Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

Henry Sullivan4 said:I heard that Vjeko is heading over to the States tomorrow, 👍and apparently there are another 200 foreigners being let in too,

Does anyone think he might be heading back to Ukraine the day after tomorrow?

stormybear25 said:From what I can gather, it looks like Saudi Arabia pulled the strings to make this happen.

View on twitter

They landed in Saudi Arabia.
MBS... man, give me a break.

Zarković and Simić are hooked up to the machines. 🤣

Dana Robinson4 said:Does anyone think he might be heading back to Ukraine the day after tomorrow?

I honestly don't see why not because he has a girlfriend out there, and since he's a true sailor rather than just some hired hand, he's certainly earned the right to seek citizenship there, and I truly wish him nothing but the absolute best, especially plenty of health and a really speedy recovery.👍

darkrider55 said:Exactly. A Saudi Arabian prince might not be my usual type, but hey, I’ll definitely take the gesture. Thanks for this! 😁

Not really. The Saudi Royal Family was essentially handed a task to rehabilitate their image after that previous slaughterhouse incident, and they pulled it off. But now, they find themselves in debt to Vladimir Putin and the Russians. There is a strange irony at play here; even as the Russians find themselves backed into a corner, they are receiving simultaneous support from both Iranians and Saudis....

Nancy Gomez26 said:Not really. The Saudi Royal Family was essentially handed a task to rehabilitate their image after that previous slaughterhouse incident, and they pulled it off. But now, they find themselves in debt to Vladimir Putin and the Russians. There is a strange irony at play here; even as the Russians find themselves backed into a corner, they are receiving simultaneous support from both Iranians and Saudis....

The real question is what kind of deal was struck with the Iranians regarding their nuclear program, so I suppose we will just have to wait and see how that plays out.🤔

Nancy Gomez26 said:Not really. The Saudi Royal Family was essentially handed a task to rehabilitate their image after that previous slaughterhouse incident, and they pulled it off. But now, they find themselves in debt to Vladimir Putin and the Russians. There is a strange irony at play here; even as the Russians find themselves backed into a corner, they are receiving simultaneous support from both Iranians and Saudis....

MBS isn't even the main point here. Putin just wants a tiny win in the West—some "humanitarian" gesture or whatever—so he can sit at the table. Why not just release Denis Prokopenko and the rest of the Azov guys already?

Larry Sanchez7 said:I got nothing to hold against you.

How can you even put the soccer team's parade in the same bucket as people hitting the streets for a protest where autocrats are threatening them with batons, police, the military, and water cannons?
That's the whole damn point—people showed up in massive numbers despite the threats, whereas in Russia, if you're standing up for some higher ideal like freedom, you might get lucky if 200 Muscovites show up. So, whatever happens, happens...

...look, I value your perspective👍 but 😁 my take is that back during the 101. era, there was actually MORE freedom of speech than we have in the current day—and please, don't ask me to list specific examples, because I'll just get banned from here, or someone will start throwing labels at me like "troll," "shill," or "hater" just for commenting on the truth...🤦 goodness knows you'd probably have to organize a protest down at a local park in a city like Chicago just because of my opinion 🤣 though even then, some "outside agitator" would likely swoop in and turn the whole thing into a fiasco 🤦😁 oh, and let's be real—the old crew at 101. was mostly just clutching their wallets and protecting their profits rather than defending actual free speech 🤦
...anyway, I'm watching the news right now and there's this one Moscowite saying he's proud to go to war, but both his brains are telling him absolutely not—there's no way he's going over there to die. 🤣

Frank Martin13 said:...look, I value your perspective👍 but 😁 my take is that back during the 101. era, there was actually MORE freedom of speech than we have in the current day—and please, don't ask me to list specific examples, because I'll just get banned from here, or someone will start throwing labels at me like "troll," "shill," or "hater" just for commenting on the truth...🤦 goodness knows you'd probably have to organize a protest down at a local park in a city like Chicago just because of my opinion 🤣 though even then, some "outside agitator" would likely swoop in and turn the whole thing into a fiasco 🤦😁 oh, and let's be real—the old crew at 101. was mostly just clutching their wallets and protecting their profits rather than defending actual free speech 🤦
...anyway, I'm watching the news right now and there's this one Moscowite saying he's proud to go to war, but both his brains are telling him absolutely not—there's no way he's going over there to die. 🤣

Freedom of speech wasn't "greater"—it's just that people today are total snowflakes who start crying the second someone tells them they're wrong.

Christian Torres3 said:MBS isn't even the main point here. Putin just wants a tiny win in the West—some "humanitarian" gesture or whatever—so he can sit at the table. Why not just release Denis Prokopenko and the rest of the Azov guys already?

Of course. A decision like that rests entirely on one man's shoulders. But let's not kid ourselves; this won't be a free gift. It’ll be tallied against MBS's debt, and eventually, someone is going to have to settle the score.

analogbear5 said:Freedom of speech wasn't "greater"—it's just that people today are total snowflakes who start crying the second someone tells them they're wrong.

It isn't just about them crying—they actually suffer full-blown nervous breakdowns. Their entire mental state just collapses.

They managed to liberate one of ours too. Great.

I was watching the news on Russian TV today and they showed Patriarch Cyril giving what I guess you could call a "mobilization sermon," basically claiming that "those Ukrainians fighting against Russia are devils that need to be wiped out." It’s honestly just wild to me how much rhetoric someone is allowed to get away with when they're presenting themselves as God's messenger.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:So, is this partial mobilization actually just a fancy way of declaring war on Ukraine? Is the whole "special military operation" thing officially dead in the water now?

It is effectively becoming a partial war operation now.🙂

Samuel Rodriguez52 said:I was watching the news on Russian TV today and they showed Patriarch Cyril giving what I guess you could call a "mobilization sermon," basically claiming that "those Ukrainians fighting against Russia are devils that need to be wiped out." It’s honestly just wild to me how much rhetoric someone is allowed to get away with when they're presenting themselves as God's messenger.

Well, we've seen this kind of thing play out far too many times before. Right here in our own backyard.
🙂

Karen Torres43 said:Well, we've seen this kind of thing play out far too many times before. Right here in our own backyard.
🙂

Precisely. And it happens across the board, regardless of which side is fighting.

I mean, who actually believes they’re only going to mobilize 300,000 people? Sure, that number might be written in the official proclamation, but in reality, it feels like the actual amount of Russians being mobilized could end up being way higher—maybe even reaching 1 or 2 million, or honestly, even 10 million. Since everyone has been lying about everything up to this point, I guess it’s hard to say who’s actually guaranteeing that they aren't just lying about this too, right?

Samuel Rodriguez52 said:I mean, who actually believes they’re only going to mobilize 300,000 people? Sure, that number might be written in the official proclamation, but in reality, it feels like the actual amount of Russians being mobilized could end up being way higher—maybe even reaching 1 or 2 million, or honestly, even 10 million. Since everyone has been lying about everything up to this point, I guess it’s hard to say who’s actually guaranteeing that they aren't just lying about this too, right?

And what are they even going to arm them with? They're already running low on gear. If they send more troops out, who's left to defend the entire Soviet Union's eastern flank?

10 million 😁

Just try calculating how many tons of bread they’d need to feed that many "soldiers" on a daily basis 😁

Karen Torres43 said:10 million 😁

Just try calculating how many tons of bread they’d need to feed that many "soldiers" on a daily basis 😁

I mean, honestly, why do they even need all that bread? They might as well just eat cookies instead☕