Are you referring to https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1081152
A typical travesty from “hopefully your favourite president of all time – better than Lincoln, better than Washington”
Ukraine Today
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A typical travesty from “hopefully your favourite president of all time – better than Lincoln, better than Washington”
There's Blackwater, the use of white phosphorus in civilian areas, the general lack of prosecution of American soldiers who were doing (on a far more limited scale) some of the things we're seeing Russians doing in Ukraine, the general contempt for local civilians and "collateral damage", etcetera...
Don't become one of these people that fixates on Trump as the progenitor of the ills with the nation. You're reading too much from the outlets that profit from the ridiculous circus that American politics has slowly but surely become. Many of these things were broken under George W. Bush, and some continued to be broken, or even break further, under Obama.
Don't become one of these people that fixates on Trump as the progenitor of the ills with the nation. You're reading too much from the outlets that profit from the ridiculous circus that American politics has slowly but surely become. Many of these things were broken under George W. Bush, and some continued to be broken, or even break further, under Obama.
Beware Ukrainians bearing gifts and Police Chiefs playing with them.
www.theguardian.com
"The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv," said General Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine's armed forces.
Will Belarus troops will be part of any new strike from the North?
Police chief fired grenade launcher given as gift by Ukraine, Polish media reports
Prosecutors investigating after Jarosław Szymczyk injured in blast at police headquarters in Warsaw
www.theguardian.com
"The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv," said General Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine's armed forces.
Ukraine war: Kyiv says Russia planning major ground offensive in new year
President Zelensky and senior officials warn that Kyiv and its allies must guard against complacency.
www.bbc.co.uk
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Things are indeed heating up.
www.bbc.com
Ukraine: Russia to deploy musicians to front to boost morale
The new "front-line creative brigade" will consist of volunteer musicians and mobilised recruits.
www.bbc.com
Things are indeed heating up.
Ukraine: Russia to deploy musicians to front to boost morale
The new "front-line creative brigade" will consist of volunteer musicians and mobilised recruits.
Maybe he can play music to the Wagner prisoners over their smart phones:
It's bound to improve morale.
Or, you can improve morale properly:
Russian conscripts have more pressing requirements than music: “No one feeds us anything, mum,” he complained. “Our supply is ****, to be honest. We draw water from puddles, then we strain it and drink it.”
‘We were allowed to be slaughtered’: calls by Russian forces intercepted
Calls between Russian soldiers and their loved ones – eavesdropped by Ukraine - reveal reality of war for Kremlin’s forces
www.theguardian.com
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Basically, that's Barbarossa decree.
It's like he's doing it on purpose. A slew of actions and laws that mirror you know who, you know when.
But it's okay because there is a specific law that makes comparisons of USSR or Russia to Nazi Germany a criminal offense.
That's somewhat different though.
War crimes are bound to happen in a big continental war. And governments involved will want to sweep as much as possible under the rug to not face the pr repercussions. But it's a completely different thing when you basically legalize and effectively encourage them. It's a whole different level of depravity.
Belarus travel ban near the Ukraine border:
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/IQ63KVRHVVNDXBXOMG4R47VBYQ.jpg)
www.reuters.com
Russian military equipment moving closer to the Belarus-Ukraine border:
metro.co.uk
www.voanews.com
thehill.com
Belarus restricts access to parts of region bordering Ukraine, Russia
Belarus issued a ruling on Wednesday temporarily restricting access to parts of the southeastern Gomel region that borders Ukraine and Russia.
www.reuters.com
Russia moves 'military gear and troops closer to Belarus-Ukraine border'
One video appeared to show a train carrying Russian tanks crossing Belarus.
metro.co.uk
Ukraine Prepares for Possible Military Offensive From Belarus
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belarus Monday in what some see as an attempt to pressure dictator Alexander Lukashenko into joining a ground offensive. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from the Ukrainian-Belarusian border with videographer Eugene Shynkar.
www.voanews.com
Why Belarus matters for the Russia-Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belarus this week escalated concerns that he is seeking to drag the country into his war in Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine have acknowledged they are e…
thehill.com
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So the upcoming scenario is a large scale campaign launched from belarus (like the start) in an attempt to capture Kyiv.
That's going to be exceedingly bloody. Perhaps dwarfing all the horrors we have seen so far.
Or it's a feint to draw away Ukrainian troops from the east.
In any case Russia will attempt to use their superior (in numbers) forces to strategic advantage.
That's going to be exceedingly bloody. Perhaps dwarfing all the horrors we have seen so far.
Or it's a feint to draw away Ukrainian troops from the east.
In any case Russia will attempt to use their superior (in numbers) forces to strategic advantage.
May just be designed to tie down as many Ukrainian troops as possible at the Belarus border and away from the annexed territories until his 200,000 remaining recruits can be thrown into a new offensive - somewhere. There were reports of fresh routes being cut through Belarus forests presumably to avoid minefields, so, who knows?
If you can't supply the troops you already have, then why not recruit more?:
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/FXZHA7MLX5NXXPW3Y5RFQS2Z4E.jpg)
Russia proposes 30% increase in size of armed forces
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his backing on Wednesday to a plan to boost the size of the armed forces by more than 30% as he said Moscow needed to learn from and fix the problems it had suffered in Ukraine.
www.reuters.com
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In the big picture it's fun to see countries always making the same mistakes in preparing for wars.
They plan them to be swift, and avoid raising taxes and other income for the war effort, while not recruiting or producing arms in large numbers.
Germany in WWII planned a swift war and their "war machine" didn't peak until 1944.
The US has been in several wars planned to be much shorter and cheaper than they were, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan...
(The US never raised taxes for war effort in those wars, but simply increased debt).
Financially the attacking party always bears the heaviest burden, with longer supply lines and larger numbers in hostile territory with no local support. Raiding replaces supplies and salaries, tanking efforts to win over the local population. Russia is trying to show how their occupied areas are better off in the Russian Federation, with peace and political stability. Putin recently spoke of "... Ukraine as a "brotherly nation"*. But the reality is hard to fake, and the extensive war crimes are undermining that effort.
The question now is who time is working for? Typically time is against the aggressor. If Russia doesn't win, they lose, and if Ukraine doesn't lose, they win. If the aggressor loses momentum it's hard to build up again, but that is probably what's happening with Russia's "build-up", and only a large scale campaign can bring that.
Russia is presumably in this for the long haul. Putin knows he has superior numbers, and with continued mobilisation and construction of war material they will seriously threaten Ukraine in 1, 2, 3 years. I doubt the current Russian/Belarus forces will be the final blow.
The unknown factor is how much the West will continue to support Ukraine, and with what.
www.bbc.com
They plan them to be swift, and avoid raising taxes and other income for the war effort, while not recruiting or producing arms in large numbers.
Germany in WWII planned a swift war and their "war machine" didn't peak until 1944.
The US has been in several wars planned to be much shorter and cheaper than they were, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan...
(The US never raised taxes for war effort in those wars, but simply increased debt).
Financially the attacking party always bears the heaviest burden, with longer supply lines and larger numbers in hostile territory with no local support. Raiding replaces supplies and salaries, tanking efforts to win over the local population. Russia is trying to show how their occupied areas are better off in the Russian Federation, with peace and political stability. Putin recently spoke of "... Ukraine as a "brotherly nation"*. But the reality is hard to fake, and the extensive war crimes are undermining that effort.
The question now is who time is working for? Typically time is against the aggressor. If Russia doesn't win, they lose, and if Ukraine doesn't lose, they win. If the aggressor loses momentum it's hard to build up again, but that is probably what's happening with Russia's "build-up", and only a large scale campaign can bring that.
Russia is presumably in this for the long haul. Putin knows he has superior numbers, and with continued mobilisation and construction of war material they will seriously threaten Ukraine in 1, 2, 3 years. I doubt the current Russian/Belarus forces will be the final blow.
The unknown factor is how much the West will continue to support Ukraine, and with what.
Ukraine war: Russia not to blame for conflict - Putin
President Vladimir Putin says he still continues to see Ukraine as a brotherly nation.
www.bbc.com
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I'm not sure there will be any winners, just a lot of dead and crippled people, who could have led better/normal lives. Medals don't bring back fathers, sons or limbs.
Which sadly suggests renewed Cold War and build up of nuclear weapons.
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If after the war I will find myself alive and in a free country backed by strong allies to prevent a yet another rape of my people, I will consider myself a winner.
You probably find it difficult to understand, given your lived experience, but in Ukraine we understand what a win is because losing is literally being wiped out as a nation.
Stop living in the past. Modern Russia can not afford a Cold War. Even together with Iran.
The nuke situation is such that building new ones will not give clear advantage in any way. The build up will happen within conventional weapons or new unconventional ones.
"The sinews of war are infinite money".
Early on, after the first EU/Western sanctions, there were some economists suggesting that the Russian economy would soon collapse.
It hasn't happened, and doesn't look likely in the foreseeable future.
The Russian economy is severely corrupt and not very transparent, so it's hard to tell where they stand.
Even with foreign support (Iran e.g.) Russia still needs exorbitant amounts of money to run the army.
From a financial perspective Russia will lose. And losing means withdrawing to the pre-war borders (inluding Donetsk/Luhansk areas).
Early on, after the first EU/Western sanctions, there were some economists suggesting that the Russian economy would soon collapse.
It hasn't happened, and doesn't look likely in the foreseeable future.
The Russian economy is severely corrupt and not very transparent, so it's hard to tell where they stand.
Even with foreign support (Iran e.g.) Russia still needs exorbitant amounts of money to run the army.
From a financial perspective Russia will lose. And losing means withdrawing to the pre-war borders (inluding Donetsk/Luhansk areas).
I understand. I merely see Putin’s invasion as benefiting no one. In a sane world, it shouldn’t have happened.
Fingers crossed that Zelensky’s American visit defuses long-term hard-right opposition to war funding.
Americans support giving weapons to Ukraine — but that support declines with Russia's threats | YouGov
Americans are more likely to support than oppose the United States providing Ukraine with the Patriot missile defense system when asked about it generally, but a mention of Russia’s threat of “unpredictable consequences” for the support makes Americans less sure this is a good idea.
today.yougov.com
No turning back from Putin:
Meeting of Defence Ministry Board
Vladimir Putin spoke at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Defence Ministry, which was held at the National Defence Control Centre.
en.kremlin.ru
Good luck getting a conviction here:
Russian lawmaker accuses Putin of breaking his own law with reference to Ukraine 'war,' asks prosecutors to investigate
Putin signed a law earlier this year that effectively made it illegal to refer to Russia's attack on Ukraine as a "war" or "invasion."
www.businessinsider.com
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I think I've read that story before.
www.kommersant.ru
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www.kommersant.ru
I think I've read that story before.
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Why Russia rewrote Lord of the Rings
unherd.com
The Last Ringbearer - Wikipedia
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I've actually read that book back in the uni. It was a good read for intellectual fanfic connoisseurs. I don't agree with the article's interpretation. It was not a "Kremlin’s version of events", but rather a clever satire. Yeskov himself is not an orc nor imperialist and adheres to a moderate anti-war position (as much as it is possible in current Russia).
Pity Western publishers seem too scared of the Tolkien Estate to commission an english translation. No one objected to the comic/silly parody Bored of the Rings published during JRRT's lifetime. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings
