War

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Apple Pay and Google Pay no longer work on Moscow's metro system.
Young people in Russia are gonna be pissed at being cut off from the modern world and having their devices turned into bricks. Wait a month and you will hear the howls. Better the fight for liberal democracy is fought in the Ukraine than America, they have the stomach for it and if they win it might finish off Vlad. He's trapped now, can't leave and will be ground down.

 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
yeah, that's why we're supporting a country that is basically strategically useless to us, in an area we don't operate in without an invitation to do so...because we don't give a fuck about anyone but ourselves....
They would be a rich haul for the EU with lot's of resources, in a few years their economy would explode in prosperity while the average Russian lives like shit. The dictators in the Kremlin and Minsk know this has now turned into a fight for their survival, they really fear the EU, not NATO. America would be best served to have this fight for liberal democracy in Ukraine, if they win it will take out the keystone of totalitarianism at a stroke and remove a major impediment to world peace and progress.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
yeah, that's why we're supporting a country that is basically strategically useless to us, in an area we don't operate in without an invitation to do so...because we don't give a fuck about anyone but ourselves....
The way this is going down it almost looks like some brain in the CIA planned it and drove Vlad to it like a chess piece on a board...
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
The way this is going down it almost looks like some brain in the CIA planned it and drove Vlad to it like a chess piece on a board...
no...i don't see any real planning behind this. i think putin thought he would show his ass and everyone would rush to placate him...but the world is tired of stroking putin's ego, and are more than ready to put a foot up his ass.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
Gordon Chang: 'China Is Financing the Russian Push on Ukraine'
Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping made economic and strategic connections that are ultimately feeding Russia's invasion into Ukraine and helping Putin's increasingly isolated economy lean on China to subsist, according to far east expert Gordon Chang.

"Just a few hours before the Olympics started, China and Russia announced their oil and gas deals — $117.5 billion," Chang told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. "Also, in the last few days they announced a coal deal — 100 million metric tons of Russian coal for China. China is financing the Russian push on Ukraine.

"It's not just the petroleum and commodity dollars; it's also providing access to an alternate financial system," Chang added to host John Catsimatidis.

Also, China has lifted restrictions on the importing of Russian wheat, which "further helps Russia finance is invasion of Ukraine," Chang told Sunday's "Wake Up America" on Newsmax.

"Although it might have some second thoughts about what it is doing, it is still supporting the Russians to the hilt," Chang told host Carl Higbie.

Beijing had designs on taking Taiwan, but seeing this Russian invasion "not be successful" has Beijing perhaps looking to "distance itself from Russia," Chang added to Higbie.

"Because if this invasion fails, then it puts Beijing in a very bad light," he said, noting NATO allies activating its response force is signaling to China that similar actions will be taken if it made a move on Taiwan.

Still, Xi's position on Taiwan has not changed, save for perhaps "timing," Chang added to Higbie.

Ultimately, Chang told Catsimatidis, the Biden administration has been too soft on both China and Russia to date, two countries President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden have had close ties to.

"We know that China is supporting Russia," Chang said. "So the question is: Are we going to go after China for backfilling sanctions that we will impose on Russia? I'm not sure that the Biden administration will move in time. It will repeat a mistake."
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
Dutch and Danish larpers joining Ukrainian Foreign Legion. Zelensky surprised by the high amount of foreign civilians willing to join.

Putin’s been in isolation for two years, scared of covid. Perhaps his biggest mistake is underestimating the fact people all over the world are bored out of their minds too after two years pandemic and can use a punching bag. Bad time to start a war Putin.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
no...i don't see any real planning behind this. i think putin thought he would show his ass and everyone would rush to placate him...but the world is tired of stroking putin's ego, and are more than ready to put a foot up his ass.
I dunno for sure, but shit has been happening since Joe has been POTUS and I figure he unleashed the CIA on their asses. The American intelligence community has been crying tears of rage while Trump was POTUS and America betrayed and humiliated. Someone might have presented Joe with a menu of options and after what the Russians did to America, this could be the result. They are pretty media savvy and sophisticated, probably ran multiple simulations etc. Perhaps we have been giving the Ukrainians more support and weapons than the pubic realizes, if Vlad didn't move now, he never could. How else could America which now controls about 20% of the world economy bring global sanctions to bear? Do you think the attitude of the Ukrainian people was unknown to the CIA?

This can take Vlad out at a stroke and fuck Russia back to sense, change in Russia is always top down and Vlad might "retire" for heath reasons or eat a bullet. I figure the stakes will increase to include the Crimea soon, we want this war to continue for as long as Vlad is in power. Nothing drains a treasury like conventional war and Russia will be on the ropes financially. Remember when the Brits, French and Israel attacked Egypt in the 50's and America pulled the plug on neo colonialism cause they held the purse strings? They went home with their tails tucked between their legs and Canada provided UN peace keepers to get their asses outta a jam.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Dutch and Danish larpers joining Ukrainian Foreign Legion. Zelensky surprised by the high amount of foreign civilians willing to join.

Putin’s been in isolation for two years, scared of covid. Perhaps his biggest mistake is underestimating the fact people all over the world are bored out of their minds too after two years pandemic and can use a punching bag. Bad time to start a war Putin.
He seems to be out of touch with his military too. They weren't ready for the invasion. His reputation as a spy is was blown apart along with supply trucks. It appears that he didn't know the capabilities of Ukrainian defense or the solidarity of NATO.

Agree that Putin is on a hair trigger but he needs his military to pull that trigger when he orders it. How much control does he have?
 

printer

Well-Known Member
Two of Russia's billionaires call for peace in Ukraine
Two Russian billionaires, Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska, called for an end to the conflict triggered by President Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine, with Fridman calling it a tragedy for both countries' people.

Billionaire Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, told staff in a letter that the conflict was driving a wedge between the two eastern Slav peoples of Russia and Ukraine who have been brothers for centuries.

"I was born in Western Ukraine and lived there until I was 17. My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city," Fridman wrote in the letter, excerpts of which Reuters saw.

"But I have also spent much of my life as a citizen of Russia, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to the Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both."

Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, used a post on Telegram to called for peace talks to begin "as fast as possible."

"Peace is very important," said Deripaska, who is the founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal, in which he still owns a stake via his shares in its parent company En+ Group.

On Feb. 21, Deripaska said there would not be a war.

Washington imposed sanctions on Deripaska and other influential Russians because of their ties to Putin after alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, which Moscow denies.

Russia's so-called oligarchs, who once exercised significant influence over then-president Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, are facing economic chaos after the West imposed severe sanctions on Russia over Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Putin, after consulting his security council of senior officials, said he ordered the special military operation to protect people, including Russian citizens, from "genocide" - an accusation the West calls baseless propaganda.

The Ukrainian president's office said negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow would be held at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

"This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years," Fridman said.

"While a solution seems frighteningly far off, I can only join those whose fervent desire is for the bloodshed to end. I’m sure my partners share my view."

One of Fridman's long-term partners, Pyotr Aven, attended a meeting at the Kremlin with Putin and 36 other major Russian businessmen last week, the Kremlin said.

Another Moscow billionaire told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the war was going to be a catastrophe.

"It is going to be catastrophic in all senses: for the economy, for relations with the rest of the world, for the political situation," the billionaire said.

The billionaires who gathered for a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday were silent, he said.

"Businessmen understand very well the consequences. But who is asking the opinion of business about this?"
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
There is another military column over 17 miles long about 30 miles outside Kyiv, that sure would make a nice target.
It would be hog heaven, perhaps we should give the Ukrainians a few A10 Warthogs. American pilots must be drooling over the satellite and drone photos, just one loaded up with cluster munitions and Napalm would make an incredible mess on the ground. As it is Molotov cocktails are hard on their supply columns as they by pass local resistance and leave their largely un guarded supply tails to partisan attacks by highly motivated citizens.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Two of Russia's billionaires call for peace in Ukraine
Two Russian billionaires, Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska, called for an end to the conflict triggered by President Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine, with Fridman calling it a tragedy for both countries' people.

Billionaire Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, told staff in a letter that the conflict was driving a wedge between the two eastern Slav peoples of Russia and Ukraine who have been brothers for centuries.

"I was born in Western Ukraine and lived there until I was 17. My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city," Fridman wrote in the letter, excerpts of which Reuters saw.

"But I have also spent much of my life as a citizen of Russia, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to the Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both."

Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, used a post on Telegram to called for peace talks to begin "as fast as possible."

"Peace is very important," said Deripaska, who is the founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal, in which he still owns a stake via his shares in its parent company En+ Group.

On Feb. 21, Deripaska said there would not be a war.

Washington imposed sanctions on Deripaska and other influential Russians because of their ties to Putin after alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, which Moscow denies.

Russia's so-called oligarchs, who once exercised significant influence over then-president Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, are facing economic chaos after the West imposed severe sanctions on Russia over Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Putin, after consulting his security council of senior officials, said he ordered the special military operation to protect people, including Russian citizens, from "genocide" - an accusation the West calls baseless propaganda.

The Ukrainian president's office said negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow would be held at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

"This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years," Fridman said.

"While a solution seems frighteningly far off, I can only join those whose fervent desire is for the bloodshed to end. I’m sure my partners share my view."

One of Fridman's long-term partners, Pyotr Aven, attended a meeting at the Kremlin with Putin and 36 other major Russian businessmen last week, the Kremlin said.

Another Moscow billionaire told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the war was going to be a catastrophe.

"It is going to be catastrophic in all senses: for the economy, for relations with the rest of the world, for the political situation," the billionaire said.

The billionaires who gathered for a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday were silent, he said.

"Businessmen understand very well the consequences. But who is asking the opinion of business about this?"
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