Russia-Ukraine

[Chew Toy McCoy]

The numbers of the Azov appear to be lower than the numbers of white supremacists in America’s military and police forces. Imagine if America was invaded and we needed to ask civilians to grab a gun and fight. I imagine the white power militias would be heavily involved. After the fighting ended, what would you do about these empowered groups? That might be something Ukraine will have to deal with.

Not disagreeing, but it seems the Azov are a lot more up front about who and what they are and have been for quite a long time. I feel a lot of our white supremacists keep it on the down low are in denial, probably way more than the ones that are proudly out in the open. Sometimes you have to make deals with the devil to keep the (relative) peace. The US does it all the time. Putin just way over exaggerated it to make an excuse. I feel the west just initially said it was non existent. So it's good that they are acknowledging it. It doesn't change anything in the overall situation.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

TIL a new word: "LOLsuit"

The lawsuit was filed in Hillsborough County Court, but Armstead says she “won’t be stopped”. If Hillsborough County Courts fail to take action and oust the Russian President, Armstead says she will file suit in every Florida county court if needed.​

Those people are notorious cowards. Pressed to defend our borders, they would be hightailing it home to grandma's basement where they could safely praise macho Vlad on 8chan.

Probably all the weekend larpers, but I don't know about ex-military.

 

[hulugu]

The numbers of the Azov appear to be lower than the numbers of white supremacists in America’s military and police forces. Imagine if America was invaded and we needed to ask civilians to grab a gun and fight. I imagine the white power militias would be heavily involved. After the fighting ended, what would you do about these empowered groups? That might be something Ukraine will have to deal with.

The Azov "Battalion" is estimated around 900 to 2,500 members. There are as many as 6,000 shitheads in the Proud Boys alone.

Hell, I could probably scrape together a "battalion" of similar vicious idiots from the suburbs of Phoenix alone, much less the state of Arizona.

Moreover, the Russian involvement in Ukraine over the last several years has fueled these assholes, not to mention that a significant chunk of its membership are foreign fighters, who flocked to the area. We saw similar movements in Iraq and Syria, where bored, disaffected teenagers would flock to combat zones to see something. A flock of assholes in the Donbas that's maybe a battalion on a warm summer day is largely meaningless.

As for the relative value of neo-Nazi fighters, I never met a bigger bunch of scared dimwits this side of a Trump rally.

All the so-called "militias" that stalked the border were incompetent nobodies who were terrified of coyotes, and would wet themselves if they ran into a group of scared migrants, much less a guide, or a falcon or sicarrio.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

We need a lot more government transparency and I’m all for freedom of the press, but I’m growing pretty damn tired of the press pushing on knowing what the US is doing or not doing, or what they will do or not do. Why don’t we just send all our involvement and plans to Putin for his review. It serves no purpose other than the media begging for more outrage revenue, regardless of which side you stand on. Be outraged we aren’t doing enough. Be outraged we’re using dangerous rhetoric. Hey, here’s another dead civilian. Another bombed out building. What’s our response to the atrocities that happened in the last 15 minutes? Still waiting to hear about our response to the atrocities that happened 15 minutes before that. It seems like we don’t even care about the atrocities that happened an hour ago. Are we not doing anything?!?!

 

[Yoused]

Russians are smart. Very, very smart. And they are strong.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1509287796065845250/

Like Pakled.

Or maybe their leaders are just assholes.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Russians are smart. Very, very smart. And they are strong.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1509287796065845250/

Like Pakled.

Or maybe their leaders are just assholes.

Now they're just Putin's version of suicide bombers. It's more of a slow-release thing.

 

[Nycturne]

Russians are smart. Very, very smart. And they are strong.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1509287796065845250/

Like Pakled.

Or maybe their leaders are just assholes.

I can't say I'm too surprised considering how much the Soviet state downplayed the disaster and hid their records to avoid looking weak in the first place. After it being "someone else's problem" for 30 years, does Russia even have any proper records on the radiological survey left, I wonder?

But a daylight charge over the minefield is certainly unexpected, I guess.

 

[Edd]

So I wonder how well the Russians are maintaining their nukes since their military readiness isn't what they've projected.

 

[Nycturne]

So I wonder how well the Russians are maintaining their nukes since their military readiness isn't what they've projected.

Oof, my brain went to a dark place with that thought. Hopefully they aren't selling those for alcohol too.

 

[Yoused]

Oof, my brain went to a dark place with that thought. Hopefully they aren't selling those for alcohol too.

Vodkonium-239?

 

[Macky-Mac]

And so, it begins.

Putin Wants Hostile States to Pay Rubles for Gas, Interfax Says

Russia plans to demand ruble payments for natural gas purchases from European nations, deepening its standoff with the west and potentially aggravating Europe’s worst energy crunch since the 1970s.

www.bloomberg.com

and so Putin moves ahead with the energy weapon......

PUTIN says;

...Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from April 1, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.

“In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow,” Putin said in televised remarks.

“If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either – that is, existing contracts will be stopped.”....

 

[Edd]

and so Putin moves ahead with the energy weapon......

PUTIN says;

Tricky business. It would be so satisfying if Europe were able to say "Got a better idea, how about we buy nothing mother fucker?"

 

[Yoused]

Next up: kitchen sink

Russia’s Only Prototype T-80UM2 Tank Was Destroyed In Ukraine

The T-80UM2 never led to quantity production and its presence in Ukraine remains mysterious.

www.thedrive.com

The tank had "Drozd (thrush) active protection system" meant to identify and destroy incoming threats. Apparently Drozd turned out to be ineffective.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Tricky business. It would be so satisfying if Europe were able to say "Got a better idea, how about we buy nothing mother fucker?"

Indeed It would be.

Since the start of this mess, the potential of a cut off of gas has been pointed out, so I'm hoping that there's been some preparation for what to do when it actually happens

 

[Macky-Mac]

Tricky business. It would be so satisfying if Europe were able to say "Got a better idea, how about we buy nothing mother fucker?"

Perhaps the Baltic states are doing just that.....link:

"Baltic states stop Russian gas imports​

The head of Latvia's natural gas storage operator said Saturday the Baltic states were no longer importing Russian natural gas.

"If there were still any doubts about whether there may be any trust in deliveries from Russia, current events clearly show us that there is no more trust," said Uldis Bariss, CEO of Conexus Baltic Grid.

"Since April 1st Russian natural gas is no longer flowing to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania," he told Latvian radio.
He added that the Baltic market was currently being served by gas reserves stored underground in Latvia....


...Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called on the rest of the EU to follow the Baltic example.

"From this month on - no more Russian gas in Lithuania," he said on Twitter...."

 

[Yoused]

As Ukraine retakes control of nothern cities the behavior of the Russian army is seen to have been as ugly as we expected – beware of this before you click that (BBC) link.

 

[Zoidberg]

A great documentary from 2019. Just watch the first few minutes, and it will explain a lot.
Link

 

[DT]

A great documentary from 2019. Just watch the first few minutes, and it will explain a lot.
Link

Fascinating, I'll going to watch the whole thing later this evening.

 

[lizkat]

One unintended consequence of the USA having a longtime all-volunteer military: apparently not all that many people can recognize unexploded ordnance encountered in a non-military landscape here at home.

Imagine telling this tale to someone in Ukraine right now: Guy working for a nearby village sanitation department saw "a piece of metal" alongside road edge and brought it back to the town sheds, meaning to get rid of it at the recycle section of the landfill. His boss took one look at it and called the bomb squad of state police. Half the main drag in town was then evacuated until the thing was secured and taken away,

'Explosive device' spurs evacuations in Walton

Several businesses were evacuated in the village of Walton on Tuesday, April 5, after an unexploded ordnance was found at the *Delaware County Department of Public Works garage on Water

www.thedailystar.com

 

[Zoidberg]

A great documentary from 2019. Just watch the first few minutes, and it will explain a lot.
Link

I just read that one of the makers of the documentary I linked to just a few days ago has fled to Israel:

Russian filmmaker flees Moscow to Israel due to documentary critical of Putin regime

Dmitry Bogolyubov's 'Town of Glory' depicts town of Yelnya as representative of fanatical militarism fueling Russians' strong support for brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine

www.timesofisrael.com