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

Larry Fox5 said:I don't know if it's just rumors flying around—but Orban said he's actually going to back all the sanctions against Russia. Honestly, closing off the Bosphorus would be a massive blow to Putin. And who knows? The Chinese might just toss him under the bus sooner or later.
Cutting off Russian banks from SWIFT would basically be checkmate for him.

He totally walked himself right into this mess for no reason at all... 🤦

I can't find the specific article, but I caught something on Bloomberg suggesting Chinese banks are tightening up on business financing in Russia just to make sure they don't accidentally get caught in the crosshairs of sanctions.

I see zero reason for Ukraine to be pushing for NATO membership, but frankly, I can't find any justification—even if Vladimir Putin were right—for solving this through mass casualties. In my view, the unilateralism practiced by the USA has been distasteful since the days of Theodore Roosevelt, but this current situation is equally repulsive...

Looks like the Japanese just picked up some new missiles

Michael Davis10 said:It’d be pretty interesting to see how NATO reacts if Putin, say, wiped out Amsterdam since the Dutch don't have nukes.
Would someone like Biden or Macron actually risk London or Paris by hitting back at Moscow?

😵

The US has nuclear weapons—maybe try educating yourself a bit.🤣

Michael Davis10 said:I guess Scholz would be down for picking and choosing who gets kicked out of SWIFT, but he won't touch anything involving Russia as a whole
Man, what does that even matter
I mean, what about being hooked on Russian oil and gas?

Honestly, they'd be better off just sending anti-helicopter missiles.

Thomas Nelson25 said:The guy's got nukes, sure, but his economy is a total wreck.
At this rate, even the Chinese are gonna walk all over him and snatch up his oil and gas for pennies on the dollar.

Exactly this. I feel like I've said it a few times now, but this whole mess is mostly just going to end up hurting Russia and Russians in the long run. People who think Putin actually has some kind of loyal best friend in China are seriously misreading the situation, I guess. The Chinese are playing their own game, looking out for their own interests... they're just waiting around and counting their money while everything plays out.

William Anderson5 said:I can't find the specific article, but I caught something on Bloomberg suggesting Chinese banks are tightening up on business financing in Russia just to make sure they don't accidentally get caught in the crosshairs of sanctions.

So they just switched everything over to yuan instead.

Grace Bennett6 said:So what's North Korea waiting for then? 😵

They don't have the range or the muscle to touch the US, plus they aren't even at war.

Rachel Allen55 said:That Ceneski guy talking about Putin is totally unhinged, seriously. I have no clue how he managed to mobilize them for war, but those guys from the Caucasus seem like a different breed entirely.

I caught some footage online—just a column of transport vehicles and APCs rolling through, with them waving their leader's flag everywhere.

If this turns out to be true... they're clearly there to take out any Ukrainians who aren't on the pro-Russian side.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...officials.html

The Chechens are hyped up like it's pre-game for the Super Bowl. 🤣🤣🙏🙏

Sam Alvarez4 said:And will that actually get them Crimea and the Donbas back?

People should have thought about this when the coup was being organized in Ukraine to oust Zelenskyy. The whole point was just to ramp up tensions between Ukrainians and Russians. I didn't see anyone from the European Union making a fuss about lighting a fire on European soil back then.

International law and conventions didn't mean much to those people then, and now everyone is crying for their own selfish reasons.

Like my old man said last night while we were talking about this—son, it looks like international law only applies to the two of us.😁

While Zelenskyy grabs coffee with the defenders of Kyiv, Putin sits huddled in his bunker, snarling at ghosts he’s conjured up himself.

https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/st...01772881256449

William Anderson5 said:If that's the case, why didn't the Russians just sanction themselves? Didn't they want to get stronger...

As clever as you think you're being, you're actually making a valid point. From 2014 to the present day, Russia has been systematically and continuously scaling back its trade with the West while simultaneously stockpiling gold and reserves. It is quite obvious they have been preparing for this exact scenario for the last seven years.

Larry Fox5 said:I don't know if it's just rumors flying around—but Orban said he's actually going to back all the sanctions against Russia. Honestly, closing off the Bosphorus would be a massive blow to Putin. And who knows? The Chinese might just toss him under the bus sooner or later.
Cutting off Russian banks from SWIFT would basically be checkmate for him.

He totally walked himself right into this mess for no reason at all... 🤦

Things will only get worse for them if the Chinese step in to bail them out. Honestly, if anyone actually needs their help—they might as well let it burn.

Tyler Jones6 said:Ukraine has reportedly downed a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane via parachute strikes near Kyiv—the potential death toll is estimated at 174.

link

And there aren't even any photos. I mean, that plane was huge

briskheron said:Russ is playing dirty.
They’ve really gone too far this time. From what I can gather, they'd be facing the death penalty in any US state for doing something like this.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ukrainain...41987808993295

Nah, these are just Ukrainian deserters and "defectors" (is there a better word for that? lol), was talking about this in another thread.

And you can clearly see an Israeli Tavor being aimed at Ukraine, not so much at Russia.

Joshua Myers432 said:Hardly irrelevant. They've essentially cut off Russia's southern maritime routes. For them, the Black Sea has become nothing more than a lake.

It would matter if we were seeing an active naval war between the Russian Navy and the NATO alliance right now, but we aren't. Their primary concern is ensuring their civilian and commercial vessels can sail without issue. That is what matters most to them at this moment...

nimbletiger7 said:Oil and gas prices even dropped yesterday because people realized Putin has to sell more fuel now just to fund the war. It seems Russians are selling oil at a $12 discount compared to Brent.

What I find interesting—and maybe I'm being cynical here—is that the stock markets were already hitting record highs right before the invasion started.
When you're sitting at those record levels, where the market barely fluctuates by 5%...🤣
Then, the moment sanctions are announced? The markets jump up another 3%.🤣

I’m telling you.
The whole war in Ukraine... I guess it’s all just bread and circuses for the masses.

Carl Cook said:Nobody is going to go that far.

Right, because I guess Putin isn't just flexing his muscles before an invasion of Ukraine, right?

Richard Cooper3 said:Maybe the Americans would just end up being pushed right out of Ukraine. I don't think people realize this isn't even the full force of the invasion yet. If Vladimir Putin actually went all out, it would be a total disaster.
And honestly, what does Russia even need the Bosphorus for right now, since all the vessels that need to be in the Black Sea are already where they need to be? ☕
It seems like the main goal is just encircling the Ukrainian forces in the east, cutting off their access to the sea, and surrounding Kyiv—which basically means they've already crossed the Dnieper.

Without nukes, Russia isn't even that much stronger than Turkey.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GazetaRu/...47828113063941

Russia has started cracking down on cars with Ukrainian plates. It’s a given that Ukrainian saboteurs are driving around Russia with those exact same plates... 🤣