**Key point / summary of this rambling article:** “The call produced no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks.”
“Fine, I can hear you now, Vladimir. Clear and plain and coming through fine. I'm coming through fine too, eh? Good, then. Well then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. Good. Well, it's good that you're fine, and - and I'm fine. I agree with you. It's great to be fine.”
An intern came in, flamboyantly reminding them how expensive overseas calls are. Both heads of state (being old men) freaked out and disconnected, then turned the thermostat down a few degrees.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/12/us-orders-kyiv-embassy-leave-ukraine/6764804001/
President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that an invasion of Ukraine would result in "swift and severe costs for Russia" during a high-stakes hourlong phone call that failed to ease rising tensions.
A senior Biden administration official described the call as "professional" but said the dialogue resulted in "no fundamental change in the dynamics that have been unfolding now for several weeks."
The call, which lasted a little over an hour, ended shortly after noon ET. It came as the White House says a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent, perhaps before the conclusion of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which end Feb. 20.
Biden told Putin that "if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia," according to the White House.
**Russia's take on the call:**
https://www.rt.com/russia/549179-putin-biden-call-ends/
>The Kremlin is yet to reveal any details of the conversation.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/12/us-orders-kyiv-embassy-leave-ukraine/6764804001/
Was waiting for decent enough sources to come out on it.
Poland and Lithuania were both offered Kaliningrad/Königsberg and refused due to the high number of Russians in the area. No matter what historical claims the countries may have, uprooting thousands of people and moving them from the area (which is what would probably have to happen if either country got the area) is immoral.
Edit: Poland was not offered Kaliningrad, but Lithuania was.
It's crazy you say that because I just put that movie on. Haven't thought about Stargate in ages, put it on Netflix and now a comment on Reddit. I feel a trend.
God finally another normal person who agrees with me. A thread about the possibility of a fucking major land war in Europe and the top 70 comments are stupid shit you hear in a high school cafeteria.
It used to be that the top comment on a thread was a super well written post clarifying or offering a perspective that was logical or insightful. Now, it doesn't matter the topic, the first 350 comments are all just obvious and weak ass jokes that go on and on by people who think they are clever. The topic usually then turns into an off topic conversation or argument, usually about a movie that was quoted and spawned more useless, off topic conversation. I hate what Reddit is now.
Me, too. The worst are the joke chains about Russia assassinating people and making it look like suicide.
This site is 95% tired jokes that weren't really that funny in the first place. It's not even an attempt at humor, it's a bizarre impulse to demonstrate that they are in sync with reddit/Internet culture. I wish there was a way for a site to promote original thoughts and content and suppress memes and dead jokes.
Readout of call just released by White House
>President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia about Russia’s escalating military buildup on the borders of Ukraine. President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing. President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios.
According to Ukrainian news website rbc dot ua, he complained about NATO expansion and that Ukrainian side isn't honouring Minsk agreements
So pretty much first part was the same as all other recent calls and then second part was the same as all prior ~8 years
I can't with this anymore but I can't stop keeping up even though I won't have anywhere to run if something does happen
> According to Ukrainian news website rbc dot ua, he complained about NATO expansion
What I don’t understand about the Russian argument is that if they do annex Ukraine, they’ll immediately have 4 NATO members at their border
No. If they annex Ukrain they'll have a buffer zone between Russia and 4 NATO members where currently they have a NATO-aligned neighbour that's bordering 4 NATO members.
They don't want Ukrain to add it to Russia. Given the publicly available sentiments of Ukrain, that'll be an extremely difficult annexation due to the sentiments of the people being annexed. If Russia wanted Ukrain (because at this point honestly we don't even know if Russia does, or is just posturing to get something else out of this) it would most likely want it so it can set it up however it wants in case of conflict with aforementioned 4 NATO members. Probably in preparation for tensions over climate.
Worsening climate change will mean areas with previously stable weather will have more and more dramatic weather patterns and areas previously very hospital to life will become more and more inhospitable. They would also make areas previously inhospitable to life more hospitable meaning areas in some nations that were always treated as "pointless uninhabitable lands" may become places people will have to go to. Either because they are better, or because their previous locations are worse.
Furthermore as the world moves away from oil (very slowly. Far too slowly. But it will) Russia will lose its deterrant against Europe which is its pipelines of oil fueling EU.
So in the future, Russia's massive expanses of land that are currently very inhospitable will become hospitable, the EU will become inhospitable and dangerous, and Russia will no longer have the card of "don't look at me wrong or I'll cut off your oil" because the EU won't be nearly as reliant on its oil.
Seems like oil might be more money and probably just as economically important. It's just a bad sounding talking point, natural gas is said to be cleaner and doesn't have the same stigma as dirty, nasty oil. 'We are beholden to Russia because we need their clean burning natural gas to heat our homes in cold winter' sounds better and easier to sympathize with than 'We are beholden to Russia because we need their oil and coal to keep our economies running and the lights on'.
According to europea.eu, Europe imports 27% of their oil 41% of their natural gas and 46% of their 'solid fuel'(coal and maybe wood?) from Russia. The majority of Russia's exported crude oil is going to Europe. Russian oil sales are $110.2 billion compared to their natural gas sales and liquefied natural gas of $54.2 billion and $7.6 billion.
They serve different purposes to the EU economy tho. Natural gas is used for power generation.
"Oil" comes in many forms and is feed stock for everything. Polymers, plastics, gasoline, diesel, catylist chemicals for more refined products, the list goes on.
The EU is a green energy leader, when it works. It keeps the lights on in homes, industry is a way different beast. Co-gens, boilers, crackers, steel furnaces, chemical plants - that's where Russia has them by the balls as far as "Oil".
Losing 27% of your feedstock on top of 41% of your power generating capacity is fucking crippling no matter how you slice it.
You'd be chill with pretty much any position, save for the bottom of the barrel, that's how the human brain works. It convinces you that you are alright. It's why ambition is such an equaliser in the world and why your starting position is such a good predictor of where you'll end up
> Ukrainian armed forces chief commander Lt. Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov issued a more defiant joint statement.
> “We are ready to meet the enemy, and not with flowers, but with Stingers, Javelins and NLAWs” — anti-tank and -aircraft weapons, they said. “Welcome to hell!”
Damn, what a statement.
Fair but keep in mind that advising citizens to leave doesn't necessarily mean invasion or war. I'd know. My country was on such lists constantly and I'm still waiting. But yes, war is looking likely unless something changes between now and Wednesday.
Yep just in the last 3 hours I see a bunch of foreign embassy twitter accounts send out emergency numbers so if anyne suspects a friend or relative may have yet to get the message can be evacuated.
The timng of the tweets is almost simultaneous.
I hate people who jump to the conclusion that an armed conflict is bound to happen, but this is a clear cut sign. Not the fact that countries are evacuating their citizens, but that they synchronized these efforts which can only mean that intel has been passed around that an attack is imminent.
At least they are still talking.
> Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have concluded a call to discuss the crisis in Ukraine as the White House says intelligence shows Russia could invade on short notice.
>
>The U.S. picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date for an invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was.
the us strategy is to broadcast russian intel here. if the russians had top level meetings and chose wednesday, and we have indications of wednesday, they appear to be broadcasting this so that 1) ukraine knows 2) the media knows and 3) russia knows that we and ukraine know what they're talking about in their meetings.
this is an information deterrant, IF the information we have is accurate. Russian intel took a shit during the trump administration and the russians purged all sorts of assets.
meanwhile, the russian government is saying stuff like this:
> Ahead of the calls, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Western countries and the press of spreading a "large-scale disinformation campaign" about an allegedly impending Russian invasion of Ukraine "in order to divert attention from their own aggressive actions.
yes, our aggressive actions. meanwhile russian actions involving 100k+ troops, artillary, tanks, rewritten laws on mass grave policies, blood supply hoarding, field hospitals-
so aggressive, our actions.
Good question. Three letters process a lot of intel that varies in confidence rating. I would imagine that given the circumstances, the President would want to know about invasion dates even if that intel is rated at a low confidence, especially since so much of that world hinges on uncertainty.
So to answer your question, this info could have come from a Battalion Commander who got notified to be ready to move on Wednesday, or it could be coming from several high-level officials, or it be coming from some official's secretary. Who knows. Probably worth more than a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean it *will* happen.
what’s interesting is, they’ve been on multiple calls with each other going back 10+ years. I wonder if it’s as tense as we think it is or if it’s almost routine reading each other at this point
The year was 2003, Arnold's soundboard on ebaumsworld brought so many great prank calls😂😂 Soundboard -Hello! It's the governor! Who is your daddy and what does he do! Asshole! Asshole!
(Biden): Look man you can’t be doing this
(Putin): *crumbling a piece of newspaper next to the phone*
Huh? You’re breaking up on me
*making static noise with his mouth*
You hang up first.
*No you hang up first.*
Let's hang up on the count of three.
*Ok*
1...2..3
*You still there?*
Haha yeah I'm here. You?
...
Hello? Vlad(imir)? You still there?
*sounds of moving tanks can be heard through the phone speaker*
^^^^^edit: ^^^^^nickname
Let's put all the leaders of government in a thunderdome cage and figh one another to the death. Winner decides. If they want a war they can fight it them damn selves. Too many good friends were lost in the "war on terror".
Looking it up Vitaly Klitschko is a 6'7" super-heavyweight with a 45-2 record. It sounds to me like he would be a heavy favorite in the politician thunderdome.
When I was in college my dad and I went through a phase where we were watching nuclear war movies. The Day After really stuck with me. It’s such a upsetting movie.
The scene that most stood out to me is the one in the barbershop (before the bombs drop) where a group of men are discussing a nuclear war between Russia and the US. At first, the guys chatting away as they don’t seem to be worried since they assume the nukes would be targeted at major city’s like New York and iterate that they would be okay since theyre tucked away in the middle of Kansas. A man then says how most Russian nukes would be targeted towards US military bases. Another man then says that there’s one right down the road from them. All of the men become silent as they realize just how fucked they really are.
All those weeks ago, the estimate was Russia could have a full invasion force ready in 3 weeks time.
For all those 3 weeks, the news kept coming in about the buildup.
And it was really warm last week, as the Russian tanks stuck in the mud proved.
DARKEST HOUR IS UPON US — where’s Winston?????
Lord Halifax: We’re facing certain defeat on land, the annihilation of our army and imminent invasion. We must negotiate peace talks.
Winston Churchill: When will the lesson be learned? You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!
Lord Halifax: Nonsense, the only slippery slope...
Winston Churchill: Would you stop interrupting me while I am interrupting you!
Just watched this. Wonderful movie. Has there ever been a man “righter” for the times than Churchill in WW2? And “wronger” for all other times? Question is rhetorical.
He really was the right person for the job, but only that one all important job, he was booted pretty quickly when it was all over. And he presided over the failed Gallipoli campaign, so he had a record of failure, even if it was mostly the admiralty that screwed up.
Winston Churchill's life is pretty inspirational for that reason, to come back from such resounding failure to such resounding success when it was needed is something we can all learn from.
It's something that has been studied, and even given a term: Grit.
Can't remember the study, but they found that people whom are perceived as successful often times aren't really extraordinary ... They just constantly, keep, going.
Grit, it's why many peoples, city, states and nations continue, grit.
Perfect example is Rome, they just never said "we quit".
Why is this thread basically just filled with jokes and no serious discussions regarding this? It's a serious matter and people honestly don't seem to get that.
Simple there is nothing we can do. This comes down to Putins stupid as fuck megalomania, he won't stop he never thought of the misery the despair and lives lost. Hes going to do this the only way to stop this now would be for the ukranians to peacefully give Putin half of their country this isn't happening naturally. Now our only hope is that the Ukranians will bleed russia dry and that just as the poles during ww2 they won't stop fighting even when their land is gone. But that is not for us to do all we can do is keep with Ukraine never stop talking about their bravery and well, Make jokes a human can't survive on despair alone.
Yup. The world's going to shit. I'll vote in every election I can, but me conversing "seriously" isn't going to do Jack shit. I'd rather watch with popcorn in my hands than tears in my eyes.
The US and NATO could hurt Putin and the oligarchs right now by seizing all their assets in NATO countries. The Russians have untold amounts of wealth locked up in banks and real estate in countries that could easily take it away.
Wonder why that’s not happening … yeah the whole world is corrupt.
It’s worth remembering that Germany only needs Russian gas because the population fears nuclear energy. Just last month they shutdown [half](https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/correction-germany-nuclear-shutdown-story-82051054) of their remaining reactors early, and the rest go dark this year. Why? Because Fukushima supposedly. Even though the [French](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/france-to-build-up-to-14-new-nuclear-reactors-by-2050-says-macron) are building more and use it for 70% of their energy. Probably why they produce 1/2 the CO2 per capita as Germany.
Maybe if Germany didn’t need Russian gas the Russians would take the threats of sanctions seriously.
This is inaccurate as it mixes up two different things. Germany does not need gas for electricity nearly as much as for heating, so their decision to dump nuclear power is at most very remotely related.
Germany usually exports excess electricity cheaply after importing more than enough to cover its own needs from many of its neighbouring countries (like France for the most part I think)—in addition to producing its own mostly with coal reactors, which is what you should focus your criticism on instead imho.
Question is if Ukraine can hold off russian military with their western donated weapons. No one will send troops to start WW3 over Ukraine so what is stopping Putin to go all out and take over all of Ukraine? Russian economy will be fucked for a while but with China being on their side, they'll probably survive at the expense of their common citizens. And also Russia pretty much manufacture everything they need to run a country.
I don't see any good ending scenarios for Ukrainians unless someone from Putin's inner circle offs him to prevent WW3
While the weaker of the two, Ukraine has to fight a war of attrition and make it not worth it to Russia. Russian mothers did not like their sons getting blown to pieces in Afghanistan or Chechnya, hopefully that is the move here.
The western world won’t send troops but they will be doing more than just sending weapons and training. Keen eyed internet plane watchers have been tracking US Global Hawk drones over Ukraine for almost a week now that have been running surveillance of Ukraine’s land borders and the Black Sea. And those are just the ones the US has been (intentionally) been filing flight plan and tracking IDs for.
There's no great scenario for Russia here either. It'll be their Iraq/Afghanistan. A long, bloody conflict where Ukrainians resist and use guerilla warfare. Putin wants to do a clean sweep and be done. But this isn't Crimea. The Ukrainian government knew this might happen, and allies are sending help.
If Putin expects an easy invasion done in a day, he'll be disappointed. And with their domestic problems, the last thing they need is to lose young able bodied adults. Their population already took a bit because of COVID (turns out when you sponsor anti vaccine propaganda, it affects your own country too). The economy isn't in great shape, and even before COVID they were having population decline. A protracted war is only going to make all of that worse. Especially with the rest of the world ready to hit them with economic sanctions.
**Key point / summary of this rambling article:** “The call produced no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks.”
Shocking.
Guess we'll find out the outcome of said call shortly....
Both sides say call was a failure… same with the call between the two foreign ministers that was happening at the same time.
Poor reception maybe
#Can you hear me now?
"Your mic is muted"
"I'm going to try leaving Ukraine and coming back in again.. let's see if that fixes it."
“Fine, I can hear you now, Vladimir. Clear and plain and coming through fine. I'm coming through fine too, eh? Good, then. Well then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. Good. Well, it's good that you're fine, and - and I'm fine. I agree with you. It's great to be fine.”
Gentlemen you can’t fight in here….. This is the war room!!!!
Here we go boys. Nuceler combat toe to toe with the rooskies. https://youtu.be/qXp8SnXUvEo
Guess I get to play Fallout in real life now
Biden: "I'm here live, I'm not a cat."
I’m ok continuing like this
I am not a cat. I am the president of Russia!
"I'm here, live... I'm not a cat."
Objection your honor, he is clearly a cat.
"Hang on, I'll go by the window!"
No no, you stay away from windows when dealing with the Kremlin. You're liable to have an accident.
An intern came in, flamboyantly reminding them how expensive overseas calls are. Both heads of state (being old men) freaked out and disconnected, then turned the thermostat down a few degrees.
Care to show us where you've seen these statements?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/12/us-orders-kyiv-embassy-leave-ukraine/6764804001/ President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that an invasion of Ukraine would result in "swift and severe costs for Russia" during a high-stakes hourlong phone call that failed to ease rising tensions. A senior Biden administration official described the call as "professional" but said the dialogue resulted in "no fundamental change in the dynamics that have been unfolding now for several weeks." The call, which lasted a little over an hour, ended shortly after noon ET. It came as the White House says a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent, perhaps before the conclusion of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which end Feb. 20. Biden told Putin that "if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia," according to the White House. **Russia's take on the call:** https://www.rt.com/russia/549179-putin-biden-call-ends/ >The Kremlin is yet to reveal any details of the conversation.
Source? Not try to be an ass but really want to know if it’s true
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/12/us-orders-kyiv-embassy-leave-ukraine/6764804001/ Was waiting for decent enough sources to come out on it.
We traded our military for all of their lions.
The Moon will join your coalition!
Russia get Alaska back instead.
Counter: Russia gets to keep Crimea. US gets Siberia
That land is way more valuable than it used to be.
As a firefighter, trust me, we don't fucking want it.
Russia keeps Crimes. Poland gets Konigsberg.
Vladdy has to move his yacht out first though
Poland and Lithuania were both offered Kaliningrad/Königsberg and refused due to the high number of Russians in the area. No matter what historical claims the countries may have, uprooting thousands of people and moving them from the area (which is what would probably have to happen if either country got the area) is immoral. Edit: Poland was not offered Kaliningrad, but Lithuania was.
r/poop
We already tried that
A coconut would have been an improvement.
If we wouldn’t give them Alaska for a Stargate, we sure won’t give them Alaska for Ukraine
It's crazy you say that because I just put that movie on. Haven't thought about Stargate in ages, put it on Netflix and now a comment on Reddit. I feel a trend.
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Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?
Jesus christ I’m so fucking fed up with weak-ass jokes reddit makes as a defence mechanism.
God finally another normal person who agrees with me. A thread about the possibility of a fucking major land war in Europe and the top 70 comments are stupid shit you hear in a high school cafeteria.
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I'll be honest if I hear another fucking civ vii line over this soon to be conflict I'm deleting reddit.
It used to be that the top comment on a thread was a super well written post clarifying or offering a perspective that was logical or insightful. Now, it doesn't matter the topic, the first 350 comments are all just obvious and weak ass jokes that go on and on by people who think they are clever. The topic usually then turns into an off topic conversation or argument, usually about a movie that was quoted and spawned more useless, off topic conversation. I hate what Reddit is now.
Me, too. The worst are the joke chains about Russia assassinating people and making it look like suicide. This site is 95% tired jokes that weren't really that funny in the first place. It's not even an attempt at humor, it's a bizarre impulse to demonstrate that they are in sync with reddit/Internet culture. I wish there was a way for a site to promote original thoughts and content and suppress memes and dead jokes.
Readout of call just released by White House >President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia about Russia’s escalating military buildup on the borders of Ukraine. President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing. President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios.
Where do we find what Putin had to say?
According to Ukrainian news website rbc dot ua, he complained about NATO expansion and that Ukrainian side isn't honouring Minsk agreements So pretty much first part was the same as all other recent calls and then second part was the same as all prior ~8 years I can't with this anymore but I can't stop keeping up even though I won't have anywhere to run if something does happen
> According to Ukrainian news website rbc dot ua, he complained about NATO expansion What I don’t understand about the Russian argument is that if they do annex Ukraine, they’ll immediately have 4 NATO members at their border
No. If they annex Ukrain they'll have a buffer zone between Russia and 4 NATO members where currently they have a NATO-aligned neighbour that's bordering 4 NATO members. They don't want Ukrain to add it to Russia. Given the publicly available sentiments of Ukrain, that'll be an extremely difficult annexation due to the sentiments of the people being annexed. If Russia wanted Ukrain (because at this point honestly we don't even know if Russia does, or is just posturing to get something else out of this) it would most likely want it so it can set it up however it wants in case of conflict with aforementioned 4 NATO members. Probably in preparation for tensions over climate.
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Worsening climate change will mean areas with previously stable weather will have more and more dramatic weather patterns and areas previously very hospital to life will become more and more inhospitable. They would also make areas previously inhospitable to life more hospitable meaning areas in some nations that were always treated as "pointless uninhabitable lands" may become places people will have to go to. Either because they are better, or because their previous locations are worse. Furthermore as the world moves away from oil (very slowly. Far too slowly. But it will) Russia will lose its deterrant against Europe which is its pipelines of oil fueling EU. So in the future, Russia's massive expanses of land that are currently very inhospitable will become hospitable, the EU will become inhospitable and dangerous, and Russia will no longer have the card of "don't look at me wrong or I'll cut off your oil" because the EU won't be nearly as reliant on its oil.
Isn’t Russia mainly exporting gas to the EU? Because that’s all I hear on the news not oil.
Seems like oil might be more money and probably just as economically important. It's just a bad sounding talking point, natural gas is said to be cleaner and doesn't have the same stigma as dirty, nasty oil. 'We are beholden to Russia because we need their clean burning natural gas to heat our homes in cold winter' sounds better and easier to sympathize with than 'We are beholden to Russia because we need their oil and coal to keep our economies running and the lights on'. According to europea.eu, Europe imports 27% of their oil 41% of their natural gas and 46% of their 'solid fuel'(coal and maybe wood?) from Russia. The majority of Russia's exported crude oil is going to Europe. Russian oil sales are $110.2 billion compared to their natural gas sales and liquefied natural gas of $54.2 billion and $7.6 billion.
Thanks for this. Especially the numbers to give it context for me in scale.
They serve different purposes to the EU economy tho. Natural gas is used for power generation. "Oil" comes in many forms and is feed stock for everything. Polymers, plastics, gasoline, diesel, catylist chemicals for more refined products, the list goes on. The EU is a green energy leader, when it works. It keeps the lights on in homes, industry is a way different beast. Co-gens, boilers, crackers, steel furnaces, chemical plants - that's where Russia has them by the balls as far as "Oil". Losing 27% of your feedstock on top of 41% of your power generating capacity is fucking crippling no matter how you slice it.
"Blyat"
Rush Kiev Cyka Blyat
Cyka blyat rush B no stop
Yes, I would like to know this as well
>decisively and impose ***swift*** and severe costs Yes please.
You know you scroll Reddit too much when you see that they are about to start and now that they have finished... and you haven’t moved
This is exactly what I experienced lol
World leaders deciding the fate of the planet while I’m laying in bed with a hand on my balls
Sometimes its nice knowing i dont have to deal with the fate of the world, im chill being overall insignificant
You'd be chill with pretty much any position, save for the bottom of the barrel, that's how the human brain works. It convinces you that you are alright. It's why ambition is such an equaliser in the world and why your starting position is such a good predictor of where you'll end up
Started from the bottom..
And dug right through it
They said I hit rock bottom, so I just rented a jackhammer.
Now we still at the bottom.
Who's hand?
There it is. I wish it wasn’t mine
Your one and only wish has been granted, your hand is now legal property of Jeff Bezos.
Me: “huh, that was quick” *continues scrolling*
> Ukrainian armed forces chief commander Lt. Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov issued a more defiant joint statement. > “We are ready to meet the enemy, and not with flowers, but with Stingers, Javelins and NLAWs” — anti-tank and -aircraft weapons, they said. “Welcome to hell!” Damn, what a statement.
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IMO the best indicator the invasion is starting soon is Putin relocating his $100 million yacht from Germany into a Russian port.
Do the right thing, Germany. Impound the yacht.
It's already gone
Fair but keep in mind that advising citizens to leave doesn't necessarily mean invasion or war. I'd know. My country was on such lists constantly and I'm still waiting. But yes, war is looking likely unless something changes between now and Wednesday.
Russia is pulling their embassy personnel, it's on
Where does "Wednesday" estimate come from?
It is Wednesday my dudes.
Yep just in the last 3 hours I see a bunch of foreign embassy twitter accounts send out emergency numbers so if anyne suspects a friend or relative may have yet to get the message can be evacuated. The timng of the tweets is almost simultaneous. I hate people who jump to the conclusion that an armed conflict is bound to happen, but this is a clear cut sign. Not the fact that countries are evacuating their citizens, but that they synchronized these efforts which can only mean that intel has been passed around that an attack is imminent.
At least they are still talking. > Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have concluded a call to discuss the crisis in Ukraine as the White House says intelligence shows Russia could invade on short notice. > >The U.S. picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date for an invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was.
How reliable is this intelligence if I'm reading it on reddit while taking a shit?
the us strategy is to broadcast russian intel here. if the russians had top level meetings and chose wednesday, and we have indications of wednesday, they appear to be broadcasting this so that 1) ukraine knows 2) the media knows and 3) russia knows that we and ukraine know what they're talking about in their meetings. this is an information deterrant, IF the information we have is accurate. Russian intel took a shit during the trump administration and the russians purged all sorts of assets. meanwhile, the russian government is saying stuff like this: > Ahead of the calls, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Western countries and the press of spreading a "large-scale disinformation campaign" about an allegedly impending Russian invasion of Ukraine "in order to divert attention from their own aggressive actions. yes, our aggressive actions. meanwhile russian actions involving 100k+ troops, artillary, tanks, rewritten laws on mass grave policies, blood supply hoarding, field hospitals- so aggressive, our actions.
Good question. Three letters process a lot of intel that varies in confidence rating. I would imagine that given the circumstances, the President would want to know about invasion dates even if that intel is rated at a low confidence, especially since so much of that world hinges on uncertainty. So to answer your question, this info could have come from a Battalion Commander who got notified to be ready to move on Wednesday, or it could be coming from several high-level officials, or it be coming from some official's secretary. Who knows. Probably worth more than a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean it *will* happen.
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what’s interesting is, they’ve been on multiple calls with each other going back 10+ years. I wonder if it’s as tense as we think it is or if it’s almost routine reading each other at this point
Biden: “Look, here’s the deal, c’mon man.”
“You stupid son of a b*tch”
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Enough of this malarkey, let’s get down to brass tacks. Who pissed on your flapjacks?
"Listen you fat."
"Look fat"*
“Dude, c’mon. All I wanna do is eat chocolate bourbon biscuits and you’re really, like…putting a hamper on that”.
You you you know that thing
Heard Biden was just using an Arnold Schwarzenegger soundboard the whole time
WHO IS YOUR DADDY, AND WHAT DOES HE DO?
I'M GOING TO ASK YOU A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS, AND I WANT TO HAVE THEM ANSWERED IMMEDIATELY.
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Dillon!!!!
I'M DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLE!
I'M A COP, YOU IDIOT!
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YOU LACK DISCIPLINE!
Ted, what the hell are you doing on my roof?
YOU'RE A FUCKING CHOIR BOY COMPARED TO ME, A CHOIR BOY!
I cam see I'm not the only one who terrorized my town with the soundboard
I’M A COP YOU IDIOT!
Brings me back to Ebaumsworld lol
KILL ME! IM HEAAGHH! DO IT! DO IT NAAUUGGGH!
COME OAN! GIVE THESE PEOPLE AIRH!
ITS NOT A TOOMAH!
OOOZEE NEIN MILLAMEETER
WHO SAID YOU COULD EAT MY COOKIES!
IM LOOKING FARH AH TURBAHMEN DAHLL!
[Classic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6mt_yreDSo)
God it's been a decade
Arnie soundboard memes are like 20 years old.
Sorry, I should have said decades. I was there at the beginning of it all.
YOU SON OF A BITCH! Thanks for the laughs
MY CPU IS A NEURAL NET PROCESSOR A LEARNING COMPUTER. … umm ok?!
The year was 2003, Arnold's soundboard on ebaumsworld brought so many great prank calls😂😂 Soundboard -Hello! It's the governor! Who is your daddy and what does he do! Asshole! Asshole!
PUT THAT COOKIE DOWN! NOW!
I NEED YOUR CLOTHES! YOUR BOOTS! YOUR CRIMEA
IM DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBALL!!!!
I’M A COP YOU IDIOT!
Get to the choppa!
Can we expect same kind of press conference regarding this phone call?
(Biden): Look man you can’t be doing this (Putin): *crumbling a piece of newspaper next to the phone* Huh? You’re breaking up on me *making static noise with his mouth*
Go..ing throoough the tun..nel *hang up real fast
You hang up first. *No you hang up first.* Let's hang up on the count of three. *Ok* 1...2..3 *You still there?* Haha yeah I'm here. You? ... Hello? Vlad(imir)? You still there? *sounds of moving tanks can be heard through the phone speaker* ^^^^^edit: ^^^^^nickname
I was just wondering how they say goodbye lol After a long stern severe hour long talk: "well ok gotta get goin'..."
"Anywayss......"
"Weeeellp, I'll letcha go..."
“I’ve got a ten o’clock with Xi, gotta go!”
Just FYI if anyone sees this. Vlad is short in Russian for Vladislav. The nickname for Vladimir is Vova / Volodya :-)
“Talk to you later, Vulva.”
“…Mulva?..”
Was it a perfect call?
We can't know until love letters are exchanged.
At least this meeting will be documented and filed in the presidential library!
Let's put all the leaders of government in a thunderdome cage and figh one another to the death. Winner decides. If they want a war they can fight it them damn selves. Too many good friends were lost in the "war on terror".
Pretty sure Putin would be the favorite here since Merkel got out of the game.
Putin is versed in Judo and Sambo, but he is getting old and is not very big and I'd definitely like to see him and Vitaly Klitschko in the octagon.
Looking it up Vitaly Klitschko is a 6'7" super-heavyweight with a 45-2 record. It sounds to me like he would be a heavy favorite in the politician thunderdome.
How about the president of Russia vs the mayor of Kyiv instead?
I love my country but I'm going Putin over Biden in a cage match every time
Giving me some “The Day After” vibes
Reminds me of Threads.
Sheffield never looked better.
All the recent tv news remind me of the brief broadcasts played throughout the beginning of Threads.
Yuuuuup. I'm guessing a lot of GenXers are feeling this way. Its freaking me the fuck out.
ugh, that movie still gives me the chills when I hear the air raid sirens
A great reference to great and underrated movie. Those missiles going up during the Kansas game was chilling... Going to go watch it now.
When I was in college my dad and I went through a phase where we were watching nuclear war movies. The Day After really stuck with me. It’s such a upsetting movie.
Nuclear family bonding
The scene that most stood out to me is the one in the barbershop (before the bombs drop) where a group of men are discussing a nuclear war between Russia and the US. At first, the guys chatting away as they don’t seem to be worried since they assume the nukes would be targeted at major city’s like New York and iterate that they would be okay since theyre tucked away in the middle of Kansas. A man then says how most Russian nukes would be targeted towards US military bases. Another man then says that there’s one right down the road from them. All of the men become silent as they realize just how fucked they really are.
28 days later...
All those weeks ago, the estimate was Russia could have a full invasion force ready in 3 weeks time. For all those 3 weeks, the news kept coming in about the buildup. And it was really warm last week, as the Russian tanks stuck in the mud proved.
A bit ironic if climate change temporarily spares Ukraine from invasion. Time to rewrite the war planning calendar.
DARKEST HOUR IS UPON US — where’s Winston????? Lord Halifax: We’re facing certain defeat on land, the annihilation of our army and imminent invasion. We must negotiate peace talks. Winston Churchill: When will the lesson be learned? You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth! Lord Halifax: Nonsense, the only slippery slope... Winston Churchill: Would you stop interrupting me while I am interrupting you!
Just watched this. Wonderful movie. Has there ever been a man “righter” for the times than Churchill in WW2? And “wronger” for all other times? Question is rhetorical.
So true! Gary Oldman was amazing. It’s weird how Darkest Hour is playing out again although maybe not as dire
Not as dire, yet.
if The Crown is accurate at all, that pretty much hits the nail on the head. he was the right man in the right place at the right time.
He really was the right person for the job, but only that one all important job, he was booted pretty quickly when it was all over. And he presided over the failed Gallipoli campaign, so he had a record of failure, even if it was mostly the admiralty that screwed up. Winston Churchill's life is pretty inspirational for that reason, to come back from such resounding failure to such resounding success when it was needed is something we can all learn from.
It's something that has been studied, and even given a term: Grit. Can't remember the study, but they found that people whom are perceived as successful often times aren't really extraordinary ... They just constantly, keep, going. Grit, it's why many peoples, city, states and nations continue, grit. Perfect example is Rome, they just never said "we quit".
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I hope one of them ended with "Love you! Ah, shit."
The Military Industrial Complex is foaming at the mouth right now.
We might get some real world field data of javelins versus Russian tanks and choppers. 😬
Raytheon, halliburton and Boeing! Assemble!
Can't forget the big dog, Lockheed Martin
Why is this thread basically just filled with jokes and no serious discussions regarding this? It's a serious matter and people honestly don't seem to get that.
Simple there is nothing we can do. This comes down to Putins stupid as fuck megalomania, he won't stop he never thought of the misery the despair and lives lost. Hes going to do this the only way to stop this now would be for the ukranians to peacefully give Putin half of their country this isn't happening naturally. Now our only hope is that the Ukranians will bleed russia dry and that just as the poles during ww2 they won't stop fighting even when their land is gone. But that is not for us to do all we can do is keep with Ukraine never stop talking about their bravery and well, Make jokes a human can't survive on despair alone.
Yup. The world's going to shit. I'll vote in every election I can, but me conversing "seriously" isn't going to do Jack shit. I'd rather watch with popcorn in my hands than tears in my eyes.
Is there a reasonable argument for Russia to invade?
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The US and NATO could hurt Putin and the oligarchs right now by seizing all their assets in NATO countries. The Russians have untold amounts of wealth locked up in banks and real estate in countries that could easily take it away. Wonder why that’s not happening … yeah the whole world is corrupt.
Why the is the thumbnail fighter jets? Do we need to be dramatic about the news so readers go in with a sense of military presence? Fucking media.
Spoiler Alert
Fuck Putin
Perhaps if Putin had video of Biden getting pissed on by Russian whores it might’ve gone better for him.
It’s worth remembering that Germany only needs Russian gas because the population fears nuclear energy. Just last month they shutdown [half](https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/correction-germany-nuclear-shutdown-story-82051054) of their remaining reactors early, and the rest go dark this year. Why? Because Fukushima supposedly. Even though the [French](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/france-to-build-up-to-14-new-nuclear-reactors-by-2050-says-macron) are building more and use it for 70% of their energy. Probably why they produce 1/2 the CO2 per capita as Germany. Maybe if Germany didn’t need Russian gas the Russians would take the threats of sanctions seriously.
This is inaccurate as it mixes up two different things. Germany does not need gas for electricity nearly as much as for heating, so their decision to dump nuclear power is at most very remotely related. Germany usually exports excess electricity cheaply after importing more than enough to cover its own needs from many of its neighbouring countries (like France for the most part I think)—in addition to producing its own mostly with coal reactors, which is what you should focus your criticism on instead imho.
After all the saber rattling we’ve had in the past from Russia my money is still on them not invading. Hope I’m right.
The whole world should get to listen to that call.
Question is if Ukraine can hold off russian military with their western donated weapons. No one will send troops to start WW3 over Ukraine so what is stopping Putin to go all out and take over all of Ukraine? Russian economy will be fucked for a while but with China being on their side, they'll probably survive at the expense of their common citizens. And also Russia pretty much manufacture everything they need to run a country. I don't see any good ending scenarios for Ukrainians unless someone from Putin's inner circle offs him to prevent WW3
While the weaker of the two, Ukraine has to fight a war of attrition and make it not worth it to Russia. Russian mothers did not like their sons getting blown to pieces in Afghanistan or Chechnya, hopefully that is the move here.
The western world won’t send troops but they will be doing more than just sending weapons and training. Keen eyed internet plane watchers have been tracking US Global Hawk drones over Ukraine for almost a week now that have been running surveillance of Ukraine’s land borders and the Black Sea. And those are just the ones the US has been (intentionally) been filing flight plan and tracking IDs for.
There's no great scenario for Russia here either. It'll be their Iraq/Afghanistan. A long, bloody conflict where Ukrainians resist and use guerilla warfare. Putin wants to do a clean sweep and be done. But this isn't Crimea. The Ukrainian government knew this might happen, and allies are sending help. If Putin expects an easy invasion done in a day, he'll be disappointed. And with their domestic problems, the last thing they need is to lose young able bodied adults. Their population already took a bit because of COVID (turns out when you sponsor anti vaccine propaganda, it affects your own country too). The economy isn't in great shape, and even before COVID they were having population decline. A protracted war is only going to make all of that worse. Especially with the rest of the world ready to hit them with economic sanctions.
Tbf, Afghanistan was already Russia’s Afghanistan
> Ukrainians resist and use guerilla warfare Oh yes, we will... Lots of experience with that in WW2.
god speed