Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Arizona Iced Tea]

I don't want to take away from Ukraine's situation, but when China fully attempts to take over Hong Kong, how likely is it we will see a similar reaction from global leaders?

[Arizona Iced Tea]

If Putin decides to blow Ukrainian cities to bits from missiles, because his troops have no stomach for carrying out his mad designs, killing tens of thousands of civilians, that is a red line. At that point it is no fly zone time. If Putin can kill from the air in that way, then it is time to close such air from being an arterial for the commission of such unspeakable acts.

And in tandem, I would hope and trust that considerable thought  is being given to the state of Putin's health.

Easy to say from a back bencher I understand. Biden is earning his pay these days. This is where the rubber meets the road. The rest relatively speaking is noise. I hope and trust this is the focus of his SOTU.

The issue is you cannot enforce that no-fly zone without starting WWIII.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

If Putin decides to blow Ukrainian cities to bits from missiles, because his troops have no stomach for carrying out his mad designs, killing tens of thousands of civilians, that is a red line. At that point it is no fly zone time. If Putin can kill from the air in that way, then it is time to close such air from being an arterial for the commission of such unspeakable acts.

And in tandem, I would hope and trust that considerable thought  is being given to the state of Putin's health.

Easy to say from a back bencher I understand. Biden is earning his pay these days. This is where the rubber meets the road. The rest relatively speaking is noise. I hope and trust this is the focus of his SOTU.

The issue is you cannot enforce that no-fly zone without starting WWIII.

The problem is that a red line is needed somewhere. That logic means he could invade half of Europe and USA would still do nothing.

The red line is a NATO country, not Ukraine.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

US-Venezuelan Oil Update per WSJ ~ 35 minutes back:

"U.S. Officials Meet With Regime in Venezuela, to Discuss Oil Exports to Replace Russia’s

In rare meeting, the two sides discuss lifting of U.S. sanctions that have barred Venezuelan oil exports to American refineries.

Venezuelan oil would return to the open international market under proposals that the U.S. government is discussing in meetings with officials of President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, according to people familiar with the talks.

The rare face-to-face discussions, which began Saturday, are taking place in Caracas.

The Biden administration is seeking to ease oil sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry that have been in place since 2019 as part of a broader U.S. strategy to temper oil prices that have skyrocketed because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the people said.

The administration also wants to isolate Russia from its most important ally in South America, Venezuela, an essential supplier of crude to the U.S. until economic mismanagement and then sanctions caused the nation’s oil sector to crater.

The proposals being discussed in the Venezuelan capital would ease sanctions for a limited period on U.S. national security grounds. Since the Trump administration began turning the economic screws on Venezuela in 2017, Caracas has come to rely on China, Russia and Iran to keep its oil sector afloat. As of 2020, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the country’s state oil company, was producing about 300,000 barrels a day.

By easing the sanctions now, the U.S. would redirect Venezuelan oil exports out of an opaque China-bound export network and back to refiners in Texas and Louisiana that process the heavy crude Venezuela produces, people familiar with the administration’s thinking on the matter said.

It also would peel Caracas out of the political orbit of Russia, which has helped Venezuela sidestep U.S. sanctions by putting its financial system to work processing payments for PDVSA, as the Venezuelan state oil company is known. And sanctions relief would replace Iran’s supply of condensate—a very light oil that PDVSA uses to dilute its extra-heavy oil—with Western-supplied diluents like naphtha, according to people familiar with the Biden administration’s strategy.

...."



https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-officials-meet-with-regime-in-venezuela-to-discuss-oil-exports-to-replace-russias-11646591752?st=6prtwmdneedab7x&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Supporting Maduro to own Putin.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Could Putin use the WNBA star as a bargaining chip with the US?

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Can you imagine how wretched Atlas would have been during World War 1?  We'd have some guy named CrownedEagle14 who posts a dozen news articles every day about how the French and British forces are at an all-time low in morale, they're on the verge of running out of munitions, there's rumors of mutiny and suicide, and meanwhile Germany is amazing and constantly on the verge of a huge breakthrough, the German people are ecstatic and happy, their economy is booming, war production off the charts, Americans are crying and in shambles, French women are secretly writing letters to German soldiers asking them to impregnate them after the war ends, British food is still terrible, and so on and so forth.

All discussion about literally the most important event in human history would be restricted to the "Serbian nationalist negotiations and related tensions Megathread", which would be 3,945 pages long and 70% of the posts would just be CrownedEagle14 chiming in every day to dump the contents of his "the Triple Entente is doomed" RSS feed.

What about WW2?

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Firefighter breaks down as he learns his father was killed in Russian strike.

Good reminder that Woody and jaichind are amoral monsters for supporting this 😡

It is sickening to see conservatives outright support Putin. I lean against Ukraine aid, but we need to be clear that Putin is an awful person and should not be celebrated in any shape, way, or form.