Putin and the West

[D41]

So what do we do?

A show of force....or rather a show of resolve from NATO...."escalate to de-escalate."
To invade one NATO-hopeful is one thing, to go up against a group of countries is something else entirely.... and not really practical or feasible given the Russian military's apparent lack of ability - they haven't exactly blitzkrieged their way across Ukraine, have they??
Worst case scenario, you'd want your troops, equipment, assets, in place anyway in case things go from bad to worse.
I mean, this is one of the reasons why we have NATO, to respond to situations like this, yes??

[StMarks]

...."escalate to de-escalate."

The late (& imho very great) Bowie wrote a song along those lines, didn't he.?

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM5mTEavepU[/video]

[Cav]

NATO missed all the warning signs. Or elected to ignore them.

I suspect the latter.

Are there any seemingly legitimate (if not proven legitimate) trails of where NATO get their funding? If they're heavily backed by weapons manufacturers then quite clearly the latter would be correct, albeit you can't prove their intentions and have to take them at face value.

[Kwacky]

NATO members fund NATO.

Remember when trump wanted out of NATO?

But thankfully he's not got any links with Putin

[Cav]

Okay so Governments? Isn't the US Government heavily funded by military weapons manufacturers? I can't remember exactly what Black Rock is involved in either but they are one of the biggest contributors and about as clean as Pfizer's Lawyers' filing cabinets.

[Kwacky]

Arms manufacturers rely on government purchases. So they do what they can to ensure they get contracts.

[D41]

Okay so Governments? Isn't the US Government heavily funded by military weapons manufacturers? I can't remember exactly what Black Rock is involved in either but they are one of the biggest contributors and about as clean as Pfizer's Lawyers' filing cabinets.

Black Rock is a big investment company. Blackwater is a defense contractor...in their case specifically, they basically provide mercenaries to the US Govt. - usually ex-US military, CIA types, etc....and/or similarly trained people from other countries. They have a reputation of occasionally being a little trigger-happy, perhaps......

[Monty]

24 hours and X billion dollars worth of NATO drone strikes and it's all over for the Russians on the ground in the Ukraine. Just taking out the Russian logistics would finish them off and it's not like we don't know where they are.

[Kwacky]

The number of accidents at key installations inside Russia are increasing

https://mobile.twitter.com/TpyxaNews/st ... 0042885121" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kwacky]

And there's massive wild fires in Siberia.

Guess where all the firefighters are...

[Kwacky]

The Russians are throwing everything at the Steel Works in mariupol. The Ukraine defenders are calling it "waves of meat" as attacking troops keep coming to try and clear the area.

[Kwacky]

There's a huge fire burning at an oil depot in Russia - Vladikavkaz. It might just be a coincidence but it's only a short distance from the Georgia border.

The Admiral Makarov is on fire as well. It's a frigate, part of the Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol. She was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard in February 2012 and commissioned on 25 December 2017 (wiki)

[Kwacky]

USA intelligence says it can find no proof that the Makarov has been hit. They've not said if they've found it and it's fine or if they can't find it.

[Kwacky]

Kherson has been cut off by Russian troops. Ukrainians have been trying to leave, but the troops are destroying the cars.

Lots of local people have been evicted and replaced by Russians. A lot of food is being taken and sent to Crimea.

Putin clearly wants his southern land route in Ukraine.

[Tuffers]

I wish we could hear more news about what's going on, like is the rest of the Ukrainian population going to work as normal, are the guns that were handed out to civilians being used.....

[Kwacky]

There's not much to report. Ukraine has taken back Kharkiv. Russia is still trying to push westwards and along the south coast.

There's heavy losses on both sides but Russians dont seem to care. Probably because they're using troops from East and Central Russia, where they're very poor and badly educated.

Russia appears to be waiting for the West to get bored of help from Ukraine.

Ukraine seems better adapted to choose where to fight but they're still suffering losses.

Information from occupied areas is limited. Ukrainian history is being removed by the occupiers. There's a lot of people movement, Russians coming in, Ukrainians going out.

[Cav]

Ukrainian forces have been outstanding. Okay, Russia took far too many liberties to begin with and haven't recovered, plus their inability to gain air superiority cost them dearly. I daresay, Ukraine might win this war.

[Kwacky]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/galle ... 1653293412" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[C00kiemonster]

Incredible pictures...

[Monty]

Truly haunting