Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Dargo]

Another day, another Russian arms depot up in smoke. The latest attack, this time on an ammunition storage site near Mayskoye on the Crimean Peninsula, highlights three particular aspects of this phase of the war, and the degree to which Kyiv is adapting quicker and more effectively than Moscow.

The first is that the long-heralded Ukrainian counter-attack is, so far, less about a melee on the ground and more about a methodical attempt to target Russian supply lines. Until now, this has been through missile and rocket strikes, although Moscow’s claim that the Mayskoye attack was carried out by ‘saboteurs’ would – if true – represent an interesting new approach. (And a serious embarrassment for the Russian security forces, given that the alleged attackers apparently also managed to disappear.) https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...heel-in-crimea

[Jimbuna]

Russia and United States must sit down at negotiating table to end war in Ukraine - Italian Prime Minister Draghi

The United States and Russia need to talk to each other to try to end the war in Ukraine.

This opinion was expressed by the Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi, the day after a meeting with US President Joe Biden, Censor.NET reports, citing European Truth.

Draghi told a news conference that he and Joe Biden acknowledge that the path to peace is very difficult. But he said everyone needed to make an effort to help Russia and Ukraine find a solution to end the war.

"There are so many opportunities, but before we get to that point, we need to make an effort, and all allies, including Russia and the United States, need to sit down," Draghi said.

[Jimbuna]

War in Ukraine revealed truth about Russia and Europe, - Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki

According to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the war in Ukraine revealed the truth about Europe. For many years, the EU refused to heed warnings about the Russian threat.

"The war in Ukraine revealed the truth about Russia. Those who did not want to see that there were imperialist tendencies in Putin's state should face the truth. The demons of the 19th and 20th centuries have been reborn in Russia - nationalism and colonialism are becoming bigger and more visible. But (this) war also revealed the truth about Europe. Many European leaders were seduced by Vladimir Putin. Now they are shocked," Moravetsky emphasized.

"The return of Russian imperialism should not surprise us. Europe found itself in the current situation not because it was not integrated enough, but because it did not want to listen to the voice of truth. This voice has been coming from Poland for many years," the head of the Polish government emphasized.

"This ignoring of Poland's voice is an illustration of the bigger problem that the EU is facing today (...) Political practice shows that the votes of Germany and France matter a lot. So we are dealing with a formal democracy and de facto an oligarchy in which power is exercised by the strongest," the Prime Minister said.

Morawiecki defended the principle of unanimity in the EU, which guaranteed that "every voice will be heard and the adopted decision will meet the minimum expectations of each member state."

"If all of Europe had followed Germany's vote, (then) not only Nord Stream 1, but also Nord Stream 2 would have been launched many months ago. Europe's dependence on Russian gas, which Putin uses as a tool blackmail against the entire continent, would be almost irreversible," the prime minister emphasized, also criticizing Germany's position in the sphere of supplying arms to Ukraine.

[Dargo]

Military air base in the village of Hvardiyske in Simferopol district is on fire, Bellingcat says that 12 Russian SU-24M and 12 SU-25SM aircraft are at the airbase. President's Office (PO) hinted Ukraine was behind explosions in Crimea while Russia says it was sabotage "Operation 'demilitarization' of Ukraine Armed Forces will continue until full de-occupation. Our soldiers are the best sponsors of good mood. Crimea is Ukraine," PO Head

[Jimbuna]

Estonia has decided to remove Soviet-era war monuments from public places.

The move is aimed at preventing them "from mobilising more hostility in society and tearing open old wounds" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government said.

An iconic T-34 tank in the city of Narva, which borders Russia, was being taken to the Estonian War Museum.

Narva is Estonia's third biggest city, where 97% of its population of about 60,000 people speak Russian.

Estonia regained its independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The replica tank was taken from a plinth on Tuesday morning and loaded on to a military trailer ahead of its journey 200km (125 miles) to the west, public broadcaster ERR reported. Authorities said they were restricting public access to the area around the tank as well as other local monuments.

Russia's war in Ukraine is stirring tension in Narva in particular, Estonia fears.

In her statement, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said her government would not "afford Russia the opportunity to use the past to disturb the peace in Estonia".

"Considering the speed of the increasing tensions and confusion around memorials in Narva, we must act quickly to ensure public order and internal security."

Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said such monuments had been erected to glorify Russian occupation and had no place in Estonia's public space.

Apart from the T-34 tank, the World War Two cemetery will also be relocated with "a neutral grave marker" - an issue that the government acknowledges may create tensions.

Last week, Russia voiced outrage at Estonia's plans.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62562909

[Jimbuna]

Guterres in Ukraine will hold talks with Zelensky and Erdogan

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will come to Lviv on Thursday, and to Odesa on Friday.

On Thursday, he will hold talks with President Vladimir Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is not clear whether these talks will be held in an online format or whether the Turkish leader will also come to Ukraine.

Guterres' visit to Ukraine will be devoted to a discussion of the "food agreement", the situation with the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and the mission from the remand facility in Olenivka.

On August 15, UN Secretary General António Guterres discussed the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu by phone.

[mapuc]

The story behind the Ukrainian attack on the Wagner group and why they got so many.

They are not officially operating in Ukraine as part of the Russian invasion force.

But unofficially, since the start of the large-scale invasion in February, the Wagner group has been among the frontline troops in combat zones.

They have suffered huge losses.

The latest example took place on Sunday in the town of Popasna in Luhansk province in eastern Ukraine.

And it is an example to horror and to warn.

The Wagner group had set up a headquarters in a building in the occupied town, which lies south of Shevjerodonetsk, where fierce fighting was fought earlier in the war, and north of Donetsk in the neighbouring region of the same name.

And here they had confidently been visited by a Russian journalist.

Among other things, the journalist had taken pictures of members of the Wagner group.

And here a small detail, which the Ukrainian army, for example, is very aware of, turned out to have deadly significance.

In one of the shared photos taken by the journalist, the name of the road where the headquarters was located could be seen.

And not long after, the Ukrainian army had allegedly watched.

And then the headquarters of the Wagner group was bombed.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by mapuc

The story behind the Ukrainian attack on the Wagner group and why they got so many.



Markus

A day late and a dollar short https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...postcount=5619

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

A day late and a dollar short https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...postcount=5619

The article I toke it from had it posted today.

Markus

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

War in Ukraine revealed truth about Russia and Europe, - Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki

According to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the war in Ukraine revealed the truth about Europe. For many years, the EU refused to heed warnings about the Russian threat.

"The war in Ukraine revealed the truth about Russia. Those who did not want to see that there were imperialist tendencies in Putin's state should face the truth. The demons of the 19th and 20th centuries have been reborn in Russia - nationalism and colonialism are becoming bigger and more visible. But (this) war also revealed the truth about Europe. Many European leaders were seduced by Vladimir Putin. Now they are shocked," Moravetsky emphasized.

"The return of Russian imperialism should not surprise us. Europe found itself in the current situation not because it was not integrated enough, but because it did not want to listen to the voice of truth. This voice has been coming from Poland for many years," the head of the Polish government emphasized.

"This ignoring of Poland's voice is an illustration of the bigger problem that the EU is facing today (...) Political practice shows that the votes of Germany and France matter a lot. So we are dealing with a formal democracy and de facto an oligarchy in which power is exercised by the strongest," the Prime Minister said.

Morawiecki defended the principle of unanimity in the EU, which guaranteed that "every voice will be heard and the adopted decision will meet the minimum expectations of each member state."

"If all of Europe had followed Germany's vote, (then) not only Nord Stream 1, but also Nord Stream 2 would have been launched many months ago. Europe's dependence on Russian gas, which Putin uses as a tool blackmail against the entire continent, would be almost irreversible," the prime minister emphasized, also criticizing Germany's position in the sphere of supplying arms to Ukraine.

^. This, for 10 years the Baltic States and Poland warned about Germans playing footsie with Russians AGAIN. The leaders and heads of state (not trolls and bloggers) likened their cozy little relationship to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Where they agreed to split the land up between themselves. I seen a poll that indicated 65% of Germans are more pro Russian which is probably why we saw such a slow feeble response and political back peddling to the war in Ukraine.

Might also be a big part of the reason Poland sees it necessary to enlarge their military capability having found itself stuck in the middle of two shifty neighbors.

[Skybird]

German and Russian leaders have not secretly decided to split up the land between them like back then, that is nonsense. The sin of the Germans lies in their blind belief in that their ideas and ideals for what the EU should be are so convincing to everybody, Putin included, that not wanting to share these and follow their example (and thus: Geman superior morals), has become practically unimaginable. A maximum of reality denial, missionizing on behalf of an ever greater EU, and an overboarding lecturing attitude, were the results that correlate with a sharp decline of German potentials, capabilities and capacities. Germany is now an eroding and declining state.



In the five new federal states that b efore were the GDR, indeed around two thirds of the population is more pro Russia than pro America or pro democracy in general. Many reasons for this. Transfiguration of the Sovjet occupation of East Germany is one of them, a general German antipathy to capitalism and "cold hearted" rationality are two others. In West Germany, KGB and StaSi operaiton to destabilise society and infiltrate the peace movement as well as the anti atom movement helped to foster a climate of anti-Americanism in the young.


All that now comes to fruits again. The GDR is not dead, is not overcome. If you see it as a mindset, then the GDR has never been as healthy and prospering as today. That Merkels merciless opportunism made the CDU to overtake the SPD on the left lane while eroding the party from within (today it is just a hollow torso), made things worse.

[Rockstar]

What the Baltics and Poland have been warning of is no secret, never was. It was quelled, shrugged off and ignored by Germany and Russia. For them it was getting back to business as usual dividing and conquering Eurasia AGAIN.

You know I’ll be sleeping good tonight


A bit of context on Trump, NATO, and Germany

by Tyler Cowen January 17, 2017 at 12:26 am in Current Affairs Economics History

https://marginalrevolution.com/margi...rump-nato.html

I strongly favor NATO and I don’t think you can trust the Russians with just about anything, or for that matter make much of a deal with them. I’m with Mitt Romney on all of this, as I’ve been saying for years.

That said, I feel some of the recent discussions on Trump’s pronouncements have been a bit kontextlos. I would suggest this wee bit of background history:

1. Not too long ago, Germany did have a national leader, Gerhard Schröder, who in essence ended up as a paid agent of Vladimir Putin. After leaving office, he has spent much of the rest of his career working for Gazprom. Try on this bit for size:

Mr Schroeder was Germany’s Social Democrat leader from 1998 until 2005. He is a personal friend of Vladimir Putin and once described the Russian President as a “flawless democrat”. He joined the board of the Russian energy giant Gazprom after losing Germany’s 2005 election and has defended Russia’s response to the crisis in Ukraine on several occasions.
In other words, Germany had its own Trump long before the United States did. You could call Schröder the Ur-Trump, albeit with a different socioeconomic pose.

2. It was Schröder who made the decision to take Germany off nuclear power and also to make the country energy-dependent on Russia:

As Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of the Nord Stream pipeline project, which aims to supply Russian gas directly to Germany, thereby bypassing transit countries. The agreement to build the pipeline was signed two weeks before the German parliamentary election. On 24 October 2005, just a few weeks before Schröder stepped down as Chancellor, the German government guaranteed to cover 1 billion euros of the Nord Stream project cost, should Gazprom default on a loan…Soon after stepping down as chancellor, Schröder accepted Gazprom’s nomination for the post of the head of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Russia now provides 35% of Germany’s oil imports and 39% of the natural gas imports.

I say NATO as an instrument for opposing Russia (not its only purpose, however) mostly ended with the Russian gas deal, because Putin can turn off the spigot any time he wants. Germany, the major European power, can no longer stand up to Russia in a pinch and it cannot do so because of the corruption of one of its major leaders. (Merkel I believe would not have done the same, but it is hard for her to undo this unfortunate situation, though I applaud the toughness she has shown, which at times has been considerable.) Furthermore, earlier U.S. presidents, most of all Bush, didn’t have the stones or the means to do anything about this.

If you’re looking for icing on the cake, try this:

3. Germans today are some of the most anti-American people in Europe, and that doesn’t help the Atlantic alliance either. It’s not uncommon for German citizens to suggest they don’t see much difference between Putin and the United States (NYT), or even may be pro-Putin, and I mean that pre-Trump. So when Trump equates Putin and Merkel, German citizens have been equating American presidents with Putin for a good while now. That’s not an excuse or rationale for Trump’s behavior, but it is worth keeping in mind when thinking about how to reboot the alliance moving forward.

I don’t at all favor what Trump is saying, or how many Republicans don’t seem to be complaining, but NATO has been on the ropes for some time now. On the Russia issue, Trumpismus is far more advanced in Germany than here in the United States. The sorry truth is that some of what Trump is saying is true, though his current rhetoric probably will end up making it worse.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Russia and United States must sit down at negotiating table to end war in Ukraine - Italian Prime Minister Draghi

The United States and Russia need to talk to each other to try to end the war in Ukraine.

This opinion was expressed by the Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi, the day after a meeting with US President Joe Biden, Censor.NET reports, citing European Truth.

Draghi told a news conference that he and Joe Biden acknowledge that the path to peace is very difficult. But he said everyone needed to make an effort to help Russia and Ukraine find a solution to end the war.

"There are so many opportunities, but before we get to that point, we need to make an effort, and all allies, including Russia and the United States, need to sit down," Draghi said.

"and the United States"...???
Russia attacked Ukraine, and refused meaningful negotiations. And now the US should decide over the head of Ukraine and talk to Russia as if the US has any active role in this Russian war?

What Draghi really says is: "Lets force Ukraine to accept Russian terms so that we Europeans can go back to our usual ways again while presuming Russia will not come back to the Ukrainian question again later on. America mjst stop delivering weapons so that Ukraine runs out of them."

I hate Draghi for his criminal policy as head of the ECB, and his illegal state funding. Which means: securing others funding his home nation Italy.

Now he comes with this underhanded verbal stunt. I will not dispise him any less any time soon, it seems. Never understood why everybody is celebrating this guy so much. He should be in jail for conspiracy against Europe and treason on the European treaties. With Lagarde he has found a wortyh successor.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

What the Baltics and Poland have been warning of is no secret, never was. It was quelled, shrugged off and ignored by Germany and Russia. For them it was getting back to business as usual dividing and conquering Eurasia AGAIN.

You know I’ll be sleeping good tonight


A bit of context on Trump, NATO, and Germany

by Tyler Cowen January 17, 2017 at 12:26 am in Current Affairs Economics History

https://marginalrevolution.com/margi...rump-nato.html

I strongly favor NATO and I don’t think you can trust the Russians with just about anything, or for that matter make much of a deal with them. I’m with Mitt Romney on all of this, as I’ve been saying for years.

That said, I feel some of the recent discussions on Trump’s pronouncements have been a bit kontextlos. I would suggest this wee bit of background history:

1. Not too long ago, Germany did have a national leader, Gerhard Schröder, who in essence ended up as a paid agent of Vladimir Putin. After leaving office, he has spent much of the rest of his career working for Gazprom. Try on this bit for size:

Mr Schroeder was Germany’s Social Democrat leader from 1998 until 2005. He is a personal friend of Vladimir Putin and once described the Russian President as a “flawless democrat”. He joined the board of the Russian energy giant Gazprom after losing Germany’s 2005 election and has defended Russia’s response to the crisis in Ukraine on several occasions.
In other words, Germany had its own Trump long before the United States did. You could call Schröder the Ur-Trump, albeit with a different socioeconomic pose.

2. It was Schröder who made the decision to take Germany off nuclear power and also to make the country energy-dependent on Russia:

As Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of the Nord Stream pipeline project, which aims to supply Russian gas directly to Germany, thereby bypassing transit countries. The agreement to build the pipeline was signed two weeks before the German parliamentary election. On 24 October 2005, just a few weeks before Schröder stepped down as Chancellor, the German government guaranteed to cover 1 billion euros of the Nord Stream project cost, should Gazprom default on a loan…Soon after stepping down as chancellor, Schröder accepted Gazprom’s nomination for the post of the head of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Russia now provides 35% of Germany’s oil imports and 39% of the natural gas imports.

I say NATO as an instrument for opposing Russia (not its only purpose, however) mostly ended with the Russian gas deal, because Putin can turn off the spigot any time he wants. Germany, the major European power, can no longer stand up to Russia in a pinch and it cannot do so because of the corruption of one of its major leaders. (Merkel I believe would not have done the same, but it is hard for her to undo this unfortunate situation, though I applaud the toughness she has shown, which at times has been considerable.) Furthermore, earlier U.S. presidents, most of all Bush, didn’t have the stones or the means to do anything about this.

If you’re looking for icing on the cake, try this:

3. Germans today are some of the most anti-American people in Europe, and that doesn’t help the Atlantic alliance either. It’s not uncommon for German citizens to suggest they don’t see much difference between Putin and the United States (NYT), or even may be pro-Putin, and I mean that pre-Trump. So when Trump equates Putin and Merkel, German citizens have been equating American presidents with Putin for a good while now. That’s not an excuse or rationale for Trump’s behavior, but it is worth keeping in mind when thinking about how to reboot the alliance moving forward.

I don’t at all favor what Trump is saying, or how many Republicans don’t seem to be complaining, but NATO has been on the ropes for some time now. On the Russia issue, Trumpismus is far more advanced in Germany than here in the United States. The sorry truth is that some of what Trump is saying is true, though his current rhetoric probably will end up making it worse.

Don'T tell me and us about Schroeder, we know what scum he is. You probably underestimate to what degree he has been socially sanctioned and destroyed over here in public and in media. He is persona non grata and practically everbyody has left him alone. Him party refused to throw him out, however, that is the Scholz party. The disgust is not that great among the comrades after all.

The AfD and the SED want Germany doing business with Russia again - via Nordstream 2.

Schroeder was the one pushing Nordstream 1 through. But the bigger sinner was Merkel: who agreed and opened Nordstream 2 short time after the Russian attack on the crimea. And the vast majority of Germans and the economy followed them. Now we have Bubble-Olaf.

Three duds as chancellor in a row. No wonder that we have problems. Well, I have not legitimized/voted for any of them.

[Catfish]

Another Russian base goes up in smoke in Crimea | Olesksiy Honcharenko