Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[CanadianDemocrat]

Medvedev today said Poland will vanish from the map.

Well, Hitler and the Nazis said the same ... and then tried to erase Poland and its people.

At least now we know what the Putin/Kremlin-mafia and 50-60% of Russians are all about.

It wasn't just the Nazis who launched the genocidal invasion of Poland and wiped it off the face of the map. The Russians also invaded and occupied half of Poland due the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which was a alliance with Nazi Germany.

The Russians were fine allying with Nazi Germany and murdering tens of thousands of Polish officers, it was only after the Nazis invaded Russia which caused the alliance to end.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Nobody knows what the real casualties are in Ukraine. High, on both sides, is a good guess. Anything else, especially when expressed in terms of ratios, is pure speculation. An accurate casualty ratio is something that we’ll probably have to wait until the third generation of historians are publishing their books on this conflict in the 2080s.

We had a good handle on casualties in both World Wars rather quicker than that, no?

Still don't really have an accurate measure in China,The Eastern Front took around till the 90s when their information was let out from the archives and we could use multiple sources instead of just Nazi generals to estimate the Eastern front. Western front did have mostly accurate casualties due to good record keeping.

With China, well, there's also the question of when to start counting. 1937? 1939? 1941? And these three are all very different in what numbers they yield.
Personally, 1941 makes the most sense to me, for consistency reasons, but reasonable people can differ on this subject.

[Oleg 🇰🇿🤝🇺🇦]

Either claim makes absolutely no sense though, even if hypothetical, as both are friends/brother nations with good relations, like say the US/UK are between themselves. We like to annoy each other and fight online for fun/distraction but we really love the other.

Exactly the same relationship existed between Russians and Ukrainians until Putin began to actively interfere in Ukrainian affairs and conduct dehumanizing propaganda against Ukrainians.

[Woody]

Another American was recently killed. This time in Bakhmut.

https://twitter.com/LvivJournal/status/1646893744837255168

[Lord Halifax]

Another American was recently killed. This time in Bakhmut.

God bless his soul

[oldtimer]

It's real...

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1646622737580933121

Non zero chance we get to see Leopard 1 and T-55 duke it out in a few months. The irony is that this is 2023 not 1973...

Both of them from a similar era and on paper should have similar performance, that is both of them should last no more than an hour in battle before being blown up.

Leopard 2 tanks are too heavy to be used in that part of the world, they would sink in the soft ground.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1647609540534480896?s=20

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/KilledInUkraine/status/1647642870025801728?s=20

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1647341394661441536?s=20

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1647679947027148803

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1647743130349780993https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1647729855587385347

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1647743130349780993
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1647729855587385347

I thought this kind of LARP couldn’t get more cringeworthy than Wehraboos. I was wrong.

I wonder how long it took her to learn to fake the accent.

[Oleg 🇰🇿🤝🇺🇦]

Is she a double agent?

[2952-0-0]

Piglet has been talking for twenty years about preserving stability, "well-fed decade" and "but we have peace." And washed away his entire agenda one February morning. When dealing with extremist leaders, pay attention to their deeds and ignore their words.

That's true. Until quite recently, too many foreign government and corporate leaders were still thinking China was the same China of the 1990s/2000s, when the leadership was motivated to open the country for business (to provide Party bureaucrats for more opportunities for grift). Now, the CCP are trying to have it both ways, in stepping up internal propaganda while trying to convince the rest of the world that the country is still a good place for business. It's becoming harder and harder to continue playing this double game.

As for Winnie himself, his actions show that, while he wants to take risks, he does know to pull back when he reaches the limit. For instance, throughout all of last year, China was still locked down long after the rest of the world had moved on from the pandemic. Winnie himself openly stated that the lockdowns were necessary as a political loyalty test, and that it was worth sacrificing economic growth to that end. Vast amounts were being spent on enforcing the ever more tougher lockdowns, to the point that many local governments were going bankrupt. It was clear to everyone that he wanted to maintain the lockdowns in the long term, for many years in the future.

Then, suddenly, he ordered a complete end to all control measures. The Party had triumphantly led the people to a great victory against the virus (never mind that it unleashed perhaps the fastest wave of mass deaths for any reason in human history). You may not believe this, but shortly after the U-turn was announced, all Party members were told to catch the virus as quickly as possible so they could serve as vanguards for the rest of the people. Partially, his hand was forced due to the mass protests that shocked everyone including, no doubt, the security apparatus. But, a larger explanation for his u-turn was that he finally realized that the lockdowns were causing irreversible damage to China's economy, and in particular its high-tech manufacturing sector.

All this proves that, no matter how pig-headed he is, Winnie can be persuaded to u-turn in a triumphant and glorious way, if he realizes that his current trajectory was damaging his own position.

There are plenty of other issues on which Winnie made u-turns on policies where he previously declared personal ownership, but all these U-turns were done quietly. His decision to suddenly U-turn on lockdowns was shocking for everyone, but it does prove that he is flexible when push comes to shove.

Winnie and his daddy aren't entirely comparable, but I won't really be surprised if the daddy performs a similar U-turn on Ukraine. Ukraine has always been our brotherly nation, and Crimea has always been a part of Ukraine, and the Special Military Operation can be called off now that it has successfully eliminated all the secret gay Nazi bases in Ukraine.

[Oleg 🇰🇿🤝🇺🇦]

Winnie and his daddy aren't entirely comparable, but I won't really be surprised if the daddy performs a similar U-turn on Ukraine. Ukraine has always been our brotherly nation, and Crimea has always been a part of Ukraine, and the Special Military Operation can be called off now that it has successfully eliminated all the secret gay Nazi bases in Ukraine.

Yes, Piglet could well have said so if he had not been the dumbest of the post-Soviet rulers in everything that does not concern his money and his personal safety.

[Storr]

The Slovak MoD wins at MoD Posting:

https://twitter.com/ozbrojenesily/status/1638946825314127872?s=20

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1647889408668909571?s=20

[jaichind]

https://news.bitcoin.com/us-treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-acknowledges-sanctions-weaponization-could-hurt-dollar-hegemony/

"US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Acknowledges Sanctions Weaponization Could Hurt Dollar Hegemony"

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1647925079475470338
The Hague awaits you pieces of sh*t

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1647925079475470338
The Hague awaits you pieces of sh*t

Probably not, but they're in Russia, so some kind of court awaits. Not sure why they admitted this before fleeing the country.

[Woody]

https://twitter.com/anno1540/status/1647945047390789632

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1647925079475470338
The Hague awaits you pieces of sh*t

Probably not, but they're in Russia, so some kind of court awaits. Not sure why they admitted this before fleeing the country.

Putin might be willing to hand over Prigozhin for the Hauge as part of a settlement on the war crimes committed as Wagner appears to be the worst offenders and Prigozhin has recently gone out of his way to upset Putin

[Torie]

I saw this article and was hoping it outlined a path to peace that had not occurred to me. Alas, no. The path is that Putin must lose on the battlefield, and in the ignominy of defeat, be removed from power, and a deal cut with his successors. Yeah, I had thought of that one already. Too bad.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3943927-impossible-and-possible-solutions-to-the-russo-ukrainian-war/

[Woody]

Wow. Shocked that CNN aired this.

Russia is settling Ukrainians in the Far East. Those who left for/sent to Russia don't have the opportunity to go back to Ukraine, due to fear of reprisals or prosecution as traitors/collaborators by the Ukrainian authorities. Admits that lot of those who spoke freely have sympathies with Russia.

[Red Velvet]

Wow. Shocked that CNN aired this.

Russia is settling Ukrainians in the Far East. Those who left for/sent to Russia don't have the opportunity to go back to Ukraine, due to fear of reprisals or prosecution as traitors/collaborators by the Ukrainian authorities. Admits that lot of those who spoke freely have sympathies with Russia.

Russia isn’t a saint at all and the invasion does show their imperial mindset, but the insistence of painting a very grey conflict that spans from tensions from even before 2014 as a non-discussion allowed black and white thing like they were in a Marvel movie is still coming back to bite Western media in the back eventually.

They all joined this based much more on their mutual historical hate for Russia than for real solidarity with Ukraine and everything that is done under these negative feelings is bound to somewhat backfire regardless of results. Many Ukrainians are being used as cannon fodder for the West so that they can stick it up to Russia without really doing the hard work.

[Torie]

I find the above post quite insulting to Ukrainians to suggest they are but pawns serving as cannon fodder for the West. The vast majority don't want to be ruled by Russia, in particular Putin's Russia, and are willing to sacrifice everything for that, including their lives. It really is a catastrophic tragedy. Viewing it through a canned and inappropriate prepacked ideological lens is something to which I take great exception.