Russian Invasion of Ukraine Megathread

[6MillionCoofs]

Have they taken Kyiv yet?

No. Because that is not in their plan.

If they wanted to, it would already have been taken.

 

[Coccxys]

Man Russia going to war with OPEC in 2020 and gaining major concessions in an effective cease fire was totally overlooked in the west and was a brilliant shifting of political power on behalf of Moscow.

You could even say it was part of the planning for Russia pulling something like this. They knew the sanctions would come down but they played it beautifully and now the POTUS can't even get OPEC to take his calls.

We are going to be absolutely starved of oil and gas when our economies cannot withstand it. Are the politicians going to drive us all off a cliff in their ego or will they buckle under and come up with some way to deal with Russia that they cam spin as a win?

Just look at the statement from the new secretary general of OPEC when asked about the Russia agreement in January.

 

[MelloYello]

Russia could level Kiev to the ground, they haven't because they are trying to negotiate a settlement and put pressure by starving out the government with their cauldrons. They fight wars differently than the west.

Realpolitik has little space for compassion, but in this case, it's just a pragmatic thing. When this war is over, russians and ukrainians will still have to live with each other.
You can't have too much bad blood with your neighbours afterwards, unless you intend to keep your boot on their necks forever.

'Murica bombing third world countries thousands of miles away didn't really need to bother with that.
What are they going to do about it, aside from the occasional truck of peace? That's not going to hurt anyone that isn't expendable.

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

Was thumbing through the old anime thread highlights looking for suggestions and found this.
I do not know what I'm looking at but anime might have been a mistake and I might support Putin now.
View attachment 3056282

Didn't even go with the better Eva music like I did. They're probably Misatofags, Ukrainians seems like they be into drunks that are inappropriate with young teenagers.

 

[MelloYello]

If you want people to be aware of autism, give them a link to the farms.

Autism speaks. The problem is getting it to shut up.

 

[Strix454]

Where are they going to take off from? Fighter jets and ground-attack jets are useless without intact airfields, a source of fuel and ammunition, and sufficient pilots. It's basically a fool's errand to ship them to Ukraine in the first place. Their only possible practical use would be to sortie from outside Ukrainian territory, but that would count as NATO participation and lead to a Russian escalation. They're trying to take advantage of a loophole that doesn't actually exist.

The plan IMO would be to base them in the far western ukraine at Ivano-Frankivsk Air Base. That air base was home to a unit of MIG-29 fighters before the war began. I have no idea what the current condition of the base or the runways are. But that is the only place I think they could be put.

 

[Matt Damon]

Are the politicians going to drive us all off a cliff in their ego or will they buckle under and come up with some way to deal with Russia that they cam spin as a win?

The problem in the US is that half the population will spin it themselves. If Biden accidentally launched one of our own nukes and hit New York City, they'd claim "well, Trump would've hit New York AND Philadelphia!"

The partisan divide has been forged so strongly that it's now self-perpetuating, even without propaganda to support it.

 

[Safir]

It's weird how Russians simultaneously gloat about being progressive non-racists & openly loathe multiracialism & racial admixing.

It's not weird at all. Being non-racist means acknowledging traditions, and that discourages racial and ethnic admixing. If you're a Russian (Finno-Ugric) Soviet Atheist who wants to marry a secular Muslim Tatar woman, you really should think twice and thrice about it, because your family and hers have some traditions you will want to respect. Maybe you come to an agreement and decide to marry anyway, and your children will celebrate both Revolution Day and Kurban Bayram. But globohomo would want you to also celebrate Hanukkah, Juneteenth, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance and to think Nothing Can Stand in the Way of True Love - that is to say, to have no principles, no traditions, no memory, and to assume no one else has any, either - and that is in fact racist.

If Russia would accept ethnic nationalism, they would have to accept that the other peoples, like the chechens, would maybe want their own nation states, not being ruled over by Russians forever.

I largely agree with your post but way to pick one ethnicity which does effectively have its own nation state (that Russia is paying tribute to).
A better example is Tatarstan, the moderate Muslim state which tried to roleplay an Islamic power but got a kick in the nuts and lost its presidential office last year.

It's All So Tiresome

It wasn't on China's request. TSMC halted Russian orders.

CNN gone, Facebook gone, McDonalds gone, Paypal (shitest payment service ever). Putin is no hero overall, quite the opposite arguably, but in that regard he's stacking Ws. Perhaps RU can find a way to perma ban these (and VW) to spare people low quality, harmful products.

McDonalds will be back. They're actually sponsoring Russia, in that they will continue to pay salaries to laid-off workers (who are free to work for competitors in the meantime).

Losing Paypal actually hurts in the short-term because there are no alternatives for overseas payments. No one ever used Paypal domestically except Putin's #1 enemy Navalny, and Paypal halted domestic payments due to lack of demand a while ago, before the war special operation. Russia has insanely high plastic card adoption with zero/negligible fees and free private transfers and no checking culture at all, so Paypal was only ever a plastic card interface.

There are many more Ws. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Netflix, Starbucks, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, LVMH, some streaming licensing shit, Apple of course, KFC and Pizza Hut (scope unclear), dick sucking lip implants, H&M, PVH and Inditex (Mango, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Uterqüe, Oysho, Zara, Stradivarius, Bershka, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger), Kering (Balenciaga, Gucci), Levi's, (I'm copypasting this, I think it's all clothes), Puma, Abibas, Procter and Gamble (with caveats), Unilever halts imports and ads (continues domestic production), racketeers E&Y and Fitch, Fazer (child trooning/grooming propaganda sponsor), Airbnb, Booking.com (domestic travel extortionist; I'm very happy about this), Michelin (restaurant reviewer), Microsoft, Adobe, a shitton of easily piratable vidya; rutracker is unblocked.

A number of traitor rags closed (as in ceased operations). A few got blocked, which means even fewer ad sales and donations from welfare yeltsinistas. Gastric Balloon got banned on Youtube. The speaker of the parliament told libarts elites to resign if they don't support Putin; very few did but I'm hoping for a louder challenge followed by a purge and extermination (all these creatures are like 95% tax-funded and openly despise taxpayers; whatever their opinion on the war special operation, they need to go).

International child trafficking is hopefully dealt a mortal blow what with its main propagandists out of business.

Soccer cleanup: less sponsor money, more Russian players and talent scouting, more chance for outsiders to beat regulars, more reliance on fans and ticket sales (fans are boycotting matches over a retarded new law so maybe it gets repealed).

Brain rot pills tripled in price, twitter thots on suicide watch (literally).

Money laundering subhuman "pop stars" fled overseas. I hope Putin remembers and they aren't allowed to return.

Highbrow performers get cancelled overseas: more time for them to tour Russia.

BBC is back, unfortunately.

A REMINDER TO RUSSIANS: calling for moar sanctions is a crime. Not an RKN crime, a crime crime, independent of language and target audience.
If you're Russian, do not call for more sanctions, even if you think they will ultimately benefit Russia / humanity (e.g. banking schism).

 

[mindlessobserver]

Ukrainian BTR-3 sits in a residential area in Izyum. Gotta love the juxtaposition here (link)

View attachment 3055006

It's urban warfare. Everywhere is going to be "residential". International Law prohibits placing military equipment in schools, hospitals and places of religious or cultural significance.

In the case of a school or hospital they only count as either if they are actually being used as such. An empty school with no kids in it is just a building.

Beyond those very specific circumstances Ukrainian Army can park its tanks wherever it wants.

 

[6MillionCoofs]

You're probably right that it is propaganda, but it could also be true, there is simply no way of telling what's a lie & what's the truth.

There is. You look at who the source is, who they work for and where is publishing what the source is saying.

Everything tells you Putin dying of arse cancer is a lie. It glows so bright a blind man can see it.

 

[Coccxys]

The plan IMO would be to base them in the far western ukraine at Ivano-Frankivsk Air Base. That air base was home to a unit of MIG-29 fighters before the war began. I have no idea what the current condition of the base or the runways are. But that is the only place I think they could be put.

Already hit early on so presumably out of action?

 

[White_N]

A REMINDER TO RUSSIANS: calling for moar sanctions is a crime. Not an RKN crime, a crime crime, independent of language and target audience. So if you're Russian, do not call for more sanctions, even if you think they will ultimately benefit Russia / humanity (e.g. banking schism).

You're not my real Vlad, you can't tell me what to do.

 

[make_it_so]

Well time for a meme

View attachment 3056296

Have another.

 

[HTTP Error 404]

Tesla stock. Get it!

American Energy Company stock would have been smart to have bought a week or two ago, but now you'd just be falling for FOMO. God knows what's about to happen to the markets.

If I had enough to matter I'd be aiming for Gold, Silver, Nickel, and Crypto. Shit is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

 

[Strix454]

Was thumbing through the old anime thread highlights looking for suggestions and found this.
I do not know what I'm looking at but anime might have been a mistake and I might support Putin now.
View attachment 3056282

That symbol in the back I think was used during World War II by a Ukrainian group known as the OUN-M (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists). A nationalist group that various fought with and against the Germans during the course of the war.
-----
EDIT - I was wrong on this. I didn't look closely enough. This is the standard seal of Ukraine used since the 1990s. It looks similar to the ONU-M symbol, but its slighly different.

 

[Fougaro]

If you guys ever wanted to support Ukraine while ALSO supporting autism awareness, these shirts are for you.
View attachment 3056270
(Link)
View attachment 3056271
(Link)

I mean no offence to people who support Ukraine and autists, but as time moves on the more I believe that the latter is a prerequisite for being the former.

 

[mindlessobserver]

The plan IMO would be to base them in the far western ukraine at Ivano-Frankivsk Air Base. That air base was home to a unit of MIG-29 fighters before the war began. I have no idea what the current condition of the base or the runways are. But that is the only place I think they could be put.

They can also use the main highways in western Ukraine as Air Strips. The MIG, just like the F series in America is designed with the operational requirement of having to take off on a road repurposed as an airfield.

If you are ever driving down an Interstate in America and for some inexcplicable reason it widens out, goes straight and you see a gated exit to nowhere with a "stay out" sign on it, those are the designated emergency airfields. The drive off points in the tree line is where the air force can park its fighters and the interstate is the runway.

The Soviets did pretty much the same thing with their main roads. It's a simple and effective idea.

 

[No. 7 cat]

Russians have brought out an armored train, which is currently in the vicinity of Melitopol apparently
View attachment 3055499View attachment 3055500

Nothing is more properly Soviet. All that's needed is almost baby faced commissar in a leather jacket.

 

[Puff]

That symbol in the back I think was used during World War II by a Ukrainian group known as the OUN-M (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists). A nationalist group that various fought with and against the Germans during the course of the war.

How is it different from the standard Ukraine seal/symbol/whatever?

 

[Kramer on the phone]

The problem in the US is that half the population will spin it themselves. If Biden accidentally launched one of our own nukes and hit New York City, they'd claim "well, Trump would've hit New York AND Philadelphia!"

The partisan divide has been forged so strongly that it's now self-perpetuating, even without propaganda to support it.

its always been like that, the left leads the right follows. its like blacks and whites. the nigger will say whatever the fuck they want without consequence and whites have to suffer for it. been like that since the 1930s.

Also russia managed to play this perfectly, its like Russia had a growth spurt and now 5'1' bully US has tried to take russia's lunch money only to find out his tactics are doing the opposite of what they used to.