Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

Timothy Williams5 said:The text is excellent; here is the full translation:

The Great American Tragedy—the culmination of everything resulting from Vladimir Putin's entire reign of terror and lies—is all laid bare in one singular, insane, and utterly revolting narrative centered on a single Russian family. It all begins with a post from Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of a Russian sailor stationed aboard the cruiser Moskva...

Dmitry is absolutely devastated, caught in this suffocating loop of confusion and rage. The Department of Defense had the audacity to tell him that the entire Moscow garrison was evacuated following the fires, but he isn't buying any of it. "Nothing but shameless, cynical lies!" he fumes. It’s personal now; his son was drafted, a kid who should have been anywhere else but on the front lines of this mess.

His son, George, has vanished. His commanders are still breathing, yet they refuse to give him any clarity on what actually happened to him. He lashes out at them, calling them nothing but incompetent, desperately pleading for even the slightest scrap of information regarding George's whereabouts. One commenter has stepped forward, offering to help spread the word and amplify the news. When asked if he supports the special operation, his answer is blunt: "Yes."

Dmitry supports the war. Before George vanished, his father's social media feed was absolutely saturated with those Z symbols. In the beginning, the rage felt deeply personal, rather than being directed at Vladimir Putin or his military campaign.
Even the Ukrainian commenters are weighing in now. They’re reaching out to him with this unsettling sort of cheer, eagerly sharing updates on exactly where his son is stationed and what kind of fish he’s feeding these days.

Dmitry refers to them as nothing more than animals, clearly hoping they’ll feel the full weight of Mother Russia's wrath.
Soon enough, however, Dmitry begins to uncover the actual truth of the situation. George is dead. Moscow is underwater. He’s set to receive seven million rubles in state compensation, and it’s clear that his mental stability is simply evaporating right before our eyes.

I follow the news, and with every passing headline, I find myself sinking a little deeper into cynicism.
They’re claiming that Russia has performed yet another "act of good faith" by withdrawing from Snake Island. Is there actually any truth to that? Because if it’s real, it just means they’ve betrayed our sons all over again. It’s pathetic—trading away our boys just to secure some cheap concessions. You jackals are truly contemptible.

Does he actually support the war, or is he just throwing a tantrum because things aren't going his way?
Is he actually furious that the war even started in the first place?
Who can say for certain? Dmitry is a man fueled by resentment and a deep sense of loss. It is abundantly clear that he simply doesn't care about the consequences of his own actions.
And then, yet another shock to the system.
His wife went out to run some errands, just a routine trip to the store, and then she simply vanished.

He isn't picking up his phone, and every single one of his accounts has been frozen; he hasn't the slightest clue what actually went down.
And then, the realization hits you like a freight train. She had swiped every cent of the settlement money along with the entire life savings, and just vanished without a trace.

Now he’s left entirely to his own devices, left alone to sit with nothing but his own simmering rage.
And now, we finally arrive at the final act.
I’ve finally reached the point where I can no longer stomach the lies. Everything has become painfully clear. I knew the truth deep down a long time ago, but I simply lacked the courage to admit that I was part of the problem. I stood by and supported a war that should never have been waged, and now, I am paying the ultimate price. My family is gone.
There was only one right way to handle this, and I went ahead and made my move.

To everyone following my journey: I am no longer in Russia. I have moved on to a third country and am currently making my way toward Ukraine, where I intend to join the Free Russian Legion. They are expecting me. Finally, everything has fallen into its proper place.
Dmitry has set his sights on fighting against Russia.

A father, once a loyal follower of Putin, transforms into a pro-Ukrainian fighter with nothing left to lose but his life.
His wife and mother end up as thieves and fugitives on the run.
The teenager becomes a corpse.
This is Putin's Russia at its absolute finest.
Enjoy the spectacle.

One commenter suggested this would make a perfect screenplay starring Liam Neeson in the lead role.

I'm voting for... Clint Eastwood.

Daniel Ward87 said:I'm voting for... Clint Eastwood.

Hard to see a 92-year-old playing a teenager's dad, let alone a great-grandfather... 😁

Sean Reed3 said:Hard to see a 92-year-old playing a teenager's dad, let alone a great-grandfather... 😁

Honestly, though, you could totally see Sylvester Stallone pulling off the role of a pissed-off grandpa...

gentlerider7 said:Honestly, though, you could totally see Sylvester Stallone pulling off the role of a pissed-off grandpa...

Honestly, Stallone’s just a B-movie actor at best.☕

casualcrane20 said:Putin can label this aggression however he likes, but relying solely on political rhetoric is a dead end. On a deeper level, this is a confrontation between the USA and Russia. We can debate who pulled the trigger first—personally, I’d say the Americans, and not by any stretch of the imagination recently. The stakes are massive: on one side, you have the American global monopoly on both military and financial power; on the other, Russia's struggle to remain a global superpower. Every resource will be deployed as needed, barring nuclear weapons (let's hope). It is tragic that Europe isn't capable of actively defending its own interests, so it will inevitably pay a heavy price.

I think you might be overestimating the Americans here. Russia isn't really a global superpower anymore; they stopped being one right around the end of the USSR. If anything, this whole thing was staged by Russia just so they could force their way back onto the world stage as a major player. But, I guess they're just too dim to do it through economic influence or actually building a good reputation. They seem stuck in a 19th-century mindset, so they just resort to raw, brutal force, which is basically self-sabotage. Once this is all over, nobody is going to trust them for at least another 50 years.

Timothy Williams5 said:The text is excellent; here is the full translation:

The Great American Tragedy—the culmination of everything resulting from Vladimir Putin's entire reign of terror and lies—is all laid bare in one singular, insane, and utterly revolting narrative centered on a single Russian family. It all begins with a post from Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of a Russian sailor stationed aboard the cruiser Moskva...

Dmitry is absolutely devastated, caught in this suffocating loop of confusion and rage. The Department of Defense had the audacity to tell him that the entire Moscow garrison was evacuated following the fires, but he isn't buying any of it. "Nothing but shameless, cynical lies!" he fumes. It’s personal now; his son was drafted, a kid who should have been anywhere else but on the front lines of this mess.

His son, George, has vanished. His commanders are still breathing, yet they refuse to give him any clarity on what actually happened to him. He lashes out at them, calling them nothing but incompetent, desperately pleading for even the slightest scrap of information regarding George's whereabouts. One commenter has stepped forward, offering to help spread the word and amplify the news. When asked if he supports the special operation, his answer is blunt: "Yes."

Dmitry supports the war. Before George vanished, his father's social media feed was absolutely saturated with those Z symbols. In the beginning, the rage felt deeply personal, rather than being directed at Vladimir Putin or his military campaign.
Even the Ukrainian commenters are weighing in now. They’re reaching out to him with this unsettling sort of cheer, eagerly sharing updates on exactly where his son is stationed and what kind of fish he’s feeding these days.

Dmitry refers to them as nothing more than animals, clearly hoping they’ll feel the full weight of Mother Russia's wrath.
Soon enough, however, Dmitry begins to uncover the actual truth of the situation. George is dead. Moscow is underwater. He’s set to receive seven million rubles in state compensation, and it’s clear that his mental stability is simply evaporating right before our eyes.

I follow the news, and with every passing headline, I find myself sinking a little deeper into cynicism.
They’re claiming that Russia has performed yet another "act of good faith" by withdrawing from Snake Island. Is there actually any truth to that? Because if it’s real, it just means they’ve betrayed our sons all over again. It’s pathetic—trading away our boys just to secure some cheap concessions. You jackals are truly contemptible.

Does he actually support the war, or is he just throwing a tantrum because things aren't going his way?
Is he actually furious that the war even started in the first place?
Who can say for certain? Dmitry is a man fueled by resentment and a deep sense of loss. It is abundantly clear that he simply doesn't care about the consequences of his own actions.
And then, yet another shock to the system.
His wife went out to run some errands, just a routine trip to the store, and then she simply vanished.

He isn't picking up his phone, and every single one of his accounts has been frozen; he hasn't the slightest clue what actually went down.
And then, the realization hits you like a freight train. She had swiped every cent of the settlement money along with the entire life savings, and just vanished without a trace.

Now he’s left entirely to his own devices, left alone to sit with nothing but his own simmering rage.
And now, we finally arrive at the final act.
I’ve finally reached the point where I can no longer stomach the lies. Everything has become painfully clear. I knew the truth deep down a long time ago, but I simply lacked the courage to admit that I was part of the problem. I stood by and supported a war that should never have been waged, and now, I am paying the ultimate price. My family is gone.
There was only one right way to handle this, and I went ahead and made my move.

To everyone following my journey: I am no longer in Russia. I have moved on to a third country and am currently making my way toward Ukraine, where I intend to join the Free Russian Legion. They are expecting me. Finally, everything has fallen into its proper place.
Dmitry has set his sights on fighting against Russia.

A father, once a loyal follower of Putin, transforms into a pro-Ukrainian fighter with nothing left to lose but his life.
His wife and mother end up as thieves and fugitives on the run.
The teenager becomes a corpse.
This is Putin's Russia at its absolute finest.
Enjoy the spectacle.

One commenter suggested this would make a perfect screenplay starring Liam Neeson in the lead role.

Thanks so much for putting this translation together! It really is such an unbelievable story. It makes me wonder how many other people are sitting there feeling the exact same way but just don't dare to speak up yet—waiting for that critical mass to finally hit so this massive wave of de-zombification can actually kick off.

analogbear70 said:That comparison only works in an ideal world. Sometimes you just have to be smart—don't walk through dark alleys in a mini-skirt or withdraw cash from an ATM while a group of punks is lurking right behind you.
It doesn't excuse the attacker; it's simply about being smart enough to reduce your own risk. Russia is the aggressor, the occupier, and an imperialist power. However, if they are your neighbors, you have to play your cards more carefully to prevent this kind of thing from happening. That’s the plain truth. And again, Russia is the aggressor, and there is absolutely no justification for occupation.

The whole country was already violated back in 2014 when Crimea and Donbas were snatched away, and now you're telling me they shouldn't even step foot outside their houses just to avoid being victimized all over again?🤣

An excerpt from a larger piece regarding a peculiar participant in the infamous Capitol riot and his connections to Russia

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/u...smid=url-share

Quincy:

If you look at the security footage from January 6th, it’s easy to overlook a thin man wearing a red Trumpian hat slipping into the Capitol building just to film the chaos on his phone. He blends right into the crowd, appearing perfectly unremarkable by the chaotic standards of that day. But what he did immediately afterward was anything but routine. Within twenty-four hours, Charles Bausman handed over his footage and commentary to a Russian television producer. He then traveled to Moscow where, appearing as a guest on an ultra-right TV network owned by a sanctioned oligarch, he accused the American media of covering up neo-Nazis in Ukraine. ...

Brandon Clark4 said:It is quite fascinating how this "leaked" into the press. Not even through WikiLeaks, mind you, but just... out in the open.
High-profile leaders within the European Union are pointing fingers like frantic children, insisting that Vladimir Putin is the sole architect behind the chaos looming this fall. However, I find myself skeptical that the average American will simply swallow such a narrative. As they say, you can't polish a turd.

This article has already made the rounds. The most striking part:
"I have no idea where your lawyers studied law when they claim that in a sovereign nation, legislative drafts should be proposed by separatists rather than a democratically elected government." Especially back in 2019, during the implementation phase of the agreements, Ukraine underwent a certain degree of demilitarization.

Just a bunch of twisting arguments about who didn't follow what or who violated which rule.

"Putin also claims that Kyiv possesses nuclear weapons 😲, which Emmanuel Macron finds hard to believe."

analogbear70 said:That comparison only works in an ideal world. Sometimes you just have to be smart—don't walk through dark alleys in a mini-skirt or withdraw cash from an ATM while a group of punks is lurking right behind you.
It doesn't excuse the attacker; it's simply about being smart enough to reduce your own risk. Russia is the aggressor, the occupier, and an imperialist power. However, if they are your neighbors, you have to play your cards more carefully to prevent this kind of thing from happening. That’s the plain truth. And again, Russia is the aggressor, and there is absolutely no justification for occupation.

So, what was Ukraine supposed to do?

Kate Cook27 said:So, what was Ukraine supposed to do?

Honestly? If they wanted to avoid a war—which was always a huge risk anyway—they probably should've just kept their nukes. And then, maybe later on, do to the Russians exactly what they did to them: just kick Putin out and install someone else who actually works for them.

casualcrane20 said:Putin can label this aggression however he likes, but relying solely on political rhetoric is a dead end. On a deeper level, this is a confrontation between the USA and Russia. We can debate who pulled the trigger first—personally, I’d say the Americans, and not by any stretch of the imagination recently. The stakes are massive: on one side, you have the American global monopoly on both military and financial power; on the other, Russia's struggle to remain a global superpower. Every resource will be deployed as needed, barring nuclear weapons (let's hope). It is tragic that Europe isn't capable of actively defending its own interests, so it will inevitably pay a heavy price.

It is a jalov task to try and convince anyone that the Russian president's justifications—the whole "reclaiming stolen lands" and "liberating from Nazism" routine—are anything other than a cover for a struggle that the Americans set in motion ages ago. At least, at the most fundamental level.

Unless we're talking about something supernatural, and I don't claim to have much expertise there.

Kate Cook27 said:So, what was Ukraine supposed to do?

The only thing Ukraine could have actually done was follow Belarus's lead and eventually become just another part of the Russian Federation.

Neutrality, demilitarization, or any of those Minsk agreements wouldn't have helped them in the long run.

It’s obvious they aren't looking for a deal on Donbas or Crimea; they want all of Ukraine, every single inch of it.

Kate Cook27 said:So, what was Ukraine supposed to do?

The skirt was just too short.

Arthur Watson4 said:The only thing Ukraine could have actually done was follow Belarus's lead and eventually become just another part of the Russian Federation.

Neutrality, demilitarization, or any of those Minsk agreements wouldn't have helped them in the long run.

It’s obvious they aren't looking for a deal on Donbas or Crimea; they want all of Ukraine, every single inch of it.

Unfortunately, looking back at everything since 2014, that seems to be the reality.
As for the nuclear issue? Well, Ukraine didn't really give that much thought at the time.

Kate Cook27 said:This article has already made the rounds. The most striking part:
"I have no idea where your lawyers studied law when they claim that in a sovereign nation, legislative drafts should be proposed by separatists rather than a democratically elected government." Especially back in 2019, during the implementation phase of the agreements, Ukraine underwent a certain degree of demilitarization.

Just a bunch of twisting arguments about who didn't follow what or who violated which rule.

"Putin also claims that Kyiv possesses nuclear weapons 😲, which Emmanuel Macron finds hard to believe."

Putin makes that claim because he needs some sort of justification for the aggression (alongside all those other fabrications used to rationalize the invasion—from up here, it looks like just another line in the script). In reality, that would constitute an overt violation of the Budapest agreement. But stated this way? It’s nothing more than thrashing about in his own lies.
What interests me is whether stationing nuclear weapons in Belarus would eventually be considered a violation of that same agreement. Both Belarus and Kazakhstan—alongside Ukraine—were signatories and beneficiaries of that deal.

Nancy Gomez26 said:Putin makes that claim because he needs some sort of justification for the aggression (alongside all those other fabrications used to rationalize the invasion—from up here, it looks like just another line in the script). In reality, that would constitute an overt violation of the Budapest agreement. But stated this way? It’s nothing more than thrashing about in his own lies.
What interests me is whether stationing nuclear weapons in Belarus would eventually be considered a violation of that same agreement. Both Belarus and Kazakhstan—alongside Ukraine—were signatories and beneficiaries of that deal.

Demilitarization, denazification, fighting NATO expansion, fighting the fascist government in Kyiv, bio-labs in Ukraine with 900 pathogens, the lab in Ukraine where COVID was created, the lab making some virus to destroy Russians, nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Ukraine planning to attack the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (even though Russians have been drilling by the border and with Belarus for months), Ukraine planning to attack Russia??, so Russia launched a preemptive strike, Eastern Ukraine was always Russia and now Russia is just taking back what belongs to it, NATO is already in occupied Ukraine, NATO soldiers are fighting in Ukrainian uniforms, Ukrainian soldiers are surrendering or deserting so Russia has to liberate Ukraine and the Ukrainians (at least, that's what someone told me recently)...
Ukraine has been bombing the Donbas for 8 years, and Russia wants to protect the Russians in the Donbas from genocide, which is why they are conducting a special military operation (and it's not just Russians living in the Donbas).

Kate Cook27 said:Demilitarization, denazification, fighting NATO expansion, fighting the fascist government in Kyiv, bio-labs in Ukraine with 900 pathogens, the lab in Ukraine where COVID was created, the lab making some virus to destroy Russians, nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Ukraine planning to attack the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (even though Russians have been drilling by the border and with Belarus for months), Ukraine planning to attack Russia??, so Russia launched a preemptive strike, Eastern Ukraine was always Russia and now Russia is just taking back what belongs to it, NATO is already in occupied Ukraine, NATO soldiers are fighting in Ukrainian uniforms, Ukrainian soldiers are surrendering or deserting so Russia has to liberate Ukraine and the Ukrainians (at least, that's what someone told me recently)...
Ukraine has been bombing the Donbas for 8 years, and Russia wants to protect the Russians in the Donbas from genocide, which is why they are conducting a special military operation (and it's not just Russians living in the Donbas).

I guess you forgot about the short window when the Russians were fighting demons too, because the Ukrainians were recruiting Satan, dark wizards, and casting spells everywhere. Honestly, they'll probably be begging Russia and Belarus for help once Poland attacks Western Ukraine!

Melissa Rivera5 said:I guess you forgot about the short window when the Russians were fighting demons too, because the Ukrainians were recruiting Satan, dark wizards, and casting spells everywhere. Honestly, they'll probably be begging Russia and Belarus for help once Poland attacks Western Ukraine!

Thanks for the reminder—totally slipped my mind. It didn't last long, though.

Kate Cook27 said:Demilitarization, denazification, fighting NATO expansion, fighting the fascist government in Kyiv, bio-labs in Ukraine with 900 pathogens, the lab in Ukraine where COVID was created, the lab making some virus to destroy Russians, nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Ukraine planning to attack the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (even though Russians have been drilling by the border and with Belarus for months), Ukraine planning to attack Russia??, so Russia launched a preemptive strike, Eastern Ukraine was always Russia and now Russia is just taking back what belongs to it, NATO is already in occupied Ukraine, NATO soldiers are fighting in Ukrainian uniforms, Ukrainian soldiers are surrendering or deserting so Russia has to liberate Ukraine and the Ukrainians (at least, that's what someone told me recently)...
Ukraine has been bombing the Donbas for 8 years, and Russia wants to protect the Russians in the Donbas from genocide, which is why they are conducting a special military operation (and it's not just Russians living in the Donbas).

People really need to emphasize that more often. It's rarely mentioned, which makes it look like it's just a Russian stronghold, but the reality is different.
In the Donbas, about 58% of the population was Ukrainian and 38% was Russian. Basically, Russians are actually the minority there.
Some woman is out there filming in Donetsk right now while Ukrainians are shelling the city and hitting an ammo dump. Instead of cursing out her own people, she’s shouting "Slava Ukraini." Those bastards in the Russian Federation...
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