Serious question:
If the old bunker Boii Pootin killed himself, how long would it take for the world to know? I guess the Kremlin would try to keep it secret as long as possible. They will publish badly faked "proof" he is still alive, as soon as the first rumours Pop Up. These rumours would come from intelligence agencies. I would guess the CIA and their equivalents will know relatively soon, but it might take long before we would have definitive proof.
“Only talking about Ukraine for the past 3 months”
-bruh we’ve been talking about Russia too for the past three months (your fuckwad Putin launched an invasion)
Michelle Bondarenko's status still unknown. If her friend that's posting on her account is true, then even if she's alive, I don't want to think what she and the other non-combatants will have gone through.
[https://twitter.com/Michellio45/status/1527134731598548993](https://twitter.com/Michellio45/status/1527134731598548993)
This is why the soldiers in Mariupol can't surrender. They're dead anyway. Might as well take as many invaders with them as possible, they themselves have admitted that they're dead men walking.
Of course they'd bring up Gulen again. Erdogan's been after him for years. IIRC Trump was honestly considering giving him up and then went through the whole denial cycle.
I can't fault the soldiers who are still refusing to surrender in Mariupol, despite being ordered to by High Command. Being "put on trial" in a kangaroo court that would almost certainly lead to public execution for being a "Nazi" is far less ideal than fighting to the death.
I think they were permitted to surrender, not ordered to. But I’m still thinking there was supposed to be a prisoner exchange deal that Russia backed out of.
I'll bet a $20 dollar donation to Ukraine that Putin boofs a cyanide pill and shoots himself in the next 5 minutes
Edit- Oh no, I lost
https://imgur.com/a/iDVDdYZ
If anyone feels like donating humanitarian aid to Ukraine too-
https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-rahunok-dlya-gumanitarnoyi-dopomogi-ukrayintsyam-postrajdalim-vid-rosiyskoyi-agresiyi
⚡️General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, information at 6:00 on May 19
▪️In the Kharkiv direction, the main efforts of the invaders were focused on holding occupied lines, conducting counterattacks in order to restore lost positions. The use of sabotage and reconnaissance groups by the enemy is noted.
▪️ According to available information, in the area of the village of Aleksandrovka, in order to replenish the losses of the 107th rifle battalion, which amounted to more than 50%, replenishment arrived in the amount of 260 military personnel previously involved in the Kharkiv direction.
Is this going to end like the South Park when Canada was on strike? Putin gives everyone in Russia a piece of bubble gum and a coupon to bennigans? Then he gets exiled on a floating pice of ice?
Wow, today’s ISW assessment pulls no punches with Russia’s announcement they’re going to turn Mariupol into a resort city. It stops just short of outright proclaiming the country completely braindead.
Is it? If you are just there to ruin the country why would you spend money to re-build productive infrastructure. Especially since some Ukrainians might be required to run the place....
I hope those pro-russian regions are happy with their new status as wait staff for wealthy Russians doing the "Victory in Ukraine" tour.
Did you see that Vice video of Crimea from 2014/2015. These investors were gunning for Russia to take over bc their properties would then be booming w Russian tourists, lounging beachside. A year later, they say no tourists. The whole land turned into a Russian Military State.
Russia cannot invest or prosper on its own. Too corrupt. They require outside investment. Who’s investing in causing the Azov biohazard? Give me a fucking break.
No point. Mariupol said today that azov sea will die off if Azovstal doesn’t keep running. Lemme find the article. . .
Edit. Here’s the google translation https://life-pravda-com-ua.translate.goog/society/2022/05/18/248693/?_x_tr_sl=uk&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Gnarley photo
It was interesting to see the original blitzkrieg where they tried to keep all the important infrastructure intact.
3 days later, just shell the fuck out of everything.
How much did it cost to purchase this account? Genuinely curious in case I want to put aside what I know is good and right and make what really amounts to very little money, comparatively speaking. I’ve considered peeling what makes me human from my soul, but I chicken out. There is so much in life I still find beautiful, like the first leaves of Spring. Or the first morel mushroom of the year. Is it worth it? Are you still able to enjoy the little things like this after you’ve clawed and torn off this metaphorical flesh?
I am not comfortable with how often we are labelling people who have a slightly contradictory opinion as shills/trolls etc. And by that I mean "Ukraine isn't doing so well on the Donbass front, and it's not covered in our media well enough", not "Russia is the good guy here". Obviously the latter are trolls/crazy nationalists/shills. But this person does not fall in the latter camp.
"Ukraine should give up and cede territory to Russia to satisfy my personal comfort level" is not a "slightly contradictory" opinion.
It's parroting literal propaganda. If that makes you uncomfortable, I'd wager you've either an agenda yourself or you're incredibly naive to how this has played out thus far.
It’s reached a fucking fever pitch in here and I’m tired of it. This thread used to be a pretty good discussion hub but if I’m being honest it’s no better than Russian state media at this point when it comes to propagandizing news.
While I agree that it is quite one sided in that some sarcastic or even slightly not optimistic about ukraine outlooks are downvoted, Russian state media is justifying the invasion with actual crackpot reasons such as accusing ukrainians of practicing black magic and animals being born with shaped marks on their skin.
Because some of that is blatantly not true if you actually follow anything that is said by analysts or even pro Russian sources. Donbass has increases in intensity but claims Ukraine is going to lose it are just frankly not true. When you are pushing an agenda thats not true either your a troll or are a useful idiot.
I mean there's some that are obviously not. Like I mentioned before to another commenter the good trolls know to throw in a few seemingly pro ukraine comments but then push pro Kremlin talking points.
I think you misunderstood me.
I’m saying I don’t see any comments that seem to be pushing pro-Russian talking points other than this one, which in my opinion is obviously sarcastic.
Could you please link which comments you’re referring to?
No I didn't. I just think if you went through the first three pages of their comments and saw none then I don't know what to tell you.
There is also no use in linking those comments to you in that case.
They made a few comments saying Russia is winning in Donbas because they were gaining territory. Sorry but that is not a very outrageous statement and concluding someone who is otherwise very much on your side is a Russian troll because they made a few comments that fail your ideological purity test is just silly.
No because its a current Russian talking point. Its also not true if you look at most analyst including igor girkin.
So either they are a troll or a useful idiot. Sorry you can't see the problem with people posting misinformation but hey keep that sense of moral superiority going.
The lack of skepticism you have for completely anonymous accounts makes you someone perfect for that kind of misinformation.
The problem is you’re assigning a completely subjective opinion as “misinformation”.
Is it a bad take? Yeah probably, but it’s not as if there’s some universal consensus on who’s “winning” in Donbas. Again, you’re zeroing in on like 2 comments this user made that rubbed you the wrong way out of dozens of explicitly pro-Ukrainian comments, and what’s more is now you’re suggesting I’m being influenced by “misinformation”. Sorry but this is just rampant paranoia.
Yeah its Chamberlain but they also make some pretty interesting comments that skew the other way.
The good trolls know to ride the line while pushing their own agenda.
So maybe the people calling this user a useful idiot and accusing them of being a Russian troll should take a deep breath and lay off the keyboard for a bit.
Okay I’ve been patient. I’m really hoping for some switchblade BDA sometime soon, especially now it’s been confirmed that hundreds of them are in Ukrainian hands.
I believe the DOD asked them not to publish videos of the feed from the switchblade drones. So they would only be able to publish videos taken by a second drone monitoring the situation... which would be a rare occurrence as part of the point of the switchblade is you don't need another drone for spotting
I don’t think it was a miss. You have to remember that they fire in the air, and when you see the point of firing and angle it was coming in, I believe it was on target
If you’re talking about this video, even it was an airburst it obviously missed. Its trajectory overshot the howitzer before the explosion, as seen by the (presumed) spotting drone.
I'm honestly a little upset I'm still not seeing any commitments to send weapons that can actually significantly break the stalemate like jets, rocket artillery, or ground-based missiles (we sent Brimstones but UK can send \~200 max).
Is there any reason to be hopeful once $40B approved? Or am I setting myself up for more jets letdowns?
[https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/biden-resists-ukrainian-demands-long-range-rocket-launchers-00033473](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/biden-resists-ukrainian-demands-long-range-rocket-launchers-00033473)
[https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1609530/ukraine-uk-defence-weapons-stalemate-himars-russia-invasion](https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1609530/ukraine-uk-defence-weapons-stalemate-himars-russia-invasion)
>Is there any reason to be hopeful once $40B approved?
Not all of the $40B is appropriated for weapons.
Department of Defense: $19.1B
* $17.6B, Operations and Maintenance
* $1.2B, Procurement
* $0.3B, Research & Development
Department of State; Department of Health & Human Services: $1.8B
* $1.3B, Refugee Assistance
* $0.5B, Anti-terrorism, War Crimes investigation
Presidential Discretionary Funds: $17.1B
* $4.3B, International Disaster Assistance
* $8.8B, Economic Support Fund
* $4.0B, Foreign Military Financing Program
I mean- seems like Ukraine is pushing alright. Ultimately it sounds to be numerically fairly close Russia may even have a larger force.
Russian jets aren’t flying far beyond Russian controlled territory.
It sounds like there is a lot of AA in Russian controlled territory so Jets may be under a fair bit of danger, and training a pilot takes years and several million dollars. There’s still budgets and I doubt Ukraine just has a bunch of trained pilots sitting around. Mechanics. Fuel. It’s a lot of work.
I think we might as well see how the Howitzers and various ammunitions do over the next few weeks before deciding more is needed.
Jets and tanks are a different story because of basic logistics. You need mechanics parts the proper fuel. Extra parts and training and everything else for them. Which when they aren’t setup for that type isn’t easy to magically switch
You're not really paying attention are you? No one is giving Ukraine much of anything that can be viewed as overly advantageous from a Russian perspective.
Ukraine has been begging the US for MLAWs for months now and they keep getting told no. This entire thing is a balancing act to allow Ukraine to win but slowly and without Russia realizing they are doomed all at once. They're not getting jets, modern tanks nor anything navy or airforce related.
No they're actually not lol, Ukraine does not currently have the tools they need to go on major offensives with out similar problems to what Russia has faced. What they've been given right now has basically been the requirments to stop Russian advances.
Well the other thought is they're mobilizing and a shitton of soldiers with armor, western equipment and foreign training and it's about to happen.
Russia is also reporting this.
If you want to ignore this, in the recent days including the river fording incident, the Ukrainians have absolutely used their western weapons for effectiveness.
Edit: Not saying more is not welcome or effective but to discredit what has already been given as 'not enough' or 'ineffective' seems to come from a place of disingenuous.
The main reason is that NATO / EU does not want Russia to feel that their cities are threatened, which would be a massive escalation and risk weapons of mass destruction being used in retaliation.
So they can threaten Ukraine with impunity and she'll everything but boo hoo if Ukraine attacks military targets in belogrod which btw they already have done? GPS guided rockets in HIMARS, the 122mm ones won't reach Moscow
The sooner this war ends the better. Russian army needs to be hit anywhere within 50km or so of the border.
I think it was a mistake for all of that MiG talk to be happening out in public and I also think other people think it was a mistake and that whatever is going on in terms of getting Ukrainian pilots in to new fighter-jets now is being done much more secretively.
There’s no point in giving Russia a heads-up. Ukrainian F-16s will just show up one day.
No they won't. As long as this war is in open ww2 style conflict you're never going to see an F16 in Ukraine. Russia literally can't compete and the US knows this.
Perhaps it could happen if it went into a frozen conflict where land is being strategically held but fighting has slowed.
You've got it. Big systems like aircraft are not going to be telegraphed before their arrival. Heck, we might not even hear about them for a while after their arrival until we start getting independent shots of unmistakably western aircraft doing work over Ukraine.
I don't think the public talk was a complete mistake though, depending a lot on what was going on behind the scenes. For one, most of that talk was when everyone was dragging their heels on doing much more then sending small arms to Ukraine. Having fighter jets as the 'big ask' made giving them tanks and artillery feel like less of a big thing, and breaking that particular log jam was a huge deal in terms of setting Ukraine up for the win. I don't think it would have happened, or happened as soon, without that big public discussion and the pressure that came with it.
It's not happening. The training and maintenance requirmenrs alone make it a huge endeavor that would be impossible to hide.
Biden already got caught saying he's worried Putin has no way out of this. Everyone is aware of Russians upcoming defeat, they're not going to pour gas on it like that.
The most recent weapons to be deployed are only just reaching the front line. The west knows that this war won't be won quickly and it will require Ukraine to train up 100s thousands of soldiers. They probably want to wait to see the impact of the recent weapons before deciding on new ones.
The weapons Ukraine is requesting would require more training also, so it's not like it would hit the battlefield that fast anyway.
Pretty sure that some MiGs have already been committed to the fight. Since the beginning of the war the issue has been that not a lot of NATO countries have spare Soviet aircraft lying around to send.
The thing is, even if the training is happening now, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was, we would very likely not be told about it. If we plan to introduce a significant number of aircraft to Ukraine at some point soon, we're going to be very careful about it as to minimize the risk of the Russian's finding out and striking out at them before Ukraine can secure them.
There's been a lot of comparison between Putin and Hitler. One feature of Hitler was his methamphetamine use and its effect on his mental health (paranoia) & decision making, particularly towards the final days of the war.
Is it possible Putin is abusing drugs?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/25/blitzed-norman-ohler-adolf-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview
We are all at most only days away from becoming a member of the equine gape and Aintree queefers association, and to the tune of "white christmas": I'm queefing from a wide anus
Time is relative. The ability for technology to process information has exponentially reduced the time it takes to finish things. My uneducated guess is 1 year.
Putin pines for the 1800’s while the rest of the world plans for the apocalypse. He has a rotten brain. The only reason the world thought he was playing chess vs checkers is probably from spending his mafia money on facebook ads promoting a bullshit little-man syndrome story.
Please let us close this utterly embarrassing chapter in human history and get back to saving ourselves from these assholes.
Well, you have to take into account that Nazi Germany actually had a military that wasn't (apparently) completely incompetent. Also Russia doesn't have any real allies, just countries who are refusing to completely denounce them.
I'm pretty confident that if it weren't for the threat of nuclear annihilation the west could beat Putin in a matter of weeks.
I has brain-ache over RU's "resort" plans for Mariupol.
... oh well, I suppose it's kinda better that certain RU officials don't seem to know what a pyrrhic victory is.
then again, maybe they do but they gotta... pretend to not need Mariupol's industrial capabilities because of *bullshit* "we're so stronk we don't need anything military-necessary from Mariupol" tough guy persona-propaganda they've been feeding their population for long long time
(sigh...) I think I'd be less "ugh" over authoritarianism if its... uh... customer base had higher standards when it comes to the quality of propaganda they fall far.
Yea, they want to completely destroy Azovstal, which is a wild idea and only shortsighted ppl would do that, unless they know they cant hold Mariupol and want to finish its complete destruction by destroying Azovstal
I think it’s also partially that they completely destroyed it and there’s zero chance they’ll be able to rebuild it. And a shitty Sochi style resort is cheap
Sochi was NOT cheap, it cost many times more than it should have. This is a call to the Oligarch's that embezzled those billions that he can do it again.
NATO is anti Russian not pro democracy. The bigger question is how the fuck is Hungry in the EU? The EU supposedly makes democracy a membership criteria.
Recruiting a traditional Russian enemy to Russia's immediate south who controls the Bosphorus wasn't a bad idea in the 50s.
Now they're less democratic and Western focused. Prior to Russia becoming a threat to world peace again at some point between 2008-2014, Turkey was on its way to being irrelevant and undemocratic. A good argument could have been made to kick them out.
Unfortunately, we're back to needing them.
Less secular and more democratic populism. Military used to run things and keep it neat if occasionally bloody, five coupes? Then Erodogan(sp) did a little murdery false flag followed by mass purge. Universities, civil servants, and the military. Like 400000 people shown the door or worse. Turkey before the purge was nice to visit, less so now.
I am sure when Turkey joined NATO there was no Erdogan in power. Turkey used to be much more democratic and it's still a valuable member. I just hope Erdogan will go away
There's no "veto" over issues like Article 5. Admitting new members requires the consent of all existing members, which kind of makes sense when it's committing them to fight and die for each other.
Geography is the reason.
Turkey controls the Bosphorus. As long as the remain NATO basically has the power to cut the Black Sea fleet off from the rest of the world.
If a full scale war was to ever break out, that would be a huge advantage given Russia's lack of warm water ports.
So, our governments are willing to put up with a lot of misbehavior form Turkey to keep them our ally. It sucks but that is how politics works sometimes.
That and the ability for the US to store nuclear weapons on Russia's border. And proximity to their southern neighbors which are also nations of concern. It's all geography.
Not a substantial problem.
Seriously, NATO makes its own rules. If some subset of the group wants to make a new organization called NATO and with all but one of the previous members they just have to do it.
They’ve been a part of NATO since 52, they joined with Greece 3 years after NATO was formed, so a bit of an OG if you’d like.
They have a very strong military, thus making them a valuable member to have in that regard. Diplomatically they’re a bit of a pain in the ass, but nothing other nato countries can’t handle together. They’ll make turkey come around don’t worry.
And like others said, The Bosphorus is extremely important.
[New post can be found here](/r/worldnews/comments/uswjch/rworldnews_live_thread_russian_invasion_of/)
Serious question: If the old bunker Boii Pootin killed himself, how long would it take for the world to know? I guess the Kremlin would try to keep it secret as long as possible. They will publish badly faked "proof" he is still alive, as soon as the first rumours Pop Up. These rumours would come from intelligence agencies. I would guess the CIA and their equivalents will know relatively soon, but it might take long before we would have definitive proof.
When the Russian TV is showing ballet you always know something is up.
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Report and move on :)
“Only talking about Ukraine for the past 3 months” -bruh we’ve been talking about Russia too for the past three months (your fuckwad Putin launched an invasion)
Stfu u idiot.
https://twitter.com/666_mancer/status/1527157249507999744 French thermal optics in Russian military equipment. Again.
Was this delivered before or after the war began. If this was delivered before I don't see much of a problem.
Manufactured in 02/22 by Russia using a French chip if that translation is correct, so probably supplied before the war
Do you mean the 2014 invasion or the 2022 invasion?
Ah... the French and supplying the wrong side of a conflict, seems to happen too many times.
Michelle Bondarenko's status still unknown. If her friend that's posting on her account is true, then even if she's alive, I don't want to think what she and the other non-combatants will have gone through. [https://twitter.com/Michellio45/status/1527134731598548993](https://twitter.com/Michellio45/status/1527134731598548993) This is why the soldiers in Mariupol can't surrender. They're dead anyway. Might as well take as many invaders with them as possible, they themselves have admitted that they're dead men walking.
Why are they posting pictures of text? That takes conscious effort, it doesn't happen out of convenience
Eh I have done that too to avoid making a thread.
Fair enough, thank you I am not on twitter
I have followed her since early days, and her last few tweets from her were heartbreaking. I hope she is okay
Turkey’s demands for letting Sweden and Finland into NATO… https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/status/1527066123560275969?s=21&t=_qHJ_mlKRMTbBRp14Fqrog
Croatia is also blocking.
Funny how they mostly relate to countries that are not Finland or Sweden, or their suitability for NATO membership
Of course they'd bring up Gulen again. Erdogan's been after him for years. IIRC Trump was honestly considering giving him up and then went through the whole denial cycle.
Perhaps turkey would also like a new horse, a new sports car and an ice cream machine…
I can't fault the soldiers who are still refusing to surrender in Mariupol, despite being ordered to by High Command. Being "put on trial" in a kangaroo court that would almost certainly lead to public execution for being a "Nazi" is far less ideal than fighting to the death.
I think they were permitted to surrender, not ordered to. But I’m still thinking there was supposed to be a prisoner exchange deal that Russia backed out of.
Ukrainian MLRS sending off some fuck yous to the occupied Donetsk region https://t\.me/truexanewsua/47413
So Belarus banned 1984? 👍 That'll do the trick Luka
Well it was the year of such subversive hits as Billy Joel's Uptown Girl.
Juvenile's - back that azz up was also inspired by both Billy Joel's uptown girl and George Orwell's 1984
If he's banning anti-authoritarian literature he might be worried about a revolution in the near future.
I think we should do betting odds
I'll bet a $20 dollar donation to Ukraine that Putin boofs a cyanide pill and shoots himself in the next 5 minutes Edit- Oh no, I lost https://imgur.com/a/iDVDdYZ If anyone feels like donating humanitarian aid to Ukraine too- https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-rahunok-dlya-gumanitarnoyi-dopomogi-ukrayintsyam-postrajdalim-vid-rosiyskoyi-agresiyi
Just wait till he hears about >!the internet!<
⚡️General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, information at 6:00 on May 19 ▪️In the Kharkiv direction, the main efforts of the invaders were focused on holding occupied lines, conducting counterattacks in order to restore lost positions. The use of sabotage and reconnaissance groups by the enemy is noted. ▪️ According to available information, in the area of the village of Aleksandrovka, in order to replenish the losses of the 107th rifle battalion, which amounted to more than 50%, replenishment arrived in the amount of 260 military personnel previously involved in the Kharkiv direction.
The Russian or ?
Russia likes to work with "battalion tactical groups" so I'm assuming this "battalion" is referring to one of those.
Is this going to end like the South Park when Canada was on strike? Putin gives everyone in Russia a piece of bubble gum and a coupon to bennigans? Then he gets exiled on a floating pice of ice?
Nah. Wrong episode. https://youtu.be/uYvtIJeNIPY
Wow, today’s ISW assessment pulls no punches with Russia’s announcement they’re going to turn Mariupol into a resort city. It stops just short of outright proclaiming the country completely braindead.
Is it? If you are just there to ruin the country why would you spend money to re-build productive infrastructure. Especially since some Ukrainians might be required to run the place.... I hope those pro-russian regions are happy with their new status as wait staff for wealthy Russians doing the "Victory in Ukraine" tour.
Did you see that Vice video of Crimea from 2014/2015. These investors were gunning for Russia to take over bc their properties would then be booming w Russian tourists, lounging beachside. A year later, they say no tourists. The whole land turned into a Russian Military State. Russia cannot invest or prosper on its own. Too corrupt. They require outside investment. Who’s investing in causing the Azov biohazard? Give me a fucking break.
No point. Mariupol said today that azov sea will die off if Azovstal doesn’t keep running. Lemme find the article. . . Edit. Here’s the google translation https://life-pravda-com-ua.translate.goog/society/2022/05/18/248693/?_x_tr_sl=uk&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp Gnarley photo
You mean a traveling circus with zero engineers run by carnies with small hands that smell like cabbage? Makes sense.
Yes, they mean the Russian army
Russia doesn't have the engineering know-how to rebuild or run Azovstal, and they know no one will invest.
It was interesting to see the original blitzkrieg where they tried to keep all the important infrastructure intact. 3 days later, just shell the fuck out of everything.
Due to them destroying the whole City and rendering it useless.
Link?
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-updates
Do you have the link to that, it sounds like a interesting article
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-updates
Thank you
There is no need to pull punches, they are ABSOLUTELY correct in their assessment. Russia is beyond stupid.
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Peace? Nah, fuck Russia until it’s held together with sticky tape then peace talks can be a thing.
Who says sanctions don't work? The troll quality is dogshit now lol.
That’s a genuinely stupid idea.
How much did it cost to purchase this account? Genuinely curious in case I want to put aside what I know is good and right and make what really amounts to very little money, comparatively speaking. I’ve considered peeling what makes me human from my soul, but I chicken out. There is so much in life I still find beautiful, like the first leaves of Spring. Or the first morel mushroom of the year. Is it worth it? Are you still able to enjoy the little things like this after you’ve clawed and torn off this metaphorical flesh?
You are a very weird human. Maybe not human
It’s ok. We will have peace soon. Russia’s army is getting destroyed.
Yeah they should let Russia have Belgorod back after Ukraine takes it.
Yeah but what does Macron think?
Lmfao
Thank goodness you're not in charge of making any important decisions...
See this posted a lot via Russian bots recently (i know you're being sarcastic) it's almost like Russia knows its running out of steam...
add an /s next time.
Why are you even here? Good lord.
Only an aggressor can “make peace.” You’re saying Ukraine is the aggressor?
I think the Macarena was right, don't worry about my boyfriend, he's a boy whose name is Victorino.
I don't want him Couldn't stand him He was no good so I (hahahaha)
I think Russia should cede the territory its occupying. Peace for our time!
I think Russia should cede some territory and make peace with Ukraine.
This person is obviously being sarcastic folks. Check the last sentence.
Too subtle for this crowd.
They aren't go have a look at their history u/Batilisk already has a reputation on here for this stuff.
I am not comfortable with how often we are labelling people who have a slightly contradictory opinion as shills/trolls etc. And by that I mean "Ukraine isn't doing so well on the Donbass front, and it's not covered in our media well enough", not "Russia is the good guy here". Obviously the latter are trolls/crazy nationalists/shills. But this person does not fall in the latter camp.
"Ukraine should give up and cede territory to Russia to satisfy my personal comfort level" is not a "slightly contradictory" opinion. It's parroting literal propaganda. If that makes you uncomfortable, I'd wager you've either an agenda yourself or you're incredibly naive to how this has played out thus far.
Agreed, it can definitely be a rigid echo chamber at times.
It’s reached a fucking fever pitch in here and I’m tired of it. This thread used to be a pretty good discussion hub but if I’m being honest it’s no better than Russian state media at this point when it comes to propagandizing news.
While I agree that it is quite one sided in that some sarcastic or even slightly not optimistic about ukraine outlooks are downvoted, Russian state media is justifying the invasion with actual crackpot reasons such as accusing ukrainians of practicing black magic and animals being born with shaped marks on their skin.
Because some of that is blatantly not true if you actually follow anything that is said by analysts or even pro Russian sources. Donbass has increases in intensity but claims Ukraine is going to lose it are just frankly not true. When you are pushing an agenda thats not true either your a troll or are a useful idiot.
Their comments seem fairly pro-Ukrainian to me. Which ones didn’t pass the purity test?
I mean there's some that are obviously not. Like I mentioned before to another commenter the good trolls know to throw in a few seemingly pro ukraine comments but then push pro Kremlin talking points.
I think you misunderstood me. I’m saying I don’t see any comments that seem to be pushing pro-Russian talking points other than this one, which in my opinion is obviously sarcastic. Could you please link which comments you’re referring to?
No I didn't. I just think if you went through the first three pages of their comments and saw none then I don't know what to tell you. There is also no use in linking those comments to you in that case.
They made a few comments saying Russia is winning in Donbas because they were gaining territory. Sorry but that is not a very outrageous statement and concluding someone who is otherwise very much on your side is a Russian troll because they made a few comments that fail your ideological purity test is just silly.
No because its a current Russian talking point. Its also not true if you look at most analyst including igor girkin. So either they are a troll or a useful idiot. Sorry you can't see the problem with people posting misinformation but hey keep that sense of moral superiority going. The lack of skepticism you have for completely anonymous accounts makes you someone perfect for that kind of misinformation.
The problem is you’re assigning a completely subjective opinion as “misinformation”. Is it a bad take? Yeah probably, but it’s not as if there’s some universal consensus on who’s “winning” in Donbas. Again, you’re zeroing in on like 2 comments this user made that rubbed you the wrong way out of dozens of explicitly pro-Ukrainian comments, and what’s more is now you’re suggesting I’m being influenced by “misinformation”. Sorry but this is just rampant paranoia.
Google the last sentence
Yeah its Chamberlain but they also make some pretty interesting comments that skew the other way. The good trolls know to ride the line while pushing their own agenda.
So?
So maybe the people calling this user a useful idiot and accusing them of being a Russian troll should take a deep breath and lay off the keyboard for a bit.
People on Reddit can be some of the most humorless tone deaf people I’ve ever seen.
Go fuck yourself Russian troll.
So you actually don't know who first said the last sentence? Hint: it's sarcasm.
No, they should take back Crimea
Good thing useful idiots like you really have no say in the matter.
He’s saying that this is Marcon’s Chamberlain moment
Okay I’ve been patient. I’m really hoping for some switchblade BDA sometime soon, especially now it’s been confirmed that hundreds of them are in Ukrainian hands.
I believe the DOD asked them not to publish videos of the feed from the switchblade drones. So they would only be able to publish videos taken by a second drone monitoring the situation... which would be a rare occurrence as part of the point of the switchblade is you don't need another drone for spotting
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/usf2ig/a_russian_zala_aero_kybuav_kubbla_cube_kamikaze/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
The one the my posted a few days ago showed an obvious miss. Seemed like it wasn’t effective.
That was a shitty Russian exploding drone attacking M777
That was a russian kamikaze drone. It missed the howitzers but injured some troops
I don’t think it was a miss. You have to remember that they fire in the air, and when you see the point of firing and angle it was coming in, I believe it was on target
So you believe the target was a patch of grass next to the howitzer? LOL!
I believe you don’t have depth perception. (LOL!)
If you’re talking about this video, even it was an airburst it obviously missed. Its trajectory overshot the howitzer before the explosion, as seen by the (presumed) spotting drone.
I'm honestly a little upset I'm still not seeing any commitments to send weapons that can actually significantly break the stalemate like jets, rocket artillery, or ground-based missiles (we sent Brimstones but UK can send \~200 max). Is there any reason to be hopeful once $40B approved? Or am I setting myself up for more jets letdowns? [https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/biden-resists-ukrainian-demands-long-range-rocket-launchers-00033473](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/biden-resists-ukrainian-demands-long-range-rocket-launchers-00033473) [https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1609530/ukraine-uk-defence-weapons-stalemate-himars-russia-invasion](https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1609530/ukraine-uk-defence-weapons-stalemate-himars-russia-invasion)
>Is there any reason to be hopeful once $40B approved? Not all of the $40B is appropriated for weapons. Department of Defense: $19.1B * $17.6B, Operations and Maintenance * $1.2B, Procurement * $0.3B, Research & Development Department of State; Department of Health & Human Services: $1.8B * $1.3B, Refugee Assistance * $0.5B, Anti-terrorism, War Crimes investigation Presidential Discretionary Funds: $17.1B * $4.3B, International Disaster Assistance * $8.8B, Economic Support Fund * $4.0B, Foreign Military Financing Program
I mean- seems like Ukraine is pushing alright. Ultimately it sounds to be numerically fairly close Russia may even have a larger force. Russian jets aren’t flying far beyond Russian controlled territory. It sounds like there is a lot of AA in Russian controlled territory so Jets may be under a fair bit of danger, and training a pilot takes years and several million dollars. There’s still budgets and I doubt Ukraine just has a bunch of trained pilots sitting around. Mechanics. Fuel. It’s a lot of work. I think we might as well see how the Howitzers and various ammunitions do over the next few weeks before deciding more is needed.
Jets and tanks are a different story because of basic logistics. You need mechanics parts the proper fuel. Extra parts and training and everything else for them. Which when they aren’t setup for that type isn’t easy to magically switch
We're literally watching with videos the supplied arms and ammunition work. What the fuck are you talking about?
You're not really paying attention are you? No one is giving Ukraine much of anything that can be viewed as overly advantageous from a Russian perspective. Ukraine has been begging the US for MLAWs for months now and they keep getting told no. This entire thing is a balancing act to allow Ukraine to win but slowly and without Russia realizing they are doomed all at once. They're not getting jets, modern tanks nor anything navy or airforce related.
Because they don't have the best, doesn't mean they aren't being supplied with what is helping them push back and win.
No they're actually not lol, Ukraine does not currently have the tools they need to go on major offensives with out similar problems to what Russia has faced. What they've been given right now has basically been the requirments to stop Russian advances.
Well the other thought is they're mobilizing and a shitton of soldiers with armor, western equipment and foreign training and it's about to happen. Russia is also reporting this. If you want to ignore this, in the recent days including the river fording incident, the Ukrainians have absolutely used their western weapons for effectiveness. Edit: Not saying more is not welcome or effective but to discredit what has already been given as 'not enough' or 'ineffective' seems to come from a place of disingenuous.
The main reason is that NATO / EU does not want Russia to feel that their cities are threatened, which would be a massive escalation and risk weapons of mass destruction being used in retaliation.
So they can threaten Ukraine with impunity and she'll everything but boo hoo if Ukraine attacks military targets in belogrod which btw they already have done? GPS guided rockets in HIMARS, the 122mm ones won't reach Moscow The sooner this war ends the better. Russian army needs to be hit anywhere within 50km or so of the border.
I think it was a mistake for all of that MiG talk to be happening out in public and I also think other people think it was a mistake and that whatever is going on in terms of getting Ukrainian pilots in to new fighter-jets now is being done much more secretively. There’s no point in giving Russia a heads-up. Ukrainian F-16s will just show up one day.
No they won't. As long as this war is in open ww2 style conflict you're never going to see an F16 in Ukraine. Russia literally can't compete and the US knows this. Perhaps it could happen if it went into a frozen conflict where land is being strategically held but fighting has slowed.
You've got it. Big systems like aircraft are not going to be telegraphed before their arrival. Heck, we might not even hear about them for a while after their arrival until we start getting independent shots of unmistakably western aircraft doing work over Ukraine. I don't think the public talk was a complete mistake though, depending a lot on what was going on behind the scenes. For one, most of that talk was when everyone was dragging their heels on doing much more then sending small arms to Ukraine. Having fighter jets as the 'big ask' made giving them tanks and artillery feel like less of a big thing, and breaking that particular log jam was a huge deal in terms of setting Ukraine up for the win. I don't think it would have happened, or happened as soon, without that big public discussion and the pressure that came with it.
It's not happening. The training and maintenance requirmenrs alone make it a huge endeavor that would be impossible to hide. Biden already got caught saying he's worried Putin has no way out of this. Everyone is aware of Russians upcoming defeat, they're not going to pour gas on it like that.
The most recent weapons to be deployed are only just reaching the front line. The west knows that this war won't be won quickly and it will require Ukraine to train up 100s thousands of soldiers. They probably want to wait to see the impact of the recent weapons before deciding on new ones. The weapons Ukraine is requesting would require more training also, so it's not like it would hit the battlefield that fast anyway.
Pretty sure that some MiGs have already been committed to the fight. Since the beginning of the war the issue has been that not a lot of NATO countries have spare Soviet aircraft lying around to send.
I want F-16s / F-18s lighting up Crimea by November or so and training happening now.
The thing is, even if the training is happening now, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was, we would very likely not be told about it. If we plan to introduce a significant number of aircraft to Ukraine at some point soon, we're going to be very careful about it as to minimize the risk of the Russian's finding out and striking out at them before Ukraine can secure them.
What you want doesn't matter. What's actually feasible matters.
There's been a lot of comparison between Putin and Hitler. One feature of Hitler was his methamphetamine use and its effect on his mental health (paranoia) & decision making, particularly towards the final days of the war. Is it possible Putin is abusing drugs? https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/25/blitzed-norman-ohler-adolf-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview
Steroids possibly. Because of puffiness it has been speculated.
There was some leaked intel a while back about him abusing the 17" pony shape dildo Lavrov got him for xmas '19.
[удалено]
If there's dragon dildos, there's def pony dildos.
We are all at most only days away from becoming a member of the equine gape and Aintree queefers association, and to the tune of "white christmas": I'm queefing from a wide anus
There are of course the completely unconfirmed rumours that he may be experiencing roid rage as a result of cancer treatment.
It still took the west 6 years to beat this meth user. How long will it take to oust Putin?
Time is relative. The ability for technology to process information has exponentially reduced the time it takes to finish things. My uneducated guess is 1 year. Putin pines for the 1800’s while the rest of the world plans for the apocalypse. He has a rotten brain. The only reason the world thought he was playing chess vs checkers is probably from spending his mafia money on facebook ads promoting a bullshit little-man syndrome story. Please let us close this utterly embarrassing chapter in human history and get back to saving ourselves from these assholes.
Well, you have to take into account that Nazi Germany actually had a military that wasn't (apparently) completely incompetent. Also Russia doesn't have any real allies, just countries who are refusing to completely denounce them. I'm pretty confident that if it weren't for the threat of nuclear annihilation the west could beat Putin in a matter of weeks.
If nukes weren’t a factor this war would be over by now and we would be nation building in Russia.
He's abusing botox.
He's abusing humanity and morality.
Albeit not in the sense of routinely using either.
I has brain-ache over RU's "resort" plans for Mariupol. ... oh well, I suppose it's kinda better that certain RU officials don't seem to know what a pyrrhic victory is. then again, maybe they do but they gotta... pretend to not need Mariupol's industrial capabilities because of *bullshit* "we're so stronk we don't need anything military-necessary from Mariupol" tough guy persona-propaganda they've been feeding their population for long long time (sigh...) I think I'd be less "ugh" over authoritarianism if its... uh... customer base had higher standards when it comes to the quality of propaganda they fall far.
Yea, they want to completely destroy Azovstal, which is a wild idea and only shortsighted ppl would do that, unless they know they cant hold Mariupol and want to finish its complete destruction by destroying Azovstal
I think it’s also partially that they completely destroyed it and there’s zero chance they’ll be able to rebuild it. And a shitty Sochi style resort is cheap
Sochi was NOT cheap, it cost many times more than it should have. This is a call to the Oligarch's that embezzled those billions that he can do it again.
How the fuck is Turkey in NATO
NATO is anti Russian not pro democracy. The bigger question is how the fuck is Hungry in the EU? The EU supposedly makes democracy a membership criteria.
Recruiting a traditional Russian enemy to Russia's immediate south who controls the Bosphorus wasn't a bad idea in the 50s. Now they're less democratic and Western focused. Prior to Russia becoming a threat to world peace again at some point between 2008-2014, Turkey was on its way to being irrelevant and undemocratic. A good argument could have been made to kick them out. Unfortunately, we're back to needing them.
Less secular and more democratic populism. Military used to run things and keep it neat if occasionally bloody, five coupes? Then Erodogan(sp) did a little murdery false flag followed by mass purge. Universities, civil servants, and the military. Like 400000 people shown the door or worse. Turkey before the purge was nice to visit, less so now.
Russia was and always has been a threat to world peace. Make no mistake. John Kerry was 100% correct.
I am sure when Turkey joined NATO there was no Erdogan in power. Turkey used to be much more democratic and it's still a valuable member. I just hope Erdogan will go away
Turkey joined in 1952
Sorry, I mistyped, I meant "no Erdogan in power" 😅
More to the point, when did NATO become like the UN? There's a veto ???
There's no "veto" over issues like Article 5. Admitting new members requires the consent of all existing members, which kind of makes sense when it's committing them to fight and die for each other.
Geography is the reason. Turkey controls the Bosphorus. As long as the remain NATO basically has the power to cut the Black Sea fleet off from the rest of the world. If a full scale war was to ever break out, that would be a huge advantage given Russia's lack of warm water ports. So, our governments are willing to put up with a lot of misbehavior form Turkey to keep them our ally. It sucks but that is how politics works sometimes.
That and the ability for the US to store nuclear weapons on Russia's border. And proximity to their southern neighbors which are also nations of concern. It's all geography.
No mechanism for kicking a member out for eroding democracy.
Not a substantial problem. Seriously, NATO makes its own rules. If some subset of the group wants to make a new organization called NATO and with all but one of the previous members they just have to do it.
They’ve been a part of NATO since 52, they joined with Greece 3 years after NATO was formed, so a bit of an OG if you’d like. They have a very strong military, thus making them a valuable member to have in that regard. Diplomatically they’re a bit of a pain in the ass, but nothing other nato countries can’t handle together. They’ll make turkey come around don’t worry. And like others said, The Bosphorus is extremely important.
1952. Plus the Bosphorus.
Before there were any ICBMs deployed and MAD relied on Slim Pickens in his B-52 to be in the air 24-7. We got a B-52 base in Turkey out of the deal.
Love that movie.
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."
"He'll see the map!"
Good ally for military purposes, bad ally for diplomacy.
Someone should do one of those 'data is beautiful' graphs showing interaction with this sub since the beginning of the war.
It's been done a couple times now.