Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

First the Taliban, now this...

I fear the Simulation might completely break soon, call IT support, now!

https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1499088073115811848

Someone read my line in my signature.

"God doesn’t hate Putinists because they are Putinists. They are Putinists because God hates them."
The war seems to show that God wants to screw with Putin and his supporters, from the looks of it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1499071422387343366

Venezuela was absent. Nicaragua and Cuba abstained. Even Serbia, Hungary and Myanmar voted for it.

[Splash]

Apparently a Romanian fighter went missing over the Black Sea. They sent a helicopter to do a search and rescue and that went missing too...

It could be a result of bad weather conditions, but the timing this incident raises alarm bells.

https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1499115003579932675

[thumb21]

Zelensky with NUT approvals.

Support for EU membership:


Support for NATO membership:


Source: https://ratinggroup.ua/en/research/ukraine/obschenacionalnyy_opros_ukraina_v_usloviyah_voyny_1_marta_2022.html

[brucejoel99]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china.html

I personally believe this to be true. What's the problem? Effectively China gave Ukraine several more weeks to prepare for the invasion. It's not China's fault Ukraine didn't do enough with the time to prepare for war and instead spent most of it denying that war would even happen.

E       E       E
   P    P     P
     O O O
E P O C O P E
     O O O
   P    P     P
E       E       E

This is nonsensical, what exactly is there to cope about here? You type illogical things yet get approval because "hurr durr China bad"?

That you're a fringe extremist who's been acting like they're in denial about their views being broadly unsupported by the vast majority of free people? Not exactly that hard to understand, but I'll forgive you for not noticing immediately, since you must work so hard to stay updated with any & all of the latest CCP propaganda that your brain must just be scattered.

(And yes, China is bad. They engage in some of the most objectively f**ked-up sh*t. We're tired of your excessively weird support for the CCP, & evident inability to perceive the social cues that'd be necessary for you to actually understand us in making clear that we're tired of it, we don't support you, & we just want you to shut up because it's so old by now.)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1499100975126265867

[AndyHogan14]

Has anyone else seen this story about a Russian oligarch supposedly putting a bounty on Putin? How seriously should I take this?

If true, I'll throw in a hundred bucks...let's start a GoFundMe! LOL

Hell, I'll throw in a thousand if Putin goes the way of Ghaddafi.

[Omega21]

Seems the Russians are now somewhat effective in certain smaller areas

Could depend on the Unit composition and morale, or maybe it's due to the more forceful approach they've switched to?

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1499084163261026304

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1499107883212025861

[OSR stands with Israel]

Russian Ministry of Defense claims 2,870 Ukrainian soldiers killed, 498 Russians.

https://twitter.com/DrAlakbarov/status/1499073100067000320

In the first 10 days of the invasion of Iraq the US had 65 deaths. Even if you were to believe the Russian numbers, which I don't, they've had a much worse time of it than the US did in 2003.

The US was able to pull of the entire invasion with less than 200 fatalities

Yeah, and if you take the US occupation of Iraq as a comparison and put this in perspective, you would expect even greater losses during a Russian occupation given how incompetent they have handled this. Furthermore, there was at least a decent number of Iraqis celebrating Saddam's end. Zelenskyy has like >90% behind him now, even in Eastern Ukraine which was more pro-Russia so far.

Yah the invasion of Ukraine would be more comparable to a hypothetical invasion of Iran where unlike Iraq the vast majority of people in Iran would hate the US for invading causing casualties to be very high in both the invading and occupation stage .

In Iraq the Shia population who actually made up a majority of Iraq were oppressed by Suddam so they viewed the US invasion as at worst the lesser evil compared to Suddam .

[MATTROSE94]

First the Taliban, now this...

I fear the Simulation might completely break soon, call IT support, now!

https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1499088073115811848

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is 100% correct. He is smart enough to see that Russia is not a true friend of Iran and that it is time for the Putin regime to end. Russia was directly responsible for the 1917-1919 and 1942-1943 Iranian famines and sought to destabilize Iran back in 1945 and 1946 by backing communist insurgencies in Iranian Azerbaijan.

[compucomp]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china.html

I personally believe this to be true. What's the problem? Effectively China gave Ukraine several more weeks to prepare for the invasion. It's not China's fault Ukraine didn't do enough with the time to prepare for war and instead spent most of it denying that war would even happen.

E       E       E
   P    P     P
     O O O
E P O C O P E
     O O O
   P    P     P
E       E       E

This is nonsensical, what exactly is there to cope about here? You type illogical things yet get approval because "hurr durr China bad"?

That you're a fringe extremist who's been acting like they're in denial about their views being broadly unsupported by the vast majority of free people? Not exactly that hard to understand, but I'll forgive you for not noticing immediately, since you must work so hard to stay updated with any & all of the latest CCP propaganda that your brain must just be scattered.

(And yes, China is bad. They engage in some of the most objectively f**ked-up sh*t. We're tired of your excessively weird support for the CCP, & evident inability to perceive the social cues that'd be necessary for you to actually understand us in making clear that we're tired of it, we don't support you, & we just want you to shut up because it's so old by now.)

"Fringe extremist"? My view is on the fringe when it is shared by 1.4 billion people, and another 1.3 billion or so people share similar views, at least when it comes to how their respective governments have responded to the war? If you think my support for the CCP is "excessively weird", does it pain you to learn that by and large, Chinese people support the CCP and the government, particularly when the West and the USA are held up as an alternative?

I don't care if I have any support or no support. As I meet the standards of decorum on this forum, if you get me banned I will have been banned for my views and opinions and you will have shown your hypocrisy about free speech, a freedom deemed so important it is the First Amendment in the US Constitution. There is a saying in the US about free speech, or at least there used to be: "I disagree completely with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

[lfromnj]

Honesfly I'm sick of the low quality rebuttals to compucomp. He is correct in that it is likely the majority of China and India support Russia . China isn't really a free Democracy but at the same time I think most Chinese people do support their government. India is as much of a Democracy as Ukraine at the very least.

[AndyHogan14]

Apparently a Romanian fighter went missing over the Black Sea. They sent a helicopter to do a search and rescue and that went missing too...

It could be a result of bad weather conditions, but the timing this incident raises alarm bells.

https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1499115003579932675

**TWO** aircraft going down? One, sure, but two due to weather? That seems unlikely and if the Russians had anything to do with it...oh boy.

[jaichind]

RUB continues to be very volatile.  It has ranged from 115 to 95.  In the last few hours it has surged to 97 but there is no reason to believe why it will stay there as capital exits Russia on the one side while Russian energy exports, while diminished, continue to garner revenue to be converted back to RUB on rising energy and gain prices.

[Aurelius]

The CCP is a demonic institution that is actively engaged in genocide at this very moment. It's not surprising in a country with strictly controlled media and no freedom of expression that most people will default to supporting it, but that does not make it a mainstream or widely acceptable position in countries with free and uncensored media where we can access much more accurate information - nor should it.

And before the inevitable "buh the rise in standard of living!" - plenty of other countries have pulled off massive improvements in the standard of living in the past century without CCP-style mass repression, and it's also important to remember that a large part of this rise early on was simply a bounce back from Mao's man made catastrophes once he was removed from power.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china.html

I personally believe this to be true. What's the problem? Effectively China gave Ukraine several more weeks to prepare for the invasion. It's not China's fault Ukraine didn't do enough with the time to prepare for war and instead spent most of it denying that war would even happen.

E       E       E
   P    P     P
     O O O
E P O C O P E
     O O O
   P    P     P
E       E       E

This is nonsensical, what exactly is there to cope about here? You type illogical things yet get approval because "hurr durr China bad"?

[Person Man]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china.html

I personally believe this to be true. What's the problem? Effectively China gave Ukraine several more weeks to prepare for the invasion. It's not China's fault Ukraine didn't do enough with the time to prepare for war and instead spent most of it denying that war would even happen.

E       E       E
   P    P     P
     O O O
E P O C O P E
     O O O
   P    P     P
E       E       E

This is nonsensical, what exactly is there to cope about here? You type illogical things yet get approval because "hurr durr China bad"?

That's a fact, Jack.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

First the Taliban, now this...

I fear the Simulation might completely break soon, call IT support, now!

https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1499088073115811848

Where's MATTROSE when you need him?

[John Dule]

"Fringe extremist"? My view is on the fringe when it is shared by 1.4 billion people, and another 1.3 billion or so people share similar views, at least when it comes to how their respective governments have responded to the war? If you think my support for the CCP is "excessively weird", does it pain you to learn that by and large, Chinese people support the CCP and the government, particularly when the West and the USA are held up as an alternative?

I don't care if I have any support or no support. As I meet the standards of decorum on this forum, if you get me banned I will have been banned for my views and opinions and you will have shown your hypocrisy about free speech, a freedom deemed so important it is the First Amendment in the US Constitution. There is a saying in the US about free speech, or at least there used to be: "I disagree completely with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

This forum is not bound to follow the Bill of Rights, lol. I know you have contempt for the Constitution and everything it stands for, but your claim to free speech (1) Does not apply in this context, and (2) Is invalidated by the moral code you supposedly adhere to.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Notable that Israel voted in favor of condemning Russia.  They've made a mess of things trying to appease both the west and Russia.

[compucomp]

"Fringe extremist"? My view is on the fringe when it is shared by 1.4 billion people, and another 1.3 billion or so people share similar views, at least when it comes to how their respective governments have responded to the war? If you think my support for the CCP is "excessively weird", does it pain you to learn that by and large, Chinese people support the CCP and the government, particularly when the West and the USA are held up as an alternative?

I don't care if I have any support or no support. As I meet the standards of decorum on this forum, if you get me banned I will have been banned for my views and opinions and you will have shown your hypocrisy about free speech, a freedom deemed so important it is the First Amendment in the US Constitution. There is a saying in the US about free speech, or at least there used to be: "I disagree completely with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

This forum is not bound to follow the Bill of Rights, lol. I know you have contempt for the Constitution and everything it stands for, but your claim to free speech (1) Does not apply in this context, and (2) Is invalidated by the moral code you supposedly adhere to.

Sure, I don't deny that. This forum is free to ban me. But that is the ultimate display of hypocrisy; while arguing for "democracy and freedom" in supporting Ukraine, you're kicking me out because you disagree with my views.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

"Fringe extremist"? My view is on the fringe when it is shared by 1.4 billion people, and another 1.3 billion or so people share similar views, at least when it comes to how their respective governments have responded to the war? If you think my support for the CCP is "excessively weird", does it pain you to learn that by and large, Chinese people support the CCP and the government, particularly when the West and the USA are held up as an alternative?

I don't care if I have any support or no support. As I meet the standards of decorum on this forum, if you get me banned I will have been banned for my views and opinions and you will have shown your hypocrisy about free speech, a freedom deemed so important it is the First Amendment in the US Constitution. There is a saying in the US about free speech, or at least there used to be: "I disagree completely with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

This forum is not bound to follow the Bill of Rights, lol. I know you have contempt for the Constitution and everything it stands for, but your claim to free speech (1) Does not apply in this context, and (2) Is invalidated by the moral code you supposedly adhere to.

Sure, I don't deny that. This forum is free to ban me. But that is the ultimate display of hypocrisy; while arguing for "democracy and freedom" in supporting Ukraine, you're kicking me out because you disagree with my views.

Petition for Dule to become a mod?

[Astatine]

"Fringe extremist"? My view is on the fringe when it is shared by 1.4 billion people, and another 1.3 billion or so people share similar views, at least when it comes to how their respective governments have responded to the war? If you think my support for the CCP is "excessively weird", does it pain you to learn that by and large, Chinese people support the CCP and the government, particularly when the West and the USA are held up as an alternative?

I don't care if I have any support or no support. As I meet the standards of decorum on this forum, if you get me banned I will have been banned for my views and opinions and you will have shown your hypocrisy about free speech, a freedom deemed so important it is the First Amendment in the US Constitution. There is a saying in the US about free speech, or at least there used to be: "I disagree completely with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

This forum is not bound to follow the Bill of Rights, lol. I know you have contempt for the Constitution and everything it stands for, but your claim to free speech (1) Does not apply in this context, and (2) Is invalidated by the moral code you supposedly adhere to.

Sure, I don't deny that. This forum is free to ban me. But that is the ultimate display of hypocrisy; while arguing for "democracy and freedom" in supporting Ukraine, you're kicking me out because you disagree with my views.

Well the fact you can still share your dumb views without being banned or prosecuted speaks for itself - Wonder if you'd be able to share opposing views on Russia on ВКонтакте : )))

[Boobs]

Why does your sorry ass keep spamming this thread with your repetitive opinions?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Notable that Israel voted in favor of condemning Russia.  They've made a mess of things trying to appease both the west and Russia.

How much of the actions of the Israeli government are driven by getting, and keeping, the votes of Russian-speaking Israeli voters?
Iirc, I remember reading somewhere that 25% of the Israeli population speaks Russian.