ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

The local classic rock radio station just played a pro Ukrainian bumper! And then they played Frampton.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 4, 2022 2:42 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

They could have at least played Dylan, or at least Lenny Kravitz or Aerosmith

From an article contextualizing no-fly zone question---a reminder that, at least in principle, he does seem to want to get back to where you once belonged:

Why does Russia feel threatened by NATO?
Putin has long believed that Russia got a bad deal after the breakup of the Soviet Union -- something he has called the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century."
He has complained that NATO has, over time, expanded its borders by admitting Eastern European countries that were once part of the Soviet Union -- meaning Russia now shares a land border with the world's largest military alliance, thus reducing his geopolitical power in what was once Moscow's sphere of influence.
As recently as February, he was demanding that NATO scaled back to the borders of 1997, before the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the latter two of which border Russia, joined the alliance.https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/04/europe/nato-no-fly-zone-ukraine-intl-cmd/index.html

Re some like in The New Yorker interview linked above claiming that it's fault of the West for Ukraine membership in EU and NATO, such invitations were discussed a while back, buut Ukraine is not in EU and NATO---Putin thinking ahead, of course, so even talking about it puts blood on hands of West, I guess is the idea (other one being that Biden is weak).

Most recent request to join NATO rebuffed, in fact, iirc

would trigger nuclear war

While lots of things *could*, I'm honestly not sure *what* would trigger a nuclear war short of someone using or maaaybe explicitly threatening to use a nuclear weapon. That's the paradox of nuclear weapons, that their extreme destructive power is the number one reason they're unlikely to be used.

So, looking at it realpolitik, as the xpost New Yorker interviewee might, for instance: should NATO expell or agree to not back/send much more than our prayers to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, having already stood by re Ukraine---? Not a rhetorical question.

Most recent request to join NATO rebuffed, in fact, iirc True.

their extreme destructive power is the number one reason they're unlikely to be used.

ICBMs, perhaps. But Russia also has a bunch of 'fun sized' tactical nukes that could be employed if he feels things aren't going his way

Yeah, but I don't think anyone would accept the distinction.

just a *splash* of nuclear

well, he doesn't seem particularly rational these days

a little nuclear warhead, as a treat

apologies for derail, but I have co-worker who brought up the Putin stopping bioweapons angle during a staff meeting. He didn't mention the Fauci/convoy element, but those are definitely other wacked out things he likes to harp upon, so now I'm rolling my eyes at the fact that it is all part of one grand theory.

during a staff meeting

wtf

well, he doesn't seem particularly rational these days

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, March 4, 2022 2:11 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

no but if he launches nukes he's risking turning all of Russia into dust. if he fires into a NATO country it's practically a certainty. I understand how Putin is making people very very nervous right now but crazy, irrational people don't just jump off bridges thinking they could sprout wings and fly

one thing to remember when putin talks about “soviet union” or “russian empire” is that these are dog whistles for different parts of population

Territorial advance/roll-back to xpost'97 borders could be "justified" as means to rolling back, discrediting NATO/ imperialist, pesky liberal democracy, in glorious alliance with China and other post-democratic underdogs, according to that document accidentally released(?) and pasted upthread.

xxxp

I KNOW

and this is not an isolated incident by any means, I have been plagued with shitty political conversations during staff meetings for years

But yeah dog whistles for different parts of population too.

of course having said that I do get pretty worried about some dumb misstep escalating things to the brink, say Russian soldiers indiscriminately firing upon something they shouldn't or a sitting US Senator openly calling for Putin to be murdered

xp How do these things come up in staff meetings? A time set aside for comments on news of the day?

he doesn't seem particularly rational these days

Even North Korea has managed to evade destruction for decades.

Firing on the biggest reactor in Europe, even with post-Chernobyl design, is quite a precedent, no matter what else happens or doesn't, in the short run.

xxp

more or less. this most recent one was like "I'm sure everyone is aware of the situation in Ukraine, pretty scary stuff"

coworker: "well I heard that the US is building bioweapons in Ukraine and Putin is trying to root them out, but of course you wouldn't hear about that on mainstream news. Verrrrrrry interesting."

FFS

you reported this coworker to Homeland Security, I take it

FaceBook, Twitter and Youtube all blocked in .ru...winning

this is like 90% of our staff here in Texas, messed up conspiracy theories are practically a requirement

I'm fucking all your moms. But you won't hear that on the mainstream news. Ipso facto.

how did Dr Fauci become this evil mastermind, he seems like a mild-manned grandfather

exactly

that's what he wants you to think

Ahhhh, now I seeee... hmmmm....

Reports of a significant armor engagement in a suburb of Kyiv, …between Russian forces. Friendly fire restulted in the loss of 9 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles. pic.twitter.com/lS0ysDVagk

— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) March 4, 2022

Translation:

"Just in the Kiev region, near Severinovka, the Russian occupation forces came into battle with ... the Russian occupation forces. As a result, thanks to "friendly fire", 9 tanks and 4 armored personnel carriers were destroyed...

Accordingly, it saved us 13 Јavelin."

Savage.

— Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) March 4, 2022

Related, from the Guardian:

Russia’s ruthless treatment of its own soldiers, while concealable at a small scale, has now brought about operational repercussions. Having not told its troops that they were about to go to war, its army has been left unprepared, logistically and psychologically. Morale is low, limiting the combat power of Russian forces. With too little time to plan, Russian logistics and communications are in disarray, slowing its pace of advance. This gives the Ukrainians crucial time to prepare their defences and organise a protracted resistance.

From some woman's IG story:

- almost all non-state media in Russia are closed/blocked
- all flights to Europe are cancelled
- spreading "fakes about the war" and protesting faces up to 15-20 years in jail
- $1 = 105 rub; 1 Euro = 117 rub with average salary of 32000 rub
- international money transfer is almost impossible
- Europe stopped issuing visas for Russians, some countries cancel already existing visas
- Apple, H&M, Nike, Airbnb, Ikea, Paypal, Intel, Dell, BMW, Audi, Ford, Boeing, DHL...left Russian market
- movies too
- Nordstrom 2 closed
- after Russia left Council of Europe Russian politics got quite excited about returning the death penalty
so basically all Russians are captured in hell. no media, no voice, only death/jail threat. poverty and lack of resources is just a question of time. and of course no nice cars, clothes or food.
my family can neither earn or send me money for studies. and hell knows when I am gonna see them again. unless I lose my Swiss visa - if so, I am going back home with no chance of returning.

today I've been trying to track down online texts by Nicolai Leskov and keep running into website errors and I'm like "wtf? oh, .ru"

been meaning to post about it.. echo of moscow and dozhd were forced to close

any still independent sources referring to what is happening as "war" accompany it by a footnote along the lines of "roskomnadzor insists what is happening is a 'special military operation'". the majority of news also have a footnote "reported by such and such which is considered a foreign agent" (basically anybody who doesn't push the official propaganda is included in the list of "foreign agents")

and among all the insanity this bit still stood out: there was a bill introduced in duma to draft participants of anti war protests to military and send them to donbass. but apparently it won't happen because according to peskov "military duty is an honour and not a punishment"

And then they played Frampton

Ooh baby I love your war

i want you to Uskoreniye

More Russia than Ukraine, but:

So... am I seeing this correctly?

Basically Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul gave the pensions of all Kentucky teachers to Russia and now none of those teachers will have retirement money?

'cause it kinda looks like that. https://t.co/hP1hte5Qzg

— Chris Vickery (@VickerySec) March 4, 2022

Sold them off last month. https://t.co/U5wdKzTckL

— Dale Rutz (@DaleRutz) March 4, 2022

That’s fucking insane.

So it's not actually 'completely false' than, right?

I think I saw that it (thankfully) amounted to a relatively small amount of the total fund.

...also how would US Senators control the Kentucy Teachers Retirement System?

(citation needed, also can US posters please stop spamming up this thread with random thoughts and musings kthxbye)

No Josh is right. The KY TRS has $28 billion in assets under management. $13m is less than 0.05% of the fund. And it looks like they sold it.
https://trs.ky.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210827-Investment-returns.pdf

Moreover, as US senators, McConnell and Paul have zero to do with state teachers, let alone a state teachers retirement fund.

Moreover, those investments were almost certainly chosen by some fund manager, state govt doesn’t get involved in picking investments.

ty for actual content, appreciated

Actually TBC it’s not like 100% impossible that there’s some corrupt connection between McConnell and a Sberbank investment by a Kentucky fund, but you’d need a lot more info and certainly the pension fund is not bankrupted or seriously harmed atm. Also it doesn’t look to me like it was actually the second largest shareholder or anything close to it, not sure where Twitter is getting that.

And pension funds invest in all kinds of stocks all around the world so it’s not inherently weird to me that they had that investment.