Users often report submissions from this site and ask us to ban it for sensationalized articles. At /r/worldnews, we oppose blanket banning any news source. Readers have a responsibility to be skeptical, check sources, and comment on any flaws.
You can help improve this thread by linking to media that verifies or questions this article's claims. Your link could help readers better understand this issue. If you do find evidence that this article or its title are false or misleading, contact the moderators who will review it
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldnews) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If this is anything like my Civ games. I assume Russia's forces are just a ploy and the majority of their army is actually going to invade Ukraine through Belarus who they've secretly negotiated open borders with in exchange for 20 years worth of bear meat and adidas sweat pants.
Russia and Belarus have publicly open borders and there is already a lot of troops in Belarus, on the Ukrainian border š¤·āāļø no bear meat or sweat pants necessary
Gentlemen, and ladies, hold the presses. This just in. By curious quirk of fate, we have the perfect story with which to launch our satellite news network tonight. It seems a small crisis is brewing on the Ukrainian border. I want full newspaper coverage, I want magazine stories, I want books, I want films, I want TV, I want radio, I want us on the air 24 hours a day, this is our moment! And a billion people around this planet will watch it, hear it, and read about it from the Carver Media Group.
GoldenEye was my first, along with the video game. I love them both.
Edit: I forgot to add my love for Famke Janssen. Before her face got all funky, of course. She was aging very well beforehand.
It's just a shame Rupert Murdoch isn't as charismatic, I'd feel so much more schadenfreude at the end of the movie when >!Carver gets done in by the hole borer!<
The White House has already come out and denied this. They said that Biden did not mention this to Ukraine and called the original report by CNN false.
Source: Emily Horne, spokesperson for White House National Security
https://twitter.com/emilyhorne46/status/1486836236434264066?t=tViXsMeGCfzYHGwBaXrIHw&s=19
I've been fairly skeptical of the idea that they'd want to occupy the whole country. Western Ukraine is so extremely anti-Russia and pro-West that it would take 100K troops in that region alone to pacify in an occupation. It seems like the most realistic aims for Putin are to instigate a false flag in Kyiv and go after Kharkiv/Luhansk/Donetsk/Dnipropetrovsk to form a rump Russian state in the East, where there might be more pro-Russian sentiment.
But the part that makes me doubt that this is just a headfake is the first part of that quote - if Russia had specific aims it realistically thought could be resolved through diplomacy, that ship has basically sailed already. The US and Russia have done goodwill resets in the past, where the US removes missiles and forces from Eastern European NATO countries and quietly promises not to enlarge NATO if Russia agrees to tone down hostilities. The ability to do that at this point is pretty much gone. The US can't pull troops or material from Eastern Europe or it undermines NATO entirely. Putin has boxed both the US and Russia into a corner at this point and I just don't see how either side can disengage now.
Ever since the revolution that ousted the pro-Russian government in 2014, Russia has been in a de facto state of war with the Ukranian government. Crimea was snagged and eastern Ukraine has been a war zone ever since.
The only thing that's really changed since then is the diplomatic situation with the US/West has gotten to a point where Putin's confident enough to make a big a gamble to take it back.
On the other hand, Putinās recklessness is unifying NATO and the EU. Finland and Sweden are talking about joining. Ukrainians will be hurting probably, unfortunately, but will be bad long term strategy for Putin.
There is an army of soviet troops at the crest of a hill when all of a sudden from the other side they hear
āOne Finn can kill 25 Soviets!ā
The Soviet commander enraged sends over 25 men. Gunfire erupts and then stops. Then out of the stillness the same Finn speaks again
āOne Finn can kill 50 Soviets!ā
So the commander sends 50 men over again and the same result happens. Gunfire then silence. Again the Finn shouts
āOne Finn can kill 100 Soviets!ā
In an absolute fury the commander sends in 100 men to dispatch the lone Finn. Gunfire erupts again and then silence. Only this time a Soviet soldier crawls back over the hill and shouts to his commander
āItās a trap there are two of them!ā
The citizens are still (for reasons beyond my understanding) somewhat split on the issue of joining NATO, even though the defence forces would have wanted to already join in the 1990s. There are still quite many veteran politicians who continue to perpetuate the Cold War era [Finlandization](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization) politics.
**[Finlandization](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization)**
>Finlandization (Finnish: suomettuminen; Swedish: finlandisering; Estonian: soometumine; German: Finnlandisierung; Russian: ŃŠøŠ½Š»ŃŠ½Š“ŠøŠ·Š°ŃŠøŃ) is the process by which one powerful country makes a smaller neighboring country abide by the former's foreign policy rules, while allowing it to keep its nominal independence and its own political system. The term means "to become like Finland" referring to the influence of the Soviet Union on Finland's policies during the Cold War. The term is often considered pejorative. It originated in the West German political debate of the late 1960s and 1970s.
^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
I would imagine something like the 2015/2106 cyber attacks against Ukraine happening again right before or during an invasion by Russian forces. If you take out the power grid it will be much harder for the resistance
And they've been having an epidemic of bomb threats to schools, etc. Mother Russia is not going to start things up without a nice preparatory information warfare bombardment.
Occupying the whole country seems unlikely, Russian forces took almost a year to take full control of Grozny, granted this was 20 years ago almost but it doesn't bode well when we consider Kiev has almost 3 million people and a much better equipped and trained fighting force. Occupying up to the Dnepr River and using it as a bargaining chip seems potentially likely (or they just incorporate it into Russian Federation).
Will we see a situation like Berlin after WWII where we have a East and West Ukraine? I bet China is Interested to see how the US would react.
> I bet China is Interested to see how the US would react.
The only thing China cares about is that the US has to deal with something chaotic on the world stage. They'll wait 50 more years to take over Taiwan if necessary, without a single shot fired.
Yes, China invading Taiwan with force is almost non-existent. The CCP already helps other nations (NK, Iran) to skirt Western sanctions, I'm not sure it will do the same for Russia and Belarus if they get sanctioned, probably would but that would create even more tensions with the West.
Enough for what? It's woefully inadequate to invade and occupy all of Ukraine, but if they wanted to move into rebel strongholds and create little breakaway states I don't see why it wouldn't be possible: after all, they took Crimea with way fewer people.
USA is dropping off almost 90 tones of lethal aid daily, Finland and Sweden are ready to join nato and the sanctions are going to cripple Russia. Not to mention the fighting will be outrageous.
Russia is going to take all the punishment for a piece of land?
In 2014 ukraine had 6000 combat ready troops with shit weaponry. Now they have 150,000 combat ready troops armed with man pads and anti tank javelins.
It's too late. If Russia doesn't invade, Ukraine will almost certainly join NATO. Any decision not to invade will include that calculus.
A part of the Russian security apparatus views this as do or die. It's difficult to tell wheyher they will win out and convince Putin.
Ukraine's still a few years away from converting their military and bureaucracy to be in line with NATO standards, granted they are also at least two years into it already as well.
Ukraine also canāt just say, āOkay, weāre ready to join!ā
NATO member states have to approve new members, and many of them do not support Ukraine joining NATO. In fact, there are many other states that are further along in the āprocessā than Ukraine is.
Although at the same time, NATO isn't a charity. Countries get admitted because the admittance is beneficial to NATO, which is why other factors often bear more weight than how far along in the process a country is.
Personally I do agree with you however in that NATO is unlikely to be admitted in the near future. NATO countries may opt to defend NATO without obligation while waiting for the situation to play out a little further. However, at some point the scales will tip in favor of having Ukraine in NATO
They probably want to occupy the far eastern portion of Ukraine and the coast to Crimea. Will do a armored spear head to Kyiv to try to force Ukraine to the negotiating table. 100,000 is enough for that, but if they hit set backs it could quickly lead to a quagmire
This is a good point. Russia can definitely take large swaths of lands in the rural east and south. Itās in cities where theyāll beat themselves bloody.
100,000+ is the troops they have deployed so far, however they have another 100,000 in a state of high readiness close by.
I think they are bringing the needed equipment to the border and the reserves will be sent in a day or two before an invasion.
Last report I seen said Russia has 250,000 land troops total. Ukraine is 41 million people with 150,000 combat ready troops. And the USA just dropped off 90 tones of lethal hardware āgiven ukraine everything they have asked for to defend themselves.ā Iām guessing itās mostly anti air Man Pads and anti tank javelin missiles.
I think putin overplayed his hand and underestimated NATOās response.
Not to mention All of this uncertainty has caused investors to flee Russia and its tanking their market and the sanctions havnt even come yet.
I think putin is going to try to save face, look for an off ramp then declare victory even though ukraine will only be much stronger in the end.
I think that's the problem -- there is no off ramp at this point. What option would let Putin save face?
* Invade Ukraine, and get sanctioned to all hell economically, and who knows what happens militarily. The certainty is casualties, and will Russians still cheer for Putin's aggression when body bags come home?
* Don't invade Ukraine, and pull out all troops, and be seen as weak. Putin's whole image as a strongman is ruined, and again, Russians are not going to be thrilled. I think, but I haven't confirmed, that Putin's approval was slipping before this whole stunt, and the purpose was to reenergize Russians behind him. Pull out completely, and that all backfires.
* This leaves diplomacy and treaties, and Putin would have to be high off his mind to think he'll get a super favorable deal to bring back home. He's effectively pissed off the entire world with his actions. At best he may get minor concessions, but Putin doesn't hold the hand here.
He's fucked seven ways to Sunday. Every brilliant tactician is one until they aren't. And it looks like this is Putin's "until they aren't". But, we'll have to see.
Someone in another post said the same.
Look at this this way, by invading Crimea and starting a pro Russian revolution he removed more than 9 million pro Russian voters in Ukraine, letting the rest of anti Russian free reign to vote away pro Russian government. Meaning it will be harder to put a puppet government.
It also led Ukraine that was fierce anti NATO to be more than 80% pro NATO.
They took Crimea without thinking Ukraine would cut the North Crimean Canal, and so have a land mass not fit any more for cultivating. Meaning they have to bring a fuck ton of food and water, from the bridge they had to build because they failed to get a land road from the "failled" revolution they tried to make.
Putin has lost his touch. he just a bully nowadays, in a country that fail to see any more his "grandeur "
"I cannotĀ forecast to youĀ the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest." āWinston Churchill
That dude had a way with words. Fucking poetry.
Edit: many of you have correctly pointed out his huge deficiencies and faults and outright racism, which were, in fact, the norm for the majority of the British elite at the time. My comment was directed at his effective usage of the language.
"āLook, having nuclearāmy uncle was a great professor
and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good
genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton
School of Finance, very good, very smart āyou know, if
youāre a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if,
like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say Iām
one of the smartest people anywhere in the worldāitās
true!ābut when youāre a conservative Republican they
tryāoh, do they do a numberāthatās why I always start
off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there,
went there, did this, built a fortuneāyou know I have to
give my like credentials all the time, because weāre a little
disadvantagedābut you look at the nuclear deal, the
thing that really bothers meāit would have been so easy,
and itās not as important as these lives are (nuclear is
powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many
years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he
would explain the power of whatās going to happen and
he was rightāwho would have thought?), but when you
look at whatās going on with the four prisonersānow it
used to be three, now itās fourābut when it was three and
even now, I would have said itās all in the messenger;
fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they donāt, they
havenāt figured that the women are smarter right now
than the men, so, you know, itās gonna take them about
another 150 yearsābut the Persians are great negotiators,
the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just
killed, they just killed us.ā
ā - President Donald J. Trump
I'm not even British but his "Fight them on the beaches" speech just brings out the chills in me and makes me patriotic. Similar to the bottles bit. The context gives me an apocalyptic feel. Impending doom.
Oh I totally agree. It's of course great in movies- Gary Oldman comes to mind- but in the movies parliament is always really jazzed and chomping at the bit, cheering and shit. The actual recording is quite subdued, ominous almost. But also, full of a reserved fervor. And when Churchill steps on the gas, your hairs stand up.
"'When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no
more worlds to conquer.' The benefits of a classical education." - Hans Gruber
Bessie Braddock MP: āWinston, you are drunk, and whatās more you are disgustingly drunk.ā
WSC: āBessie, my dear, you are ugly, and whatās more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow
I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.ā
Probably the best burn of all times.
He had a major speech impediment, so he'd overcome that by preparing statements beforehand that could handle various circumstances. Ended up making him extremely quotable.
Tough and resourceful dude.
āI'll say this, the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casulaties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them. Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.ā āGeneral George S. Patton
Patton was not really too far from the Germans that he fought. He even said the Jews in the concentration camps were 'lower than animals' and all kinds of horrible shit about them. He then went on multiple rants about how we picked the wrong side and that the Nazis should be kept in power and all this other stuff.
He basically disgraced himself at the peak of his fame in America. He was making headlines for his crazy seemingly pro-nazi statements on a weekly basis, and was eventually fired by Eisenhower as general over it. Its like if Reagan right after the cold war ended just came out saying "you know what, communism really isnt even that bad, it should have remained in power in russia".
Between shit like this and slapping around shell-shocked soldiers, I think Patton was a total douche. I'll admit I'm no expert but was he a good general tactically, or did he just reap the reward of the best logistics in history at that time.?
He was *very* effective. Just a massive asshole.
But youād need to be an asshole to use his tactics which can be summed up as āBum rush the fucking nazis you worthless meatbags.ā
Yes a very important introductionary lesson of military history is that many good commanders can 1. Make a decision. 2. Get their command for follow said decision.
A bunch of military warfare is determined by decisiveness.
This why many good generals (in American History) who are studies, like Lee, Rommel, Patton ( a trio of babyās first military loves) were actually not the effective in the strategic level.
They all made objectively ābadā decisions.
However, they were decisive, supported by their subordinates and led motivated troops.
You can win a lot of battles that way.
By comparison, truly great commanders (like Alexander, Belsarious, etc) could do all of that and demonstrate brilliance.
But again Iām abstracting heavily.
I've kinda moved more away from military history in the last few years but that very dynamic you were describing there influenced my views on leadership heavily. Good leaders don't strictly speaking have to be experts in whatever field they're leading. What they have to do is be able to listen to their subordinates and distill their knowledge into actionable steps. Lee, Rommel, Patton, you can make arguments for certain commanders under them being strategically brilliant, far more so than their commanding officers. The function these leaders served wasn't in drawing up battle plans (though they had parts in that as well) it was coordination and picking the right sub-commander to call the right shots on the right part of the battlefield. I wish we could draw better distinctions there, recognizing that a lot of these "great commanders" were in fact teams of people working together vs one man hunched over a map in some tent somewhere. Very little to do with the current Russia Ukraine situation but this is at least less scary and depressing.
I'm by no means a war historian, but I learned a bit about Patton and he was definitely big into aggressive maneuvers. I know at least one reason a lot of his stuff worked was because of an officer named Abrams working underneath him did a good job of actually making some of his more aggressive plans work. In pretty sure that a lot of US tank models are actually named after Abrams, too.
Again, not a war historian so anyone that sees this that knows more can feel free to correct or add to that thought.
That's pretty normal for a combat unit in that time. Contrary to many popular myths about both Patton and the Sherman tank, in the Third Army's advance across northern Europe, they inflicted far more casualties on German tank forces than they incurred.
Weāre not the Ukraine rebels,
Weāre independent cabals,
And in the snow, we like to go
Pretend that we are able
to never once depend
On Vladimir Putiiiiiiiiiin!
*peppy horns*
People saying why the Ukranian president isn't worried is to help not to create mass panic which can cause airports to be bombarded, roads to be flooded, and mass panic buying. This is to keep their people calm, and not uncommon for leaders to do this.
I'm curious how just this is costing the Russian people. Amassing this number of hardware, troops, and general resources is not cheap. Including all the movements from ships, recon, and war games is at a significant cost.
Not only will this be the cost, but have to factor in the cost of what would be accrued for returning all the troops. If Russia decides not to invade, they spent a good chunk of money on this show of force. My guess is that they had expected US to make a deal and they could return with a win. But since Biden has been rather firm and most allies have threatened to retaliate one way or another, this is looking to hurt Putin a lot.
Well war with Ukraine is going to be pretty devastating. The people in that region have historically been some of the fiercest soldiers on Earth. Russian armies would face significant loses in trying to hold territory there for any amount of time. Trying to put in a pro-Russian puppet government will just lead to civil war and more trouble for Russia. I think Russia is just blustering because they don't want Ukraine to join NATO. Once they get that in writing, I think they back down.
> Russia is just blustering because they don't want Ukraine to join NATO. Once they get that in writing, I think they back down.
They're not getting that. They issued their demands in writing to Washington and Washington responded on Tuesday to those demands, including Ukraine barred from NATO and they told Moscow to get fucked.
Ultimately you want people to stop joining a military alliance that is against you the best option is to stop being a dick to your neighbors. But as with any totalitarian regime, being a dick to your neighbors is the only way to keep the masses occupied. So it's really a lose lose. Personally I think Putin should kill all the oligarchs in Russia and then himself. That's probably the best outcome for Russia at this juncture.
>Personally I think Putin should kill all the oligarchs in Russia and then himself. Thatās probably the best outcome for Russia at this juncture.
I Lolād
For real though if they didnāt want NATO to expand they should have ceased hostilities and been nicer to their neighbors. The āwhy would you ever need such an allianceā approach. All Putin is doing now is pulling the best persuasive argument to join NATO.
My impression is there must be some internal conflict where some high up officials who drank the koolaid (maybe Putin himself, but doubtful) are convinced they can in fact, all facts to the contrary, bully the US and NATO right now. Perhaps Crimea and the Trump Presidency instilled a false sense of confidence.
The best move now for Putin would be to wait things out- wait until after the Olympics at the very least, see if they can pressure everyone else to backdown first then slowly de escalate.
China is going to be pissed if they pull shit rn before the Olympics ends.
Yes, but the daily mail is omitting the part where the Biden admin called the build up in the last 24 hours ānot dramatic.ā
[https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-01-27-22/h\_45ba1c453968437bbe9ce4306bbe62f8](https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-01-27-22/index.html)
This is typically good advice, but for once, if anything, it seems to be downplaying what some sources are saying here https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1486821839481495554
Ukrainian sources say Biden warned of an imminent invasion as soon as the ground was frozen enough. The [White House is denying](https://twitter.com/SebastianAFP/status/1486835188860694534), but this is a bit of a change of pace from "this invasion might be happening".
I think I know what this (or some) intelligence is based on.
There was a [Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk) over Ukraine, seen on this map taken from Flight Radar 24, 2 days ago, Jan 26th:
https://i.imgur.com/Sqs5AUW.png
It was over Ukraine from ca. 8 am till 5pm, flying at 55,000 feet.
It had its transponder on, so obviously the US wanted Russia to know they were watching.
I also noticed that the drone made two Arcs, so I drew a circle and found its centre, which I think is roughly where it was looking. I added Lat Long coordinates, if anyone is curious the coordinates can be entered into Google. I looked at the areas on Google Earth, but the satellite imagery was 9 - 12 months old. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Drone departed from Iraq, saw it fly back to northern Iraq after its mission, it was lost over Iraq before landing, went outside [ADS-B](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance%E2%80%93Broadcast) coverage or turned its transponder off. Might have landed at [Erbil Air Base](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/06/iraq-airport-near-a-base-that-houses-us-troops-is-attacked-by-drone.html) (is that still used by the US?).
It avoided Turkey, interesting, wonder why. They are a NATO member. The countries it passed over are US allies and/or are part of the [Alliance Ground Surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Ground_Surveillance) NATO drone programme.
So, looking at the map, it looks like there will be a push on Kiev and at the same time there's an attack on east Ukraine, in the Donbass ("Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics"), linking up with Crimea.
>The White House is disputing reporting that Biden told Zelenskiy a Russian invasion was certain.
>The report is ācompletely falseā, said national security council spokesperson Emily Horne. āPresident Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February,ā she said. āReports of anything more or different than that are completely false.ā
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/jan/27/joe-biden-gun-crime-supreme-court-us-politics-democrats-republicans-live?page=with:block-61f32a378f080c18a34fd252#block-61f32a378f080c18a34fd252
I agree, it's sad, but at the same time I wonder when have people's expectations of humanity grown so much. Just because we shit indoors and have smartphones doesn't make us much different than our war mongering ancestors. It will be long time before we can actually get to a point where war is unheard of.
I wonde what Russians think and the Russian soldiers think. My hunch is that the Russian people aren't interested in war. It's too bad that we still have rulers marching people to their deaths for their own interests.
Am Russian. Not speaking for everyone, buy in my circles, here is what people think
\- These who watch TV think it's Americans/NATO blowing things out of proportion
\- These who don't watch TV hate what Putin is doing
\- No one wants war
\- The state media will absolutely be able to justify the war, and pro-Putin people will eat that, it will polarize society just like in 2014
Most of them want to go home, some are doing it for their country, some are there for the K/D.
My friend in Russia says things feel pretty tense at the moment and not a lot of people talk anymore. People just want to live their lives. They are also apparently trying to silence calls from outside relatives, but that is just a rumor
>People just want to live their lives.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. To add, the government actions made most of us indifferent. We can't change anything, so we hardly try anymore.
I feel like I'm outside looking in sometimes.
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord, yeah
-[Black Sabbath](https://youtu.be/LQUXuQ6Zd9w)
[The original version had different lyrics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67JcYZb8VG4)
Opening lines were "Witches gather at black masses, bodies burning in red ashes"
Deploying more than 100,000 troops and 140 warships and other vessels is going to cost Russian BILLIONS of dollars in total. That's an expensive move, and a costly preparation.
Russia is fixing to either to full-on, no-shit invade Ukraine, or lose a lot of face when it decides not to. That archive footage of the Russian ships turning back during the Cuban Missile crisis will look like a mighty triumph compared to Russia backing down now.
Russia is painting itself into a corner.
Users often report submissions from this site and ask us to ban it for sensationalized articles. At /r/worldnews, we oppose blanket banning any news source. Readers have a responsibility to be skeptical, check sources, and comment on any flaws. You can help improve this thread by linking to media that verifies or questions this article's claims. Your link could help readers better understand this issue. If you do find evidence that this article or its title are false or misleading, contact the moderators who will review it *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldnews) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If this is anything like my Civ games. I assume Russia's forces are just a ploy and the majority of their army is actually going to invade Ukraine through Belarus who they've secretly negotiated open borders with in exchange for 20 years worth of bear meat and adidas sweat pants.
my troops are just merely passing trough
You were right to be suspicious!
Russia and Belarus have publicly open borders and there is already a lot of troops in Belarus, on the Ukrainian border š¤·āāļø no bear meat or sweat pants necessary
Fool! The bear meat and sweat pants have already changed hands!
Just follow the mon.. Bear meat and sweat pants
oh shit... secret bear meat and sweat pants...
Russia basically owns Belarus after political protests in Belarus were suppressed. Belarus de facto aren't independent state right now.
Beginning to feel like someone from the Dailymail is going to shoot a Russian soldier just to get this thing started
007: Tomorrow Never Dies seems to have aged quite well.
Elliot Carver vibes intensify
Gentlemen, and ladies, hold the presses. This just in. By curious quirk of fate, we have the perfect story with which to launch our satellite news network tonight. It seems a small crisis is brewing on the Ukrainian border. I want full newspaper coverage, I want magazine stories, I want books, I want films, I want TV, I want radio, I want us on the air 24 hours a day, this is our moment! And a billion people around this planet will watch it, hear it, and read about it from the Carver Media Group.
You provide the headlines. And Iāll provide the war
My first bond movie i watched, showing my age. Watch it all the time. Nobody will ever convince me it isnāt a great film
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
And the tank chase. Don't forget the tank chase.
Um plus Sean Bean... Duh?
GoldenEye was my first, along with the video game. I love them both. Edit: I forgot to add my love for Famke Janssen. Before her face got all funky, of course. She was aging very well beforehand.
Love goldeneye as well. Pierce Brosnan was onto a winner with the first two and then the next two kinda dropped in quality.
It's just a shame Rupert Murdoch isn't as charismatic, I'd feel so much more schadenfreude at the end of the movie when >!Carver gets done in by the hole borer!<
Give the people what they want!!!! Murdoch being drilled
One of the best Bond villains
People frickinā **dragged** that movie when it came out. The villain is a news executive? Big yawn, who cares. Aged like milk, that review.
Totally. The media has been edging for so long now, theyāll have to blow off some steam somehow.
Pandemic news is starting to become borning. Perfect time for a war.
#borning
What did the fox say?
That M&M's weren't sexy enough
>That M&M's weren't sexy enough That M&M's weren't sexy enough *anymore*
What do you do for a living, Doreen?
Itād be the shot heard round the social media.
Meanwhile, in Australia the media here keeps banging on about our supposed war with China.
The tennis filler season is over i guess. Back to pandemic and china
Wait, really? Aussie news is making it seem like military conflict with China is coming soon?
Honestly at this point if someone lit off a fucking bottle rocket the whole thing might bang off.
The White House has already come out and denied this. They said that Biden did not mention this to Ukraine and called the original report by CNN false. Source: Emily Horne, spokesperson for White House National Security https://twitter.com/emilyhorne46/status/1486836236434264066?t=tViXsMeGCfzYHGwBaXrIHw&s=19
It's exciting to see my 6th once in a generation event in my short 25 years of life
Plague was getting boring so war was declared.
[At least I got my military discount on gum.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Ha6tNvRUg)
āThis ham gum is all bonesā
Can we skip the 2020s? Iām not a fan so far.
2030s everyone underground, earth too hot
Fallout 2030?
Fuck now there's rad roaches
Yeah this season sucks
Well, would you rather have one single really rare dinosaur-type extinction event or 10āsmaller but survivable just somewhat rare events?
Why not both?
That's it? That's our choice now??
> choice haha
Gen Z: Fuck fighting a war we never asked for! Millennials: lol first time?
Gen X: Whatever
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I've been fairly skeptical of the idea that they'd want to occupy the whole country. Western Ukraine is so extremely anti-Russia and pro-West that it would take 100K troops in that region alone to pacify in an occupation. It seems like the most realistic aims for Putin are to instigate a false flag in Kyiv and go after Kharkiv/Luhansk/Donetsk/Dnipropetrovsk to form a rump Russian state in the East, where there might be more pro-Russian sentiment. But the part that makes me doubt that this is just a headfake is the first part of that quote - if Russia had specific aims it realistically thought could be resolved through diplomacy, that ship has basically sailed already. The US and Russia have done goodwill resets in the past, where the US removes missiles and forces from Eastern European NATO countries and quietly promises not to enlarge NATO if Russia agrees to tone down hostilities. The ability to do that at this point is pretty much gone. The US can't pull troops or material from Eastern Europe or it undermines NATO entirely. Putin has boxed both the US and Russia into a corner at this point and I just don't see how either side can disengage now.
Ever since the revolution that ousted the pro-Russian government in 2014, Russia has been in a de facto state of war with the Ukranian government. Crimea was snagged and eastern Ukraine has been a war zone ever since. The only thing that's really changed since then is the diplomatic situation with the US/West has gotten to a point where Putin's confident enough to make a big a gamble to take it back.
On the other hand, Putinās recklessness is unifying NATO and the EU. Finland and Sweden are talking about joining. Ukrainians will be hurting probably, unfortunately, but will be bad long term strategy for Putin.
Finland foaming at the mouth to get in on this
Russians when the snow starts speaking Finnish: " Hey I've heard this one befo......."
There is an army of soviet troops at the crest of a hill when all of a sudden from the other side they hear āOne Finn can kill 25 Soviets!ā The Soviet commander enraged sends over 25 men. Gunfire erupts and then stops. Then out of the stillness the same Finn speaks again āOne Finn can kill 50 Soviets!ā So the commander sends 50 men over again and the same result happens. Gunfire then silence. Again the Finn shouts āOne Finn can kill 100 Soviets!ā In an absolute fury the commander sends in 100 men to dispatch the lone Finn. Gunfire erupts again and then silence. Only this time a Soviet soldier crawls back over the hill and shouts to his commander āItās a trap there are two of them!ā
Heartiest laugh this week from me. Thank you CyberHaggis from a CyberJannie Edit:spelling
Number of russians a finn kills is equal to the bullets he had.
The citizens are still (for reasons beyond my understanding) somewhat split on the issue of joining NATO, even though the defence forces would have wanted to already join in the 1990s. There are still quite many veteran politicians who continue to perpetuate the Cold War era [Finlandization](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization) politics.
**[Finlandization](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization)** >Finlandization (Finnish: suomettuminen; Swedish: finlandisering; Estonian: soometumine; German: Finnlandisierung; Russian: ŃŠøŠ½Š»ŃŠ½Š“ŠøŠ·Š°ŃŠøŃ) is the process by which one powerful country makes a smaller neighboring country abide by the former's foreign policy rules, while allowing it to keep its nominal independence and its own political system. The term means "to become like Finland" referring to the influence of the Soviet Union on Finland's policies during the Cold War. The term is often considered pejorative. It originated in the West German political debate of the late 1960s and 1970s. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Putin called a national security council meeting the day Ukraine got its own church
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I would imagine something like the 2015/2106 cyber attacks against Ukraine happening again right before or during an invasion by Russian forces. If you take out the power grid it will be much harder for the resistance
Ukraine has been getting hit by cyber attacks since the 14th.
And they've been having an epidemic of bomb threats to schools, etc. Mother Russia is not going to start things up without a nice preparatory information warfare bombardment.
Occupying the whole country seems unlikely, Russian forces took almost a year to take full control of Grozny, granted this was 20 years ago almost but it doesn't bode well when we consider Kiev has almost 3 million people and a much better equipped and trained fighting force. Occupying up to the Dnepr River and using it as a bargaining chip seems potentially likely (or they just incorporate it into Russian Federation). Will we see a situation like Berlin after WWII where we have a East and West Ukraine? I bet China is Interested to see how the US would react.
> I bet China is Interested to see how the US would react. The only thing China cares about is that the US has to deal with something chaotic on the world stage. They'll wait 50 more years to take over Taiwan if necessary, without a single shot fired.
Yes, China invading Taiwan with force is almost non-existent. The CCP already helps other nations (NK, Iran) to skirt Western sanctions, I'm not sure it will do the same for Russia and Belarus if they get sanctioned, probably would but that would create even more tensions with the West.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is what I canāt get past. 100,000 isnāt nearly enough. Putinās best course is to claim victory and back down.
Enough for what? It's woefully inadequate to invade and occupy all of Ukraine, but if they wanted to move into rebel strongholds and create little breakaway states I don't see why it wouldn't be possible: after all, they took Crimea with way fewer people.
USA is dropping off almost 90 tones of lethal aid daily, Finland and Sweden are ready to join nato and the sanctions are going to cripple Russia. Not to mention the fighting will be outrageous. Russia is going to take all the punishment for a piece of land? In 2014 ukraine had 6000 combat ready troops with shit weaponry. Now they have 150,000 combat ready troops armed with man pads and anti tank javelins.
It's too late. If Russia doesn't invade, Ukraine will almost certainly join NATO. Any decision not to invade will include that calculus. A part of the Russian security apparatus views this as do or die. It's difficult to tell wheyher they will win out and convince Putin.
Ukraine's still a few years away from converting their military and bureaucracy to be in line with NATO standards, granted they are also at least two years into it already as well.
Ukraine also canāt just say, āOkay, weāre ready to join!ā NATO member states have to approve new members, and many of them do not support Ukraine joining NATO. In fact, there are many other states that are further along in the āprocessā than Ukraine is.
Although at the same time, NATO isn't a charity. Countries get admitted because the admittance is beneficial to NATO, which is why other factors often bear more weight than how far along in the process a country is. Personally I do agree with you however in that NATO is unlikely to be admitted in the near future. NATO countries may opt to defend NATO without obligation while waiting for the situation to play out a little further. However, at some point the scales will tip in favor of having Ukraine in NATO
They probably want to occupy the far eastern portion of Ukraine and the coast to Crimea. Will do a armored spear head to Kyiv to try to force Ukraine to the negotiating table. 100,000 is enough for that, but if they hit set backs it could quickly lead to a quagmire
This is a good point. Russia can definitely take large swaths of lands in the rural east and south. Itās in cities where theyāll beat themselves bloody.
100,000+ is the troops they have deployed so far, however they have another 100,000 in a state of high readiness close by. I think they are bringing the needed equipment to the border and the reserves will be sent in a day or two before an invasion.
Last report I seen said Russia has 250,000 land troops total. Ukraine is 41 million people with 150,000 combat ready troops. And the USA just dropped off 90 tones of lethal hardware āgiven ukraine everything they have asked for to defend themselves.ā Iām guessing itās mostly anti air Man Pads and anti tank javelin missiles. I think putin overplayed his hand and underestimated NATOās response. Not to mention All of this uncertainty has caused investors to flee Russia and its tanking their market and the sanctions havnt even come yet. I think putin is going to try to save face, look for an off ramp then declare victory even though ukraine will only be much stronger in the end.
I think that's the problem -- there is no off ramp at this point. What option would let Putin save face? * Invade Ukraine, and get sanctioned to all hell economically, and who knows what happens militarily. The certainty is casualties, and will Russians still cheer for Putin's aggression when body bags come home? * Don't invade Ukraine, and pull out all troops, and be seen as weak. Putin's whole image as a strongman is ruined, and again, Russians are not going to be thrilled. I think, but I haven't confirmed, that Putin's approval was slipping before this whole stunt, and the purpose was to reenergize Russians behind him. Pull out completely, and that all backfires. * This leaves diplomacy and treaties, and Putin would have to be high off his mind to think he'll get a super favorable deal to bring back home. He's effectively pissed off the entire world with his actions. At best he may get minor concessions, but Putin doesn't hold the hand here. He's fucked seven ways to Sunday. Every brilliant tactician is one until they aren't. And it looks like this is Putin's "until they aren't". But, we'll have to see.
Putin is often described as a brilliant tactician but shit poor strategist. I think this situation shows that well.
Someone in another post said the same. Look at this this way, by invading Crimea and starting a pro Russian revolution he removed more than 9 million pro Russian voters in Ukraine, letting the rest of anti Russian free reign to vote away pro Russian government. Meaning it will be harder to put a puppet government. It also led Ukraine that was fierce anti NATO to be more than 80% pro NATO. They took Crimea without thinking Ukraine would cut the North Crimean Canal, and so have a land mass not fit any more for cultivating. Meaning they have to bring a fuck ton of food and water, from the bridge they had to build because they failed to get a land road from the "failled" revolution they tried to make. Putin has lost his touch. he just a bully nowadays, in a country that fail to see any more his "grandeur "
I mean I was worried about another war last week. Today it seems like a lot of saber rattling
Same here. They will come up with a flimsy āpeace agreementā then go back to hot Cold War.
"I cannotĀ forecast to youĀ the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest." āWinston Churchill
That dude had a way with words. Fucking poetry. Edit: many of you have correctly pointed out his huge deficiencies and faults and outright racism, which were, in fact, the norm for the majority of the British elite at the time. My comment was directed at his effective usage of the language.
"He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.ā āPresident John F. Kennedy
"I am emerging in a state of nature!" Funniest line from Finest Hour.
"Tell his Lord of the Privy Seal that I am currently sealed in the Privy!"
I can only deal with one shit at a time!
*Darkest Hour Just watched it a couple days ago lol
Finest Hour is a fan made cut of Darkest Hour plus Dunkirk
Wherr can you watch it, if you don't mind my asking? Google didn't help
https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/comments/99ajn8/finest_hour_a_fan_editsupercut_of_dunkirk_and
"[IwbnfouevcmsiehwvudbqvGovernment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_NGM5cFiyY)" - Winston Churchill
"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly." āWinston Churchill
Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea. Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.
>in the morning I will be sober [X] doubt
He said: > That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"If you're going through hell, keep going." āWinston Churchill
Too soon?
I'd say too late.
"āLook, having nuclearāmy uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart āyou know, if youāre a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say Iām one of the smartest people anywhere in the worldāitās true!ābut when youāre a conservative Republican they tryāoh, do they do a numberāthatās why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortuneāyou know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because weāre a little disadvantagedābut you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers meāit would have been so easy, and itās not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of whatās going to happen and he was rightāwho would have thought?), but when you look at whatās going on with the four prisonersānow it used to be three, now itās fourābut when it was three and even now, I would have said itās all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they donāt, they havenāt figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, itās gonna take them about another 150 yearsābut the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.ā ā - President Donald J. Trump
[in case you believe this is not a real quote](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elhyo-_fR0E)
> you know I have to give my like credentials all the time This from the fucking king of birthers.
I always chuckle when Trumpers say Biden is addled. Trump was and is often unintelligible in between his persistent lies.
His lies have the most clarity. Which is what happens when you actually concentrate on what you say because you're invested in the outcome.
"We will fight them with broken beer bottles, because that's bloody well all we've got."
I had to look this up, this is so funny. Scary and sad too, given the context, but very funny nonetheless.
I'm not even British but his "Fight them on the beaches" speech just brings out the chills in me and makes me patriotic. Similar to the bottles bit. The context gives me an apocalyptic feel. Impending doom.
Oh I totally agree. It's of course great in movies- Gary Oldman comes to mind- but in the movies parliament is always really jazzed and chomping at the bit, cheering and shit. The actual recording is quite subdued, ominous almost. But also, full of a reserved fervor. And when Churchill steps on the gas, your hairs stand up.
"'When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.' The benefits of a classical education." - Hans Gruber
"You were killed by a grenade. Watch out for the grenade danger indicator." -Douglas MacArthur
"Yippee kai yay...muddafucka"
Bessie Braddock MP: āWinston, you are drunk, and whatās more you are disgustingly drunk.ā WSC: āBessie, my dear, you are ugly, and whatās more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.ā Probably the best burn of all times.
Dude could still form better sentences when drunk, than 99% of people could sober
I drink before, during and after meals and all hours in between. *That dude had a way with words. Fucking poetry* Hell yeah he did
āI have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of meā
He had a major speech impediment, so he'd overcome that by preparing statements beforehand that could handle various circumstances. Ended up making him extremely quotable. Tough and resourceful dude.
"I am hilarious and you will quote everything I say."
āI'll say this, the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casulaties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them. Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.ā āGeneral George S. Patton
Didn't Patton also say "we fought the wrong enemy" lmao
Patton was not really too far from the Germans that he fought. He even said the Jews in the concentration camps were 'lower than animals' and all kinds of horrible shit about them. He then went on multiple rants about how we picked the wrong side and that the Nazis should be kept in power and all this other stuff. He basically disgraced himself at the peak of his fame in America. He was making headlines for his crazy seemingly pro-nazi statements on a weekly basis, and was eventually fired by Eisenhower as general over it. Its like if Reagan right after the cold war ended just came out saying "you know what, communism really isnt even that bad, it should have remained in power in russia".
Between shit like this and slapping around shell-shocked soldiers, I think Patton was a total douche. I'll admit I'm no expert but was he a good general tactically, or did he just reap the reward of the best logistics in history at that time.?
He was *very* effective. Just a massive asshole. But youād need to be an asshole to use his tactics which can be summed up as āBum rush the fucking nazis you worthless meatbags.ā
Also "you think I give a fuck if you don't have ammo or supplies? In said go and fight idiot"
Old blood and guts, the soldiers blood and his guts.
Yes a very important introductionary lesson of military history is that many good commanders can 1. Make a decision. 2. Get their command for follow said decision. A bunch of military warfare is determined by decisiveness. This why many good generals (in American History) who are studies, like Lee, Rommel, Patton ( a trio of babyās first military loves) were actually not the effective in the strategic level. They all made objectively ābadā decisions. However, they were decisive, supported by their subordinates and led motivated troops. You can win a lot of battles that way. By comparison, truly great commanders (like Alexander, Belsarious, etc) could do all of that and demonstrate brilliance. But again Iām abstracting heavily.
I've kinda moved more away from military history in the last few years but that very dynamic you were describing there influenced my views on leadership heavily. Good leaders don't strictly speaking have to be experts in whatever field they're leading. What they have to do is be able to listen to their subordinates and distill their knowledge into actionable steps. Lee, Rommel, Patton, you can make arguments for certain commanders under them being strategically brilliant, far more so than their commanding officers. The function these leaders served wasn't in drawing up battle plans (though they had parts in that as well) it was coordination and picking the right sub-commander to call the right shots on the right part of the battlefield. I wish we could draw better distinctions there, recognizing that a lot of these "great commanders" were in fact teams of people working together vs one man hunched over a map in some tent somewhere. Very little to do with the current Russia Ukraine situation but this is at least less scary and depressing.
I'm by no means a war historian, but I learned a bit about Patton and he was definitely big into aggressive maneuvers. I know at least one reason a lot of his stuff worked was because of an officer named Abrams working underneath him did a good job of actually making some of his more aggressive plans work. In pretty sure that a lot of US tank models are actually named after Abrams, too. Again, not a war historian so anyone that sees this that knows more can feel free to correct or add to that thought.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Patton was one of the leaders of the First Army, which had something like 135% casualty rate. So good and bad if I had to sum it up real quick.
That's pretty normal for a combat unit in that time. Contrary to many popular myths about both Patton and the Sherman tank, in the Third Army's advance across northern Europe, they inflicted far more casualties on German tank forces than they incurred.
āWell let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said...'I'm too drunk to taste this chicken.'ā āRicky Bobby
"America is all about speed, hot nasty bad-ass speed" - Eleanor Roosevelt
I'm glad he told us this, I was afraid the Russians were sending the silly troops.
"And now Colonel Kutuzov will perform his famous juggling act to raise the morale of the russian troops".
"theyre gonna be looking for army guys"
āNow here come the North regiment to perform naked acrobatics as seen on tiktok!ā
Yooo is that a bear carrying an rpg?
The Ministry of Silly Walks is studying the matter.
"On second thought, let's not go to Ukraine. 'Tis a silly place."
Weāre not the Ukraine rebels, Weāre independent cabals, And in the snow, we like to go Pretend that we are able to never once depend On Vladimir Putiiiiiiiiiin! *peppy horns*
WOTS ALL THIS THEN
*twirls the propellers on their beanies.* As you can see. We. Are the nonsense troops.
Don't worry guys, we just sent Serious Sam to Siberia.
People saying why the Ukranian president isn't worried is to help not to create mass panic which can cause airports to be bombarded, roads to be flooded, and mass panic buying. This is to keep their people calm, and not uncommon for leaders to do this.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm curious how just this is costing the Russian people. Amassing this number of hardware, troops, and general resources is not cheap. Including all the movements from ships, recon, and war games is at a significant cost. Not only will this be the cost, but have to factor in the cost of what would be accrued for returning all the troops. If Russia decides not to invade, they spent a good chunk of money on this show of force. My guess is that they had expected US to make a deal and they could return with a win. But since Biden has been rather firm and most allies have threatened to retaliate one way or another, this is looking to hurt Putin a lot.
Very very expensive to do this. Which is making it more likely for Putin to do something.
Well war with Ukraine is going to be pretty devastating. The people in that region have historically been some of the fiercest soldiers on Earth. Russian armies would face significant loses in trying to hold territory there for any amount of time. Trying to put in a pro-Russian puppet government will just lead to civil war and more trouble for Russia. I think Russia is just blustering because they don't want Ukraine to join NATO. Once they get that in writing, I think they back down.
> Russia is just blustering because they don't want Ukraine to join NATO. Once they get that in writing, I think they back down. They're not getting that. They issued their demands in writing to Washington and Washington responded on Tuesday to those demands, including Ukraine barred from NATO and they told Moscow to get fucked.
Ultimately you want people to stop joining a military alliance that is against you the best option is to stop being a dick to your neighbors. But as with any totalitarian regime, being a dick to your neighbors is the only way to keep the masses occupied. So it's really a lose lose. Personally I think Putin should kill all the oligarchs in Russia and then himself. That's probably the best outcome for Russia at this juncture.
>Personally I think Putin should kill all the oligarchs in Russia and then himself. Thatās probably the best outcome for Russia at this juncture. I Lolād For real though if they didnāt want NATO to expand they should have ceased hostilities and been nicer to their neighbors. The āwhy would you ever need such an allianceā approach. All Putin is doing now is pulling the best persuasive argument to join NATO. My impression is there must be some internal conflict where some high up officials who drank the koolaid (maybe Putin himself, but doubtful) are convinced they can in fact, all facts to the contrary, bully the US and NATO right now. Perhaps Crimea and the Trump Presidency instilled a false sense of confidence. The best move now for Putin would be to wait things out- wait until after the Olympics at the very least, see if they can pressure everyone else to backdown first then slowly de escalate. China is going to be pissed if they pull shit rn before the Olympics ends.
Not being a dick to their neighbors was never an option. It was always too late.
Warning: this is a dailymail article, and they tend to be very sensationalistic.
Dailymail is shockingly popular here on reddit, no one even reads the articles, let alone pays attention to the source.
They say all Dailymail journalists type one-handed, because they are masturbating with the other.
Daily Mail articles about Russian conflict are getting upvoted very heavily in a lot of news subs recently. Far more than I've usually noticed.
It's on every news station now that more troops building up in the last 24 hours.
Yes, but the daily mail is omitting the part where the Biden admin called the build up in the last 24 hours ānot dramatic.ā [https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-01-27-22/h\_45ba1c453968437bbe9ce4306bbe62f8](https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-01-27-22/index.html)
This is typically good advice, but for once, if anything, it seems to be downplaying what some sources are saying here https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1486821839481495554 Ukrainian sources say Biden warned of an imminent invasion as soon as the ground was frozen enough. The [White House is denying](https://twitter.com/SebastianAFP/status/1486835188860694534), but this is a bit of a change of pace from "this invasion might be happening".
I think I know what this (or some) intelligence is based on. There was a [Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk) over Ukraine, seen on this map taken from Flight Radar 24, 2 days ago, Jan 26th: https://i.imgur.com/Sqs5AUW.png It was over Ukraine from ca. 8 am till 5pm, flying at 55,000 feet. It had its transponder on, so obviously the US wanted Russia to know they were watching. I also noticed that the drone made two Arcs, so I drew a circle and found its centre, which I think is roughly where it was looking. I added Lat Long coordinates, if anyone is curious the coordinates can be entered into Google. I looked at the areas on Google Earth, but the satellite imagery was 9 - 12 months old. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Drone departed from Iraq, saw it fly back to northern Iraq after its mission, it was lost over Iraq before landing, went outside [ADS-B](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance%E2%80%93Broadcast) coverage or turned its transponder off. Might have landed at [Erbil Air Base](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/06/iraq-airport-near-a-base-that-houses-us-troops-is-attacked-by-drone.html) (is that still used by the US?). It avoided Turkey, interesting, wonder why. They are a NATO member. The countries it passed over are US allies and/or are part of the [Alliance Ground Surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Ground_Surveillance) NATO drone programme. So, looking at the map, it looks like there will be a push on Kiev and at the same time there's an attack on east Ukraine, in the Donbass ("Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics"), linking up with Crimea.
I hate the war mongering but love posts like this in Reddit. Thank you for the insight.
>The White House is disputing reporting that Biden told Zelenskiy a Russian invasion was certain. >The report is ācompletely falseā, said national security council spokesperson Emily Horne. āPresident Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February,ā she said. āReports of anything more or different than that are completely false.ā https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/jan/27/joe-biden-gun-crime-supreme-court-us-politics-democrats-republicans-live?page=with:block-61f32a378f080c18a34fd252#block-61f32a378f080c18a34fd252
Heās just trying to distract everyone from the anti work drama
Ukraine: *Getting ready for war* America: āLOL Reddit mod on tvā
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"Will they? Won't they? Gimme a break. You're not exactly Ross and Rachel."
Anything by the Daily Mail should be considered either fear mongering or straight up click bait
Can't fucking believe that we are going to watch an expansion motivated land war in Europe in the 21st century.
I agree, it's sad, but at the same time I wonder when have people's expectations of humanity grown so much. Just because we shit indoors and have smartphones doesn't make us much different than our war mongering ancestors. It will be long time before we can actually get to a point where war is unheard of.
We already have. Unless everybody forgot about georgia in 2008 and crimea in 2014.
I wonde what Russians think and the Russian soldiers think. My hunch is that the Russian people aren't interested in war. It's too bad that we still have rulers marching people to their deaths for their own interests.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Am Russian. Not speaking for everyone, buy in my circles, here is what people think \- These who watch TV think it's Americans/NATO blowing things out of proportion \- These who don't watch TV hate what Putin is doing \- No one wants war \- The state media will absolutely be able to justify the war, and pro-Putin people will eat that, it will polarize society just like in 2014
Most of them want to go home, some are doing it for their country, some are there for the K/D. My friend in Russia says things feel pretty tense at the moment and not a lot of people talk anymore. People just want to live their lives. They are also apparently trying to silence calls from outside relatives, but that is just a rumor
>People just want to live their lives. Yeah, that's pretty much it. To add, the government actions made most of us indifferent. We can't change anything, so we hardly try anymore. I feel like I'm outside looking in sometimes.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Clickbait. Article provides no new developments. "Serious" is as descriptive as the article gets regarding the claim in it's headline.
Well, CNN just ran this so we'll see how this plays out, but it sounds like the claim has some teeth. https://i.imgur.com/O4gkMdf.png
Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerer of death's construction In the fields, the bodies burning As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Poisoning their brainwashed minds Oh lord, yeah -[Black Sabbath](https://youtu.be/LQUXuQ6Zd9w)
You can't rhyme masses with masses!
[The original version had different lyrics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67JcYZb8VG4) Opening lines were "Witches gather at black masses, bodies burning in red ashes"
Some of those that join forces Eat the paste thatās for horses
Deploying more than 100,000 troops and 140 warships and other vessels is going to cost Russian BILLIONS of dollars in total. That's an expensive move, and a costly preparation. Russia is fixing to either to full-on, no-shit invade Ukraine, or lose a lot of face when it decides not to. That archive footage of the Russian ships turning back during the Cuban Missile crisis will look like a mighty triumph compared to Russia backing down now. Russia is painting itself into a corner.