Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[WMS]

Who here still genuinely thinks letting Russia do whatever they want in Ukraine and hoping sanctions work is the best option?

Goddamnit I’m going to sound like Sam F***ing Spade here but I ran across something on Twitter and…we’re not just letting Russia do what they want in Ukraine…but specifying more is actually dangerous in real life to…those involved…

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

BTW even had a piece about Russia in the new season. Check out the Russian Pinky and the Brain.

[brucejoel99]

Who here still genuinely thinks letting Russia do whatever they want in Ukraine and hoping sanctions work is the best option?

Goddamnit I’m going to sound like Sam F***ing Spade here but I ran across something on Twitter and…we’re not just letting Russia do what they want in Ukraine…but specifying more is actually dangerous in real life to…those involved…

Link? (Unless classified info that's gonna harm lives if leaked has somehow been published on Twitter, in which case, obviously please don't.)

[NOVA Green]

BTW even had a piece about Russia in the new season. Check out the Russian Pinky and the Brain.

Please BRTD and potential others, can we just move the anime coverage of Ukraine to another thread?

This doesn't even have anything to do with anything involving the Russian Invasion.

I mean it's not like I'm posting memes about the WWE pulling out the Russian market (Which they just did earlier today).

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Can someone please explain to me why Putin thinks blowing up a nuclear power plant is a good f*****g idea?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Bear with me a bit here -
Could the Russians be allowing the flames in the Zaporizhzhia complex spread unabated until they know it won't be operational, so that Ukraine will be more reliant on Russian natural gas and oil?

[Storr]

Who here still genuinely thinks letting Russia do whatever they want in Ukraine and hoping sanctions work is the best option?

Goddamnit I’m going to sound like Sam F***ing Spade here but I ran across something on Twitter and…we’re not just letting Russia do what they want in Ukraine…but specifying more is actually dangerous in real life to…those involved…

Yeah, sending Ukraine buttloads of SAMs and anti-tank missiles ins't "letting Russia do whatever they want". But I do think NATO should do more, especially if the Ukrainians begin to significantly lose the ability to fight.

If anything, maybe the USAF/NATO could pull a Soviet Union in the Korean War and secretly use pilots in Ukrainian marked planes. I know American flight testing companies have MiGs, so I'm sure there are some American pilots that can fly them. That's in addition to pilots in Eastern NATO countries that fly MiGs.

from wikipedia:
"The participation of the Soviet Union in the Korean War was kept secret, and pilots were forbidden to approach the front line or fly over the sea. The aircraft used PLAAF markings and pilots were given Chinese Communist documents and uniforms."

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1499543775240196099

The Russians are really that stupid.

If the plant explodes and sent radioactive plumes all over Europe, it would drag the rest of Europe into Ukraine.

[brucejoel99]

Bear with me a bit here -
Could the Russians be allowing the flames in the Zaporizhzhia complex spread unabated until they know it won't be operational, so that Ukraine will be more reliant on Russian natural gas and oil?

I think that the U.S. would sooner fully subsidize the linking of Ukraine's electrical grid with that of the EU's than we would allow a non-puppet Ukraine to be forced into future reliance on Russian natural gas & oil (not that the EU would need us to cover their costs in this scenario, given that Europe is now finally on-board with being as fully anti-Putin as us).

[WMS]

Who here still genuinely thinks letting Russia do whatever they want in Ukraine and hoping sanctions work is the best option?

Goddamnit I’m going to sound like Sam F***ing Spade here but I ran across something on Twitter and…we’re not just letting Russia do what they want in Ukraine…but specifying more is actually dangerous in real life to…those involved…

Link? (Unless classified info that's gonna harm lives if leaked has somehow been published on Twitter, in which case, obviously please don't.)

I can’t. It’s the speculation that’s dangerous about it. Someone speculated on something and was told that was a dangerous thing to do.

[WMS]

Who here still genuinely thinks letting Russia do whatever they want in Ukraine and hoping sanctions work is the best option?

Goddamnit I’m going to sound like Sam F***ing Spade here but I ran across something on Twitter and…we’re not just letting Russia do what they want in Ukraine…but specifying more is actually dangerous in real life to…those involved…

Yeah, sending Ukraine buttloads of SAMs and anti-tank missiles ins't "letting Russia do whatever they want". But I do think NATO should do more, especially if the Ukrainians begin to significantly lose the ability to fight.

If anything, maybe the USAF/NATO could pull a Soviet Union in the Korean War and secretly use pilots in Ukrainian marked planes. I know American flight testing companies have MiGs, so I'm sure there are some American pilots that can fly them. That's in addition to pilots in Eastern NATO countries that fly MiGs.

from wikipedia:
"The participation of the Soviet Union in the Korean War was kept secret, and pilots were forbidden to approach the front line or fly over the sea. The aircraft used PLAAF markings and pilots were given Chinese Communist documents and uniforms."

Loose lips sink ships.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Bear with me a bit here -
Could the Russians be allowing the flames in the Zaporizhzhia complex spread unabated until they know it won't be operational, so that Ukraine will be more reliant on Russian natural gas and oil?

I think that the U.S. would sooner fully subsidize the linking of Ukraine's electrical grid with that of the EU's than we would allow a non-puppet Ukraine to be forced into future reliance on Russian natural gas & oil (not that the EU would need us to do cover their cost in this scenario, given that the Europe is now finally on-board with being as fully anti-Putin as us).

Fair point. But I'm asking more about the Russians' intent, not what the likely end result would be.
Also, I checked. The wind in Zaporizhzhia is headed to the southeast right now.
Southeast - that is directly towards Crimea and the Caucusus...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

[Storr]

Who here still genuinely thinks letting Russia do whatever they want in Ukraine and hoping sanctions work is the best option?

Goddamnit I’m going to sound like Sam F***ing Spade here but I ran across something on Twitter and…we’re not just letting Russia do what they want in Ukraine…but specifying more is actually dangerous in real life to…those involved…

Yeah, sending Ukraine buttloads of SAMs and anti-tank missiles ins't "letting Russia do whatever they want". But I do think NATO should do more, especially if the Ukrainians begin to significantly lose the ability to fight.

If anything, maybe the USAF/NATO could pull a Soviet Union in the Korean War and secretly use pilots in Ukrainian marked planes. I know American flight testing companies have MiGs, so I'm sure there are some American pilots that can fly them. That's in addition to pilots in Eastern NATO countries that fly MiGs.

from wikipedia:
"The participation of the Soviet Union in the Korean War was kept secret, and pilots were forbidden to approach the front line or fly over the sea. The aircraft used PLAAF markings and pilots were given Chinese Communist documents and uniforms."

Loose lips sink ships.

Surprise, the Ghost of Kyiv is actually a dude from Kansas!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Needless to say, and I'll keep it at that - if Russia thinks bombarding this plant will do them any real  good whatsoever, then they are awfully deluded.

[It’s so Joever]

Needless to say, and I'll keep it at that - if Russia thinks bombarding this plant will do them any real  good whatsoever, then they are awfully deluded.

The idea is probably similar to their current war tactics and conventional attrition warfare, demoralize the civilian populace by cutting off their power. I don’t think, or so would hope that they aren’t aiming for a large scale nuclear plant meltdown.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Needless to say, and I'll keep it at that - if Russia thinks bombarding this plant will do them any real  good whatsoever, then they are awfully deluded.

The idea is probably similar to their current war tactics and conventional attrition warfare, demoralize the civilian populace by cutting off their power. I don’t think, or so would hope that they aren’t aiming for a large scale nuclear plant meltdown.

I hope you're right.
I've increasingly lost confidence in what I can expect from them anymore.

[Inmate Trump]

If that nuclear plant blows, then Putin is going to have to be dealt with much more strongly.

We can’t allow someone to be so extremely reckless that they would threaten world safety.

[emailking]

The winds would take the bulk of the radiation over Russia right?

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

They’re attacking the plant to damage Ukraine’s access to and control of key infrastructure, not to blow it up. The building on fire is (was?) administrative, but this is still obviously very dangerous. Without power to keep the coolant going, there is risk of a meltdown.

IIRC there are another 14 active nuclear power plants besides this one and none of them have been captured, so there’s a whole gauntlet of potential disasters ahead.

[NOVA Green]

Okay 100% genuine honest opinion from someone who has been involved in aspects of facilities maintenance at pretty large US MFG Plants.

I am much less worried about direct Russian military actions causing a nuclear situation than I am about routine Facilities and Maintenance activities, lack of skilled workers supporting facility infrastructure, accidental discharge and failures of life safety systems, backup generators failing to support emergency power supply issues, etc....

Russia wants to conquer the plant intact but the biggest threat is NOT from direct ongoing combat at Plant Facilities, but many of the side issues I mentioned.

We're not looking like a Hiroshima situation, let alone a Chernobyl situation at this point.

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

Just drop a series of EMPs over Russia and go in and arrest Putin then hang him from a stoplight in a Russia street.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/phildstewart/status/1499566442609614850

[It’s so Joever]

Snap map has suddenly stopped working in Ukraine from my end. I’ve been using it to look at glimpses of the conflict from a civilian lens, but everything has stopped. Not like no new snaps, but literally even snaps from just a few hours ago are gone. This isn’t normal FYI, it never happened when I did this with Syria and Yemen, so either my phone is weird or something changed. It does still work in the areas that were controlled by the separatists pre invasion.

[WMS]

https://twitter.com/natashabertrand/status/1499351747571113984?s=21

Worth a read.