Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[NOVA Green]

Speaks for itself...

https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1523333059348676609?s=20&t=zV-InDf4bS...

[NOVA Green]

Leak of UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace speech timed for VE Day:

Vladimir Putin’s regime is “mirroring” the actions of the Nazis, the UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, will say as the Russian leader stages a military parade to celebrate victory over Hitler’s fascists, according to an advance copy of the speech.

In a speech on Monday, Wallace will say president Putin and his inner circle should share the same fate as the Nazis, who ended up defeated and facing the Nuremberg trials for their atrocities.

According to extracts briefed to the Telegraph and Times, Wallace will say: “Through their invasion of Ukraine, Putin, his inner circle and generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 70 years ago, repeating the errors of last century’s totalitarian regimes.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/may/08/russia-ukraine-war-evacuation-of-women-and-children-from-mariupol-steelworks-complete-kyiv-claims-sinking-of-second-russian-ship-live

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQPress/status/1523429331778736134?s=20&t=SPAD1cu...

[NOVA Green]

Zelensky awards an honorary medal to Patron, the famous Ukrainian Mine Sniffing pooch...

https://twitter.com/mirandamohajrn/status/1514827727328911363?s=20&t=u0RZJu4...

https://twitter.com/ndtvfeed/status/1523464532227616769?s=20&t=_Ws_3emAYokJZ...

https://twitter.com/nytimesworld/status/1523468303850561536?s=20&t=_Ws_3emAY...

Strange how even during massive war, atrocities against Human Beings as well as COVID lockdowns in China, we still have effectively what is a nation of animal lovers.

Russian soldiers in Ukraine kill dogs for sport, while meanwhile Ukrainian animal lovers try to keep their cats & dogs alive.

Perhaps tells a bit more of a tale of two countries than anything else regarding this BS War...

Time to put on a little bit of UK Punk Rock from the '80s at a time where there were major social and political movements regarding testing animals in labs...

[Storr]

Even if the incident is completely made up, this is some top tier quality trolling:

https://twitter.com/thejumpmed/status/1523497283173638145?s=20&t=QV5J-vtBykO...

[Hindsight was 2020]

Well today is the day of the big parade and Putin has nothing to show for it lol

[2952-0-0]

Well today is the day of the big parade and Putin has nothing to show for it lol

There's speculation that he could order captured POWs to march through Red Square, like in the good old days. If that happens, it would be the war equivalent of this:

[It’s so Joever]

This probably has already been posted, but Popasna has fallen. This is a pretty big f**king deal and makes it more plausible to cut off Severodonetsk.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-russian-oil-ban-hits-131311689.html

Hungary looks set to put a stop to the European Union’s ban on Russian oil imports after leader Viktor Orbán compared the proposal to an atomic bomb.

Screw the EU then and each nation should unilaterally implement their sanctions .

Better yet. Kick Hungary out of the EU. It's high time. What a mistake that there are no official provisions for doing so.

Why do they have single members vetos?
Who looks at Poland-Lithuania and says ‘yeah, that’s a good idea’?

[nicholas.slaydon]

Well, that was fairly uneventful, thank God. No declaration of war, and no national mobilization.

[BlueSwan]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-russian-oil-ban-hits-131311689.html

Hungary looks set to put a stop to the European Union’s ban on Russian oil imports after leader Viktor Orbán compared the proposal to an atomic bomb.

Screw the EU then and each nation should unilaterally implement their sanctions .

Better yet. Kick Hungary out of the EU. It's high time. What a mistake that there are no official provisions for doing so.

Why do they have single members vetos?
Who looks at Poland-Lithuania and says ‘yeah, that’s a good idea’?

After the cold war ended there was a feeling of historical duty to include the eastern european countries in the western world, including the European Union. Infact, many people argued that it was happening too slowly. At the time the liberal idea that everybody wants liberal democracy was prevailing, so I don't think anybody seriously thought that a country that became part of the EU would suddenly go down an authoritarian rule. After all, back in the day Spain and Greece had been admitted to the EU (ECC) just a few years after becoming functional democracies.

But yeah, not having protocols for kicking out member states that abolish liberal democracy today seems utterly insane.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Well, that was fairly uneventful, thank God. No declaration of war, and no national mobilization.

Putin justified his attack on Ukaine as a preemptive strike to counter alleged Western invasion plans against Russia, essentially using a page from Rumsfeld's Iraq war text book.

[Lord Halifax]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-russian-oil-ban-hits-131311689.html

Hungary looks set to put a stop to the European Union’s ban on Russian oil imports after leader Viktor Orbán compared the proposal to an atomic bomb.

Screw the EU then and each nation should unilaterally implement their sanctions .

Better yet. Kick Hungary out of the EU. It's high time. What a mistake that there are no official provisions for doing so.

Why do they have single members vetos?
Who looks at Poland-Lithuania and says ‘yeah, that’s a good idea’?

that's the norm when sovereign nation states cooperate.

[DavidB.]

Yes, but the point is its still not a blanket rejection of everything "Russian".

Tbf supporting a ban on Tolstoy & co. is just plain russophobia, full stop.

The Jews went through a lot worse, but I don't really remember them being up in arms about blanket banning/removing "German literature".

No blanket ban, but playing Wagner in Israel is still controversial, and that's 80 years afterwards.

I would have expected these figures to be much more "anti-Russian" - and I would completely understand that. I don't like the witchhunt against everything and everyone loosely associated to Russia in the West (of course it's a very different matter for those who actually support the war - absolutely, ban them), but I fully understand why Ukrainians want to ban all that from their lives right now.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Yes, but the point is its still not a blanket rejection of everything "Russian".

Tbf supporting a ban on Tolstoy & co. is just plain russophobia, full stop.

The Jews went through a lot worse, but I don't really remember them being up in arms about blanket banning/removing "German literature".

It's very low IQ, and should be called out as such without excuses, especially considering many of the prominent authors would be disgusted by what's happening now, much like we are.

I have the feeling things will probably cool down the line. Ukraine isn't stupid enough to go this far into dumb Russophobia...hopefully.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Are we seriously sitting here worrying about Russian cultural acceptance in the place they are invading?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Are we seriously sitting here worrying about Russian cultural acceptance in the place they are invading?

I don't think there's any problem in calling out deranged takes from either side of the Ukraine-Russia border. "Ukraine's president is a Nazi" is deranged. "Let's keep people from enjoying Russian literature" is deranged.
Both can and should be called out.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Are we seriously sitting here worrying about Russian cultural acceptance in the place they are invading?

I don't think there's any problem in calling out deranged takes from either sides of the Ukraine-Russia border. "Ukraine's president is a Nazi" is deranged. "Let's keep people from enjoying Russian literature" is deranged.
Both can and should be called out.

War crimes are being committed in the name of one of these things and one is hypothetical.

So maybe we should modify the standards for calling out? Because creates a perception of moral equivalency where none exists.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/markmackinnon/status/1523613173928005632

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Are we seriously sitting here worrying about Russian cultural acceptance in the place they are invading?

I don't think there's any problem in calling out deranged takes from either sides of the Ukraine-Russia border. "Ukraine's president is a Nazi" is deranged. "Let's keep people from enjoying Russian literature" is deranged.
Both can and should be called out.

War crimes are being committed in the name of one of these things and one is hypothetical.

So maybe we should modify the standards for calling out? Because creates a perception of moral equivalency where none exists.

I don't think it creates an image of moral equivalency to be critical of stupid things we see on the morally better side.
I guess we ought to ban the use of the letter Z then!

[Middle-aged Europe]

Can't stop the signal.


https://twitter.com/BErickson_BIO/status/1523643101558243330

[Person Man]

Well, that was fairly uneventful, thank God. No declaration of war, and no national mobilization.

Which has the bonus of being of a show of weakness. We're smelling blood.

[Woody]

Russians erected a pontoon bridge over the Siverskyi Donets. Seems like they are trying for the encirclement of Lysychansk/Sieverodonetsk from the North and now the South since they have Popasna.

https://mobile.twitter.com/War_Mapper/status/1523453504609976320

https://t.me/serhiy_hayday/6379

[It’s so Joever]

Russians erected a pontoon bridge over the Siverskyi Donets. Seems like they are trying for the encirclement of Lysychansk/Sieverodonetsk from the North and now the South since they have Popasna.

https://mobile.twitter.com/War_Mapper/status/1523453504609976320

https://t.me/serhiy_hayday/6379

Tbf this was a pretty obvious strategy from day one of the Battle of Donbass. Still, if Ukrainians resist, capturing Severodonetsk may be bloody, or they may just give the city the Grozny treatment which would honestly not surprise me sadly.

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1523587781913501696?s=20&t=gln9dpl8eVbd16...

[Hindsight was 2020]

This probably has already been posted, but Popasna has fallen. This is a pretty big f**king deal and makes it more plausible to cut off Severodonetsk.

It doesn’t really matter as the overall encirclement can’t work with the Izium branch facing the type of setbacks it has. I really don’t get why you are always dooming on this stuff when time and time again Ukraine has played their cards right in this battle and anytime Russia has taken a town like this it’s because Ukraine let them do it as they are willing to trade land for stretching out Russia’s line and inflicting high causalities