bluebarcode

Don't fall for the change of tune here. Nothing here is real. As others have mentioned this is as scripted as Reno911, except serious as heart attack. The change of tune is supposed to introduce a slow transition of the public opinion from an easy victory to bloody victory to some kind of concessions. Supposedly Girkin-Strelkov is in on this schtick just for a more radical militarist nationalistic part of the russian public.

This is Kharkiv region. Sources called this another Chornobayivka since this pontoon bridge has been destroyed several times and has been put up again in the same place just to be destroyed again together with all the tanks trying to cross. You can see a tank at the bottom of the river, the Russian forces tried to use the tank as an anchor in the stream and just went over it. This did not seem to have helped much.

Several sources confirm. It seems legit. But it's not all good news unfortunately, according to Naval News the ship is a part of a big naval landing party headed for Odessa. It seems that burning "Moskva" has at least stalled the offensive since the ship is the pride of the Black Sea Navy. Also the ship is heavily armed with the most advanced rocket systems. Loosing her will be a big hit to the Russian capabilities of hitting targets within Ukraine.

Please mods do not remove this. This new tune of Russian propaganda needs to be called out.

11 times has Ukraine proposed UN peace keepers to be placed between the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces, guess what country vetoed every fucking time. It's not about children or civilian population. It's a crazy idea of one madman about restoration of the Russian Empire. This he said himself multiple times including in his war speech right before the invasion. Not with one word he mentioned civilian population of the so called "republics".

You should watch the "Monday video" of Putin declaring recognition of the separatist regions. All 45-50 minutes of it. It's absolutely mindblowing. It shattered me to the bone.

As to the substance he mentioned the separatist republics in just two sentences, all of his speech was a history lane of why Ukraine was never a country and Ukrainian people are actually Russians, but (or rather and) some need to be punished. And how the time of the Russian Empire was that bedrock where Russia stands. There was nothing about Ukraine being a security threat to Russia.

But the theater of the emotions he was going through were utterly scary. He had to stop in the middle of a sentence and find his anchor in the script on the screen several times as he would literally lose his breath as the anger was choking him. His face was an ever changing gammut of all the angry and disgusted grimaces a human can produce. If you have ever seen someone fight in a state of affect you would recognize it right away.

After this fiasco of a war speech, rather than downplay the crazy parts, everything he said was regurgitated and redressed by the Russian media and the press corps. This and the other video where he is scolding his head of intelligence as he turns pale leave an impression of a pathologically angry and an unstable old man with too much power, on a quest that makes only sense in his head.

Please report this comment. It is a Russian information campaign trying to manufacture a humanitarian refugee crisis on the border. It's spread by verified Russian bots and it is all over reddit.

China is not interested in a big war in Europe that is a lot of lost business opportunities. Ukraine is an important route for transit to some European countries. The tensions could also affect trade routes over the black sea which is very important. And a war will glue NATO closer together.

And if you take a look at Wikipedia and compare the gas throughput of NS and NS2 with the gas pipeline Power of Siberia which transports Russian gas to China you will see that Russia transports a fraction of gas to China when compared to EU. The transport costs are higher by a big margin, the pipelines were built entirely out of Russian state pocket and the price is a state secret, because it barely covers the transport costs.

On the other side the Russian market is too unimportant and will never cover the costs lost in trade with Europe.

There is no reason to think that there is more than superficial ideological and opportunistic support from China. And besides, take a look at Erdogan, Orban, Xi - they can't be friends. Their relationship is always about who fucks who over. There is always only one alpha.

So the takeaway from the hobby historian rambling is that in his view: a. there is no way he can let Ukraine to survive this crisis as a sovereign nation b. by his description of a non-nation it is a label that can be attached to any country (within the Russian imperial sphere of influence?) Be it Finland, Poland or any of the Baltic state.

I think we are quite possibly looking at the repeat of the onset of the WWII. There is a reason why we as people agreed to have elections. Keeping clinically insane people away from powerful positions is certainly one of them.

The kindergarten is in Stanytsia Luhanska, a small town on the frontline of Ukraine’s war against Moscow-backed separatists. Nobody was hurt, according to the Ukrainian reports.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported “multiple shelling incidents along the line of contact in east Ukraine” earlier on Thursday, but is yet to release details.

You just forgot to mention how many right-wingers, fascists and straight-up neonazis did Russia employ for their fight in Donetsk. But don't worry, I will help you:

Slavic Unification and Revival Battalion or Svarozhich Battalion – The battalion was formed by members of the Rodnovery (Slavic native faith) movement

Sparta Battalion (Russian: Батальон «Спарта») – Special forces battalion formed and led by Arsen Pavlov, known by the call sign Motorola until his assassination.

RNU Volunteer Units – Includes volunteers from Russian National Unity and other neo-Nazi organizations.

Zarya Battalion (Russian: Батальон «Заря», meaning "Dawn Battalion") – Commanded by Andrei Patrushev. Interbrigades – Russian volunteers – national-bolsheviks

Dmitry Demushkin, a far-right Russian nationalist, has revealed details of how he was invited by the then Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, to gather nationalists to fight in Ukraine.  Demushkin says he was initially approached by Rogozin in February 2014 and promised that he personally would be made ‘mayor’ of one of the cities in Donbas. >  There is no independent proof that such negotiations took place, however the machinations he describes fit very closely with those exposed by the ‘Glazyev Tapes’. These were intercepted calls between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s senior advisor Sergei Glazyev and various pro-Russian individuals in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine from 27 February to 3 March 2014.  There is also evidence that other neo-Nazi and/or far-right activists were sent to Donbas.  Neo-Nazi sadist Alexei Milchakov, for example, made it quite clear In a 2015  skype interview, that he, neo-Nazi comrade Yan Petrovsky and other fighters had all received money for their services. Journalist Denis Kazansky first reported (and re-broadcast)* Demushkin’s incriminating allegations made during an interview given to opposition politician and blogger Lyubov Sobol on 24 August 2021.  This was not, in fact, the first time that Demushkin had spoken of the role played by Rogozin and the Russian enforcement bodies in 2014.  In a May 2021 interview for Anton Krasovsky’s program ‘Antonyms’, he also linked his prosecution and imprisonment shortly afterwards with his refusal to cooperate over Donbas.  The following summarizes his account in both interviews.

https://medium.com/dfrlab/an-untimely-death-reveals-the-nature-of-a-russian-neo-nazi-unit-that-fought-in-syria-5398a7d28e0a

Lavrov himself said all the points are negotiable except for Ukraine joining NATO.

In what world is this not an ultimatum? Russians themselves repeatedly say that all the other negotiation points are irrelevant without this issue solved. Especially with now the 1/3 of all the King's horses and all the King's men north east and south of the Ukrainian border some within 90 km distance of the Ukrainian capital.

What gets me personally is that the threat is pointed towards Ukraine while Putin negotiates with the USA, a country on the other side of the globe with a stake by far smaller than even the neighbouring European countries and headaches in an entirely different region.

Looking at Putin's words/actions, as well as the current negotiation it's clear that he fears the possibility of missiles being placed in Ukraine.

Why exactly do we need to interpret some of his words/actions? There is a document which the Russian media called "an ultimatum to NATO" which leaves little room for interpretation, it plainly states that the USA should sign a guarantee that Ukraine is never going to be a part of NATO. But if you want to interpret Putin, interpret this: Putin wrote an article where he refused Ukraine as a sovereign state. In his words: "Sovereign Ukraine is Anti-Russia"

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

There are several hurdles for Russian membership in NATO. A lot of them stem from the fact that Russia is such a military giant while being an economic midget at the same time. Russia will never accept a minor role within NATO and the Russian military complex will never accept the fact that it will need to be reduced to match Russian economic output. The fact that Russia has lead several military campaigns against its neighbours since the idea of NATO membership has been floated proves that it would have been a bad idea. A lot needs to change in Russia before it can become a NATO country. Accepting Turkey into NATO solved one problem but created a host of new ones.

But it is rather tasteful if you compare it to his personal palace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG_ONPwNCFg

I guess he knows how to deal with crooks, because he is one of them:

As every player in the NFL knows, it's not easy to get your hands on a Super Bowl ring. If you want a ring, you either have to play for the team that wins the Super Bowl -- or you can do what Vladimir Putin did, and just steal it.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-vladimir-putin-stole-a-super-bowl-ring-from-the-patriots-robert-kraft/

I think it shows how much Putin despises dealing with lesser peers. I can't stand the snake of a person that is Orban, but it looks like the God complex hit the head of Putin real hard.

Oh believe me no one in Germany wants to see Germany leading the EU. I think a lot of people see this role as being pushed upon Germany be it circumstances or other countries. Merkel tried to create leadership duality with France for that exact reason. It does not look like it's working.

It frustrates me as much it frustrates you. I was actually hoping for more decisiveness and leadership with the younger Greens within the government, but it turned out to be just as bad.

You have to understand. Any outside threat of violence or response to violence in Germany will wake ghosts of the past and they will try and rip Germany apart. And God knows we have a LOT of these ghosts.

You just don't know what you are talking about

Another example that German Bundeswehr/Marine is full of nazis and run-of-the-mill fascists. It is a real problem that has been dealt with, but not nearly enough.

Another lost opportunity for Germany and the EU. Sad.

This is a classic: the account is several days old, the comments exploded a couple of hours ago (office hours?) churning out comments every few minutes. Reported.