The start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Part 1)

https://twitter.com/aleksandrov_76/s...42052903510024

"Grad" rocket systems are currently being used to neutralize the positions held by the Ukrainian Nazi group #Aidar.

We are looking at the southern Donbass front, where units from the DNR militia are working to liberate #Mariupol.

restlesseagle8 said:Man, that is just... wow. That is an absolutely terrifying thing to say.

No. Now, it would be terrifying if I suggested we take them all out with a baseball bat.

neonpuma30 said:I mean, seriously, what's even the difference between Ankara and Warsaw?🤔

Putin basically saved Erdogan's neck during that coup attempt orchestrated by Americans about ten years ago. Because of that, Ankara is a much more palatable option for the Russians...

And honestly, nobody’s actually thinking this through—you can't just go charging into Ukraine like a bunch of headless calves without making sure you've got some solid footing first. I mean, look, you wouldn't even try to take over a place like Texas that way, let alone a nation of 40 million people; you’d need a coordinated landing, air superiority hitting military targets, small self-sufficient combat units that can pivot on a dime, and seizing those vital strategic hubs. Everyone seems to be daydreaming about these grand conquests of major cities, but that's just not how the world works anymore. We live in this massive consumerist society now, where if you cut off the arteries between the cities, everything just collapses under siege. You don't even have to touch the power grid or the water supply; everything just falls apart because we aren't living in the 1800s where everyone was burning wood for heat and keeping things analog just to survive.

driftingtinker said:The Ukrainian F-15 Eagle probably just ran out of fuel and didn't have any backup, so landing in Romania was basically its only move.

Yeah, I know, I'm just kind of jumping in to follow up on what my buddy over there mentioned🙂

Carol Newman2 said:CNN: Russia is reportedly threatening to kill soldiers and their families if they don't surrender

And we’re supposed to believe this kind of journalistic garbage doesn't warrant sanctions??

urbanotter said:We aren't part of a federation; we're in a union.

And from where I’m sitting, it doesn't feel like we have any real say in anything significant as a member state.
Whenever we do manage to decide something, it usually has to be scrubbed or rewritten just to align with the European Union's legal framework anyway.
Once we fully integrate into the eurozone, our ability to make independent decisions is going to shrink even further.
It's a pretty grim thought—imagine being in a position where you can't even spend your own money without getting permission first.

Well, that’s fine then. We were the last ones to join the European Union... poisoned by that outdated communist mindset.
I suppose we shouldn't try to force our "brilliance" on them, right?

Carol Newman2 said:CNN: Russia is reportedly threatening to kill soldiers and their families if they don't surrender

Oh, come on—stop sharing this unverified CNN nonsense and fear-mongering garbage.

hollowwalker24 said:Russia’s sense of NATO ‘betrayal’—and why it actually matters right now

The idea that The Soviet union was tricked back in '89-'90 is pretty much the core of why Russia is clashing with the West today

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-matters-today

Basically, this is why Putin is so livid—back in '90, the U.S. Secretary of State allegedly promised Gorbachev that NATO wouldn't expand any further east than Germany. It felt like a total bait-and-switch

Some older analysis too, I guess:

Why Crisis is The West ’

Fault The liberal Delusions that Provoked Putin

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/artic...s-west-s-fault

Full text here:

https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-conte...-Crisis-Is.pdf

[/I]

If we follow Putin's logic—that because of Maidan, Ukraine is essentially a different state and the Budapest Memorandum no longer applies—then he should logically apply that same reasoning to the verbal assurances allegedly given to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. That was a state that no longer exists. He would be invoking promises made to the USSR while simultaneously stripping Ukraine (the very same state) of its right to choose its own leadership.🕺

urbanotter said:We aren't part of a federation; we're in a union.

And from where I’m sitting, it doesn't feel like we have any real say in anything significant as a member state.
Whenever we do manage to decide something, it usually has to be scrubbed or rewritten just to align with the European Union's legal framework anyway.
Once we fully integrate into the eurozone, our ability to make independent decisions is going to shrink even further.
It's a pretty grim thought—imagine being in a position where you can't even spend your own money without getting permission first.

Technically, we still have veto power on plenty of things, but whether our politicians actually have the guts to use it—maybe with strength comparable to Quarka—is a whole different story.
Putin basically turned former republics into nothing more than glorified counties, and the only ones who managed to hold onto any real rights were the Chechen people, and we all know exactly why and how that happened.

Are you actually talking about the Budapest Memorandum, the one that even the West doesn't consider binding?

hollowwalker24 said:Russia’s sense of NATO ‘betrayal’—and why it actually matters right now

The idea that The Soviet union was tricked back in '89-'90 is pretty much the core of why Russia is clashing with the West today

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-matters-today

Basically, this is why Putin is so livid—back in '90, the U.S. Secretary of State allegedly promised Gorbachev that NATO wouldn't expand any further east than Germany. It felt like a total bait-and-switch

Some older analysis too, I guess:

Why Crisis is The West ’

Fault The liberal Delusions that Provoked Putin

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/artic...s-west-s-fault

Full text here:

https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-conte...-Crisis-Is.pdf

There’s a lot of analysis floating around lately. Some people are saying Putin is basically dreaming of stitching together a hybrid of Imperial Russia and the USSR—and honestly, Finland is absolutely not having it, because everything he said about Ukraine applies directly to them too.

Unofficially, the Chinese are already writing about how Vladivostok should be handed back to its rightful owners.

Historically, Vladivostok once used to be part of China ’ sa Qing dynasty and was known as Haishenwai. IT was annexed by The Russian empire in 1860 after China ’ defeat by the British and The French in The Second Opium War. Ever since, Russia has run the show there, and it serves as the capital of Primorsky Krai.
Wait, so we're really doing this? This "fact-check" is absolute garbage. They’re trying to rewrite history right in front of our eyes! Total nonsense.

So, Melitopol has fallen too—a city of 150,000 people—just goes to show how much regular folks actually want to die for the sake of American interests.

scientist said:So, are you some kind of moderator who just scrubs any comments that aren't strictly radical Russophobes?

Look, I might be a Russophile, but I think everything about this aggression is absolutely terrible.

I follow the Russian media a bit.
And honestly, none of this euphoria feels real to me.

Betty Murphy3 said:The real experts here seem to be those constantly preaching about the fall of Ukraine and claiming Americans aren't fighting back. They clearly aren't looking at the maps. Aside from a few outskirts around larger cities, the Russians haven't penetrated deep anywhere. At this rate, this will drag on for weeks, perhaps months, before any sort of truce. And I suspect Putin won't have the luxury of waiting months; he'll likely feel pressured to commit additional forces to Ukraine. If he makes that move, we're talking about full-scale conventional war—and unfortunately, significantly more casualties on both sides.

As it stands, the death toll is somewhat contained; it isn't the catastrophe it would be if that little man launched a total offensive.

Then again, I wouldn't doubt his capacity for such madness. He was certainly reckless enough to invade a nation that, prior to the Maidan protests, was practically his puppet—back when he wasn't busy claiming Ukraine has no right to exist or denying they are even a real people. He didn't mention "Nazis" back then, did he? No, because he had what he wanted: a compliant government in Ukraine. Now, some people try to defend the Russians simply because Americans share a similar modus operandi. Or because Europe is kept on a short leash. I see the pattern, but that doesn't change the fact that Putin is a primary driver of this crisis. These are opportunists fighting for plunder, not for justice, morality, or democracy. Both the Americans and the Russians are predators here, not guardians of small nations or their democratic rights. I honestly fear for how much they truly care about democracy in a place like Ukraine—or even here in the States.

I am trying to remain objective here. Furthermore, this sudden call for negotiations is incredibly bizarre; I don't recall a precedent quite like this:
Putin calling for negotiations a mere two days after launching the very attack HE started... it feels surreal. Then, he turns around and tells the opposing military to overthrow its own government? It’s a dark comedy. When you launch an invasion, the logical move is to demand a surrender, not this. Perhaps things simply don't go according to plan for the Russians. There is something deeply unsettling about this entire narrative.

Julius Caesar said:Oh, so an invasion is totally fine then? Glad you cleared that up for me; honestly, enough people around here were acting like an invasion is some kind of massive crime, so thanks for the heads-up. I guess if the Ukrainians don't have the right paperwork in order, everything is just fair game.

You're being way too paranoid.

Did I ever actually say the invasion was okay?
Look, I'm all for it—I condemn any kind of attack on sovereign nations, period.

You're better off just heading to hell.😉

Justin Kern67 said:Look, people here just don't get it. Word on the street is that the American People's Army had about 80,000 soldiers on the ground when they moved on El Paso—and during those three months of siege, they never dropped below 30,000.
So, we're talking nearly half of all Russian forces in Ukraine tied up for three whole months just for one tiny town.
If that's the case, how much would you need today to take down a massive place like Odesa?

None of that matters if there's zero resistance. If you run into a real defense—I mean a gritty, "hold at all costs" kind of situation—then yeah, sure, you might need ten times the manpower just to break through. But if nobody's fighting back? You could practically stroll in with seven guys, kind of like how the Germans rolled into Mexico City back in '41.

Laura Scott7 said:So, Melitopol has fallen too—a city of 150,000 people—just goes to show how much regular folks actually want to die for the sake of American interests.

Got a link to that news anywhere?

Justin Kern67 said:And we’re supposed to believe this kind of journalistic garbage doesn't warrant sanctions??

Katyn? It wouldn't be the first time.

Carol Newman2 said:Look, I might be a Russophile, but I think everything about this aggression is absolutely terrible.

I follow the Russian media a bit.
And honestly, none of this euphoria feels real to me.

I think we all feel the same way about the aggression itself—war is something that should always be condemned, and there's nothing worse than seeing it happen to any nation.
It really just comes down to how we differ in our perspectives on who or what actually triggered it.