Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Virginiá]

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1663986946337644544

[dead0man]

https://twitter.com/kozako01/status/1661852178804363267

I do not approve of this.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1663988798823211009?s=20

"Feels like a good evening to post this map... no reason.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯    "

[Click on the image or twitter post url to see the image uncompressed.]

[Estrella]

Чемодан-вокзал-Россия!

https://twitter.com/alinavictoriaw/status/1661745047279398915

Where in Seattle? (obsessive about demographics)

Tried googling the street names and apparently it's somewhere in Roy?

[Storr]

Big if true. As Ukraine's main goal with the incursions and attacks within Russia proper was most likely to cause Moscow to move forces away from where Ukraine wants to launch their long anticipated/supposed offensive (presumably Zaporizhia Oblast).

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1663840188370411520?s=20


But if the front near Kreminna is the area most weakened by Russian troop movements back into Russia, away from the front, I'm sure Ukraine would more than happy to launch the offensive there.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1663840195416936448?s=20

[jaichind]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-putin-moscow-drone-attack-b2348637.html

"Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin’s forces claim they have destroyed Kyiv’s ‘last warship’"

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1663817841441918977?s=20

[Storr]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-putin-moscow-drone-attack-b2348637.html

"Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin’s forces claim they have destroyed Kyiv’s ‘last warship’"

"war·ship

noun
a ship built or armed for combat purposes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Ukrainian_Navy_ships

First on the list: "Patrol ships (32)"

"They [patrol boats] may be broadly classified as inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) and offshore patrol vessels (OPVs). They are warships typically smaller in size than a corvette and can include fast attack craft, torpedo boats and missile boats, although some are as large as a frigate. ."

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-putin-moscow-drone-attack-b2348637.html

"Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin’s forces claim they have destroyed Kyiv’s ‘last warship’"

This is the third time they've claimed to capture or destroy this particular ship. Colour me skeptical: it's a large vessel allegedly destroyed in port without photographic evidence.

It probably isn't the last Ukrainian warship, either.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-putin-moscow-drone-attack-b2348637.html

"Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin’s forces claim they have destroyed Kyiv’s ‘last warship’"

"war·ship

noun
a ship built or armed for combat purposes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Ukrainian_Navy_ships

First on the list: "Patrol ships (32)"

"They [patrol boats] may be broadly classified as inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) and offshore patrol vessels (OPVs). They are warships typically smaller in size than a corvette and can include fast attack craft, torpedo boats and missile boats, although some are as large as a frigate. ."

That list actually omits the Coast Guard's ships. Due to the Soviet legacy, Ukraine inherited an extremely militarised Coast Guard, which managed to evacuate its fleet from Crimea in 2014 (unlike the Navy). Somehow, the Coast Guard still retains an entire corvette even though the Navy hasn't had one for years.

[Storr]

Denazification in action:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1664079800917536776?s=20

[NOVA Green]

Meanwhile there is a big EU meeting coming up in Moldova, which arguably might well have been more at the center of Russian animosity from Putin, prior the 1st Russian Invasion and Occupation of Ukraine circa 2014.

Full confession, I am perhaps a bit biased on my perspective here by virtue of having dated someone  in the late '90s after she experienced all of the craziness of the Transnistria War.

She was Jewish and her parents moved there sometime in the early / mid '80s from Saint Petersburg, where her father was a Professor.

Not quite sure their exact reasons, but what I recall she referred to as the "Moldovan Civil War", ended up with them eventually moving to Italy in a refugee camp, and then Israel, and a little bit later on America.

Regardless of all of that needless and unnecessary backstory on my side, the problem remains the same, in that Russian political leaders since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, have obsessively continued to focus on regaining their role as the "guardians of the Russian Speaking population" of Central Europe, where frequently sometimes ethnolinguistics tends to get misidentified and conflated  as social and national identity...

Russia is too bankrupt to attempt to bribe Moldova even if they want to... plus the Russian Bear looking more and more like a mini cartoon of a paper tiger.

Plus EU has tons more $$$ and Euros to chip in to help much more than offset whatever Russia can offer.

Hell, even Serbia recognizes the EU is better than the wasteland which is the Russian model...

European leaders are gathering in Moldova for a major summit scheduled for Thursday. Heads of state and government from members of the European Political Community — a broad group including nations that aren’t members of the European Union — will hold their second meeting. Moldova, a small former Soviet republic, borders Ukraine and has sought further integration with the West, including membership in the European Union, amid fears that Moscow will seek to take control of the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/31/russia-ukraine-war-news/

[NOVA Green]

Meanwhile there is a big EU meeting coming up in Moldova, which arguably might well have been more at the center of Russian animosity from Putin, prior the 1st Russian Invasion and Occupation of Ukraine circa 2014.

Full confession, I am perhaps a bit biased on my perspective here by virtue of having dated someone  in the late '90s after she experienced all of the craziness of the Transnistria War.

She was Jewish and her parents moved there sometime in the early / mid '80s from Saint Petersburg, where her father was a Professor.

Not quite sure their exact reasons, but what I recall she referred to as the "Moldovan Civil War", ended up with them eventually moving to Italy in a refugee camp, and then Israel, and a little bit later on America.

Regardless of all of that needless and unnecessary backstory on my side, the problem remains the same, in that Russian political leaders since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, have obsessively continued to focus on regaining their role as the "guardians of the Russian Speaking population" of Central Europe, where frequently sometimes ethnolinguistics tends to get misidentified and conflated  as social and national identity...

Russia is too bankrupt to attempt to bribe Moldova even if they want to... plus the Russian Bear looking more and more like a mini cartoon of a paper tiger.

Plus EU has tons more $$$ and Euros to chip in to help much more than offset whatever Russia can offer.

Hell, even Serbia recognizes the EU is better than the wasteland which is the Russian model...

European leaders are gathering in Moldova for a major summit scheduled for Thursday. Heads of state and government from members of the European Political Community — a broad group including nations that aren’t members of the European Union — will hold their second meeting. Moldova, a small former Soviet republic, borders Ukraine and has sought further integration with the West, including membership in the European Union, amid fears that Moscow will seek to take control of the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/31/russia-ukraine-war-news/

[Badger]

South Africa is granting diplomatic immunity to all BRICS heads of state ahead of the BRICS meeting in August, opening the door for Vladmir Putin to go despite ICC condemnation, organization which South Africa is a member of.

https://twitter.com/dailymaverick/status/1663296318452686848
https://twitter.com/Kanthan2030/status/1663431260155572224

Ah, so South Africa's is much a bitch for war criminals as Lula is. Good to know. #muhglobalsouthgangrapefans

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

South Africa is granting diplomatic immunity to all BRICS heads of state ahead of the BRICS meeting in August, opening the door for Vladmir Putin to go despite ICC condemnation, organization which South Africa is a member of.

https://twitter.com/dailymaverick/status/1663296318452686848
https://twitter.com/Kanthan2030/status/1663431260155572224

Ah, so South Africa's is much a bitch for war criminals as Lula is. Good to know. #muhglobalsouthgangrapefans

More of one, honestly, since at least Lula is genuinely staying the course on a longstanding tradition of Brazilian diplomacy.

[Badger]

Denazification in action:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1664079800917536776?s=20

Kill Them All

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

Denazification in action:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1664079800917536776?s=20

Well, Red Velvet wants us to remember that all countries have their differences, and shunning a nation for killing children is wrong because Iraq/Imperialism.

Nations should strive to be more like the true moral compass of Brazil, famous for its lack of income and housing inequality and refusal to elect far-right virulent homophobes to high offices.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1664187807533809665?s=12
https://twitter.com/kyivpost/status/1664195918193729542?s=12
They’re back

[Red Velvet]

Denazification in action:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1664079800917536776?s=20

Well, Red Velvet wants us to remember that all countries have their differences, and shunning a nation for killing children is wrong because Iraq/Imperialism.

Nations should strive to be more like the true moral compass of Brazil, famous for its lack of income and housing inequality and refusal to elect far-right virulent homophobes to high offices.

Poverty and Inequality have nothing to do with morals and this notion really says more about you and most people in here who agree with this tbh.

If anything, inequality is a consequence of the dynamics from colonial white supremacy. The white elites that benefit from this necessarily come from Europe and every place where white people exist, racism necessarily will too because we’re born into a racist system that inevitably makes us racists just by growing in it. Which makes anti-racism being about learning to grow above the environment we’re in. This is basic stuff people like me learned in school.

The difference between Brazil and the West is that the discussion about racism in Europe is basically non-existent and conveniently put aside under the rug, convincing themselves this isn’t a problem for them because they don’t talk about it. We all saw the treatment Vini Jr. got in Europe while still victim-blamed for the racist attacks on him and it’s not just him, it’s a recurring event.

While USA has the discussions but has too much of its identity stuck in the notions of “free speech” that it allows/validates these white supremacists to get away with everything. On this specific matter, Brazil is indeed way more advanced than most places. Which isn’t to say things are perfect because they never are anywhere.

Mentioning this because you’re bringing up the “Brazil being the moral compass” comment from a different thread, which was about approach to and legislation on racism and homophobia.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1664278543130570754?s=12

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1664187807533809665?s=12
https://twitter.com/kyivpost/status/1664195918193729542?s=12
They’re back

This explains why they attacked Shebekino, as opposed to any other Russian border town:

Google translation:
"In Shchebekino, the "Monokrystal" plant was destroyed by the forces of the Red Army
One of the largest producers of synthetic sapphires used in electronics and optics."

https://twitter.com/ebany_patriot/status/1664227001962582016?s=20

[Storr]

Denazification in action:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1664079800917536776?s=20

https://twitter.com/mrsorokaa/status/1664270173640216579?s=20

[Woody]

https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1664291157780643842

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://twitter.com/maks_nafo_fella/status/1664275063103950848?s=12
😗

[AndyHogan14]

https://twitter.com/maks_nafo_fella/status/1664275063103950848?s=12
😗

Now this is interesting. It would be nice to finally rid the world of the Russian-occupied territory known as Transnistria once and for all.