Will Putin Invade Ukraine?

[Hydra009]

Roughly translated from Russian, the invaders describe a "huge helicopter" operated by Ukrainian forces which is active almost every day and allegedly drops land mines.

(In reality, the land mines in question are likely placed by artillery but don't tell the Russians that)



In slavic folklore, a Baba Yaga is a supernatural being who takes the appearance of old or deformed crone.  She possesses formidable magical powers and is absolutely not to be triffled with.

[Unbeliever]

Sounds like Ruth Gordon! 👀

[the_antithesis]

Baba Yaga also lives in a house that walks around on chicken legs.

[Hydra009]

[Hydra009]

Latvia to send all its Stingers to Ukraine

[Hydra009]

Chinese ambassador to France says ex-Soviet countries aren't "real countries"

Therefore allowing Russia to do whatever it wants to them.

This is BS of course, all of them have UN seats and many are in NATO (almost as if they were banding together to preclude invasion from some aggressor country)

Expect Beijing to use very similar logic with Taiwan and whatever else it wants to invade.

[Hydra009]

Russian ambassador interferes in Bulgarian elections

The Russian ambassador endorsed a specific candidate in another country's election, in violation of the Vienna Convention, which Russia signed in 1986.

Shock of all shocks, she endorsed a radical pro-Russian (and therefore pro-genocide) candidate.

She added that this vichy candidate has a "balanced approach in foreign policy", in an attempt to sound impartial while obviously being very partial.

[Shiranu]

Chinese ambassador to Feance says ex-Soviet countries aren't "real countries"

Therefore allowing Russia to do whatever it wants to them.

This is BS of course, all of them have UN seats and many are in NATO (almost as if they were banding together to preclude invasion from some aggressor country)

Expect Beijing to use very similar logic with Taiwan and whatever else it wants to invade.

West Taiwan is not a real country either, but some of us have manners.

[Hydra009]

70-year-old Russian woman detained after calling Zelenskyy handsome

Sheesh.  Putin has a very fragile ego.  He probably has a mirror in his bunker and asks it who the fairest one is every morning.  That or he talks to Hitler portrait like it's a green goblin mask.

[Unbeliever]

The street outside Putin's bedroom is undoubtedly littered with countless broken bits of glass from the mirrors that told him the truth... 🧐

[Hydra009]

Due to Twitter's inherent unpredictability *smash cut to Emerald Mine Musk yanking out server wires* and its cozying up to Communist-Authoritarian State Propaganda (combined with its inability to police such activity anyway after Musk gutted such oversight) and its targeting of legitimate publications like NPR and PBS (both of which have left twitter) and a fair amount of respectable publications and respectable people leaving twitter...well...

Suffice it to say that Twitter is of declining value as a news source, and I won't be directly linking to it ever again and I encourage others to do the same.

Instead, I'll use different, more trustworthy sites whenever possible.  And if I have to use Twitter, I'll either use the Nitter alternative or simply screenshot the useful info so I don't inadvertently send someone to some manchild billionaire's fake news paradise.

[Hydra009]

First batch of Leopard 2 tanks from Spain are en route to Ukraine

[Hydra009]

ISW: Ukraine has established positions on the far side of the Dnipro River

The way that Ukrainians refer to the left and right banks of the river is somewhat confusing, so here's a quick reminder:
left bank = Russian side (temporarily)
right bank = Ukrainian side

Additionally, the Russian presence seems to have thinned out considerably near the river (no doubt we have Bahkmut to thank for that) so if hypothetically, someone wanted to launched a counterattack, Russian forces in the area would likely be quickly routed or destroyed.  Just an idea.

Rusich noted that Russia is fighting Ukraine to avenge Donbas, for living space, and for combat experience—rather than fighting claimed Ukrainian "fascism" and "Nazism." By reframing Putin's goals, Prigozhin and some factions within the ultranationalist community may be attempting to condition the Russian domestic information space for the prospect of frozen frontlines, potentially near the initial lines of February 23, 2022.

"living space"  Interesting.  I believe that was called "Lebensraum" in the original German.

[Hydra009]

How many Western tanks does Ukraine currently have?

Answer: 70 (including the 6 Leopard 2 in transit from Spain, expected to arrive within the week)

More tanks will come in time and more tank types are in the works (UK's Challenger, US Abrams, France's AMX-10RC, various upgraded Soviet-era tanks from ex-Soviet countries) and of course the IFVs, but for now, that's the hand dealt.

[Hydra009]

Cyprus freezes the bank accounts of Russians helping Russian oligarchs circumvent sanctions

The area has been called "Moscow on the Mediterranean" and like the real Moscow, nefarious activity has been afoot, necessitating that the authorities "close 43,000 shell companies and 123,000 suspicious bank accounts in recent years"