Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #3

[Amonet]

From iNews, on the subject of Putin potentially wanting to go into Moldova after Ukraine

Whether Moldova is part of Nato, and what could happen if Russia invades it next

 

[Mo Thuairim]

Interesting indeed!!! imo, rbbm.
January 26, 2022
Russian war games: Can Ireland stop exercises off its coast? | CTV News
''With the announcement that Russia plans to hold a live-fire naval exercise next month off the coast of Ireland – despite Ireland declaring their presence unwelcome, aspects of military maritime law have come under scrutiny as tensions continue to rise over the current Ukraine-Russia crisis.

The naval exercises are said to be taking place in parts of the Pacific, Mediterranean and an area about 130 nautical miles, or 240 kilometres, off the coast of County Cork, Ireland.

That location put the Russian navy within Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends for 200 nautical miles and is patrolled by Irish naval ships and airplanes. It is also the location of several crucial transatlantic data cables.''

''As for the Russians choosing the location off the coast of Ireland, Norman said it was “interesting” that the Russians would venture that far south.''

This was quite a big story here in Ireland in January. The government got nowhere trying to get the Russians to move their naval exercises outside the Irish EEZ but a group of fishermen announced they would sail out and confront them and the Russians agreed to move their exercises.

How a group of Irish fishermen forced the Russian Navy into a U-turn - CNN

How Irish Fishermen Took on the Russian Fleet and Won

(...)

Murphy said the fishermen would be making a coordinated effort to head off the Russian fleet. “Our boats will be going out to that area on the first of February to go fishing,” he told Politico on Jan. 25. “When one boat needs to return to port, another will head out so there is a continuous presence on the water. If that is in proximity to where the [military] exercise is going, we are expecting that the Russian naval services abide by the anti-collision regulations.” By constantly having their boats in the exercise waters, the fishermen would—peacefully—prevent the Russians from conducting the exercise.

Their action worked. On Jan. 29, Filatov issued a statement announcing that Russia’s defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, had decided, “as a gesture of goodwill, to relocate the exercises by the Russian Navy, planned for February 3-8, outside the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ), with the aim not to hinder fishing activities by the Irish vessels in the traditional fishing areas.”

The Irish fishermen didn’t just humiliate Moscow: they also put Western capitals’ deterrence efforts to shame. And they did so by announcing asymmetric deterrence.

(...)

 

[Herat]

The US Air Force plane, Forte10, a Northrop-Grumman Global Hawk gets to within 700 km from Kyiv, at about 53,000 ft on these runs.

I wonder what it can see from that height and distance? I'll bet it can detect radiation discharges.

Look at a photo of this beast ! It's UNMANNED, like a SuperMegaDrone

Global Hawk

These are the planes the US is using to watch Russia’s military movements

 

[tedtink]

A look at some military activity in airspace around Ukraine | Flightradar24 Blog

Latest News.

 

[Angleterre]

sbm

I'm studying at university right now and I haven't got a clue what that means either.
Hope whatever your son decides to do goes well <3

Thank you by the way for your kind words
Really nice of you to say that and wish him well

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I fully understand now the reason Putin did not want to lose his friendship with an American president.

Oh for certain. Putin has been strategizing how to take back all the Soviet countries and territories for decades. He was devastated with the fall of the Soviet Union. I know there are people who think the former US President had Putin in check... <modsnip>. Putin would NEVER stray off the course he is on how. He absolutely HATES NATO, and he hates democracies. He is the premier Autocrat in the World. ..Autocrats are his ONLY friends. No one influences the plans of an autocrat, they only enable or distract.

There are "tomes" written about Putin's decades of his strategies... These two articles are good ones. The NYT article is very recent. The Atlantic article was written in the first days of February ..before his attacks, but as often the case with the Atlantic articles, it is an extraordinarily well written about how long Putin has been working on these strategies.


Mr. Putin has long lamented the loss of Ukraine and other republics when the Soviet Union broke apart. Now, diminishing NATO, the military alliance that helped keep the Soviets in check, may be his real mission. Before invading, Russia made a list of far-reaching demands to reshape that structure — positions NATO and the United States rejected.

Mr. Putin has described the Soviet (USSR) disintegration as a catastrophe that robbed Russia of its rightful place among the world’s great powers and put it at the mercy of a predatory West. He has spent his 22 years in power rebuilding Russia’s military and reasserting its geopolitical clout.
The Roots of the Ukraine War: How the Crisis Developed

But the most significant influence on Putin’s worldview has nothing to do with either his KGB training or his desire to rebuild the U.S.S.R. Putin and the people around him have been far more profoundly shaped, rather, by their path to power.

Putin missed that moment of exhilaration. Instead, he was posted to the KGB office in Dresden, East Germany, where he endured the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 as a personal tragedy. For KGB operatives, this was not a time of rejoicing, but rather a lesson about the nature of street movements and the power of rhetoric: democratic rhetoric, antiauthoritarian rhetoric, anti-totalitarian rhetoric. Putin, like his role model Yuri Andropov, who was the Soviet ambassador to Hungary during the 1956 revolution there, concluded from that period that spontaneity is dangerous.

But although Putin missed the euphoria of the ’80s, he certainly took full part in the orgy of greed that gripped Russia in the ’90s. Having weathered the trauma of the Berlin Wall, Putin returned to the Soviet Union and joined his former colleagues in a massive looting of the Soviet state. With the assistance of Russian organized crime as well as the amoral international offshore-money-laundering industry, some of the former Soviet nomenklatura stole assets, took the money out of the country, hid it abroad, and then brought the cash back and used it to buy more assets. Wealth accumulated; a power struggle followed. Some of the original oligarchs landed in prison or exile. Eventually Putin wound up as the top billionaire among all the other billionaires—or at least the one who controls the secret police.
The Reason Putin Would Risk War

 

[SouthAussie]

Umm. Can we buy Canadian oil, instead?

The US already gets the majority of its oil imports from Canada (52.5%).
(And the US also exports oil to Canada.)

I imagine there will be an adjustment in imports/exports as each country needs more of its own oil.


Of the 7.86 million barrels per day the U.S. imported in 2020, the majority came from its North American neighbors: Canada, with 4.13 million barrels (52.5%), and Mexico, with 750,000 (9.6%).
But imports coming from outside North America are significant. Russia, with 540,000 barrels a day (6.6%), was the top non-continental contributor. Roughly 11% of the imports came collectively from OPEC countries, including 520,000 from Saudi Arabia.

But the U.S. exports petroleum, too – and in 2020, for the first time since 1949, the U.S. exported more than it imported – 635,000 barrels per day more.

Of the 8.5 million barrels per day exported in 2020, Mexico and Canada reappear as the largest partners again, each receiving about a million barrels per day from the U.S. China was the third-largest recipient, with 720,000 barrels a day. Japan and India round out the top five, receiving about half a million barrels per day each.

Where Does the U.S. Get Its Oil?

 

[Angleterre]

Dear dear Mother.... my heart beats with you.... Europe is always so close to the the big conflicts. Hearing from my European friends is just so different than us talking among ourselves here in the US. The reality IS sinking in to a large degree here.... but the silence is deafening as to who is not talking at all about this.

I’m not sure I understand to whom or what you refer with you last sentence about the silence being deafening as to who is not talking about this at all. Care to elaborate in whatever way suits you- public or private

 

[SouthAussie]

Doh! I totally didn’t think of the radio. However, most would only listen to broadcasts in their own language and therefore get a somewhat biased version of events, I guess.

@nhmemorymaker Russian media is predominantly owned and run by the government so if they only listen to that, they’re going to get the Putin version. But they’re not restricted like e.g. China or North Korea, they can access international news or social media, so I really hope they are seeing the bigger picture.

It has been speculated that Russia may impose martial law on Friday.
If they impose martial law they can "....... introduce military censorship, to increase the secrecy of the state’s activities and the actions of local bodies.”



The Russian Federation Council is set to hold an unscheduled meeting on Friday, leading to widespread speculation in Moscow that the country might impose martial law.

The introduction of martial law would give the authorities sweeping powers to limit freedom of movement and freedom of speech.

The Federation Council said it will officially discuss on Friday a package of anti-crisis measures in response to Western sanctions.

Russia-Ukraine war latest: 38 countries, including UK, refer atrocities to ICC – live

 

[Herat]

It has been speculated that Russia may impose martial law on Friday.
If they impose martial law they can "....... introduce military censorship, to increase the secrecy of the state’s activities and the actions of local bodies.”



The Russian Federation Council is set to hold an unscheduled meeting on Friday, leading to widespread speculation in Moscow that the country might impose martial law.

The introduction of martial law would give the authorities sweeping powers to limit freedom of movement and freedom of speech.

The Federation Council said it will officially discuss on Friday a package of anti-crisis measures in response to Western sanctions.

Russia-Ukraine war latest: 38 countries, including UK, refer atrocities to ICC – live

Ahhh, Russia to become greater North Korea.

 

[CSIDreamer]

I fully understand now the reason Putin did not want to lose his friendship with an American president.

I don’t know that it was friendship. "Keep your friends close, your enemies closer". Savvy.

 

[Herat]

Ooooh, when the ruble implodes the rich head for the gold

Rich Russians turn to luxury jewellery, watches to shield savings

 

[otto]

The US already gets the majority of its oil imports from Canada (52.5%).
(And the US also exports oil to Canada.)

I imagine there will be an adjustment in imports/exports as each country needs more of its own oil.


Of the 7.86 million barrels per day the U.S. imported in 2020, the majority came from its North American neighbors: Canada, with 4.13 million barrels (52.5%), and Mexico, with 750,000 (9.6%).
But imports coming from outside North America are significant. Russia, with 540,000 barrels a day (6.6%), was the top non-continental contributor. Roughly 11% of the imports came collectively from OPEC countries, including 520,000 from Saudi Arabia.

But the U.S. exports petroleum, too – and in 2020, for the first time since 1949, the U.S. exported more than it imported – 635,000 barrels per day more.

Of the 8.5 million barrels per day exported in 2020, Mexico and Canada reappear as the largest partners again, each receiving about a million barrels per day from the U.S. China was the third-largest recipient, with 720,000 barrels a day. Japan and India round out the top five, receiving about half a million barrels per day each.

Where Does the U.S. Get Its Oil?

The day that Biden was elected, he cancelled a pipeline that was already in the works. Russian oil was preferred over Canadian oil, perhaps now is a good time to rethink that decision.

"Alberta is seeking $1.3 billion in compensation from the U.S. government in the wake of President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline’s permit.

The provincial government says it has filed a notice of intent to launch a claim under legacy rules tied to the old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.​

Alberta government seeking $1.3B from U.S. over cancelled Keystone XL pipeline | Globalnews.ca

 

[LadyL]

A European low-cost airline is offering Ukrainians 100,000 free plane tickets from neighboring countries

U.N. vote on Ukraine sends "loud and clear" message to Russia

Why Putin's military has stumbled so badly in Ukraine

Russians in Canada struggle to navigate war in Ukraine

 

[SouthAussie]

The day that Biden was elected, he cancelled a pipeline that was already in the works. Russian oil was preferred over Canadian oil, perhaps now is a good time to rethink that decision.

"Alberta is seeking $1.3 billion in compensation from the U.S. government in the wake of President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline’s permit.

The provincial government says it has filed a notice of intent to launch a claim under legacy rules tied to the old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.​

Alberta government seeking $1.3B from U.S. over cancelled Keystone XL pipeline | Globalnews.ca

Yes, well, I am not going to go there.
I know there are big environmental concerns over the pipeline from various bodies.

We may just have to hitch up the horses and wagons and stop being such gas guzzling nations. Our reliance on oil is stupendously huge. But that is a whole other subject.

 

[LadyL]

Army of cyber hackers rise up to back Ukraine

Factbox-What is the chain of command for potential Russian nuclear strikes?

Canadian volunteers prepare to join fight against Russian invasion in Ukraine

Around 70 Japanese have volunteered to fight for Ukraine - report

 

[LadyL]

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich selling Chelsea soccer club, with proceeds to help victims of Ukraine war

Analysis: The shifting map of Ukraine makes Russia's intentions clearer

Ukrainian-Canadians eager to volunteer on medical front lines amid Russian invasion

U.S. lawmakers push Treasury to ensure Russia cannot use cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions

 

[otto]

Yes, well, I am not going to go there.
I know there are big environmental concerns over the pipeline from various bodies.

We may just have to hitch up the horses and wagons and stop being such gas guzzling nations. Our reliance on oil is stupendously huge. But that is a whole other subject.

We've had a few Leonardo di Caprio's claiming that the Canadian sky is falling, but Canadian oil is probably cleaner than Russian oil and it does not involve fracking.

 

[dotr]

 

[SouthAussie]

We've had a few Leonardo di Caprio's claiming that the Canadian sky is falling, but Canadian oil is probably cleaner than Russian oil and it does not involve fracking.

The countries that have sunk money into developing greener energy solutions will fare better. imo