Europeans have ethnic and cultural ties with Ukrainians ....they dont have the same ties with Syrians. So no its nothing to do with racism

Bruce, perhaps you'd like to rephrase that into: They had no legal obligation to help the Syrians and sticking to treaties their request for asylum needs to be processed at their point of entry into the EU, not somewhere else.

Because the way you're writing it boils down to: Ya, I'm not racist, but they brown, so we ain't helping.

[ComradeYellow]

Here come the Chechens (allies to Russia).  Nazi hunting allegedly.

[Elerond]

2 hours ago, ComradeYellow said:

But not Syrians, right?  Racist pigs.

Also,

 

Interesting

That is typical war propaganda. It is meant to lower defenders will to fight.

[Totally not Gorgon]

Helpful to have Chechnyans killing Ukrainians I suppose. Divide and conquer. 

[Darkpriest]

Calmly walking and typical 'blyat' shouting

 

[BruceVC]

The arrogance of Putin knows no bounds, now he is threatening both Sweden and Finland not to join NATO 

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/finland-sweden-brush-off-moscows-warning-joining-nato-83126927

[ComradeYellow]

15 minutes ago, Elerond said:

That is typical war propaganda. It is meant to lower defenders will to fight.

I'm aware, just struck me as surreal considering my American background.

[Darkpriest]

This is even better, look at that old 'babushka' in white head scarf tossing molotov like a champ

 

[Bartimaeus]

Reportedly (i.e. grain of salt), there was a conscription in the weeks leading up to this war that forced a lot of untrained young men into Russia's invasion force after being told they would be held back for training only - might explain why there have been some reports (more grain of salt) of apparently (and thankfully) pathetic displays of army professionalism. Untrained boys who wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of this will do that - can't imagine how I would fare in the same situation.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Zoraptor]

Very big grain of salt on that, same as stories of large scale defections and the like (on either side).

Not the poor discipline, that's extremely believable and in some cases well documented, but it's unlikely to be because the soldiers were 'conscripts tricked into fighting' or whatever. Most of the claims in the buildup were of Russia building up professional troops, transferred from Siberia etc; claims of conscripts tended to be from those who thought Russia still had a conscript army and any build up would therefore be conscripts.

[Bartimaeus]

1 minute ago, Zoraptor said:

Very big grain of salt on that, same as stories of large scale defections and the like (on either side).

Not the poor discipline, that's extremely believable and in some cases well documented, but it's unlikely to be because the soldiers were 'conscripts tricked into fighting' or whatever. Most of the claims in the buildup were of Russia building up professional troops, transferred from Siberia etc; claims of conscripts tended to be from those who thought Russia still had a conscript army and any build up would therefore be conscripts.

Yeah, I know, virtually everything is fake news at this point. However, I posted it more to highlight the human element of both sides here - never a bad idea to remind yourself that even the invading force of an army usually has a pretty large makeup of what are effectively very scared children.

[Sarex]

Video of a hit helicopter going down. Very probably Russian.

https://t.me/Novyna/13088

Edited February 26, 2022 by Sarex

[Chilloutman]

 

[Raithe]

[rjshae]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Because the way you're writing it boils down to: Ya, I'm not racist, but they brown, so we ain't helping.

Many Syrians have white flesh tones. Just saying. Sometimes it just boils down to history and culture.

[majestic]

Looks like Germany is reneging on their refusal to ban Russia from SWIFT. Still needs to pass the 27 member vote unanimously, but... signs point to it being back on the table. The cynic in me thinks it's time to invest in the Yuan. 

Giant spoiler:

Spoiler

Some German and Swiss banks already adopted SPFS as an alternative and can switch any time and China is more than capable of acting as an intermediary through CIPS. If you think a SWIFT ban is going to stop anyone of note from trading with Russia, think again...

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by majestic