Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1496709533661646850

OK, this is bad, if true (needs confirmation). Russia may be attacking Moldova also, not just Ukraine.

I saw a report of this 5-10 minutes ago but assumed it must be a mistake, but this is 2nd report I saw.

If it is true, WHAT THE HELL ?? MOLDOVA ??

If true, the odds of a nuclear exchange just increased by that much.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1496710537966723076

That was fast.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1496709533661646850

OK, this is bad, if true (needs confirmation). Russia may be attacking Moldova also, not just Ukraine.

I saw a report of this 5-10 minutes ago but assumed it must be a mistake, but this is 2nd report I saw.

If it is true, WHAT THE HELL ?? MOLDOVA ??

If true, the odds of a nuclear exchange just increased by that much.

If he’s going for Moldova, this is going to get extremely hot very quickly.

Like I said, if millions of people die from this narcissism, I hope those responsible are used for their organs. I proudly support the death penalty for crimes like this.

[Person Man]

Question
1. Can we now say the amphibious assault on Odessa was Russian disinformation?
2. Was there a even a VDV attack on Kyiv, if so, was it in fact repelled?

Those Russian Twitterbutts are really good, aren't they? Eventually people catch on, though.

[Person Man]

So is this Zelensky's master plan? Arming the citizenry and expecting people to turn their cities and towns into all-out war zones? Do the users in this thread promoting this idea understand the misery and destruction that insurgencies bring?

I'm not saying the people of Ukraine should give up without a fight, but there has to be a limit to what you expect of civilian populations.

What if it was your town?

[Person Man]

So is this Zelensky's master plan? Arming the citizenry and expecting people to turn their cities and towns into all-out war zones? Do the users in this thread promoting this idea understand the misery and destruction that insurgencies bring?

I'm not saying the people of Ukraine should give up without a fight, but there has to be a limit to what you expect of civilian populations.

Seems like a good plan. Arm as many vigilantes no matter who they are. Russia can enjoy the next decade of this.

The Ukrainian people will be the ones "enjoying" that decade.

Do you believe that Russian occupation is a better outcome for the Ukrainian people?

I believe that there's a legitimate debate to be had over whether it's preferable to be ruled by Putin or to see your country devolve into a European Syria, and the keyboard insurgents who want to see years of violent resistance have no right to judge the Ukrainian people for which option they choose.

I want to make very clear here, I am not judging any of the Ukrainian people aside from their leadership. When I say I support opposition to the Russians, it's because I want the Russians to suffer so that they will be less likely to pull this again in the future. Unfortunately we can't control the actions of sh-thole countries like Russia, and it's incredibly tragic that Putin decided to target Ukraine in his effort to spread his filth across the globe, but that's not something we can control anymore. All we can do is try and make Russia and its people hurt, and right now because of Russia's actions Ukraine is the avenue to do that through. I don't judge any Ukrainians for not resisting, but so long as there are people in Ukraine willing to kill Russian soldiers, they should have our support. As callous and sad as this is to say, we're not just talking about the quality of life in Ukraine (or even Ukraine's independence), we're talking about putting the cesspit that is Putin's Russia in its place.

And when does it stop? The goal of Ukraine is to deter Taiwan. The goal of Taiwan is deterring China and Russia from conquering enough countries to leave the United States isolated and the majority of all people enslaved.

[Person Man]

BLAME FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR THIS! Romney warned about it, he wasn't heard and laughed off.

The thought has definitely crossed my mind that that remark of Romney's has been vindicated by history, but blaming Obama solely and individually for this is just silly.


Between 2014-2016, this was a very good Republican talking point. Yes. I agree.

Also, where are all the anti-Imperialist leftists in this thread?

"Imperialism is when a country is EU-aligned. The more EU-aligned it is, the imperialister it is."

You joke but a lot of people unironically believe this.

I know. It's funny because it's true.

What kind of pill is this really? Brownpilled? Seriously, though..we’re they abused as children?

[Person Man]

BLAME FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR THIS! Romney warned about it, he wasn't heard and laughed off.

I disagree.  I was for Romney in 2012 and still back Romney over Obama in a rematch.  But Russia is not a threat to the USA, Russia is a threat to its neighbors.  The debate  was over who was a threat to USA.

I disagree with you! Even former Obama NSA James Clapper acknowledged & regretted the Obama Administration not being tough enough on Putin when he annexed Crimea in 2014.

It would have been a wonderful thing to run on in 2016 but that didn’t happen.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1496903014757580802?s=20&t=IA9yLGC...

It would be cool if some of those could propagate propaganda and damage actual infrastructure. We’ve had the technology to damage things in the real world with viruses since at least 2007.

[Person Man]

BLAME FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR THIS! Romney warned about it, he wasn't heard and laughed off.

The thought has definitely crossed my mind that that remark of Romney's has been vindicated by history, but blaming Obama solely and individually for this is just silly.


Between 2014-2016, this was a very good Republican talking point. Yes. I agree.

Also, where are all the anti-Imperialist leftists in this thread?

"Imperialism is when a country is EU-aligned. The more EU-aligned it is, the imperialister it is."

You joke but a lot of people unironically believe this.

I know. It's funny because it's true.

What kind of pill is this really? Brownpilled?

They are full of sh**t.

[Person Man]

Also, where are all the anti-Imperialist leftists in this thread?

"Imperialism is when a country is EU-aligned. The more EU-aligned it is, the imperialister it is."

I’m talking about specific posters like Big Abraham and PSOL. Seriously, where are they?

Probably caught between reflexively anti-western attitudes and the obvious injustice of Putin and Russia's actions.

Even RB hasn’t been posting as much. Think he was sent?

[Person Man]

Like StateBoiler said, a militia is certainly much less capable, man for man, than a professional military. In the early history of the United States, when there was a strong ideological preference for volunteer militia over standing armies, the militia forces repeatedly proved themselves less potent than the regulars on a broad scale, despite individual moments of heroics. However, it's still much better than nothing. If you have millions of Ukrainians doing nothing militarily, going about their ordinary civilian lives, and then you recruit from them as an auxiliary to your standing army, that will add to your strength.

Ukraine has a population of 44 million, and there's probably 8-10 million fighting age men in there. Obviously only a small fraction will likely volunteer, but is not insignificant.

3% is a few hundred thousand militiamen.

[Person Man]

Ukraine has a population of 44 million, and there's probably 8-10 million fighting age men in there. Obviously only a small fraction will likely volunteer, but is not insignificant.

3% is a few hundred thousand militiamen.

Ukraine has the arms and ammunition in stock to capably arm all few hundred thousand?

Did the Mujahadeen?

[Person Man]

Anyone wishing for a war of annihilation for the sake of “winning” is a psychopath, regardless of which side they want destroyed.

Being contrarian all of the time is the laziest intellectual position imaginable. Just stop.

We have people like Forumlurker who literally want to send Russia back to the Stone Age and kill whoever they view as an enemy. Opposing this isn’t being a “contrarian,” it’s standing up for what’s right. What Russia is pulling right now is evil without a doubt, and Ukraine should have international support, but fantasizes about destruction aren’t right.

Forumlurker is a lunatic who speaks only for himself.

That doesn’t change the fact that you’re being ridiculous. Wanting Russia to lose an unjustified war of aggression is not wrong. Winning a war requires defeating the opposing forces. Wanting that is not wrong. There is nothing wrong at all with hoping that that occurs in this case. Does that mean that we should hope for war crimes or “annihilating Russia”? No. But unless you were specifically talking about Forumlurker nobody was saying that.

The problem with getting militaristic every single time a bad guy steps out of line is that violence would become the modus operandi of literally all world powers. Perpetual war helps no one and we have to be very careful how we approach these issues.

The more countries that jump into a conflict, the worse it becomes.

That is, of course, if China sees this and sees weakness as a green light to go into Taiwan.

[Person Man]

Anyone wishing for a war of annihilation for the sake of “winning” is a psychopath, regardless of which side they want destroyed.

Being contrarian all of the time is the laziest intellectual position imaginable. Just stop.

We have people like Forumlurker who literally want to send Russia back to the Stone Age and kill whoever they view as an enemy. Opposing this isn’t being a “contrarian,” it’s standing up for what’s right. What Russia is pulling right now is evil without a doubt, and Ukraine should have international support, but fantasizes about destruction aren’t right.

Forumlurker is a lunatic who speaks only for himself.

That doesn’t change the fact that you’re being ridiculous. Wanting Russia to lose an unjustified war of aggression is not wrong. Winning a war requires defeating the opposing forces. Wanting that is not wrong. There is nothing wrong at all with hoping that that occurs in this case. Does that mean that we should hope for war crimes or “annihilating Russia”? No. But unless you were specifically talking about Forumlurker nobody was saying that.

The problem with getting militaristic every single time a bad guy steps out of line is that violence would become the modus operandi of literally all world powers. Perpetual war helps no one and we have to be very careful how we approach these issues.

The more countries that jump into a conflict, the worse it becomes.

That is, of course, if China sees this and sees weakness as a green light to go into Taiwan.

Correct. I’m not saying the world just stand by and do nothing. Just that if you try to kill everyone who steps out of line… pretty soon, their won’t even be anyone to step out of line.

That's why, I think our Government's approach to this aggression has been satisfactory. We can't live in a world where there is a constant strong drive for world domination.

[Person Man]

S&P 500 now up 0.7 on the day !!!  I guess the fear of something bad is always worse than that bad thing itself.

I am pretty sure that you have no idea what you are talking about. You've been wrong about Putin's aims and ambitions in Ukraine, you failed to predict this invasion and now you're making pronouncements about "fear of something bad" being worse than "the bad thing" before we even understand the full extent of this war, its meaning, its length, duration, the effect of sanctions etc. The wise thing to do would be to listen and learn from people who aren't fools.

Jaichind's posts have been insightful and a net good for this thread, and tbh, he adds more to this thread than a majority of posters do.
Lay off please.

Both him being very insightful and greedy can be true at the same time. It really is questionable that all he thinks about is money, but it's good information about what to do with your money, whether you only have a few thousands/tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or even many millions of dollars.

[Person Man]

https://mobile.twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1496861025194418179?cxt=HHwWhoC5...

Russia should be kicked out of all international organizations. A complete and total boycott and quarantine. His regime needs to be bankrupted, even at the cost of some economic pain for the West.

Sadly this seems to be why the west can’t respond properly to either Russia or China . We are so addicted with low prices that it hampers our ability to respond.

Would also help if we'd spent the past year expanding production instead of constricting it. Biden's foreign policy has been good but his domestic policy is a disaster across the board and this is an example.

This is a huge example :


https://mobile.twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1496579280091951111?cxt=HHwWjsC5...

Again, the main problem is that you will never get cheap oil from Keystone XL. Bituminous sands is the most expensive source of oil, which means that when prices are low, either the pipeline will be empty (as it will cost money to the oil company to sell its oil) or you're stuck in a contract where someone will have to buy oil at an above market price (terrible for the USA competitivity).

So it still wouldn't be a solution?

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1496944661256097793?t=Tl0-GOlpOZeZ8VE2e...

Good, if Ukraine can't win with official military forces, they should drag Putin into costly asymmetric warfare. Sooner or later this would hurt his standing on Russia.

If Ukraine is conquered, it should be made a morgue for the invaders. I would also find it turning into a MMORPG of GoldenEye to be acceptable too. Always loved shooting those Russian soldiers in the dick.

[Person Man]

Does anyone have a good source for the progress of the battle? It seems like there just isn’t any information at all which is to be expected but presumably there is massive fighting happening right?

Fog of war is a real thing. We don't know much yet, but there certainly fighting going on.

Unless you disable it in the settings. But yeah. It's a real thing. You would think our eyes in the sky would make it less, though.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1496966529136881667

I know there have been a million and one different reports over the day of the situation at Hostomel, but there seems to be an emerging consensus among people in the know that the Ukrainians have definitely taken it and routed the VDV.

So a pretty extreme cucking that makes A Bridge Too Far look good.

[Person Man]

https://mobile.twitter.com/bnonews/status/1496993097225547778?s=21

RIP Martyrs

That makes me so incredibly sad and angry at the same time. 

Hopefully they made themselves an example of what you should do.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/lib_crusher/status/1496991213819412482?s=20&t=bnTZjmzvI-...

That’s not good.

[Person Man]

Seeing talk about a "Ghost of Kyiv" - a Mig-29 fighter pilot who has allegedly taken down 4 Russian planes around Kyiv today. If true, Ukraine's got themselves one of the first genuine fighter aces in a long time.

Just one more from ace-dom.

[Person Man]

Website of the Russian Ministry of Defense - both the Russian and the English version - are a total blank.

https://mil.ru/
https://eng.mil.ru/

What's going on?

Maybe it is this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t0kg9d/anonymous_hackers_now_targeting_russian_websites/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

First they did RT, took em a while to get back fully online.

I remembered when someone plastered gay porn on Jim Talent’s campaign page back in 2006. Simpler times.

[Person Man]

https://mobile.twitter.com/hawkerhellfire/status/1496991536571109381
https://mobile.twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1497023689212280840

Maybe too soon, but I can already hear the Sabaton song in my mind.

King