Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #8

[LadyL]

I'm just asking for opinions, not equipment stats.

Does anyone living in a country that is supplying Ukraine with necessities, or any other country really, wonder if we still have plenty to defend ourselves if we need to?

JMO

I hadn't considered that but I believe we would have enough in Canada.

From Telegram/Eto Boris Akunin (Real Russia).
(By Boris Akunin/Chartchishvili, one of Russia’s best authors, author of the “Russian State History.”)

(Opinion, not news).

“ I categorically disapprove of Stephen King's initiative supported by other authors to stop selling their works in Russia. I also think it was a big mistake that Netflix and some other majors from the cultural world decided to ostracize Russia.

Such moves only strengthen Putin’s dictatorship, they support its propaganda efforts to persuade Russians that the entire world is against them.

The world is not against Russians. The world is against Putin who doesn’t read Stephen King and doesn’t watch Netflix.

Do not help Putin please. Let it be him himself who cancels culture. Let Russians realize that it’s the dictator who robs them, who cuts the access to books, films, music. “

I personally 100% agree with Akunin.

How will Russians even know what is happening in Ukraine if they are cut off world information? They turn to the only available source…

well I understand your point but hackers have been finding ways to get outside info to the Russian people

 

[Mo Thuairim]

Russia-Ukraine war latest: Ukraine PM to head to Washington; Russian warship sunk by Ukraine missile strike, say US officials – live

Russia targets Ukrainian missile factory following the sinking of its Black Sea flagship.

The Vizar factory, near Kyiv’s international airport, was reported seriously damaged in the overnight strikes, AFP reports.

Ukraine’s state weapons manufacturer says the plant produced Neptune cruise missiles, at least one of which Ukraine says were used to sink the Moskva warship.

Russia said it had used sea-based long-range missiles to hit the plant.

Andrei Sizov, the 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop, told AFP:

"There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast. They are making us pay for destroying the Moskva."

(...)

Also:
Production buildings of armoured vehicle plant have been destroyed in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, says Russia’s defence ministry.

A military repair facility was also destroyed in the city of Mykolaiv, reports the Interfax news agency, quoting Russia’s defence ministry.

Russia says the strikes were carried out by high-precision long-range weapons. Russia also downed one Ukrainian SU-25 aircraft near Kharkiv Oblast, in eastern Ukraine, Interfax news agency reports.

 

[sunshineray]

Some comments, maybe a tiny rant </3

While I understand wanting to keep literature and music available to all who seek it, it's time for the Russian people to decide what they like more, those type freedoms or overall oppressions. It has truly come to that. How do they all want to live? Do they want a dictator telling them what to read, listen to or even think or shall they decide for themselves...shall they demand more?

I find the numerous stories of family members in Russia of civilians and Russian military not believing their relatives in Ukraine when they've told them what was occuring before their eyes very enlightening, unjustifiable and actually unforgivable. It's time for Russians to stop hiding behind naivety or complacent ignorance and wake up to the ugly facts.

Supposedly it's a cultural thing, Russian people not wanting to hear others criticizing their government, they get upset and get defiant. Well that's just too bad, get over it, listen and digest what was and still is being reported by almost every other country in the WORLD and start criticizing their government/miltary themselves, en masse!!

The Russian governmentals and military are the root of all their current woes of no free internet, press, tv, reading materials, music listening...no stores they've gotten use to, programs they watched and enjoyed, certain food shortages. Spread the word. They need to talk to everyone they can. If those get arrested, more take their place and so on. Pretty soon as the population is being jailed by the tens of thousands maybe it will sink in and real change can happen? Jail those responsible, those who take the people's money and either outright steal it or do evil with it in the people's name.

Sanctions by countries, companies or just individual artists is not isolation just to be cruel. It's meant to cripple the Russian government and military's capability to get funds to continue their crimes as much as humanly possible. Think back to the real nazi, Hitler, and think back to the real Stalin and keep thinking of them.

If Stalin is being praised as a national treasure and hero in Russian schools it's past time Russians realize he was actually a genocidal murderer. I'm guessing before the Ukraine war started watching tv shows about the horrors of Hitler was just fine to the Russian government but I dare say a Netflix show on Stalin would not have been allowed to air. Word of mouth about censorship should be the next logical step for freedom loving people...not acceptance.

The genocidal acts being committed against Ukraine cannot be dismissed by Russia's people because they don't like the picture it paints of Russia because they love their country so very much. THAT is the insanity of it all!! People need to speak up, organize and DO something BECAUSE they love their country.

If any sanctions, be they by country or by private entities, upset the Russian people, that's a stepping stone in bringing them to their senses. They need to relinquish their pride in country enough to see their leaders for the stealing, lying monsters they are, engaging word of mouth on a mammoth scale. They need to recognise their elites that "govern" as the puppets of a madman that they've become...stop being sheep that go blindly wherever they're led.

All just my observations and opinions...for what it's worth.

 

[sunshineray]

I think stress would be a "natural" cause, wouldn't it?

Torture then?

 

[CSIDreamer]

Some comments, maybe a tiny rant </3

While I understand wanting to keep literature and music available to all who seek it, it's time for the Russian people to decide what they like more, those type freedoms or overall oppressions. It has truly come to that. How do they all want to live? Do they want a dictator telling them what to read, listen to or even think or shall they decide for themselves...shall they demand more?

I find the numerous stories of family members in Russia of civilians and Russian military not believing their relatives in Ukraine when they've told them what was occuring before their eyes very enlightening, unjustifiable and actually unforgivable. It's time for Russians to stop hiding behind naivety or complacent ignorance and wake up to the ugly facts.

Supposedly it's a cultural thing, Russian people not wanting to hear others criticizing their government, they get upset and get defiant. Well that's just too bad, get over it, listen and digest what was and still is being reported by almost every other country in the WORLD and start criticizing their government/miltary themselves, en masse!!

The Russian governmentals and military are the root of all their current woes of no free internet, press, tv, reading materials, music listening...no stores they've gotten use to, programs they watched and enjoyed, certain food shortages. Spread the word. They need to talk to everyone they can. If those get arrested, more take their place and so on. Pretty soon as the population is being jailed by the tens of thousands maybe it will sink in and real change can happen? Jail those responsible, those who take the people's money and either outright steal it or do evil with it in the people's name.

Sanctions by countries, companies or just individual artists is not isolation just to be cruel. It's meant to cripple the Russian government and military's capability to get funds to continue their crimes as much as humanly possible. Think back to the real nazi, Hitler, and think back to the real Stalin and keep thinking of them.

If Stalin is being praised as a national treasure and hero in Russian schools it's past time Russians realize he was actually a genocidal murderer. I'm guessing before the Ukraine war started watching tv shows about the horrors of Hitler was just fine to the Russian government but I dare say a Netflix show on Stalin would not have been allowed to air. Word of mouth about censorship should be the next logical step for freedom loving people...not acceptance.

The genocidal acts being committed against Ukraine cannot be dismissed by Russia's people because they don't like the picture it paints of Russia because they love their country so very much. THAT is the insanity of it all!! People need to speak up, organize and DO something BECAUSE they love their country.

If any sanctions, be they by country or by private entities, upset the Russian people, that's a stepping stone in bringing them to their senses. They need to relinquish their pride in country enough to see their leaders for the stealing, lying monsters they are, engaging word of mouth on a mammoth scale. They need to recognise their elites that "govern" as the puppets of a madman that they've become...stop being sheep that go blindly wherever they're led.

All just my observations and opinions...for what it's worth.

I tend to agree with you. They have not built up to this for years in a bubble. JMO

 

[mickey2942]

Russia formally protests US weapons shipments to Ukraine - CNNPolitics

Did Russia think that no one would notice the hostile takeover of another country? Was this supposed to be over in a few days? Run over folks armed with pitchforks in a tank, declare victory?

 

[Sundog]

Some comments, maybe a tiny rant </3

While I understand wanting to keep literature and music available to all who seek it, it's time for the Russian people to decide what they like more, those type freedoms or overall oppressions. It has truly come to that. How do they all want to live? Do they want a dictator telling them what to read, listen to or even think or shall they decide for themselves...shall they demand more?

I find the numerous stories of family members in Russia of civilians and Russian military not believing their relatives in Ukraine when they've told them what was occuring before their eyes very enlightening, unjustifiable and actually unforgivable. It's time for Russians to stop hiding behind naivety or complacent ignorance and wake up to the ugly facts.

Supposedly it's a cultural thing, Russian people not wanting to hear others criticizing their government, they get upset and get defiant. Well that's just too bad, get over it, listen and digest what was and still is being reported by almost every other country in the WORLD and start criticizing their government/miltary themselves, en masse!!

The Russian governmentals and military are the root of all their current woes of no free internet, press, tv, reading materials, music listening...no stores they've gotten use to, programs they watched and enjoyed, certain food shortages. Spread the word. They need to talk to everyone they can. If those get arrested, more take their place and so on. Pretty soon as the population is being jailed by the tens of thousands maybe it will sink in and real change can happen? Jail those responsible, those who take the people's money and either outright steal it or do evil with it in the people's name.

Sanctions by countries, companies or just individual artists is not isolation just to be cruel. It's meant to cripple the Russian government and military's capability to get funds to continue their crimes as much as humanly possible. Think back to the real nazi, Hitler, and think back to the real Stalin and keep thinking of them.

If Stalin is being praised as a national treasure and hero in Russian schools it's past time Russians realize he was actually a genocidal murderer. I'm guessing before the Ukraine war started watching tv shows about the horrors of Hitler was just fine to the Russian government but I dare say a Netflix show on Stalin would not have been allowed to air. Word of mouth about censorship should be the next logical step for freedom loving people...not acceptance.

The genocidal acts being committed against Ukraine cannot be dismissed by Russia's people because they don't like the picture it paints of Russia because they love their country so very much. THAT is the insanity of it all!! People need to speak up, organize and DO something BECAUSE they love their country.

If any sanctions, be they by country or by private entities, upset the Russian people, that's a stepping stone in bringing them to their senses. They need to relinquish their pride in country enough to see their leaders for the stealing, lying monsters they are, engaging word of mouth on a mammoth scale. They need to recognise their elites that "govern" as the puppets of a madman that they've become...stop being sheep that go blindly wherever they're led.

All just my observations and opinions...for what it's worth.

Would you say the same for the PRC? We lost so many at Tian en men Square. And if your relative is arrested for a crime and executed, you may get a bill for the bullets.

I think it is overly simplistic to expect the average Russian to overthrow a dictatorship. I agree with the post that says we are trying to bring down Putin, not the Russian people. There will be overlap, and national suffering as well, if this works (sanctions, etc.), but we must be clear on our intention. The Russians are our global neighbors.

 

[PommyMommy]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
70% of Severodonetsk destroyed. Head of the Severodonetsk Civil Military Administration Oleksandr Striuk said on April 15 that Severodonetsk is under heavy fire by Russian forces and that only around 20,000 residents of the total 135,000 remain in the city.

Severodonetsk - Google Maps

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Russia launches rocket attacks on Poltava, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv oblasts overnight. Also, shelling took place in in Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, according to local governors. Deaths and injuries have been reported.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Lviv Oblast governor: Air defense forces intercept Russian missiles in early morning of April 16. Four missiles were deployed by a Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, governor and head of the regional military administration.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
UK Defense Ministry: Roads sustain serious damage in parts of Ukraine formerly besieged by Russia, making it a "significant challenge." Russians also destroyed bridges, left land mines and abandoned vehicles along key routes as they withdrew from northern Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Deputy PM: 9 humanitarian corridors agreed for April 16. The five evacuation routes from Luhansk Oblast will open if Russian shelling stops. Residents of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Energodar must go on their own cars as buses can't pass due to the road condition.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Mariupol official: Russian occupiers preparing to close Mariupol, prohibit movements from April 18 to 'filter' local men. According to advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, the plan is to recruit some for the Russian army, send others to clear the rubble, isolate unreliable ones.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Overnight missile strike in Kyiv kills at least one person. Several people were hospitalised and doctors are now fighting for their lives, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. The site of the attack hasn't been disclosed for security reasons.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Luhansk Oblast Governor: Russian forces shell oil refinery in Lysychansk. Serhiy Haidai said that a fire broke out in an area of 5,000 square meters following the morning attack. Shelling continues in residential areas of Lysychansk, and locals are asked to remain in shelters.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
More than 10,000 volunteers register to help rebuild Ukraine. The volunteers currently work in the demined areas of Kyiv Oblast. They are cleaning the streets by picking up dismantled debris and participating in the search operations, according to the State Emergency Service.

 

[worldwatcher]

British secret services: 'Russians deliberately blow up bridges'

' The supply of relief supplies for the Ukrainian population is being hampered by Russian troops deliberately destroying part of the infrastructure, British secret services report in their daily report on the security situation.
For example, after their withdrawal from northern Ukraine, the Russians purposefully blew up bridges and damaged roads and other infrastructure, British security services said.

There are also many land mines around roads and vehicles have been left in the middle of the road. In the city of Chernihiv, northeast of Kiev, only one pedestrian bridge over the Desna River has been left intact. All other river crossings have been blown up, the British said.'

Britse geheime diensten: Russen blazen opzettelijk bruggen op

 

[PommyMommy]

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Storks return to Ukraine. The stork is very sacred to Ukrainians, a symbol of spring, new life & peace As we watch them soar across the blue sky or land lightly on nests, we ask that they bring victory & peace We welcome them & hope for better & happier times #StandWithUkraine

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Russia has amassed 22 battalion-tactical groups (should be roughly 15,000 troops) near Izium in Kharkiv Oblast. An offensive towards Sloviansk from Izium is possible. The intensity of shelling in Donbas near Severodonetsk has increased - General Staff
https://facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua/posts/295827436063675

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Irpin, Kyiv suburb, almost 1,060 buildings sustained damage visible on the satellite imagery. Out of these, 115 are destroyed, and 698 are severely damaged. That means at least 1/3 of the buildings of the city can be hardly repaired. https://unitar.org/maps/map/3525

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Russian troops are ready for the offensive in Donbas and can start when the rain ends. Meanwhile, they continue attempts for local advances, are shelling settlements "to destroy so that there is nothing left to defend, like Mariupol"—Luhansk Oblast head https://t.me/luhanskaVTSA/1632

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - Video
A video shows Rubizhne in Luhansk Oblast is destroyed just like Mariupol. The town is partly occupied while active street fighting continues. The towns of Popasna and Volnovakha are also heavily shelled with most of the buildings destroyed or damaged.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Russian troops have again shelled the oil refinery in Lysychansk in Donbas. Yet, there is no fuel. The remains of oil sludge are burning. Russians repeatedly shell this refinery to exhaust firefighters, Luhansk Oblast Head said. https://t.me/luhanskaVTSA/1650

Ukraine soldier Volodymyr Hordienko escaped from the Russian captivity but his car was shelled and he was wounded. For two days he was walking with a splinter in heart & pneumothorax and arrived. Doctors of Feofania hospital saved him after a 5-hour operation. https://facebook.com/moz.ukr/posts/354785386675684

 

[PommyMommy]

APR 15, 2022
Russia justifies murder of Ukrainians in its 2022 “genocide handbook” | Euromaidan Press
EDITOR'S NOTE: Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder called the Russian infamous declaration “What Russia should do to Ukraine” published on 3 April 2022 a “genocide handbook”. The text justifies the Russian murder of Ukrainians and the destruction of the Ukrainian nation, testifying an intent to destroy a specific group, which falls under the legal definition of genocide.

[...]

Step 1. Justifying the murder of Ukrainians by equating them with Nazis
The starting point for the text is to claim that the whole of the Ukrainian society are Nazis:

“De-nazification is necessary when a sizable part of the population – most likely, the majority – has mastered and drawn in the Nazi regime into its politics.”

[...]

Step 2. Outlining a detailed plan for the destruction of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian state and genocide in Ukraine
As during the Soviet repressions, Russian propaganda divides Ukrainians into those who must be killed (either immediately or slowly through forced labor) and those who still can be “re-educated,”–i.e. “cleansed” from the Ukrainian identity and subjugated to Russian imperialist identity.

First, we consider “the elite”, people active in political and cultural matters. Sergeyev insists this group“must be liquidated, its re-education is impossible.”

“- lustration, publication of the names…involving them in forced labor to restore the destroyed infrastructure as punishment (who will not be subject to the death penalty or imprisonment);

– liquidation of any armed formations of Ukraine, including the Armed Forces of Ukraine”

[...]

Step 3. Uniting Russians by denying the existence of independent Ukraine and pushing the idea of Russian “unique mission” in the West
The text further aims to unite Russians through a sense of righteousness in their crimes against the independent state by assertions that they are “winners” who have both “absolute control” over the “denazification process” and the “power to ensure it.” The “loser” is said to be guilty (of being Ukrainian) and any other views are precluded by claims that “the ideology of the denazifier cannot be disputed” and that “the denazified country cannot be sovereign.”

The text states that since 2014 – due to Russia’s war against Ukraine – Russian society achieved “internal cohesion and a conscious unambiguous mass refusal to maintain any unity and connection with Ukraine.”

[...]

 

[Niner]

 

[worldwatcher]

Did you read -- this???
Talking about sick and evil !!

Survivors from the Mariupol bomb shelters have been taken to a former Russian military base 600 miles from Ukraine which was used for decades as a dump for Soviet chemical weapons, it can be revealed.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova has warned that more than 400 people, including 147 children, are in a fenced camp near the city of Penza, according to information she has received from concerned Russian citizens.'

BBM
Mariupol survivors taken to former Soviet chemical weapons base 600 miles from Ukraine border

 

[PommyMommy]

APR 14, 2022
’Collect my parents or collect my son’s body’: a Kyiv family’s tragic plight | Ukraine | The Guardian
The day Russian troops invaded Ukraine, 18-year-old Oleksandr Ivanov was shot in the forehead and 10 times in the chest while in the passenger seat of his grandmother’s car. They had been driving to Hostomel, outside Kyiv, to pick up his grandfather and bring him to the capital.

Oleksandr, known as Sasha, did not have the life of an ordinary 18-year-old. His mother, Sveta, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when Sasha was three. Sasha had spent his life taking care of her, helping her dress, wash and go to the toilet.

Sasha had a natural love of learning, according to his family. From when he started to talk, he loved reciting poetry. At the age of seven he asked if he could learn to play the piano. Despite finishing music school with honours, he decided to study medicine. He attained full marks in Ukraine’s national high school exams for chemistry and biology and was given a scholarship to Ukraine’s best medical school, in Kyiv. Another top university, Taras Shevchenko University, also in Kyiv, rang his mother to complain when they heard he would not be coming to them.

Sasha planned to become a neurosurgeon to help cure his mother’s disease, his family said. The bookshelves in Sasha’s bedroom in Kyiv are filled with thick textbooks and encyclopedias. For his birthday last year he asked for two books, Robert Brooker’s Genetics: Analysis and Principles and the British Medical Association’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. His mother ordered them from abroad.

[...]

“There are children who like football or wrestling. My child loved books, chess and playing the piano, but no one ever forced him to study. But please don’t think he was stuck up. He’d plant potatoes with Granny, fix the roof with his grandad and change his cousin’s nappies. He was a simple, simple boy.”

[...]

 

[sunshineray]

Would you say the same for the PRC? We lost so many at Tian en men Square. And if your relative is arrested for a crime and executed, you may get a bill for the bullets.

I think it is overly simplistic to expect the average Russian to overthrow a dictatorship. I agree with the post that says we are trying to bring down Putin, not the Russian people. There will be overlap, and national suffering as well, if this works (sanctions, etc.), but we must be clear on our intention. The Russians are our global neighbors.

Just like the good germans, and there were many, were our global neighbors and relatives. I'm talking about the complacent people and the prideful to a fault people who don't "believe" the truth the rest of the world is seeing, that their children are telling them is happening.

We need more people like the woman who held the sign up during the news broadcast. More people to fill Red Square. More people to stand outside the Dumas willing to be carted away to jail. Pretty soon word will get around as to what the civil disobedience that uncle, aunt, cousins, the really nice guy and his girlfriend down the street got carted away for saying, doing. For speaking the truth and uncovering lies.

In China the same would apply on a much more massive scale. That culture has it's own unique stumbling blocks, as all do, but also the basic one of freedoms vs oppressions.

AJMO

 

[sunshineray]

APR 14, 2022
’Collect my parents or collect my son’s body’: a Kyiv family’s tragic plight | Ukraine | The Guardian
The day Russian troops invaded Ukraine, 18-year-old Oleksandr Ivanov was shot in the forehead and 10 times in the chest while in the passenger seat of his grandmother’s car. They had been driving to Hostomel, outside Kyiv, to pick up his grandfather and bring him to the capital.

Oleksandr, known as Sasha, did not have the life of an ordinary 18-year-old. His mother, Sveta, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when Sasha was three. Sasha had spent his life taking care of her, helping her dress, wash and go to the toilet.

Sasha had a natural love of learning, according to his family. From when he started to talk, he loved reciting poetry. At the age of seven he asked if he could learn to play the piano. Despite finishing music school with honours, he decided to study medicine. He attained full marks in Ukraine’s national high school exams for chemistry and biology and was given a scholarship to Ukraine’s best medical school, in Kyiv. Another top university, Taras Shevchenko University, also in Kyiv, rang his mother to complain when they heard he would not be coming to them.

Sasha planned to become a neurosurgeon to help cure his mother’s disease, his family said. The bookshelves in Sasha’s bedroom in Kyiv are filled with thick textbooks and encyclopedias. For his birthday last year he asked for two books, Robert Brooker’s Genetics: Analysis and Principles and the British Medical Association’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. His mother ordered them from abroad.

[...]

“There are children who like football or wrestling. My child loved books, chess and playing the piano, but no one ever forced him to study. But please don’t think he was stuck up. He’d plant potatoes with Granny, fix the roof with his grandad and change his cousin’s nappies. He was a simple, simple boy.”

[...]

A beautiful boy <3 my hearts breaks for his family </3

 

[Satchie]

Some comments, maybe a tiny rant </3

While I understand wanting to keep literature and music available to all who seek it, it's time for the Russian people to decide what they like more, those type freedoms or overall oppressions. It has truly come to that. How do they all want to live? Do they want a dictator telling them what to read, listen to or even think or shall they decide for themselves...shall they demand more?

I find the numerous stories of family members in Russia of civilians and Russian military not believing their relatives in Ukraine when they've told them what was occuring before their eyes very enlightening, unjustifiable and actually unforgivable. It's time for Russians to stop hiding behind naivety or complacent ignorance and wake up to the ugly facts.

Supposedly it's a cultural thing, Russian people not wanting to hear others criticizing their government, they get upset and get defiant. Well that's just too bad, get over it, listen and digest what was and still is being reported by almost every other country in the WORLD and start criticizing their government/miltary themselves, en masse!!

The Russian governmentals and military are the root of all their current woes of no free internet, press, tv, reading materials, music listening...no stores they've gotten use to, programs they watched and enjoyed, certain food shortages. Spread the word. They need to talk to everyone they can. If those get arrested, more take their place and so on. Pretty soon as the population is being jailed by the tens of thousands maybe it will sink in and real change can happen? Jail those responsible, those who take the people's money and either outright steal it or do evil with it in the people's name.

Sanctions by countries, companies or just individual artists is not isolation just to be cruel. It's meant to cripple the Russian government and military's capability to get funds to continue their crimes as much as humanly possible. Think back to the real nazi, Hitler, and think back to the real Stalin and keep thinking of them.

If Stalin is being praised as a national treasure and hero in Russian schools it's past time Russians realize he was actually a genocidal murderer. I'm guessing before the Ukraine war started watching tv shows about the horrors of Hitler was just fine to the Russian government but I dare say a Netflix show on Stalin would not have been allowed to air. Word of mouth about censorship should be the next logical step for freedom loving people...not acceptance.

The genocidal acts being committed against Ukraine cannot be dismissed by Russia's people because they don't like the picture it paints of Russia because they love their country so very much. THAT is the insanity of it all!! People need to speak up, organize and DO something BECAUSE they love their country.

If any sanctions, be they by country or by private entities, upset the Russian people, that's a stepping stone in bringing them to their senses. They need to relinquish their pride in country enough to see their leaders for the stealing, lying monsters they are, engaging word of mouth on a mammoth scale. They need to recognise their elites that "govern" as the puppets of a madman that they've become...stop being sheep that go blindly wherever they're led.

All just my observations and opinions...for what it's worth.

It's a conundrum. As they say, the first casuality of war is truth...and that applies to both sides. The lies are not about how many died in one action on either side, IMO the lies start up immediately in the form of justification for killing people without calling it murder.

What nobody ever said: "We killed them because we wanted to". Never, ever has that been said. Each side has their justification which is always some form of "we had to, they left us no choice". Even Hitler said that, in his last written statement before his suicide: I didn't want to do it, but the international conspiracy of jews left me no choice. Read Hitler's Political Statement Before His Suicide

But it's also possible to see equally dodgy justification on the supposed 'right' side of history, such as the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan. Op-Ed: U.S. leaders knew we didn't have to drop atomic bombs on Japan to win the war. We did it anyway

And who dares to wade into the whole quagmire of the middle east, expecting to find any clarity on 'right side' 'wrong side'. IMO it's only through immense delusion and hubris that anyone can maintain stalwart convictions justifying war.

So yes, there is a legacy of ideas in Russia, for eg about Stalin (who saved the Russians from Hitler), that justify this invasion. But there are also stories that grip the people on the other side, about the primacy of this geographic region they have named Ukraine, and how it is worth dying for.

Speaking as a Canadian, if the US became aggressive and moved all their forces into conquering my region, I sure as heck wouldn't be willing to die for a flimsy concept called 'Canada', and I wouldn't thank my government for keeping up a hopeless war to save the bureaucrats in Ottawa, while leaving me to be a pawn in an international game of chess.

JMO

 

[PommyMommy]

APR 15, 2022
Russo-Ukrainian war, day 52: Russian missiles hit Kyiv, 7 dead after shelling of evacuation buses near Kharkiv | Euromaidan Press
[...]

Assessment by Hans Petter Midttun
I guess most of us have heard a child’s excuse for a brawl: “It all started when he hit me back!” Today it is also being used by the Russian Federation. Having waged war against Ukraine for more than 8 years already, it argues that any Ukrainian retaliation against Russia on its territory will trigger even more widespread airstrikes, missile strikes and bombing.

Russia threatens the USA and NATO countries with “unpredictable consequences” if they continue helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian brutalities.

It threatens Sweden and Finland with revoking the nuclear-free status in the Baltics if they decide to join NATO.

Russia’s reply to the Western sanctions is more threats: Threat of escalation. The nuclear “card” has been played more than once. Its rhetoric has become increasingly more belligerent and describes our attempt to curb its atrocities as an act of aggression, a total, economic, information, and cultural war against Russia.

Its actions not only threaten the Ukrainian state and nation but also global food security. It undermines the global security architecture itself and consequently, threatens peace, stability, and prosperity

Despite all of this – despite everything that our liberal democracies are based on is at stake – some countries remain reluctant to do what it takes to stop the Russian Federation, apparently believing that everything will return to normal eventually. And while doing that, they themselves introduce the final threat: The threat of making NATO irrelevant and destroying the Alliance from within.

It is hard to accept that the war might continue for 4-6 more months when we know it might be stopped within weeks if the West either introduced full energy sanctions, enforces an UN-mandated No-Fly Zone, started a Humanitarian Intervention operation to help defend Ukraine or all of the above.

I will, however, offer one prediction. The USA and NATO will soon be forced to reconsider their military options as their stocks of weapons and ammunition are running low.

The NATO members have not only downsized their command and force structure for the last two decades. They have also kept their stock of ammunition and spare parts to a minimum. Even more importantly, one might also find that the European defence industry – and therefore their ability to regenerate new forces – has been equally reduced.

This means that NATO might be forced to employ other weapon systems and forces altogether. The longer the energy sanctions remain off the table, the higher the risk for an active NATO engagement in Ukraine.

 

[sunshineray]

It's a conundrum. As they say, the first casuality of war is truth...and that applies to both sides. The lies are not about how many died in one action on either side, IMO the lies start up immediately in the form of justification for killing people without calling it murder.

What nobody ever said: "We killed them because we wanted to". Never, ever has that been said. Each side has their justification which is always some form of "we had to, they left us no choice". Even Hitler said that, in his last written statement before his suicide: I didn't want to do it, but the international conspiracy of jews left me no choice. Read Hitler's Political Statement Before His Suicide

But it's also possible to see equally dodgy justification on the supposed 'right' side of history, such as the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan. Op-Ed: U.S. leaders knew we didn't have to drop atomic bombs on Japan to win the war. We did it anyway

And who dares to wade into the whole quagmire of the middle east, expecting to find any clarity on 'right side' 'wrong side'. IMO it's only through immense delusion and hubris that anyone can maintain stalwart convictions justifying war.

So yes, there is a legacy of ideas in Russia, for eg about Stalin (who saved the Russians from Hitler), that justify this invasion. But there are also stories that grip the people on the other side, about the primacy of this geographic region they have named Ukraine, and how it is worth dying for.

Speaking as a Canadian, if the US became aggressive and moved all their forces into conquering my region, I sure as heck wouldn't be willing to die for a flimsy concept called 'Canada', and I wouldn't thank my government for keeping up a hopeless war to save the bureaucrats in Ottawa, while leaving me to be a pawn in an international game of chess.

JMO

It is such a conundrum. I myself probably owe my life to the "good" side (God that sounds horrible) of those atomic bombs dropped. My Dad was in the Bushmasters ready to be one of the first in Operation Downfall to invade Japan two days before that D-day.

Evil men need to be exposed/recognized by their countries before they come to power to stop the chain. Easier said than done <3

 

[PommyMommy]

Михайло Подоляк on Twitter - Adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 5 hrs ago
1. Ukraine asks Europe for weapons.
2. Europeans support the call for their governments.
3. EU gives Ukraine weapons, not the ones we asked for.
4. Weapons take too long to arrive
Democracy won’t win from playing this game. Ukraine needs weapons. Not in a month. Now.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 3 hrs ago
Zelensky: Destruction of Mariupol defenders will put an end to negotiations with Russia. Zelensky said Russia wanted them to surrender and that Ukraine didn't trust Russia in the light of the Ilovaisk battle in 2014 when Russia’s proxies massacred disarmed Ukrainian soldiers.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Mariupol defenders are fighting at one against six, according to Zelensky, and they need heavy weapons as soon as possible, he said.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
A translation of the Russian propaganda leaflet handed out to locals in occupied Kherson, courtesy of @ValeryKosta "Russia guarantees you peace&security" it says. But 824 new graves appeared at the Kherson graveyard btw 28Feb - 15Apr, Ukraine Intelligence stresses

NEXTA on Twitter
#British Special Forces resume training of #Ukraine's military in and around #Kyiv - The Times.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 2 hrs ago
Italy closes its ports to Russian ships starting April 17. Under EU sanctions, Russian ships anchored in Italian ports will have to leave after completing their commercial activity. The ban will also apply to ships that changed their flag after Feb. 24 to circumvent sanctions.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Vladimir Frolov is the 8th Russian general killed in Ukraine. Earlier, Ukraine reported it eliminated these generals
Andrey Sukhovetsky
Vitaly Gerasimov
Andrey Kolesnikov
Andrey Mordvichev
Magomed Tushaev
Oleg Mityaev
Yakov Rezantsev

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 1 hr ago
Russia warns Czechia against supplying weapons to Ukraine, Prague says won't respond to blackmail. Russia claimed that the Czech Republic isn’t allowed to provide Ukraine with Soviet-made weapons without Russian permission. Czech Defense Minister brushed off these claims.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Lviv court arrests pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk without bail. Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine escaped from house arrest in late February following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Medvedchuk’s Opposition Platform party was banned in Ukraine in March.