Russian invasion of Ukraine

[pietillidie]

Just to check, this isn't SNL is it?

Former US president George W Bush has accidently condemned Vladimir Putin's invasion of "Iraq", before correcting himself by saying he was talking about Ukraine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-61505050

[David]

Must be playing on his conscience (although the way he laughed it off afterwards might suggest otherwise).

[stui magpie]

when bands get involved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBBEKCR3q9U

Love it.

[pietillidie]

[stui magpie]

Nice bump. It's so discouraging that this is still going on, Russia and Putin should have been stopped by now, but it continues and the Ukraine gets hammered.

[Jezza]

Sadly this is escalating.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a partial military mobilisation for Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia's first military mobilisation since World War II, warning the West that if it continued what he called its "nuclear blackmail" that Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal.

In a televised address, Mr Putin said his aim was to "liberate" east Ukraine's Donbas region, and that most people in the region did not want to return to what he called the "yoke" of Ukraine.

He said he was defending Russian territories and that the West wanted to destroy the country.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-21/ ... /101463346

[think positive]

Big mistake, huge, he’s killing his own people for nothing. What a turd. 1 bullet needed. Just one.

[stui magpie]

2 just to be sure

[pietillidie]

Yep, have to keep holding the line on this, regardless of the threats, meanwhile hoping insiders do him in or he backs away with a television 'victory'.

What a despicable piece of destructive, murderous filth the SOB is. The risk of someone going rogue with nuclear weapons was always there, so encouraging thugs to bully others with them by caving in to his whim won't make anyone safer.

The creep banked on breaking down opposition consensus and support for Ukraine with his greatest weapon, internet troll farms, so the most potent thing about the response has been the ability of the West to keep our internet crazies under control, which in turn has cornered the bastard.

This is also one of the very few just defensive wars fought by the West in my lifetime. As I keep emphasising to Americans, fighting a just war properly is the only way to start moving on from the disgrace of Iraq and the unjust wars of history. The rest of the Coalition of the Willing, too.

The response has been measured, ratcheted up slowly to give the aggressor time to save face, and led by Ukraine at the behest of them as victims of the invader. And that is the very definition of just war.

The risks are still real enough, so now to find a way for him to take that bullet or bow out with an imaginary victory.

[David]

I think this signifies that Putin’s authority is under threat, but that’s not necessarily good news for Ukraine. I get the feeling he’s being told to end the stalemate as quickly as possible by either withdrawing or doubling down, and clearly he doesn’t see the former as an option. So there may be some very dark days ahead.

[David]

[pietillidie]

^That all sounds about right. Hopefully no one puts their foot in it (though I don't buy excluding chaos merchant Putin himself from doing that by focusing on either side of the Atlantic).

The amount of destruction at the hands of one person is obscene; to Ukraine, to itself and to the global economy. (Iraq, never to be forgotten, was still worse again, which goes to show how much willful damage has been caused over the last couple of decades).

[Jezza]

Russia declares the formal annexations of four areas in Ukraine.

Summary

[*] President Putin has announced the illegal seizure of four areas of Ukraine - saying they are now Russian territory.

[*] In an angry speech decrying the West, he claimed people living in the regions had made their choice - but "referendums" held there have been labelled shams.

[*] The territory being seized is in Russian-held Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

[*] The formal process to incorporate them into the Russian Federation will happen over the next few days.

[*] It echoes Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, which also followed a discredited referendum.

[*] Earlier, many civilians were reported killed and wounded in a Russian strike on a civilian convoy in Zaporizhzhia.

[*] A huge crater next to a row of vehicles in the city testified to the violence of the attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-63077272

[pietillidie]

I must say I loved his use of the word 'Satanism', just to remind everyone what a nutter he is in case they hadn't received the message yet. And, just to round out his kinship with backward religious crazies worldwide, he then went on another rant about gender, which like the far right everywhere, seems to occupy his every other waking moment.

[stui magpie]

I saw some of his speech on the news. Geezus, the cheese has done slid right off his cracker.

If someone doesn't take him out, he could really launch nukes.