Russia Surrounded

version

version

Well-known member
It's amazing how central Twitter's become to this sort of thing. You almost can't imagine life without it.
 
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Beast of Burden
It was 24 hour news before, and before that it was the radio.

I was working in the Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly Circus during 9/11, and we got updates from people walking in with the latest editions of the Evening Standard.
 
sufi

sufi

lala
craner said:
It was 24 hour news before, and before that it was the radio.

I was working in the Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly Circus during 9/11, and we got updates from people walking in with the latest editions of the Evening Standard.
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the story goes that when yeltsin got the tanks out against the russian parliament and comms were cut off, the girlfriend of one guy who ran a very early indie internet provider who i vaguely know got a call in the middle of the night "Er hallo this is NATO, we heard you can put us in contact with USSR"
 
shakahislop

shakahislop

Well-known member
one thing that does seem to be happening is, pretty surprisingly, a feeling of unity on 'our' side (which is to say the european and US, or maybe you could say NATO side). it feels nice reading this aspect of the news - all the european countries getting together, eurovision helping out, everyone except FIFA getting stuck in, Anonymous, the EU accepting refugees and so on.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Mr. Tea said:
Putin may be an arsehole but I don't think he's insane. He'd have no justification for going nuclear unless Russian targets were attacked in Russia, I think.

Moreover, I just find it pretty depressing to think that he simply has to be allowed to get away with whatever he wants because he's a bully. And appeasement doesn't end well, if you look at historical precedent.
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Problem is I suppose, do you want to bet the future of this world on Putin not being that crazy?

If he is, at least we know who to blame...

"There were unacceptable statements about possible conflict situations and even confrontations and clashes between Nato and Russa. I will not name the authors of these statements, although it was the British foreign secretary"
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padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
vimothy said:
might be about to witness the collapse of the rouble here
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And indeed we are so witnessing

You'll know this better than me or anyone else here - what can the Russian central bank and/or govt realistically do to mitigate the effects of the sanctions? From what I know, it seems like "not much", but maybe there's something I don't know. Sounds like they're already hoarding their foreign currency reserves bc they're worried about running out, and we're not even a full week into this.
 
padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
craner said:
It's a war with existential aims and risks. It has not been started and is not being conducted on a rational basis.
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Yeah that's my concern

Granted I'm just a random guy on the internet, but it really, really seems to me like Putin set out to rattle the old sabers in order to consolidate and perhaps advance proxy gains in the Donbas - makes sense, it's always worked in the past - was caught totally off-guard by the vehemence and unity of Western opposition, and just keeps doubling down instead of backing down and losing face. In a vacuum the invasion is totally crazy, in the context of Russian bitterness over NATO etc and domestic political consideration, it not quite as crazy - tho still, pretty crazy - but that escalation seems increasingly desperate and irrational, and tied more and more to Putin's individual objectives rather than yunno, Russia's. And a desperate, irrational dictator is like, not the person you want to control a massive nuclear arsenal.
 
version

version

Well-known member
Someone tweeted an old Guardian thing on Putin in Chechnya that's pretty rough,

www.theguardian.com

Revealed: Russia's worst war crime in Chechnya

Vladimir Putin is the new hero of Russian democracy, courted by Western leaders. He is also responsible for one of the most savage atrocities since the Second World War.
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

The last part's a killer after quoting Robin Cook on Putin's "refreshing and open" style...

"As we left the ruins of Katyr Yurt, we saw wreckage from what was left of the white-flag convoy: broken cars, twisted, charred metal, a boot lying in the mud. And then we heard a burst of machine-gun fire, an echo of 'the refreshing and open' language of Vladimir Putin."
 
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