Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Jimbuna]

[Catfish]

Since this keeps coming up time and time again (though having been debunked, privately and before court), maybe interesting for some here.

"Let’s debunk the biggest fake widely used by kremlin to justify the russian invasion in Ukraine. You hear it from russian media, you read it in the commentaries left by russian bots, but what do the official numbers say? Let’s check out the report of the OHCHR that russians themselves are often referring to."

[Commander Wallace]

I'm not sure if this information has been featured in this thread or any others.

Apparently, The Russian leadership feels they have the right to reclaim what they feel is Russian property, namely the 49th state of the U.S, Alaska. Russia feels it belongs to them and they have the right to " reclaim " it as the U.S has seized Russian assets abroad. This is essentially retaliation against the U.S.

Quote: A prominent ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and member of Russia’s legislature threatened last week to invade Alaska and reclaim the former Russian territory. Vyacheslav Volodin said Russia could “take back” Alaska, the same language Moscow used to describe its invasion of Ukraine. Despite the bluster and Russia’s proximity to Alaska, Volodin’s threat is an utter fantasy, the incompetence of the Russian armed forces laid bare by the war in Ukraine.Russia’s invasion force would quickly run into a high-tech buzzsaw. The United States military in Alaska would be formidable even without reinforcements from any other state. The U.S. Army’s brand-new 11th Airborne Division is stationed in Alaska, and although not fully fitted out, its two available combat brigades have considerable striking power—and the ability to rapidly deploy by aircraft and helicopter.

The U.S. Air Force stations only its best fighters in Alaska, a mixed force of 36 F-22A Raptors and 54 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. All are fifth-generation fighters, the most advanced in the world, with the benefit of stealth, the ability to cruise above Mach 1 without the use of afterburners, and advanced radar and electro-optical sensors. The fighter force would easily overpower Russian fighters, bombers, and transports, and then go on to sink the aging Russian battle fleet. (The U.S. Navy doesn’t maintain a permanent presence in ships in Alaska, but the California-based Third Fleet is only a few days’ sailing time away.)

I think the only way Russia makes an attempt to reclaim Alaska is through brute force which would ignite WW3. I think Russia would find that the U.S is far more formidable than the Ukraine is and any attempts would be doomed to failure.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ska/ar-AAZmwRP



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ack/ar-AAZz784


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ack/ar-AAZlJfO


https://news.yahoo.com/russian-polit...164300954.html

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I'm not sure if this information has been featured in this thread or any others.

Apparently, The Russian leadership feels they have the right to reclaim what they feel is Russian property, namely the 49th state of the U.S, Alaska. Russia feels it belongs to them and they have the right to " reclaim " it as the U.S has seized Russian assets abroad. This is essentially retaliation against the U.S.

Quote: A prominent ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and member of Russia’s legislature threatened last week to invade Alaska and reclaim the former Russian territory. Vyacheslav Volodin said Russia could “take back” Alaska, the same language Moscow used to describe its invasion of Ukraine. Despite the bluster and Russia’s proximity to Alaska, Volodin’s threat is an utter fantasy, the incompetence of the Russian armed forces laid bare by the war in Ukraine.Russia’s invasion force would quickly run into a high-tech buzzsaw. The United States military in Alaska would be formidable even without reinforcements from any other state. The U.S. Army’s brand-new 11th Airborne Division is stationed in Alaska, and although not fully fitted out, its two available combat brigades have considerable striking power—and the ability to rapidly deploy by aircraft and helicopter.

The U.S. Air Force stations only its best fighters in Alaska, a mixed force of 36 F-22A Raptors and 54 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. All are fifth-generation fighters, the most advanced in the world, with the benefit of stealth, the ability to cruise above Mach 1 without the use of afterburners, and advanced radar and electro-optical sensors. The fighter force would easily overpower Russian fighters, bombers, and transports, and then go on to sink the aging Russian battle fleet. (The U.S. Navy doesn’t maintain a permanent presence in ships in Alaska, but the California-based Third Fleet is only a few days’ sailing time away.)

I think the only way Russia makes an attempt to reclaim Alaska is through brute force which would ignite WW3. I think Russia would find that the U.S is far more formidable than the Ukraine is and any attempts would be doomed to failure.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ska/ar-AAZmwRP



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ack/ar-AAZz784


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ack/ar-AAZlJfO


https://news.yahoo.com/russian-polit...164300954.html

Volodin and other ultranationalist fascists have raised these claims already earlier, and over the years, on various occaisons, already in the years before.


Russian logic is a bit like Islamic logic. Whereever a Muslim/Russian ever has put his foot on, that then forever until the end of time is Islamic/Russian, rejecting that is heresy.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Volodin and other ultranationalist fascists have raised these claims already earlier, and over the years, on various occaisons, already in the years before.


Russian logic is a bit like Islamic logic. Whereever a Muslim/Russian ever has put his foot on, that then forever until the end of time is Islamic/Russian, rejecting that is heresy.

Russia should be careful. China feels the same way about the lands Russia swindled from them in East Asia.

[Skybird]

The people without shame - Russians. The author of this essay in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is Nikolai Klimeniouk, born in 1970 in Sevastopol in the Crimea and now living as a freelance writer in Berlin.

------------

Russian society is by no means coming to terms with the Ukraine war, which is getting out of hand, but it is craving absolution. The opposition likes to portray Russians as enslaved by the regime. When in fact Putin has freed them: from the pressure of morality and the burden of norms.

On Friday, July 22, Russia signed an agreement not to impede grain exports from Ukraine and not to attack Ukrainian ports. Early on Saturday, Russia shelled the port of Odessa. Then the Russian leadership denied shelling Odessa. Then it claimed that they destroyed a warship and a stockpile of Harpoon missiles, as if, even if it were so, it would justify breaking the treaty.

That Russia breaks treaties is not new. That it concludes such treaties without the slightest intention of abiding by them should have become clear to most international actors by now. Every single attack on civilian targets, be it the theater in Mariupol, the city center of Vinnitsa, or the shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Russia has justified on the grounds of having destroyed military objects. Every Ukrainian child seems to be a military object for Russia. One wonders, however, what exactly the purpose of the attack on the port of Odessa could be.

Russia can only hold the occupied territories with great difficulty right now, and the Ukrainian military is apparently using modern Western weapons against Russian ammunition depots and supply infrastructure very efficiently. Over a thousand Russian soldiers have been encircled near Kherson. It seems only a matter of time and arms supplies before Ukrainian forces launch a counteroffensive that, according to many analyses, may well be successful.

Militarily, the liberation of at least some occupied territories is unlikely to be averted, so Russia is trying to prevent it through a "diplomatic solution," which its lobbyists and sympathizers are now tirelessly promoting. Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer has probably articulated the Russian effort most aptly with his suggestion that the conflict should be frozen. For that to happen, however, Russia would have to pretend, at least for a brief moment, that it is capable of negotiating. Instead, it is performing just the opposite.

One wonders what strategic or tactical advantages this insidiousness might bring Russia, and by no stretch of the imagination can one find any. Self-defeating actions have long become the hallmark of the Russian regime, and the temptation to regard this extreme audacity as its special characteristic is correspondingly great.

The Russian population, however, does not seem to mind it. All recent opinion polls, both those published by the relatively independent Levada Center and those leaked by the state-run Vziom, show strong support for the war, with figures ranging from 57 to 75 percent.

Prominent Russian sociologists and analysts from the liberal camp attribute this to the regime's propaganda bombardment and brutal repression of the population. Opposition figures, such as Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, like to refer to Russia as an "occupied country" and call the regime "occupiers," as if Putin and his henchmen, of whom there are at least 2.6 million in the organs of violence alone, according to figures last published in 2018, were aliens, an alien power that has nothing to do with Russia proper.

This is a reassuring notion that frees the Russian population from the burden of shared responsibility. "Unfortunately for all of us, there is nothing particularly malevolent about the Russians, because if there were, it would be enough to simply isolate them, build a high wall, and safely protect the planet from them. Unfortunately, the Russians are not the problem. The problem is that Vladimir Putin has understood all too well how the modern world works - he has recognized the weaknesses and levers that need to be operated in order to steer it," Russian philosopher Grigory Yudin wrote in an essay titled "Another Russia is Possible" in the NZZ.

The popular Russian news portal Medusa, with editorial headquarters in Riga, Latvia, interpreted the essay not as an analysis of the complicity of people like Gerhard Schröder, but as a complete acquittal, and published it in Russian with the title "Sorry, it has nothing to do with the Russians. On the Moral Responsibility of the Western Leadership for the War in Ukraine."
This mood is in the Russian air. The smaller liberal part of society craves absolution for itself and for Russians as a whole, while the less liberal rest brims with self-satisfaction and pride. Social networks are full of texts, memes and videos with the hashtag "We are not ashamed"; the saying is often available as a T-shirt motif or bumper sticker.

These things didn't just emerge in the months of the invasion, but after Feb. 24 at the latest, shamelessness officially became a central part of state doctrine. "Someone who is ashamed to be Russian is not one," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared shortly after the start of Russia's major offensive. Large and small media outlets loyal to the Kremlin devoted countless columns and talk shows to the issue.

The message is well received and inspires creative minds. For example, the more niche bard Dmitri Lik released a song titled "I'm not ashamed to be Russian" on the streaming service Spotify (which, ironically, has already withdrawn from Russia). The disproportionately more popular pop singer Shaman came up with a video just a few days ago, where he roars "I am Russian, in defiance of the whole world" while strolling through an iconic Ukrainian landscape: a yellow wheat field under a blue sky; a rogue who thinks evil of that. In just four days, the video has sparked more than three million views on YouTube and some 50,000 mostly enthusiastic comments.

The jingoistic hit song is also so well received because it serves another important element of Russian self-perception. To be a Russian is to draw one's strength, one's almost superhuman strength, from nature, from the treasure-rich depths of Russia's earth and its infinite, literally boundless expanses.

"Russia's borders never end," Russia's ruler Putin declared back in 2016. According to quite a few studies, most Russians consider themselves superior to other peoples. Former Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky once claimed in all seriousness that Russians have an extra chromosome.

But mostly the Russian megalomania is not fed by vulgar genetics, but rather by the almost pagan belief of being part of the natural phenomenon. In this image, Russia must become bigger and bigger, and its natural resources, such as gas, are not a commodity but a kind of elixir of life: We have it qua nature, and the others cannot do without it and are dependent on us.

These ideas are not an invention of Putin and his entourage: they can be traced back to the 19th century, they played an important role in Soviet ideology and are expressed in officially approved art as well as in popular literature, Internet memes or folklore.

As recently as May, Foreign Minister Lavrov asserted that Russia was not seeking a change of power in Ukraine. Finally, on July 24, he declared that that was precisely the goal of the Russian invasion: "We are helping the Ukrainian people free themselves from this anti-people, anti-history regime."

The notorious liar has thereby betrayed more truth than he should be aware of. The Russian regime does not see itself as a liberator without good reason. It has freed the Russian population from shame and from the annoying necessity of bending to any norms and laws. Under Putin, the Russians can enjoy themselves unhindered and uninhibited. The regime also wants to give this gift to the Ukrainians, whom it already considers to be Russians confused by the West, and never ceases to wonder how anyone can voluntarily renounce this freedom, this superiority, this limitless power.
-----------------------

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The people without shame - Russians. The author of this essay in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is Nikolai Klimeniouk, born in 1970 in Sevastopol in the Crimea and now living as a freelance writer in Berlin.

------------

Russian society is by no means coming to terms with the Ukraine war, which is getting out of hand, but it is craving absolution. The opposition likes to portray Russians as enslaved by the regime. When in fact Putin has freed them: from the pressure of morality and the burden of norms.

On Friday, July 22, Russia signed an agreement not to impede grain exports from Ukraine and not to attack Ukrainian ports. Early on Saturday, Russia shelled the port of Odessa. Then the Russian leadership denied shelling Odessa. Then it claimed that they destroyed a warship and a stockpile of Harpoon missiles, as if, even if it were so, it would justify breaking the treaty.

That Russia breaks treaties is not new. That it concludes such treaties without the slightest intention of abiding by them should have become clear to most international actors by now. Every single attack on civilian targets, be it the theater in Mariupol, the city center of Vinnitsa, or the shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Russia has justified on the grounds of having destroyed military objects. Every Ukrainian child seems to be a military object for Russia. One wonders, however, what exactly the purpose of the attack on the port of Odessa could be.

Russia can only hold the occupied territories with great difficulty right now, and the Ukrainian military is apparently using modern Western weapons against Russian ammunition depots and supply infrastructure very efficiently. Over a thousand Russian soldiers have been encircled near Kherson. It seems only a matter of time and arms supplies before Ukrainian forces launch a counteroffensive that, according to many analyses, may well be successful.

Militarily, the liberation of at least some occupied territories is unlikely to be averted, so Russia is trying to prevent it through a "diplomatic solution," which its lobbyists and sympathizers are now tirelessly promoting. Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer has probably articulated the Russian effort most aptly with his suggestion that the conflict should be frozen. For that to happen, however, Russia would have to pretend, at least for a brief moment, that it is capable of negotiating. Instead, it is performing just the opposite.

One wonders what strategic or tactical advantages this insidiousness might bring Russia, and by no stretch of the imagination can one find any. Self-defeating actions have long become the hallmark of the Russian regime, and the temptation to regard this extreme audacity as its special characteristic is correspondingly great.

The Russian population, however, does not seem to mind it. All recent opinion polls, both those published by the relatively independent Levada Center and those leaked by the state-run Vziom, show strong support for the war, with figures ranging from 57 to 75 percent.

Prominent Russian sociologists and analysts from the liberal camp attribute this to the regime's propaganda bombardment and brutal repression of the population. Opposition figures, such as Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, like to refer to Russia as an "occupied country" and call the regime "occupiers," as if Putin and his henchmen, of whom there are at least 2.6 million in the organs of violence alone, according to figures last published in 2018, were aliens, an alien power that has nothing to do with Russia proper.

This is a reassuring notion that frees the Russian population from the burden of shared responsibility. "Unfortunately for all of us, there is nothing particularly malevolent about the Russians, because if there were, it would be enough to simply isolate them, build a high wall, and safely protect the planet from them. Unfortunately, the Russians are not the problem. The problem is that Vladimir Putin has understood all too well how the modern world works - he has recognized the weaknesses and levers that need to be operated in order to steer it," Russian philosopher Grigory Yudin wrote in an essay titled "Another Russia is Possible" in the NZZ.

The popular Russian news portal Medusa, with editorial headquarters in Riga, Latvia, interpreted the essay not as an analysis of the complicity of people like Gerhard Schröder, but as a complete acquittal, and published it in Russian with the title "Sorry, it has nothing to do with the Russians. On the Moral Responsibility of the Western Leadership for the War in Ukraine."
This mood is in the Russian air. The smaller liberal part of society craves absolution for itself and for Russians as a whole, while the less liberal rest brims with self-satisfaction and pride. Social networks are full of texts, memes and videos with the hashtag "We are not ashamed"; the saying is often available as a T-shirt motif or bumper sticker.

These things didn't just emerge in the months of the invasion, but after Feb. 24 at the latest, shamelessness officially became a central part of state doctrine. "Someone who is ashamed to be Russian is not one," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared shortly after the start of Russia's major offensive. Large and small media outlets loyal to the Kremlin devoted countless columns and talk shows to the issue.

The message is well received and inspires creative minds. For example, the more niche bard Dmitri Lik released a song titled "I'm not ashamed to be Russian" on the streaming service Spotify (which, ironically, has already withdrawn from Russia). The disproportionately more popular pop singer Shaman came up with a video just a few days ago, where he roars "I am Russian, in defiance of the whole world" while strolling through an iconic Ukrainian landscape: a yellow wheat field under a blue sky; a rogue who thinks evil of that. In just four days, the video has sparked more than three million views on YouTube and some 50,000 mostly enthusiastic comments.

The jingoistic hit song is also so well received because it serves another important element of Russian self-perception. To be a Russian is to draw one's strength, one's almost superhuman strength, from nature, from the treasure-rich depths of Russia's earth and its infinite, literally boundless expanses.

"Russia's borders never end," Russia's ruler Putin declared back in 2016. According to quite a few studies, most Russians consider themselves superior to other peoples. Former Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky once claimed in all seriousness that Russians have an extra chromosome.

But mostly the Russian megalomania is not fed by vulgar genetics, but rather by the almost pagan belief of being part of the natural phenomenon. In this image, Russia must become bigger and bigger, and its natural resources, such as gas, are not a commodity but a kind of elixir of life: We have it qua nature, and the others cannot do without it and are dependent on us.

These ideas are not an invention of Putin and his entourage: they can be traced back to the 19th century, they played an important role in Soviet ideology and are expressed in officially approved art as well as in popular literature, Internet memes or folklore.

As recently as May, Foreign Minister Lavrov asserted that Russia was not seeking a change of power in Ukraine. Finally, on July 24, he declared that that was precisely the goal of the Russian invasion: "We are helping the Ukrainian people free themselves from this anti-people, anti-history regime."

The notorious liar has thereby betrayed more truth than he should be aware of. The Russian regime does not see itself as a liberator without good reason. It has freed the Russian population from shame and from the annoying necessity of bending to any norms and laws. Under Putin, the Russians can enjoy themselves unhindered and uninhibited. The regime also wants to give this gift to the Ukrainians, whom it already considers to be Russians confused by the West, and never ceases to wonder how anyone can voluntarily renounce this freedom, this superiority, this limitless power.
-----------------------

Russians are not interested in any kind of politics whatsoever. The whole spectrum of political opinion represents maybe 15 to 20 percent of the population, probably less than 10 percent. The rest are totally apolitical. The number of people who agree to respond to opinion polls is totally unrepresentative 5 to 7 percent of those 5 percent, about 65 to 70 percent, support the war most people don’t have any opinion at all. They care about their jobs, their families, their closest friends, and maybe their houses and pets what’s important to them is having their family life intact, then you can tolerate the rest.

[Jimbuna]

First grain ship out of Ukraine cleared to sail to Lebanon

The first grain ship to depart Ukraine since Russia invaded has arrived in Turkish waters and completed inspections, Ankara says.

Carrying 26,000 tonnes of corn, the Razoni was inspected by officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN.

It is unclear how quickly the ship will be able to sail onwards to Lebanon, its final destination.

Russia has been blockading Ukraine's ports since it invaded in February, intensifying global food shortages.

Under the terms of a deal brokered by Turkey and the UN last month, both sides have agreed shipments can resume.

Ukraine said its naval vessels will guide cargo ships through waters which have been mined.

In his usual evening address on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted to see grain exports become regular again.

"Our goal now is to have regularity: so that when one ship leaves the port, there are other ships as well - both those loading and those approaching the port," he said.

In addition to easing food shortages elsewhere, he hoped exports would encourage Ukrainian farmers to sow seeds for next season.

"This is a matter of food security for our country as well - we are now ensuring next year."

The Razoni left the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Monday, bound for Tripoli in Lebanon via Turkish waters.

The Sierra Leone-flagged ship has now been inspected for prohibited goods and can transit through the narrow Bosphorus strait, according to the Turkish defence ministry.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62401342

[Jimbuna]

Russia accuses US of direct role in Ukraine war

Russia has accused the US of direct involvement in the war in Ukraine for the first time.

A spokesperson for Moscow's defence ministry alleged the US was approving targets for American-made Himars artillery used by Kyiv's forces.

Lt Gen Igor Konashenkov said intercepted calls between Ukrainian officials revealed the link. The BBC could not independently verify this.

Russia previously accused Washington of fighting a "proxy war" in Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon said it provided the Ukrainians with "detailed, time-sensitive information to help them understand the threats they face and defend their country against Russian aggression".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62389537

[Jimbuna]

Combat work of four MLRS "HIMARS" at front. VIDEO

Video Censor.NET Society

A video of a fragment of the combat work of the MLRS "HIMARS" at the front has been published on the Internet.

According to Censor.NET, on the recording, the missiles are launched at once from four "HIMARS" installations.
https://censor.net/en/video_news/335...at_front_video

[Catfish]

"Sick of running away from Putin"[...] "it really is good against evil" [...] "The west has to stand up against Putin."
Hope he is right regarding Ukraine's chances.

[mapuc]

I have begun to mistrust these "predictions" about Putins life and so on.

I think he is doing fine and has a very strong health, beside that I also think he is in a strong position as Russians President.

The Country may be weak due to all these sanctions and embargoes.

Markus

[Catfish]

Guerilla warfare against Z russians is stepping up

[Skybird]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...tern-military/

Asked how the US-provided Himars multiple-launch rocket systems have so precisely targeted Russian fuel and ammunition depots, as well as battlefield headquarters in eastern Ukraine, Gen Skibitsky said “in this case in particular, we use real-time information”.
US officials are not providing direct targeting information, which would potentially undermine their case for not being direct participants in the war, Gen Skibitsky said.
However, he suggested there was a level of consultation between intelligence officials of both countries prior to launching missiles that would allow Washington to stop any potential attacks if they were unhappy with the intended target.
“I can’t tell you whether [we are directly tasking] British and American satellites, but we have very good satellite imagery,” he told The Telegraph.
“We have very good cooperation with our partners in the UK in this field. We have very good communication with all the sister intelligence agencies.”

Oooops.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Combat work of four MLRS "HIMARS" at front. VIDEO

Video Censor.NET Society

A video of a fragment of the combat work of the MLRS "HIMARS" at the front has been published on the Internet.

According to Censor.NET, on the recording, the missiles are launched at once from four "HIMARS" installations.
https://censor.net/en/video_news/335...at_front_video

Well, that certainly explains all those fires in Russian controlled areas picked by NASA’s FIRMS Map

https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov...;@37.7,46.1,7z