Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

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I don't support sending American troops, but I genuinely don't understand the nuclear point. If Putin is unwilling to use nukes against a nation which has no means of defending itself from them, why in the world would he use nukes against a country that has the power to annihilate Russia with a retaliatory strike? Am I supposed to believe that Putin is literally suicidal, or just stupid? It would be a massive escalation, but it's not like the nuclear deterrent ceases to exist once American troops enter Ukraine.

As far as support goes I think that we should be embargoing Russia in the same way that we do with Cuba (who has done far less lately to deserve it), and sending Ukraine whatever weaponry is necessary to defend itself. It's not what anyone was expecting in February, but it is unlikely that this war will be over soon. Given that is the case, we ought to start training Ukraine on western weapons systems. Sure they won't be able to put them into the field for weeks or months, and the war might be over by then, but there is a chance that such things would make an impact.

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As several posters above have said - it’s understandable to be absolutely enraged by this - I’d be more worried if you weren’t (*cough* compucomp). I’ll confess where there are some days I want NATO planes to fly over the border and destroy as much Russian equipment in UA as possible. But in the current world order, that’s just not an adult or acceptable move. Escalation is a dangerous game, and not one the West is willing to play with Putin.

I'll largely hold my tongue on this because if I don't I'm in danger of getting banned due to "genocide denial" or something like that, but I read the update on CNN and saw that there were "20 bodies of civilian men" found on the street in Bucha. There were probably around 20 people that got shot dead in Chicago yesterday.

It's amazing how every single post of yours is garbage. Usually even the worst posters will have occasional decent ones if only through random chance, but you are truly exceptional.

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Ukraine has shot down >10% of Russia's Ka-52 fleet at this point.

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Supporting a right to conquest is a valid position to take, no one should be banned for it.

It really is impressive that you manage to take the worst position on every issue imaginable.

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Ukraine isn’t a dictatorship. This isn’t even a debatable claim. You’re just making sh**t up at this point.

Tbf a very disappointing fact I learned the other day is that Ukraine is not considered by The Economist and other such organizations as a democracy but rather as a "hybrid regime" along the likes of Mexico, Hong Kong or El Salvador.

Still easily beats Russia's "full authoritarianism" though.

I know. Ukraine is hardly the world’s healthiest democracy. Martial law has also curtailed political freedoms in Ukraine. Still, these restrictions are well within the range of “flawed democracy” rather than “dictatorship”.

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Lol is Bilaps just explicitly rooting for Russia?

No, he "dislikes both sides" and is just "calling out Western hypocrisy" and adding a dose of "realism" to the thread.

In all seriousness: Yes, he is.

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Politics reaches the International Math Olympiad.  I follow this since I did a lot of competitive math in high school and college.    Since this year's competition was in Norway Russia was not allowed to send a team and instead just sent 6 individuals.  If you add up the Russian scores they would have come in second to PRC as opposed to ROK.

A Russian girl, Galiia Sharafetdinova, scored a perfect 42 becoming the second woman ever to achieve this score ever in IMO.   But because she was Russian this feat was not even acknowledged when they had the contestants that scored a perfect score of 42 come up.  I think the PRC contestants who had a clean sweep of all 6 members getting a perfect score of 42 also did not come up to accept accolades due to Galiia Sharafetdinova not even acknowledged for her perfect score let alone for her to come up to the podium.  



There is zero mention in the Western media about this amazing accomplishment by the Russian Galiia Sharafetdinova that became the second woman in history to get a perfect score in IMO.  So the need to go after Russia is even overriding the woken agenda of gender equity.  

Right, because the... *checks notes* International Math Olympiad normally dominates the headlines. Surely the only reason that the "Western media" isn't writing loads of stories about this is Russophobia. In a normal year all 10 contestants who finished with perfect scores would get front page coverage in the New York Times and primetime interviews on the BBC, but only because of Western hypocrisy are they being ignored. This is the greatest injustice of the war.

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More photos from Kupyansk. This one is from outside the council building.

https://www.twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1568486134056947712

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I don't think Ukraine could ever retake Crimea. The geography of its connection to the mainland more or less makes it impossible. The only land connection is less than 6 miles wide. There are two more small straits with bridges, but that's it. It's basically the ideal defensive position for the Russians. I think the most optimistic (realistic) outcome for this war is Russia recognizing Ukraine's independence and 1991 borders minus Crimea.

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I assume if people post articles doubting the legitimacy of these referendums on Facebook, Facebook will use labels to redirect users to accurate information about the referendum from the Russian government.

Likewise, I assume Twitter will apply misinformation labels or remove posts that undermine confidence in the electoral process.

Where's that microwave-brain picture when you need it...

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Polish MEP outing the US as the Nordstream saboteurs lol

https://twitter.com/radeksikorski/status/1574800653724966915

On the other hand, Anton Geraschenko (UA official), claimed UA is responsible, then deleted the post.

When the US military conducts secret sabotage operations they typically inform the President, the Vice President, the joint chiefs, and all the Polish MEPs, so this leak is pretty believable.

In all seriousness I could see either side doing it. Russia wasn’t using the pipelines at this point anyway, so attacking the pipeline allows them to blame the west/US and potentially hurt their international position. On the other hand, attacking the pipeline does prevent Russia from reversing course with regards to gas. I just don’t know if the US would take such direct action in the conflict. Everything so far has been weapons supply or intelligence sharing.

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"A former Polish Defense Minister, Radek Sikorski, has attributed to the United States the sabotage of two pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2, which carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. “Thank you, USA,” Sikorski wrote on Twitter. Sikorski was Minister of National Defense from 2005 - 2007 and served as Deputy Minister of National Defense and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, previously. He is currently an elected member of the European parliament."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2022/09/27/us-blew-up-russian-gas-pipelines-nord-stream-1--2-says-former-polish-defense-minister/?sh=320b7a95312e

You say that as if his status as an MEP gives him any insight into American military operations. Pretty sure that Sikorski isn't in the loop lol

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You guys are arguing with Beet? Don’t even bother. Contrarianism at its worst.

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I heard that Ukraine took eleventy-billion casualties in their attack on Lyman, which the Russians retreated from without so much as a single lost vehicle.

Source: my ass

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https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1581198080191664128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7...
The comments are brutal. More money taken away from American taxpayers for a hopeless foreign war they have no investment in.

Isolationists are rats but what else is new? But speaking for myself and probably for others, I'm f*****g glad MY tax dollars is being used to help people fight for their own freedom from a deluded tyrant with imperial ambitions.

Definitely. How many wasteful and stupid government programs are support with tax money? The Ukraine aid money is far more useful per dollar spent than most of them.

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https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3673208-is-american-support-for-ukraine-on-borrowed-time/

The American public starting to tire on this.

This is an opinion piece by a Republican political consultant which never actually provides hard data implying that support for Ukraine is going down. Do you even read these links before spamming them here?

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The dude has a capital Z in his username why are you bothering to engage in him like he isn’t anything other than a pro Russian troll?

Boredom mostly

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You are so F-ing Crazy that your willing to just give zelensky a pass when it comes to blowing a nuclear power plant.  Per Reuters, Zelensky says he attacked power plant.  He admitted to it after saying he didn't do it, and falsely alleged that he only did it cause Russia was firing artillery from inside the facility.  There are literally videos of rockets coming across the Dneiper before hitting facility.  https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-warns-fresh-provocations-shelling-near-occupied-nuclear-plant-2022-08-13/

Then Zelensky changed his story against to allege the Russia were repeatedly firing on their own positions. He kept trying to blow the F-er up, because apparently a propaganda is more important to people like you then actually doing the responsible thing by calling Zelensky out for one of the most serious War Crimes imaginable.  A War Crime with weapons you want to provide him. People like you are the reason I and many other turned against Ukraine.  

Every human being has a duty to put a bullet into their leaders head when they intend to blow-up a nuclear facility just to sell the rest of the World on the idea that mutual-assured destruction is justified.  No.  You're a bad human being.  You can ask 100 people off the street, and 99 would come back with the same conclusion.

Thoughts:

1. Does everyone on this forum have Hollywood on ignore except me? It seems like his wall-of-text schizoposts go completely unnoticed, even when they’re highly visible like this.

2. This post is proof that there is no bias in moderation on this site. Virginia is a saint. If I were a Ukrainian and I had to deal with this lunatic calling me a terrible human being and a crazy person for rejecting his pro Russian conspiracy theories, I’d have banned him (or muted him from the thread) by now.

3. I don’t even know why I’m bothering to respond to the this post directly, but despite your claims to the contrary, support for Ukraine hasn’t really declined since the war started. 99/100 people do not agree with you, domestically or globally.

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https://www.twitter.com/SStapczynski/status/1583779352734740480

Every journalist who uses the word "SLAMMED" in a headline like this deserves to be shot.

That is all.

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More videos from Kherson

https://twitter.com/RealJoeStyx/status/1591750763398959104

Oh no, won’t someone please think of the poor Russian collaborators 😢

Theyre the real victims

Between this and the congressional results I’m amazed you haven’t overdosed on pure cope yet.

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More videos from Kherson

https://twitter.com/RealJoeStyx/status/1591750763398959104

Oh no, won’t someone please think of the poor Russian collaborators 😢

Theyre the real victims

Between this and the congressional results I’m amazed you haven’t overdosed on pure cope yet.

I mean, they should be questioned for intelligence, put on trial, and either be asked to leave or be committed to prison. Maybe because this could be related to genocide, the death penalty would ideally be an option (it’s not). There should still be due process.

Of course there should be due process. That is a given, and it’s a shame that undeserving people might get caught up in post-occupation reprisals.

My problem is more with known Russia simp Woodbury only posting things which paint Ukraine in a bad light, and delusional propaganda which paints Russia in a good light. A couple pages ago he compared the retreat from Kherson to Borodino and Moscow during the Napoleonic Wars.

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Death, taxes, and Woodbury spamming the Ukraine War thread every time Russia advances 500m at Bakhmut.

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Yeah. But the point is after mobilization Ukraine has literally made no gains or advances with the exception of the withdrawal of Kherson. From here on out it's going to be that way.

So yeah, Russia is winning. As long as they get more land than they started with, they're pretty much the winner.

"If you ignore Ukraine's gains then Ukraine hasn't made any gains."

IQ 10,000

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Do the leadership of Transnistria even want to be cannon fodder for faraway Moscow which can't support them? If the Ukrainians do move against Transnistria, it will be after the Transnistrian leadership accept a deal they can't refuse. There's no reason for Ukraine to risk a drop of their soldier's blood for land that isn't theirs.

Over the long term, it is in Ukraine's interests to remove as much Russian influence from the surrounding region as possible.

Ohhh... so you mean to tell me after decades of supporting Russia and gladly aiding it's troops to violate Moldova's sovereignty in Transnistria for the simple reason of Slavic supremacy, only now do they suddenly care about Russian influence there?

Russia and Ukraine is equally guilty for Transnistria existing today.

Ukraine used to allow Russian troops through because Ukraine used to have a pro-Russian government. Ukraine stopped having a pro-Russian government, and stopped supporting Russia’s control over Transnistria. This is a pretty simple concept.

Ukraine and Russia are not “equally guilty” lmao. The occupying country is obviously much more guilty than the country which once allowed support for the occupier.

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Reading this thread is like stepping in a parallel universe where Ukraine is winning the war, except IRL Kiev might be taken tonight, 2 days after the war started. I understand you're all cheerleading for one side, but you should at least read some of the Tweets you're posting and realize that they actually reveal what dire straits Ukraine is in, like the post about the TV program showing how to make Molotov cocktails and the video of Zelensky on the street in Kiev vowing to fight to the end and saying how we may not see him again.

Tomorrow marks 365 days since the Fall of Kiev everyone. Oh, how the time flies...