Russia Surrounded

[Mr. Tea]

why did they bomb a maternity ward?

To grind the people down to try and make them surrender.

 

[yyaldrin]

To grind the people down to try and make them surrender.

i would think it would make the people even angrier and more likely to resist occupation.

 

[Mr. Tea]

i would think it would make the people even angrier and more likely to resist occupation.

I think that happens up to a point.

 

[Leo]

I guess there's always the chance that Russian troops are more inept than evil and managed to hit a maternity ward while randomly bombing the city. But it's a remote chance, probably targeted.

 

[hmg]

They lost or ran out of the precision guided stuff already. I don't know what hit the hospital, but if it isn't guided, accuracy is tens or hundreds of metres. Probably an accident. Dozy cunts.

 

[hmg]

Did you see the armored personnel carrier taking out the pensioners' car with its cannon in broad daylight? Horrible cunts.

 

[hmg]

Seems there's been a change in Russia's attitude this week though. Talking about Ukraine ceding donetsk and lukhansk, not seeking regime change or seizing kyiv, not knowingly using conscripts. Not attacking or taking odessa yet

 

[Mr. Tea]

I guess there's always the chance that Russian troops are more inept than evil and managed to hit a maternity ward while randomly bombing the city. But it's a remote chance, probably targeted.

Given their activities in Syria for the last seven years, I'm not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[hmg]

 

[shakahislop]

why did they bomb a maternity ward?

one of those classic things where already it looks like people are just believing whatever they prefer to believe i think. it's possible to do it by accident in some circumstances (i'm thinking of when the US managed to attack a hospital in Kunduz for a full 20 minutes in 2016ish, which does seem to have been an accident from whatever is publicly available), and its also possible to do it deliberately. and then within the 'deliberately' category from what i can see on the internet people are making wild guesses about why they would do that

 

[IdleRich]

Bring back Trump to save the world

You can see here that Trump clearly has a profound understanding of the issues and has really got to grips with, expertly identifying the most crucial part and formulating a cunning plan to address it



Love the way that the interviewer is laughing in stunned disbelief.

 

[Mr. Tea]

You can see here that Trump clearly has a profound understanding of the issues and has really got to grips with, expertly identifying the most crucial part and formulating a cunning plan to address it



Love the way that the interviewer is laughing in stunned disbelief.

I must confess, he caught me off guard with that sudden swerve there.

 

[droid]

one of those classic things where already it looks like people are just believing whatever they prefer to believe i think. it's possible to do it by accident in some circumstances (i'm thinking of when the US managed to attack a hospital in Kunduz for a full 20 minutes in 2016ish, which does seem to have been an accident from whatever is publicly available), and its also possible to do it deliberately. and then within the 'deliberately' category from what i can see on the internet people are making wild guesses about why they would do that

According to Ukrainian sources in Mariupol there were statements in Russia media prior to the attack claiming that Nazis were using it as a base of operations, so it does seem to have been a deliberate attack.

As to the actual reasoning, we can speculate, or we can just look to Syria where the Russians have done this repeatedly, or Gaza, where hospitals and schools have been repeatedly attacked with the same justifications, or indeed, Fallujah, where the US bombed several hospitals in their liberation of the city.

There is a surfeit of instructive comparisons but the aim is always the same. A display of total dominance and ruthlessness. A demonstration that there are no restrictions, self imposed or otherwise on the power of the aggressor.

 

[version]

Conservative Friends of Russia group disbands with immediate effect

After 10 years of operation, the Westminster Russia Forum, formerly known as the Conservative Friends of Russia, has suddenly disbanded

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

 

[IdleRich]

They think that if they announce they've split up, delete a few dodgy emails and tweets and keep their heads down for a bit they'll get away completely scot-free with selling their influence against the country's interest, laundering money and generally committing all kinds of treason for the highest bidder - and they are almost certainly right.

 

[version]

Weapons of the war in Ukraine

From ballistic missiles to armed drones, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is proving the devastating power of modern weaponry.

graphics.reuters.com

 

[Leo]

Bring back Trump to save the world

Ex-Trump national security advisor John Bolton says 'Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him,' so he chose not to invade Ukraine

John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump's national security advisor, on Wednesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was in office because "Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him."

Bolton pointed to Trump's outspoken criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military and diplomatic alliance established in the wake of World War II.

"I think one of the reasons that Putin did not move during Trump's term in office was he saw the president's hostility of NATO. It was widely reported in American media," Bolton said during an interview with SiriusXM's Julie Mason. "And to Putin's mind, it's a binary proposition: a weaker NATO is a stronger Russia."

Bolton went on, "Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him, and thought, maybe in a second term, Trump would make good on his desire to get out of NATO, and then it would just ease Putin's path just that much more."

Trump undermined NATO during his time in office. In 2018, he privately discussed withdrawing the United States from the alliance, raising concerns among national security officials.

Bolton, in remarks during a virtual event with The Washington Post on Friday, said that he believes Trump would have withdrawn from NATO if he had won a second term.

"I thought he put his foot over it, but at least he didn't withdraw then," Bolton said. "In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO. And I think Putin was waiting for that."

Bolton also told Vice last week that he doesn't think the former president would have stopped Putin if the Russian leader had invaded Ukraine while Trump was in office. His comments come as Trump has repeatedly said that Putin would never have invaded Ukraine had he been president and has criticized President Joe Biden over the US response to Russia.

Bolton served as Trump's national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, when Trump ousted him after the two repeatedly butted heads. Upon leaving the administration, he criticized Trump in his 2020 memoir and detailed several explosive claims about the former president, including that he wanted to "give personal favors to dictators he liked."

 

[version]

Sounds about right.

 

[Clinamenic]

 

[version]

Goldman have pulled out of Russia now.