Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

goldenowl73 said:Looks like Gerhard Schröder headed off to Moscow for his "annual getaway." Honestly, you can just tell this is classic Russian-style trolling—that signature blend of arrogance and blatant lying that our former German Chancellor has really mastered over the years.

Former #German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder Has arrived in #Moscow. "I’m just here for a quick little vacation." He even told a reporter that Moscow is actually a lovely city.

The whole chat went down right near the Rosneft headquarters, which makes sense since Schröder used to run the show there as chairman of the board. https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/...kDG30GNAxWFc-g

What a liar... 🤮🤮🤮

Most Western politicians who let themselves get "bought off" or corrupted by Putin have already flipped their stance, but some clearly remain completely under his spell.

mistygardener said:The same Russians, who aren't exactly dim-witted, sit together watching movies about tanks right on the front lines just before a drone strike hits and they're left digging trenches in radioactive soil... I won't even go into further detail...
The bottom of civilization.

Russian soldiers and tank crews are nothing more than uneducated, corrupted souls risking their lives for someone else's luxury goods and trivialities. On the other hand, you have the Russian pilots, who are actually quite sharp. They recruit them during their final years at business school.
It’s all just to ensure they don't accidentally sell off a jet because they lack any concept of its market value.

Timothy Williams5 said:The Estonian Prime Minister’s message to the West: 'Stop worrying about Putin's feelings'
https://news.yahoo.com/estonias-prim...223606146.html

Sitting in her office at the Stenbock residence—a polished, neoclassical building tucked away in the heart of Tallinn's historic old town—Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wanted to take a deep dive into the last eighty years of European history. Unfortunately, she was only allotted twenty minutes.
....

"I believe a fundamental mistake was made following World War II," Kallas remarked, seated beneath a portrait of Mojsi receiving the Ten Commandments. "While Nazi atrocities were universally condemned, the crimes committed by communists were never given that same scrutiny.
Consequently, we are witnessing a massive resurgence of Stalinism within Russia right now. Seventy percent of Russians support Stalin, despite the fact that he was responsible for twenty million deaths, notwithstanding the mass deportations, the gulags, the wars, and everything else. In Estonia, the history books were completely rewritten after the fall of communism, whereas Russians are still being taught the exact same version of history we were forced to endure during the Soviet era, which was absolute garbage."
...
Estonia itself was annexed by the Soviet Union back in 1940, when Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler agreed to carve up Eastern Europe under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Later, the Nazis invaded and occupied the country after Hitler betrayed Stalin by launching Operation Barbarossa in 1941—that failed attempt to strike the Soviet Union during World War II, a conflict that spanned through modern-day Ukraine.
...

Exactly. Those crimes weren't condemned the way Nazism was, allowing those criminals to just carry on with their careers. But totalitarianism just changes its face and mask depending on how the world shifts. It's like that classic communist criminal, decked out in medals and feeling emboldened because they got off scot-free, eventually transforming into this Frankenstein's monster we see today.

There is obviously a certain mythomania surrounding the "Russian World," but technically speaking, the genesis of this war and this Russian madness lies right there.

Russia is moving to establish its own international criminal court to prosecute war crimes committed in Ukraine.
With Russia at the helm, the membership will expand to include Iran, Syria, and Bolivia.

The current geopolitical maneuvering surrounding the conflict in Ukraine suggests we are watching a slow-motion collision of interests that most people are too distracted to fully grasp. There is a growing sense that the strategic objectives being broadcast by various Western administrations don't quite align with the actual friction points on the ground. While the rhetoric from Washington remains focused on containment, the reality of the situation feels increasingly like a protracted war of attrition where the cost of maintaining the status quo is rising exponentially for everyone involved. It’s easy to look at the headlines and see a clear-cut struggle between democratic ideals and authoritarian aggression, but if you dig into the underlying economic shifts and the way energy security is being weaponized, the picture becomes much more gray. We are seeing a fundamental restructuring of global trade routes and alliances that will likely outlast whoever happens to be sitting in the Oval Office next year. It isn't just about territory anymore; it’s about which bloc controls the technological and resource pipelines of the mid-21st century. The cynicism I feel isn't directed at any one leader, but rather at the predictable cycle of escalation followed by hollow diplomatic gestures. We keep hearing about sanctions and military aid packages as if they are magic bullets, yet the systemic issues—the fragmentation of the global financial order and the deepening divide between the West and the East—seem to remain entirely untouched by these efforts. It feels less like we are solving a crisis and more like we are simply managing its inevitable decay.

The individual pulling the strings is a former head of the Department of Justice, someone who shared a classroom with Putin and remains one of his closest confidants. Alexander Bastrykin inspiration

The sense of justice that seems to drive the Russian spirit actually finds its roots in the West.

Bloomberg reported last week that we might finally be looking at the start of proceedings regarding Russian war crimes at the International Court of Justice. According to their coverage, the first case addressing Russia's alleged atrocities in Ukraine could potentially land before the court as early as this winter.

The defendant might just be some random Russian soldier, someone who will likely be pushed to testify against his own high-ranking commanders.
Back in March, an international task force composed of global experts was officially assembled to begin a deep dive into the crimes being committed in Ukraine.

Timothy Williams5 said:The Estonian Prime Minister’s message to the West: 'Stop worrying about Putin's feelings'
https://news.yahoo.com/estonias-prim...223606146.html

Sitting in her office at the Stenbock residence—a polished, neoclassical building tucked away in the heart of Tallinn's historic old town—Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wanted to take a deep dive into the last eighty years of European history. Unfortunately, she was only allotted twenty minutes.
....

"I believe a fundamental mistake was made following World War II," Kallas remarked, seated beneath a portrait of Mojsi receiving the Ten Commandments. "While Nazi atrocities were universally condemned, the crimes committed by communists were never given that same scrutiny.
Consequently, we are witnessing a massive resurgence of Stalinism within Russia right now. Seventy percent of Russians support Stalin, despite the fact that he was responsible for twenty million deaths, notwithstanding the mass deportations, the gulags, the wars, and everything else. In Estonia, the history books were completely rewritten after the fall of communism, whereas Russians are still being taught the exact same version of history we were forced to endure during the Soviet era, which was absolute garbage."
...
Estonia itself was annexed by the Soviet Union back in 1940, when Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler agreed to carve up Eastern Europe under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Later, the Nazis invaded and occupied the country after Hitler betrayed Stalin by launching Operation Barbarossa in 1941—that failed attempt to strike the Soviet Union during World War II, a conflict that spanned through modern-day Ukraine.
...

She just didn't explain how the Soviet system could have been toppled after World War II... just by using "criticism"? Give me a break.

The real screw-up happened in 1991, when we could've actually influenced what was happening in Russia without an invasion or a massive confrontation... she should probably thank Bush, Clinton, those "Harvard guys," and whatever other desperate types were involved... not to mention the folks in Europe who blindly hooked themselves up to Russian oil and gas without thinking twice.

Timothy Williams5 said:Russian soldiers and tank crews are nothing more than uneducated, corrupted souls risking their lives for someone else's luxury goods and trivialities. On the other hand, you have the Russian pilots, who are actually quite sharp. They recruit them during their final years at business school.
It’s all just to ensure they don't accidentally sell off a jet because they lack any concept of its market value.

Right... sure...

...as if it matters, right? It's all just grabbing whatever straws are floating by... one guy's flying a fighter jet while the other is driving a truck... I mean, what does a Russ know? To them, it's all the exact same thing, isn't it?

...or maybe Mike's behind the wheel...

So, word on the street is Putin might be on his last legs. I think The Wall Street Journal mentioned this like a month ago, saying he’s apparently dealing with some kind of terminal stage of cholangiocarcinoma. It's all pretty speculative, I guess, but still...

Did Putin take another turn for the worse last night? Apparently, doctors were watching over him for hours on end.

Donna Harris11 said:So, word on the street is Putin might be on his last legs. I think The Wall Street Journal mentioned this like a month ago, saying he’s apparently dealing with some kind of terminal stage of cholangiocarcinoma. It's all pretty speculative, I guess, but still...

Did Putin take another turn for the worse last night? Apparently, doctors were watching over him for hours on end.

😁 ...man, I really hope that's true...🍿

but hey, even if he isn't, the guy's already pretty much been worn down by age anyway...

I wouldn't go that far. I mean, once you hit the terminal stage of a bad addiction, it basically turns a person into a vegetable

Nobody’s really arguing about whether they actually have gonorrhea, syphilis, or cancer, but rather how hard it is to mentally handle the cognitive dissonance. It’s that gap between thinking, "Hey, we might be the world's top superpower," and the blatant fact that they're struggling just to take TWO Ukrainian regions. I mean, let's say they managed to grab three—even then, it gets harder and harder to keep up the act while the economy falls apart and their goals shift every single month... Let's be real, anyone with even a shred of sense, even if they're totally pro-Russia, can see they're bleeding out in this war. Personally, I wouldn't even try to blame NATO, since not a single NATO soldier has stepped foot in there (which honestly makes the whole thing way worse). And that excuse about Ukrainian soldiers being some kind of GMO super-soldiers making things difficult? That’s literally kindergarten stuff. It sounds like I'm reading some conspiracy PDF from a random fringe message board... Like, what kind of grown adults, supposedly serious people, are actually spewing this nonsense?

Melissa Rivera5 said:Nobody’s really arguing about whether they actually have gonorrhea, syphilis, or cancer, but rather how hard it is to mentally handle the cognitive dissonance. It’s that gap between thinking, "Hey, we might be the world's top superpower," and the blatant fact that they're struggling just to take TWO Ukrainian regions. I mean, let's say they managed to grab three—even then, it gets harder and harder to keep up the act while the economy falls apart and their goals shift every single month... Let's be real, anyone with even a shred of sense, even if they're totally pro-Russia, can see they're bleeding out in this war. Personally, I wouldn't even try to blame NATO, since not a single NATO soldier has stepped foot in there (which honestly makes the whole thing way worse). And that excuse about Ukrainian soldiers being some kind of GMO super-soldiers making things difficult? That’s literally kindergarten stuff. It sounds like I'm reading some conspiracy PDF from a random fringe message board... Like, what kind of grown adults, supposedly serious people, are actually spewing this nonsense?

The worst ones for me are the types where (I actually know people who see things differently)

Take this one guy I used to consider a friend. He claims Ukrainians are Huns, fake Jews, and then somehow ties all that back to our own politicians being corrupt.

The guy I used to hang out with says he isn't justifying the war or Putin and all that, but once he starts talking like this
"I'm sure he had a good reason"—does that not sound like a justification to you??? To me, it definitely does.

Then there's his speech later

That the EU and NATO are the greatest evils in existence. And right then, I get the real reason why he justifies the Russians and Putin: it's because he hates the EU and NATO. He's spent so long listening to sweet talk about how Putin forced CEOs at certain companies to pay their workers—even if that were true, it doesn't justify this war.
It really hit me when I saw a video clip where Lukashenko talks just like Putin, basically bullying others while acting like some sort of great benefactor.
So, we have people like that here, but it's most prevalent among Mexicans. Because of what happened in 1999, they just can't accept the fact that Putin is a dictator who launched an invasion against another sovereign nation. And because they hate the EU and NATO, they'll justify Putin and the Russian war in their heads. Everything is "truth" as long as Putin sounds better. If he doesn't, then it's just propaganda.

That's exactly how it is with this friend of mine who stubbornly refuses to face the facts.

There’s a certain level of disbelief you hit when you realize how blatant things have become:

Nikita Bukhtatov, an FSB military counterintelligence officer tasked with overseeing pilots, actually posted a photo to Instagram featuring his own car—license plates and all—parked right next to aircraft at a military airbase.
https://twitter.com/christogrozev/st...JitpbLLypmpfTA
And there's more:
https://twitter.com/christogrozev/st...JitpbLLypmpfTA

https://twitter.com/christogrozev/st...JitpbLLypmpfTA

This Nikita guy was specifically responsible for handling those pilots who were looking to offload planes for a quick buck. 😁
If I’m reading the situation correctly,

Timothy Williams5 said:Russian soldiers and tank crews are nothing more than uneducated, corrupted souls risking their lives for someone else's luxury goods and trivialities. On the other hand, you have the Russian pilots, who are actually quite sharp. They recruit them during their final years at business school.
It’s all just to ensure they don't accidentally sell off a jet because they lack any concept of its market value.

They're out there trading their lives for some oligarch's ego. Those guys just want bigger yachts and more models on deck—that's the trade-off. People die and come home in body bags just so a billionaire can upgrade his lifestyle. Someone really needs to spell that out for them.

Meanwhile, Lavrov says:

Moscow is determined to "help Ukrainians shake off the burden of this completely unacceptable regime."

"The Russian and Ukrainian people will continue to live together. We will certainly help the Ukrainian people get rid of a regime that is utterly anti-national and against history," Lavrov added.

It's interesting—these statements from the Russian foreign minister actually clash with the official White House talking points from the start of the conflict, back when officials kept insisting the goal wasn't to topple Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government.

Jessica Peterson2 said:Ahahah, now this is getting ridiculous. 😬
With one single exception—Russian tourists in East Asia mostly behave like a horde of drunken hooligans. Honestly, they can be even more obnoxious than British youths on the Spanish islands. 😂
In reality, they’re worse than those two idiots from this comedy show.
So, if I were you, I’d take news like this with a massive grain of salt. 😬

The Russian tourists I’ve run into in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Thailand behave like total entitled jerks. Mostly young people, unfortunately.

Thomas Stewart8 said:The Russian tourists I’ve run into in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Thailand behave like total entitled jerks. Mostly young people, unfortunately.

I’ve mostly crossed paths with that crowd while skiing in the Rockies.
And honestly, what can you even say? They roll up in the biggest, most expensive SUVs imaginable, absolutely decked out in gaudy, tasteless bling, yet they carry themselves like they just stepped out of a trailer park and into designer gear.
Arrogant, condescending, and completely devoid of class—to put it mildly!

Donna Wells2 said:I’ve mostly crossed paths with that crowd while skiing in the Rockies.
And honestly, what can you even say? They roll up in the biggest, most expensive SUVs imaginable, absolutely decked out in gaudy, tasteless bling, yet they carry themselves like they just stepped out of a trailer park and into designer gear.
Arrogant, condescending, and completely devoid of class—to put it mildly!

The golden youth of Russia—those guys don't die in Ukraine. It's the poor folks who have never even stepped foot outside of Russia
except when they get sent off to fight in Ukraine.

Donna Harris11 said:So, word on the street is Putin might be on his last legs. I think The Wall Street Journal mentioned this like a month ago, saying he’s apparently dealing with some kind of terminal stage of cholangiocarcinoma. It's all pretty speculative, I guess, but still...

Did Putin take another turn for the worse last night? Apparently, doctors were watching over him for hours on end.

Him feeling lousy is good news, but the fact that it's terminal is bad—actually, let's call it just plain unfair.
If cosmic justice is a thing, he’s going to be having a very rough time for a long time to come.

Donna Wells2 said:I’ve mostly crossed paths with that crowd while skiing in the Rockies.
And honestly, what can you even say? They roll up in the biggest, most expensive SUVs imaginable, absolutely decked out in gaudy, tasteless bling, yet they carry themselves like they just stepped out of a trailer park and into designer gear.
Arrogant, condescending, and completely devoid of class—to put it mildly!

Ugh, Russian tourists...
Years ago, I worked in a high-end boutique owned by some fancy truffle mogul out in California, and we got plenty of Russians in there. Most of them were just looking for brandy and other hard liquors. 😁
But one day, this young woman bursts in—Louis Vuitton bag, Gucci sunglasses, Versace belt, manicured nails, bleached blonde hair, lip fillers, and a very obvious cleavage. She browsed for five minutes before asking me what the most expensive thing in the shop was. I told her it was our white truffle products—the oils and spreads—so I showed her where they were and offered her a taste since she said she didn't know what truffles were. I explained what they were and offered her a sample again. She declined, then ordered me to pack up five sets of our largest white truffle oil bottles and five sets of our largest truffle spread jars. When I explained that each set contained 12 bottles/jars, she just looked at me and said, "Then I'll taka 6."
While I was getting everything ready, she grabbed a few more bottles of brandy and ended up with a massive bill. She paid with a black credit card with gold lettering. The guy waiting by the door loaded everything into her BMW, she gave him a polite nod, and drove off.

Other Russians knew how to drop a few thousand dollars too, but she was the absolute record-breaker. My coworker described them as, "They don't understand a damn thing, but they spend like crazy." 🕺

After the invasion of Ukraine kicked off, Lev Yashin was one of those rare opposition politicians who actually stayed in Russia, staying free and keeping a really sharp anti-war stance. Well, the Russian Federation authorities didn't let that slide for long. By July, he was hit with criminal charges, and now he’s sitting behind bars.

Check out his message:

"Every single morning in my cell, they turn on Radio Russia. At 6 AM, the anthem plays, and then the brainwashing begins.

The news stories vary a little bit each day. They report that Russian troops carried out another 'precision strike' on locations held by the Armed Forces of Ukraine; claiming over three hundred nationalists were wiped out along with about a hundred pieces of military hardware. Then they say the Ukrainian Nazis retaliated by shelling residential areas in the Donetsk People's Republic using American (emphasis on *American*) weapons; apparently, a missile hit a quarry, miraculously missing people this time.

After that, the show is filled with audio letters sent to the editor: you've got 'Maria from Saratov' or 'Elena Nikolajevna from Kirov' reciting their own poems dedicated to our heroes, who—fighting in Ukraine—are being compared to the 'veterans' of the Great Victory.

And for dessert? 'Songs of the Russian Spring.' Amateur musical groups singing in nasal voices about Mariupol returning to its home port or about the crimes committed at the Maidan.

It just goes in circles. Every single day. Sometimes I feel like some character from a horror movie, just sitting in a chair staring at a screen with eyes wide open. Honestly, I think the UN should officially recognize being forced to listen to these broadcasts as a form of torture.

But seriously, from what I can see, fewer and fewer people are taking this kind of brainwashing at face value. It’s strange—despite all this aggressive war propaganda, I don't encounter any hate speech from this side of the bars. Actually, quite the opposite. One of the guards, while taking off my handcuffs, whispered, 'Lev, hang in there.' The officer at the holding cell even gave me an extra blanket—said, 'to make things a bit softer for you.' Even the bailiff in court thanked me for a clip about Kadyrov. Moments like these just reinforce that sense of moral rightness.

Even now, sitting here in a cell facing the threat of ten years in prison, I know that deciding to stay in Russia was the right call. It was incredibly hard, but it was right. Because it completely dismantles Putin's main argument against the opposition—this idea that we're all just going to flee at the first sign of danger. Now, people can see: we aren't running away. We’re standing our ground and sharing our country's fate. It makes our words carry more weight and our arguments hit harder. But most importantly, it keeps the chance alive for us to win our homeland back.

At the end of the day, victory doesn't go to whoever is strongest right now, but to whoever is willing to go all the way."

Photo: Aleksandra Astakhova

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00001309628736

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