Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #2

[CoverMeCagney]

<snipped>

How easy it would have been for Putin to create a flourishing Russia, with its vast oil wealth and human talent, to become a country that Ukraine would want to be close to! Instead, he created a country that stinks of fear, death, and murder that Ukraine has been trying to escape from.

This is the saddest thing. I was there in 1991 on a school trip, a few months before the Soviet Union dissolved. We visited all the sites in Moscow - Red Square, St Basils, Lenin’s Mausoleum, Gorky Park, the amazingly beautiful underground stations, the Bolshoi Ballet and the Moscow State Circus. And St Petersburg (still called Leningrad then) - the Hermitage and Winter Palace, vague recollection of visiting a war ship too.

The weather was bleak in February and much of the cities were block after block of cold grey flats, but with these wonderful splashes of colourful churches and convents, and grand buildings painted in bright colours, stark against the snow.

What I’m remembering now is the schools we visited, a college and a primary school. We buddied up with the older kids and became penpals for a time. They had such hope for the future, they were proud Russians with a genuine interest in the wider world. And the little kids - so excited to meet British students and talked non stop about the new McDonalds that had been the first to open in Russia the year before. They so wanted to be more like us, more Westernised, to be able to travel and learn other languages and make a better life for themselves.

It was a Ukrainian teacher that took us and years later I bumped into her and expressed surprise that she’d done such an ambitious trip at what must have been a politically sensitive time. She said, that apart from giving us an experience and opportunity to practice the language, she wanted to go in case she, as a Ukrainian, wouldn’t be able to visit the capital once the states separated.

Thinking of her, her family in Ukraine, all those children we met and my penpals from that time. Putin has taken over an already fragile country and smashed its heart to bits.

 

[Herat]

It's probably not what is said in American English but "a cornered cat makes weird jumps" I'm very afraid what this loonie is able to do next.

There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered RAT

Putin is painting himself into a corner that he cannot survive. If he vaporizes all of Ukraine, the sanctions will still exist and Russia will overthrow him.

 

[Fika]

There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered RAT

Putin is painting himself into a corner that he cannot survive. If he vaporizes all of Ukraine, the sanctions will still exist and Russia will overthrow him.

Rat suits him well…

 

[Herat]

Sen. Rubio made a comment yesterday about "something off" with Putin. Rubio is on the intelligence committee. Then last night former director of national intelligence James Clapper echoed that, saying that Putin is acting oddly. I believe that when this started Putin left Moscow and is at a facility in the Ural Mountains with his top officials. This seems almost paranoid type of behavior. It also leaves him isolated from the growing protests in his own country.

I think it's more likely he's hold up in the multi-billion $$$ "James Bond" lair on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. Very impregnable-looking place

Putin Has Created The Ultimate Bond Villain's Lair

 

[PrairieWind]

There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered RAT

Putin is painting himself into a corner that he cannot survive. If he vaporizes all of Ukraine, the sanctions will still exist and Russia will overthrow him.

I am hoping that Russian generals would not carry out any orders to use nuclear weapons and/or commit extreme atrocities. Keeping my fingers crossed at least.

 

[Bit of hope]

I think it's more likely he's hold up in the multi-billion $$$ "James Bond" lair on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. Very impregnable-looking place

Putin Has Created The Ultimate Bond Villain's Lair

For me there is only one way....destroy this. It's the Eagle Nest all over again....

 

[whitelilac]

Russian President Vladimir Putin's brazen and unprovoked assault on Ukraine is fast turning his fears of a more resolute Europe, and potentially expanded NATO alliance, into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Putin's fears of a unified, stronger Europe are fast becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy

 

[whitelilac]

1h ago10:57

Switzerland, a favourite destination for Russian oligarchs, has set aside its tradition of neutrality and announced that it will adopt all the sanctions already imposed by the European Union on Russia.

Following a government meeting on Monday, Switzerland’s president, Ignazio Cassis, said the country would immediately freeze the assets of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, and the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, as well as all 367 individuals sanctioned last week by the EU.
Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Putin ‘willing to consider’ halting attacks on civilians, says France – live

 

[Sundog]

Ukraine live updates: Ukraine asks for ceasefire in talks with Russia - BBC News

Russian and Ukrainian representatives have concluded talks held in Belarus aimed at brokering peace amid the ongoing conflict.

Both sides will return to their capital cities for consultation ahead of a second round of talks, which could take place in the coming days, the Reuters news agency cites Belarus' Belta news as saying.

Expectations for a peaceful resolution had not been high before Monday's meeting.

Ukraine said it wanted a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal, while the Kremlin said it would not announce its position. Russia's negotiators have talked of striking a deal that's in the interests of both sides.

There is still hope if they plan to proceed to a second round of talks.

 

[whitelilac]

18m ago12:03

Ukraine has demanded that Russia be expelled from the International Police Criminal Organisation, commonly known as Interpol, accusing it of abusing the organisation and using it to target political opponents worldwide and in Ukraine, the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson writes.

Ukrainian minister of internal affairs Denis Monastyrsky demanded Russia’s immediate expulsion via Facebook. “Russia should be expelled from Interpol for violating its basic principles and massive misuse of tools and services to cover up its crimes and persecute political enemies, particularly in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian broadcasting organisation Hromadske reported. The Guardian has approached Interpol for comment.

Interpol is a supranational police force focused on information-sharing among its 195 member states, primarily through its red notice system intended to alert member nations about the cross-border movement of criminals.

In recent years it has increasingly drawn criticism for abuse of the red notice system by oppressive regimes including Russia, where anti-democratic nations using it to flag political dissidents in exile or escaping abuse rather than those proven to commit crimes.
Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Putin ‘willing to consider’ halting attacks on civilians, says France – live

 

[sunshineray]

I am hoping that Russian generals would not carry out any orders to use nuclear weapons and/or commit extreme atrocities. Keeping my fingers crossed at least.

I have to believe that is so, it has to be. When Putin was giving his going on nuclear high alert speech, they panned over to his two generals sitting there. I swear I saw upset, fear and a little disgust displayed on the face of the general on the right. The left-side general was just too stone faced to read with just the glance we got.

I hope and pray for reasonable men to emerge and do the right things <3

 

[Bit of hope]

18m ago12:03

Ukraine has demanded that Russia be expelled from the International Police Criminal Organisation, commonly known as Interpol, accusing it of abusing the organisation and using it to target political opponents worldwide and in Ukraine, the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson writes.

Ukrainian minister of internal affairs Denis Monastyrsky demanded Russia’s immediate expulsion via Facebook. “Russia should be expelled from Interpol for violating its basic principles and massive misuse of tools and services to cover up its crimes and persecute political enemies, particularly in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian broadcasting organisation Hromadske reported. The Guardian has approached Interpol for comment.

Interpol is a supranational police force focused on information-sharing among its 195 member states, primarily through its red notice system intended to alert member nations about the cross-border movement of criminals.

In recent years it has increasingly drawn criticism for abuse of the red notice system by oppressive regimes including Russia, where anti-democratic nations using it to flag political dissidents in exile or escaping abuse rather than those proven to commit crimes.
Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Putin ‘willing to consider’ halting attacks on civilians, says France – live

This is really, really very interesting....thanks for sharing.

 

[Bit of hope]

There is still hope if they plan to proceed to a second round of talks.

I don't have any hope anymore, at least in this case...only if the fights are stopped right now...I have a tiny of it it left.

 

[Turkeytrot]

Rat suits him well…

A rabid one at that

Jmo

 

[PrairieWind]

I have to believe that is so, it has to be. When Putin was giving his going on nuclear high alert speech, they panned over to his two generals sitting there. I swear I saw upset, fear and a little disgust displayed on the face of the general on the right. The left-side general was just too stone faced to read with just the glance we got.

I hope and pray for reasonable men to emerge and do the right things <3

Those two generals certainly didn't look comfortable.

 

[Turkeytrot]

The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent)

• Zelensky signs Ukraine's official application for EU membership.

The historic signing follows Zelensky's call for the EU to accept Ukraine, while the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that "Ukraine is “one of us and we want them in.” https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1498350916138844167?s=20&t=efR-vBlJPzf82COA4SvqVg

 

[Turkeytrot]

The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent)

• Russian forces launch an attack on Kyiv soon after the Ukraine-Russia negotiations are over. https://t.co/8u4EYP8pkQ https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1498345781425811458?s=20&t=Z-8NhjfCIkOW0xE_cFvo8g

Video at link

 

[Bit of hope]

I don't have any hope anymore, at least in this case...only if the fights are stopped right now...I have a tiny of it it left.

Actually there is nothing to negotiate....negotiation means parties want to give......As Putin only wants to take....and did a criminal act in the first place...nothing to talk about anymore if you ask me. Ukraine tried...for the sake of peace....last call....IMO.

 

[Herat]

This is a comment article from The Telegraph UK today. (It's behind a paywall, so I can't post the entire thing)

This is the title: "
Vladimir Putin's popularity may not survive a bank run
A key reason he has managed to retain power for so long is that the Russian economy has grown fairly consistently under his rule"

<modnsip> two brief sections of the article:

"Measures the Russian government is taking in response are also likely to have quite an impact — such as the requirement announced today forcing Russian companies to sell 80 per cent of their foreign currency earnings to buy roubles, partly to support the rouble itself but also so as to increase the Russian authorities’ access to foreign currency and to limit hoarding.

Many Russians are only too aware of how bad things can get economically from its experience in the 1990s.
Russian inflation reached nearly 130 per cent. Russian GDP contracted over 5 per cent on top of the huge contractions it had been experiencing through the 1990s during the transition from communism to capitalism, and with the crash in the value of the rouble the Russian economy overall, in 1998, ended up smaller than Belgium’s.

It was off the back of these events that Putin became Prime Minister and then President in 1999. A key reason he has managed to retain power for so long is that the Russian economy has grown fairly consistently under his rule when it had shrunk consistently for most of the decade that preceded him.

Of course, that took months. I don't know how Ukraine can hold out for months against this impulsive monster

 

[CSIDreamer]

18m ago12:03

Ukraine has demanded that Russia be expelled from the International Police Criminal Organisation, commonly known as Interpol, accusing it of abusing the organisation and using it to target political opponents worldwide and in Ukraine, the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson writes.

Ukrainian minister of internal affairs Denis Monastyrsky demanded Russia’s immediate expulsion via Facebook. “Russia should be expelled from Interpol for violating its basic principles and massive misuse of tools and services to cover up its crimes and persecute political enemies, particularly in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian broadcasting organisation Hromadske reported. The Guardian has approached Interpol for comment.

Interpol is a supranational police force focused on information-sharing among its 195 member states, primarily through its red notice system intended to alert member nations about the cross-border movement of criminals.

In recent years it has increasingly drawn criticism for abuse of the red notice system by oppressive regimes including Russia, where anti-democratic nations using it to flag political dissidents in exile or escaping abuse rather than those proven to commit crimes.
Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Putin ‘willing to consider’ halting attacks on civilians, says France – live

Well big surprise. Just looking at the title to your link. "Putin willing to consider halting attacks on civilians". That is an admission of war crimes. JMO