Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Woody]

A quarter of Ukraine's population supports some sort of territorial concession to Russia, 8% couldn't answer according to this Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll. Was 10% support at the end of 2022 from their last poll. War fatigue is starting to set the general public.

https://twitter.com/sumnjam/status/1635233718892900353

[Woody]

From RU media:

Schools in the Zaporozhye region will cancel the compulsory study of the Ukrainian language from September 1.

Now parents will be able to choose which language - Russian or Ukrainian - their children will learn as their native language, said Elena Shapurova, Minister of Education and Science of the Zaporozhye Region.

“Some children want to study Russian as their native language, they will have 9 hours of Russian language and literature in their workload, and there will be no Ukrainian at all,” the minister noted.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1635236559040712705
Interesting read

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Came across these two articles on an Indian news website:
https://www.easternherald.com/2023/03/12/zelenskyys-apartment-in-the-crimea-will-be-given-to-large-families/?utm_source=webpushr&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=261982
Exactly what is says on the tin

https://www.easternherald.com/2023/03/08/h-e-president-putin-in-the-august-kremlin-bestowed-state-accolades-upon-remarkable-russian-females/
Putin giving state honors to some women

[Person Man]

A quarter of Ukraine's population supports some sort of territorial concession to Russia, 8% couldn't answer according to this Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll. Was 10% support at the end of 2022 from their last poll. War fatigue is starting to set the general public.

https://twitter.com/sumnjam/status/1635233718892900353

The Number of Ukrainians who support an unconditional cease-fire is the same as the number of the number of Russians supporting and unconditional withdraw.

[jaichind]

Speaking of Indian media, I have asserted on many occasions that in India the English language media are mostly split although increasingly pro-Russia. The Hindi language media has been pro-Russia from the beginning and more so today.  What I never got to say but it is only fair to put it out there is that the Tamil language media is very pro-Ukraine.  SunTV which is associated with the ruling DMK is very pro-Ukraine.

One of the jokes in India is that if you want to watch about Russians winning go watch the Hindustan Times channel and if you want to watch about how Ukrainians are winning go watch SunTV.

[jaichind]

BTW, was not the sanctions suppose to destroy the Russian banking system?   It seems like it is the other way around.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1635259505008349186

[Woody]

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1634472741326802944

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/12/biden-united-states-ukraine-relationship-cracks-00086654

"Little fissures’: The U.S.-Ukraine war unity is slowly cracking apart"

It was written on the wall with this trash guy Zelenskyy being a chihuahua acting like a pitbull, only because they are on a leash. And a bunch of people validating this attitude which started even before the war.

You cannot have intransigent positions when you don’t have the power to back that up. Ukraine is heavily dependent on Western weaponry, which is only supplied to the level it’s being done because the West hates Russia more than it really cares about Ukraine if we’re honest.

It’s understandable (even if not strategic) that Ukraine adopts an “all or nothing” position where they want to keep the fighting as long as until they take even Crimea back. What is not understandable is for part of the world to submit themselves to engage in a forever war based on pride only, to the point they validate those non-realistic goals and stimulate an even further conflict. And even to the point the guy receiving this help feels entitled to give you orders and say what you have to do lol.

I personally don’t have problems with this, Ukraine might as well suck the West dry as much as they can and also prolong the instability of the global factor that is brought by this war and stimulates the shuffling of international power dynamics. What is unacceptable to me is the insanity of people feeling entitled to lecture other countries on what they have to do regarding a conflict they have absolutely no relation with. If the West wants to go down because of Ukraine that’s with them as the sovereign nations they are, but they want to try to drag others to their pit in the same time. Misery likes company.

*Says we're all ignorant westerners*

*Claims """Global South""" is a monolithic thing*

Actually, if there is one thing the MUH GLOBAL SOUTH is monolithic on... Well, check out this map on opinions of America:

[jaichind]

Under the "all who are not against us are with us" approach by Russia and the "you must denounce Russia" position of the collective West one can argue "neutral" on this map are de facto pro-Russia.

[bagelman]

snip

I wonder what Russia would have to gain from sabotaging their own war effort. Perhaps there are forces within the Kremlin who are disgusted by this conflict, and by Putin for waging it.

[CumbrianLefty]

Under the "all who are not against us are with us" approach by Russia and the "you must denounce Russia" position of the collective West one can argue "neutral" on this map are de facto pro-Russia.

You can "argue" all sorts of things.

Who decides these categories, and especially the supposed shifts, anyway?

[jaichind]

Under the "all who are not against us are with us" approach by Russia and the "you must denounce Russia" position of the collective West one can argue "neutral" on this map are de facto pro-Russia.

You can "argue" all sorts of things.

Who decides these categories, and especially the supposed shifts, anyway?

This came from the Economist

[CumbrianLefty]

Thanks, but it would still be useful to know the criteria used.

[jaichind]

Thanks, but it would still be useful to know the criteria used.

Here is their report

https://www.eiu.com/n/russias-pockets-of-support-are-growing-in-the-developing-world/

Does not really say how they computed this but I assume the base this on the official statements of the different governments in questions.

[Logical]

Under the "all who are not against us are with us" approach by Russia and the "you must denounce Russia" position of the collective West one can argue "neutral" on this map are de facto pro-Russia.

Pakistan and Sudan are selling ammunition to Ukraine via the UK yet here they are listed as Russia leaning lmao. Serbia is listed here as neutral when they were caught selling a few thousand rockets to Ukraine via Turkey. Joke map, ridiculous criterias. The only countries that can be considered meaningfully pro Russia are Belarus, Iran and North Korea. Everyone else are either supplying arms to Ukraine or sitting back because it isn't their war (or they can't offer any meaningful aid anyways).

[jaichind]

Pakistan and Sudan are selling ammunition to Ukraine via the UK yet here they are listed as Russia leaning lmao. Serbia is listed here as neutral when they were caught selling a few thousand rockets to Ukraine via Turkey. Joke map, ridiculous criterias. The only countries that can be considered meaningfully pro Russia are Belarus, Iran and North Korea. Everyone else are either supplying arms to Ukraine or sitting back because it isn't their war (or they can't offer any meaningful aid anyways).

I do not know what is going on with Sudan but Pakistan clearly denies sending weapons to Ukraine

https://www.dawn.com/news/1737577

"Pakistan denies supplying ammunition to Ukraine"

[Logical]

Pakistan and Sudan are selling ammunition to Ukraine via the UK yet here they are listed as Russia leaning lmao. Serbia is listed here as neutral when they were caught selling a few thousand rockets to Ukraine via Turkey. Joke map, ridiculous criterias. The only countries that can be considered meaningfully pro Russia are Belarus, Iran and North Korea. Everyone else are either supplying arms to Ukraine or sitting back because it isn't their war (or they can't offer any meaningful aid anyways).

I do not know what is going on with Sudan but Pakistan clearly denies sending weapons to Ukraine

https://www.dawn.com/news/1737577

"Pakistan denies supplying ammunition to Ukraine"

Pakistan (pictured)

[Torie]

Odd article, but there seems to be some disarray at the top about who knows what, and agitprop message control in Russia.

https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-elite-battle-clash-ukraine-war-information-maria-zakharova-2023-3

[jaichind]

https://thehill.com/policy/international/3894376-congress-wants-to-label-wagner-group-as-a-terrorist-organization-why-is-biden-opposed/

"Congress wants to label Wagner group as a terrorist organization. Why is Biden opposed?"

Expert analyses have tied the Wagner group’s activities to countries including Sudan, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad. The private security company is often used as a supplement force for those countries’ weak militaries.

“[The State Department] is concerned that if suddenly the FTO designation lands on Wagner, that those governments, where there’s various officials that deal with them [Wagner], that they would all, immediately be blocked from travel to the United States and have their assets seized for coming into contact with the FTO. So that’s the nature of their concern,” the aide said.

[2952-0-0]

So much for the deluded fantasy that India is buying Russian oil out of solidarity...

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/india-to-ensure-no-breach-on-russia-oil-purchase-sanctions/articleshow/98585193.cms

...or the even more deluded fantasy that the Global South is a unified and cohesive anti-western bloc.

https://www.reuters.com/article/india-russia-china-yuan-idAFL4N35K0HZ

[Red Velvet]

BTW, was not the sanctions suppose to destroy the Russian banking system?   It seems like it is the other way around.

Pretty much, the bank crisis in the US has direct relationship with the Ukraine war. They treated Russia like it was a country they and the world can simply just ignore like they’ve done with much smaller ones and expected the same lack of effects domestically as if you sanctioned say, Cuba lmao. Russia is no small sh**t.

US banks are crashing because they lend money to tech companies which are more exposed in the current geopolitical context of the Ukrainian war.

The sanctions generated inflation and as a measure to control it, the US raised their interest rate very suddenly in order to control the prices, which was a radical maneuver for the US economy.

With the high (and still growing) interest rates, the price of oil was successfully contained for the American population, but that doesn’t happen without a cost to the economy in a country like US because in there, those fintechs companies get their capital through investments in the stock market. With a higher interest rate, you see the investments migrating to governmental treasury bounds because it becomes more interesting to do so with a higher interest rate.

That makes those banks who make a living from lending money to those tech companies lose investment and more exposed to these crisis we’re seeing. It’s a whole domino effect happening in real time.

Hilarious how the democrats pride and arrogance made them shoot themselves in the foot like that. It’s a whole mix of American exceptionalism, thinking they can do literally anything to anyone that they will never see the effects in their home combined with their sick obsession with Russia since the 2016 election being the main reason they even pretend to care so much about the war. Maybe also some Cold War imaginary still on some old people minds too, where they associate Russia to USSR?

I mean, I think Republicans are more evil than democrats but they’re smarter too. I think less of them would support all this suicidal nonsense just to stick it up to Russia. They use racist rhetoric and neocon warfare narrative but when they know they can win something out from that war, not based on some naive morality speech

I could understand them caring this much about say Taiwan, because that is strategical to US for example. Ukraine means literally nothing to USA strategically like it clearly means to Russia, its value is purely symbolical to the Americans who only care about it in order to antagonize Russia.

[Red Velvet]

So much for the deluded fantasy that India is buying Russian oil out of solidarity...

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/india-to-ensure-no-breach-on-russia-oil-purchase-sanctions/articleshow/98585193.cms

...or the even more deluded fantasy that the Global South is a unified and cohesive anti-western bloc.

https://www.reuters.com/article/india-russia-china-yuan-idAFL4N35K0HZ

Why does it matter to you WHY India is buying Russian oil? The fact is that they are buying tons of it and that is great to give Russia a way out of the sanctions!

What is exactly that you’re bragging about? Uhh India is helping Russia but it’s not because they like like Russia, they still like us better. Is international geopolitics like middle school to you people or something?

It’s so fascinating to see how most people here tend to frame everything under a morality or friends logic lmao. The other dude was posting some irrelevant map about what powerless average people abroad think of the US.

Newsflash: there isn’t morality OR true “friendship” in geopolitics. Everyone is driven by their self-interests. They can be directed towards different things simultaneously and sometimes may be even misguided internal strategies, but no ones does anything only because they have more personal friendship with one country more than they have with another.

[Woody]

https://thehill.com/policy/international/3894376-congress-wants-to-label-wagner-group-as-a-terrorist-organization-why-is-biden-opposed/

"Congress wants to label Wagner group as a terrorist organization. Why is Biden opposed?"

Expert analyses have tied the Wagner group’s activities to countries including Sudan, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad. The private security company is often used as a supplement force for those countries’ weak militaries.

“[The State Department] is concerned that if suddenly the FTO designation lands on Wagner, that those governments, where there’s various officials that deal with them [Wagner], that they would all, immediately be blocked from travel to the United States and have their assets seized for coming into contact with the FTO. So that’s the nature of their concern,” the aide said.

*surprised pikachu*