Ukraine Conflict - Das Himmelfahrtskommando

[Darkpriest]

So Sauds have given middle finger to both US and UK, and now UAE are sticking it to the US even more. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-angered-after-syrias-assad-makes-historic-visit-uae

For some reason, US is also thinking that antagonizing China even more will benefit them? 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-expands-travel-bans-chinese-officials-hours-after-demanding-beijing-condemn-russia

Now, we just wait for Sauds and China to implement that Yuan based oil trade

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/goldman-admits-saudi-china-oil-trade-signals-erosion-dollar-reserve-status

, and then stick it to US by inviting Assad to normalize relations? 

 

Oh, and also India does not give a damn about the whole situation. Buying Russian oil hand over fist. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/india-ignores-western-pressure-buys-cheap-russian-crude

Does US plan to sanction half of the world now? Or they will start realizing they've lost the hegemon status and actually start recognizing others as partners? 

[Mamoulian War]

24 minutes ago, 213374U said:

That's a bit of an assumption. The city council or local military command decides whether the city surrenders, not the average Ivan on the street. If the mayor of a city insisted in holding out as long as possible in a hopeless situation to for political reasons or w/e, regardless of the cost, he could do it against Ivan's wishes. And subsequent deaths could be pinned on "reckless" local authorities by propaganda.

It all depends on the spin.

I have no clue about Mariupol, but I have colleague from Kharkiv, who is ethnic Russian, and he never had any nice words about Putin, even before the 2014 invasion of Donbas. After 2014 a lot of ethnic Russians changed their mind about Russia - Ukrainian relationships and now mostly support westernization. Despite Putin's wishes... What is happening now, are moving them even further to the West. This sentiment is pretty much outlined by number of refugees moving from Ukraine to Russia and Belarus, despite safe corridors to there being open almost all the time...

[Zoraptor]

28 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

and then stick it to US by inviting Assad to normalize relations?

That's the US being... irrelevant in that situation, for want of a better term; it's not a direct snub. 

UAE doesn't like Iran, and they don't like Turkey due to Erdogan's support for the Ikwhan/ Brotherhood. Assad is already against Turkey, UAE has no Syrian proxies left to challenge Assad even if they wanted to, and they'd like to split him away from Iran if possible. They also don't really care about tacitly admitting they lost. The damage to their reputation from that- such as it is- is done already, they'd lose more from continuing to pretend they haven't lost. The US being the US they no doubt think they can still win, and it will take 20 years to admit they won't.

 

[Mamoulian War]

In other news, Russian childkillers denacified in Kharkiv the house of holocaust survivor of four concentration camps during WW2...

 

[ComradeYellow]

https://www.newsweek.com/putins-bombers-could-devastate-ukraine-hes-holding-back-heres-why-1690494

What's actually going on with the special operation in Ukraine.  This whole time the U.S. has been projecting its air obliterator strategy it uses on brown countries but the facts show that the Russians are being very careful with their attacks.

Probably a bit to early to reveal truth bombs like this on Newsweek so I'm afraid the authors career might be in jeopardy.

@Mamoulian War is of course very wrong in Russians as a whole turning on Putin, as he maintains a 70% support which has been the mean consistency throughout his tenure.  Maryana Naumova chimes in here in response to Arnold's crap response to the operation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saSAP0UUnyU

[213374U]

I think he was referring to ethnic Russians in Ukraine, not Russians in Russia.

[Sarex]

The world we live in

[Malcador]

1 minute ago, Sarex said:

The world we live in

But what annoying pop song did he set the video to ?

 

[Sarex]

Just now, Malcador said:

But what annoying pop song did he set the video to ?

Asking the real questions!

[Malcador]

Looks like the Canadian sniper, Wali, is alive - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wali-alive-despite-russian-disinformation-1.6393191  

Edited March 22, 2022 by Malcador

[Mamoulian War]

26 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Looks like the Canadian sniper, Wali, is alive - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wali-alive-despite-russian-disinformation-1.6393191  

As expected. What I found out, that first mention on Russian YT channels about him was on 15th March, and 16 March he was proclamed as dead by russian trolls on telegram, completely missing the point, that he arrived in Ukraine before March 4th

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

The world we live in

Hmm. I doubt he was arrested for something posted on Feb 24 whatever Ukraine says*. There were at least two videos from Ukrainian sources purporting to show a MLRS in- and a MLRS firing from- the mall carpark on the day it was hit so it seems likely it was one of those, not something from 3 weeks ago. The one of the MLRS firing was timestamped only a few minutes before the mall was hit (but was also not really able to be independently confirmed, except via its poster being Ukrainian and posting it as pro Ukrainian).

The Russians also had video of a MLRS entering the mall, though a certain degree of skepticism about that would be understandable, and there were certainly secondary explosions- though that too is not absolute confirmation of weapon stores. They've also released a lot (relatively, since they aren't releasing much) of official videos of them using drones to tail MLRS and the like back to reloading stations and then hitting them while reloading to take out the supplies as well. Balance of probability is that it was a legit military target.

*Good to see BusinessInsider maintaining its reputation for excellent research and in depth analysis. Citing Russian outlet... pravda.com.ua for the Feb 24 date. Hmmm. Bit odd of the Russians to use a Ukrainian url, it's almost like the Ukrainians have a Pravda too?

Edited March 22, 2022 by Zoraptor

[Malcador]

9 minutes ago, Mamoulian War said:

As expected. What I found out, that first mention on Russian YT channels about him was on 15th March, and 16 March he was proclamed as dead by russian trolls on telegram, completely missing the point, that he arrived in Ukraine before March 4th

Yah, would be too convenient if he did get waxed.  Although, honestly, no great loss if he did, either to the war effort or otherwise, looking at some interviews he gave in past - kept a casing from his killing of an Afghan, for example.

[Mamoulian War]

The morale of the fiercest army in the world is indeed high

[Raithe]

https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-photo-toys-bridge-sighetu-marmatiei-ukrainian-refugees

[InsaneCommander]

On 3/20/2022 at 12:14 PM, rjshae said:

An intentionally ambiguous message from Russia so they don't get tossed out the airlock? 

If not that, then what will happen when they come back? Will Putin be happy about that?

[BruceVC]

7 hours ago, Malcador said:

Yah, would be too convenient if he did get waxed.  Although, honestly, no great loss if he did, either to the war effort or otherwise, looking at some interviews he gave in past - kept a casing from his killing of an Afghan, for example.

I dont know, I really respect people who are prepared to leave the safety and comfort of a first world country and travel to another country to fight tyranny and warmongering of someone like Putin. He is prepared to die for this cause. We can admire that a little 

[xzar_monty]

1 minute ago, BruceVC said:

I dont know, I really respect people who are prepared to leave the safety and comfort of a first world country and travel to another country to fight tyranny and warmongering of someone like Putin. He is prepared to die for this cause. We can admire that a little 

In a way, you do have a point, but that's not all there is to it.

For instance, when the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939, Christopher Lee (of Saruman and Dracula fame) was one of the people who went to Finland and tried to get to the front. They were kept away from the fighting and sent home after about two weeks, probably for a good reason. It's not as if they knew what they were doing.

You can read about this in his autobiography.

[BruceVC]

7 hours ago, Raithe said:

https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-photo-toys-bridge-sighetu-marmatiei-ukrainian-refugees

I like these types of stories, with all the carnage and misery from Putins War we forger this type of human element

 

[BruceVC]

10 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

In a way, you do have a point, but that's not all there is to it.

For instance, when the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939, Christopher Lee (of Saruman and Dracula fame) was one of the people who went to Finland and tried to get to the front. They were kept away from the fighting and sent home after about two weeks, probably for a good reason. It's not as if they knew what they were doing.

You can read about this in his autobiography.

That is even impressive because those types of wars would have been even brutal than Ukraine...no SM and Internet updates. I appreciate these types of stories when you find out some celebrity also could have died in  a foreign war for is beliefs

I found this link about what you mentioned and I see he also did his part against the Nazi

https://www.badassoftheweek.com/christopherlee

 

[xzar_monty]

8 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

The morale of the fiercest army in the world is indeed high

They are forced to attack their neighbours, with whom many of them have close ties. Low morale is extremely understandable.

The paradox related to this is that civil wars, i.e. when countries attack their own, are notoriously vicious.

[BruceVC]

18 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

They are forced to attack their neighbours, with whom many of them have close ties. Low morale is extremely understandable.

The paradox related to this is that civil wars, i.e. when countries attack their own, are notoriously vicious.

I never know what to believe around SM, I am not saying I dismiss everything because many SM  stories get corroborated on various international networks and embedded journalists in Ukraine. But  I wonder how true it is around Russians surrendering and the real numbers because their is no way to get accurate data from  Russia 

 I agree with all your reasons and also how conscripts would be less likely to die in this unnecessary conflict but I still wonder what the real numbers are 

[Mamoulian War]

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I never know what to believe around SM, I am not saying I dismiss everything because many SM  stories get corroborated on various international networks and embedded journalists in Ukraine. But  I wonder how true it is around Russians surrendering and the real numbers because their is no way to get accurate data from  Russia 

 I agree with all your reasons and also how conscripts would be less likely to die in this unnecessary conflict but I still wonder what the real numbers are 

The fact, that Russia was forced to move their armies from Abkhazia, Ossetia, Ural, Far East and North Siberia to Ukraine pretty much shows how widespread it is. Even without the official numbers provided...

[Mamoulian War]

5 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

In a way, you do have a point, but that's not all there is to it.

For instance, when the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939, Christopher Lee (of Saruman and Dracula fame) was one of the people who went to Finland and tried to get to the front. They were kept away from the fighting and sent home after about two weeks, probably for a good reason. It's not as if they knew what they were doing.

You can read about this in his autobiography.

That is absolutely understandable. But as Wali goes, he has required army experience to be a valid asset in defense of Ukraine. And not all people went to Ukraine to fight Russia. I've seen many volunteers who went there to volunteer as Medics close to front lines, to help civilians.

[Darkpriest]

Meanwhile, Putin wants countries labeled as hostile countries to pay in rubles for its natural gas. Which would mean most if not all of EU. This is aimed to stabilize RUB and make sure there is a demand for it and they will still be getting USD/EUR.