ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

I wrote in my previous long thread that Putin miscalculated. As a result of that, the propaganda arm of the Russian state has been feeding Russians the wrong messaging. They have been telling Russians they are the defenders of Ukrainians.

i’m not so sure about this. from what i can tell, the current propaganda is:
- “we need to protect russians from ukrainian nazis and bandits”
- “whatever civilian damage you’re seeing is caused by ukrainians themselves”

It's so sick to take civilians, some Ukrainians, many school teachers, and send them to die.
As above, CC for english subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2XM9bR8dzo

― ian, Tuesday, March 1, 2022 8:51 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I cried a bit at this. I can barely make sense of what I’m seeing. These guys are not killers, not even soldiers. They seem gentle. They’re teachers. What sense would it make for Russia to round these guys up and send them to war without even telling them what’s going on? How does that even serve Russia’s aims? Did they just want cannon fodder?

yes. it’s how russia operates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_repressions_against_former_prisoners_of_war

That video was utterly heartbreaking. So many ordinary people who just want to live their lives, getting needlessly chewed to bits because some aberrant dick-swinging fuck is having a brain event.

that video showing the caps pulled over their faces and the interviewer raising them so they can speak and then pulling them down again is kind of gross though

It’s uncomfortable but they are still captured enemy soldiers and you can’t just let them have a good long look around and study everything.

Don’t forget also that their captors were probably just in a firefight with them, and some of their own fellow soldiers may be dead along with the Russian soldiers alluded to. It’s about as respectful and kind as you can expect under the circumstances.

Paywalled out of the rest, but this WSJ post makes basic point about Russians not only ones having supply line problems: U.S. efforts to provide Ukraine weapons to battle the Russian invasion are complicated by limited supply lines, a potentially small window to save Kyiv from collapse and a Cold War legacy that made Western small arms ammunition incompatible with those produced in the Eastern Bloc.

While acknowledging the challenges moving weapons into Ukraine amid escalating Russian attacks, the Pentagon believes U.S. and Western assistance is proving effective. “We believe it is getting into the right hands, that they are actively using these systems,” a senior defense official said Tuesday.

Oh, there's also an audio link on there for whole thing, apparently, or at least 2 minutes; worth.https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rushes-arms-to-ukraine-as-russian-forces-escalate-attacks-11646160746

this is fucked up https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/kremlin-planning-to-declare-ex-president-yanukovych-as-new-head-of-ukraine-374471

He's tan, rested, and ready

definitely not a drug-addled nazi

not sure how to fact check this but apparently russian police have arrested... children?

When I saw this yesterday I refused to believe it was real. But now confirmed by (Nobel Prize-winning) @novaya_gazeta: primary school children arrested by police in Moscow for laying flowers at Ukrainian embassy holding signs saying “No To War”. https://t.co/1Uqby4mhik

— Gabriel Gatehouse (@ggatehouse) March 2, 2022

It’s real - I don’t think they were ‘arrested’ as such but they were held overnight with their parents who had taken them to protest, per the Novaya Gazeta tweet.

Possibly not overnight, there is a second tweet saying they were released when a lawyer came to pick them up.

Throw the pop-up book at them, if you can't do the time don't do the crime etc.

If you can't tell the time, don't do the crime.

Russian delegation came to the city of Konotop to negotiate a surrender, effectively said that the city would be destroyed in the fighting otherwise. pic.twitter.com/SpRtSeju2N

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 2, 2022

Literally coming to negotiate with two grenades in his hands, and the negotiation is "give up or we will destroy your city."

Useful thread

I have spent some time last night reading Russian nationalist accounts (the well versed "intellectual" ones, not normie Putin fans), and here is a quick summary of what they think:

— Yuriy Akopov (@y_akopov) March 2, 2022

Separately, quite a breakdown here

I work in the aviation sector, and I can tell you that for all intents and purposes Russian aviation has - at best - about three weeks before it’s show over.

One aspect is the fact that airspace available to Russian aircraft is very, very limited now. However, there is more:

— Jan Nedvidek (@janedvidek) March 1, 2022

If you can't tell the time, don't do the crime.

LOL OTM

Reminds me of one of those old Russian/Soviet prisoner jokes I can’t type in at the moment.

Useful thread

I have spent some time last night reading Russian nationalist accounts (the well versed "intellectual" ones, not normie Putin fans), and here is a quick summary of what they think:
— Yuriy Akopov (@y_akopov) March 2, 2022
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 March 2022 13:42 (forty-two minutes ago) link

Dark and sobering, though I don't necessarily think they are all right.

Thread author agrees with you. The question then becomes what they adjust or fall back on.

Definitely has an air of "we will win because every single thing is going to go exactly according to plan." Which is never how things go.

Looking at a bunch of the pro-Putin bloggers, Twitter accounts, etc, it’s incredibly obvious how much of an overlap there is between the language being used and the language used routinely by apologists for other outrages internationally.

This is a police action, not a war
The focus is on extremists and the leadership, not the country as a whole
Only military targets are being hit
Militants are hiding weapons in civilian infrastructure, so they’re to blame when civilians are killed
Militants are actively forcing civilians to stay in place so they’re hit

…and so on.

Destroying the national identity of the citizens of a conquered country in a few weeks--that usually works, huh?

God!!! They're only making them madder!!!

this fucking guy

There are no more “innocent” “neutral” Russians anymore. Everyone has to make a choice— support or oppose this war. The only way to end this war is if 100,000s, not thousands, protest against this senseless war. Putin can’t arrest you all!

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) March 2, 2022

That guy was ambassador to Russia?

"How can the Russian political class be this dumb?" *remembers the American political class*

Michael McFail

xp
one time* this guy Donald Trump was president of the united states

*well we'll see

https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.324A9TG

but who is fact checking the fact checkers

I get confused every time I see this guy because I think it's Michael McCaul, my congressional rep.

that same gross argument was used to justify countless wars like Afghanistan/Iraq. "There are no innocent victims in war, if they didn't overthrow their corrupt government, they deserve what's coming to them" was a sentiment I ran into a lot in Florida.

Also 9/11 itself!

yep

yeah, those people in the WTC were servants of capitalism etc.

Guessing ppl making that argument are 100% onboard with everything their govts are up to? Or if not, working tirelessly every day to topple them, as they are aware that not doing so makes them complicit?

xposts

I believe this is the Death Star Janitors argument

It's the Ward Churchill 'little Eichmanns' argument

It's an absurd discussion to be having six days into a war that it's not even clear Russia's citizens know about or understand.

being that the US has a history of having humongous chunks of our population full-throated cheerleading our wars, I assume McFaul will be issuing his personal apology for the last 200+ years

Kasparov, meantime, is running out of patience.

Putin's war on Ukraine has entered its next phase, one of destruction and slaughter of civilians. It is also a part of Putin's World War, a war on the civilized world of international law, democracy, and any threat to his power, which he declared long ago. 1/13

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 2, 2022

check!

Good piece on NPR this afternoon on not only the curiously slow, almost cautious advance of Russia that counters their formidable reputation, but also on how Putin's full-force disinformation campaign (especially in Ukraine itself) seems to have failed everywhere but at home.

Ukraine’s intelligence says Putin might consider imposing martial law in Russia on March 4.
Absolute maniac has pit himself in a death trap with his own stupid lunacy.

— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) March 2, 2022

might consider, hmm

sounds pretty solid