That’s what they said about a different building that got bombed in Kharkiv, a University Economics building, that the intended target was “Azov Battalion” across the street. They can’t seriously be bombing many different buildings and claiming they’re all “Azov Battalion.” Azov mainly operated around Mariupol too, not Kharkiv.
The Azov Battalion is the cause of everything, it seems. They're recruiting everywhere, I'm surprised it itself isn't the whole of the Ukrainian defenses now, if I believed all of the Russian shills.
Yeah, they have around 2500 members, but that's totally a reason to lose 2000 people a day in an unprovoked invasion and tank your entire country's economy while doing it.
Would be nice if Europe and the US would seize Putin and associates' accounts and donate them to Ukraine.
Well, it's a little different. For one, Ukraine took all of these militia groups and made them a standard part of their military's operations. Apparently they've been working to defang the rhetoric of this particular group, but for Putin to pretend like he gives a shit about fascism given that he's currently the highest profile fascist world leader is a bit ridiculous.
> Would be nice if Europe and the US would seize Putin and associates' accounts and donate them to Ukraine.
I agree with this. Ukraine already has sustained tremendous damage, and of course it will get much worse before this ends. Take everything possible from Russia and give it over to Ukraine to help rebuild. Assuming they win. God I hope they win.
$600B of reserves of RF, which are frozen, is the cost of a just single major city. It's not enough to cover loses from Russian war, because Ukraine lost 2 major cities (Donetsk, Luhansk) and whole Crimea at the beginning of the war. Everything confiscated will be just a little fraction of lost value.
IMHO, RF should give Cuban and other territories, confiscated by USSR, back to Ukraine as compensation for 8 years of war and massive destruction of Ukrainian cities.
like seriously, lol.
their intelligence were crappy enough to miss a bunch of air defense systems but they know that in some specific building is an recruitment for azov
The Soviet Union lasted for some 70 years, not everything was bad. For instance I quite like their cinema and science fiction children shows. My point being, someone raised under the Soviet Union would still be able to find a few things to look back with nostalgia.
I can understand this yeah, but why would you register your new legimate business under such extension. Sure everything was probably not bad but do they have Soviet Union hairstyle salon or what :)
Everything will be back to normal in 4-8 years after a cease fire, though. So sanctions just hurt the most vulnerable of a 150m people country. Congratulations. That will surely prevent future wars like seen with the treaty of Versailles...
I don't think a cease fire will return things to they way they were. Lots of countries have had it with Komrade Putin and will work to see him deposed. Maybe an oligarch or general will help speed up the process?
They were coopted for political interests over a decade ago, and so any organic interest moved on. Now they are used as boogyman, as a honey pot or as a cover for cyberwarfare by the "good guys".
I get it's like the freezing of ~40% of Russia's foreign reserves the US announced. So still the property of their owners - not seized - but cannot be moved either.
This is seizure in all but name. By 'freezing' US dollars indefinitely, you effectively take them out of circulation, allowing you to print the same number of new dollars for yourself without causing inflation.
“When do you enlist?” is the ultimate skin in the game test. It’s amazing how quiet things get when you ask that question, whether we’re talking about Iraq / Afghanistan 20 years ago or this conflict now.
If you are willing to send other people to die for you then you should be prepared to make the same sacrifice as well because your name may very will come up in the draft.
I think the best advice would be to surrender and avoid pointless loss of life. You only have one life, is it really worth throwing away so your elite rules instead of your neighbors' elite?
My grandpa was held in a concentration camp in Poland (red triangle). He escaped, got picked up by British intelligence, went back in, and helped more prisoners escape on his way back out. His last words to me were "give 'em hell." But you do you, I guess.
That’s right. I was born In Odessa a city in a country I proudly visited more then 15 years ago to see the apartment block where I was born. Today the picture of the steps that’s been the poster of my Facebook profile for a decade is guarded by a Ukrainian tank. I’m happy to see that modern day freedom fighter Ukrainians are standing up for democratic principals and what I was bright to this country to escape from. It’s a difficult situation. I admire they’re courage.
Don't claim that fighting to defend your family, city, and nation is irrational, even when the odds are against you.
Some people have strong values, that they're willing to risk their life for even a chance to preserve. Some people don't. But if you're not, for God's sake, don't spend your time trying to dissuade and condemn those who are.
For sure, and I see now how it reads as me saying doing so is irrational. That wasn't my intention though.
I just meant that comparing this to how someone's grandfather fought the Nazis is BS, and the people who chose to not fight shouldn't be judged by that false comparison.
Some people chose not to put "their country" before their own lives, and that's fine with me.
Nah, I don't think folks should be mocked, that's not productive. Resistance can take many forms, and you'll note that I didn't mention "fighting." He was a soldier before his unit was captured, but that wasn't where he was most effective: what he did was pay attention, strategize, and help others escape with him.
Resist. Whether that involves a Kalashnikov, or simply shitting in a water supply, resist. I won't judge you if you don't. It's your internal critic that you're going to spend the rest of your life with.
There are cases when you might be right, but your advice does not apply to Russian invasions.
The millions of people who have lived in the countries from Eastern Europe, all of which have been invaded by the Russians at the end of WWII, have learned that being ruled by the Russian government, either directly or indirectly through their servants that are installed as supposedly independent local governments is far worse than being ruled by any other elite.
Not only the Russian elites have always been greedier than other elites, but they were not content to steal your assets, they also forced you to say all the time that you are happy about it, which was even more annoying than being dispossessed.
> is it really worth throwing away so your elite rules instead of your neighbors' elite?
When the difference is between your elected government and an invading regime that's well known for being violently oppressive even against their own people - yes. Also, the Ukrainian people can easily see the how life goes for people who stayed in DNR/LNR.
You either fight totalitarianism or flee it; accepting it is a really lousy option.
I think this sort of behavior could only be advocated by somebody who doesn't understand actual tyranny; if you think that you're a slave to the 'elite of the modern West', than you have no perspective what being a slave is really like. Nor why anybody would fight against it.
People thought they would be spared if they surrendered to the Nazis. That sure turned out well for them huh? There are many situations in life where it's not worth fighting. Fending off foreign aggression is not one of those times. If they're invading, they have absolutely no care for your safety and they have no higher authority to fear for anything they do to you.
Genocide was an inherent part of Nazi ideology, though, and the NSDAP had openly declared its contempt for many of the people it conquered. There hasn't been anything comparable to Hitler or Nazism in any of Russia's wars.
Raphael Lemkin (who coined the word genocide) recognized the Ukrainian Holodomor and applied the term 'genocide' in his 1953 article "Soviet Genocide in Ukraine".
The Russians have murdered much more people in the Eastern European countries that they have occupied than the Nazis ever have. If the Nazis had not been defeated relatively quickly they might have killed much more, but as it happened, the victorious Russians had much more years available to kill everybody who was believed as able to oppose them. Totaled over all the Eastern Europe and the various minorities of Soviet Union, many millions of people, mostly those being the formerly well-educated professionals of the occupied countries, have been either killed immediately or imprisoned, and most have died during detention.
The only difference between the Nazis and the Russians has been that the Russians were more careful to hide many of their actions and as former allies of USA, unlike the Nazis, they have not been the subjects of so many movies or novels describing their crimes during WWII and during the first decades after WWII.
I agree that I was referring to the behavior of the former USSR and of the earlier Russian empire, so to the last few centuries until Gorbachev, not to the present Russia.
Nevertheless, unlike Germany, which has apologized publicly many times for what the Nazis have done, and which has paid consistent reparations for a part of the victims of the Nazis, neither Putin nor any other Russian leader has ever apologized for any past actions of Russia. Paying reparations would be even more unconceivable for the Russians, who continue to claim that they have "liberated" the people whom they have enslaved after WWII.
I have seen nothing in the public speeches of Putin that would indicate that he would ever behave in relation with an invaded territory differently than it was traditional for the Soviet Union leaders or for the earlier Russian tsars.
Until the man himself would say and act otherwise, in a credible way, the only rational assumption is that an invading Russia will behave like always in the past.
Maybe not the "best", but good advise nonetheless - sometimes if you have no way out, it's just preferable to stay and fight. Most times, it is better to run because war is ugly and you best leave it to those trained in it. Safeguarding your family should be your top priority, and for a civilian a political fight later is always the better option.
Yes you only have one life, and you will arrive at the end of it and all you can do with your final thoughts is think about what the point of it all was. Did you simply exist, or did you make some small difference?
Everyone has his own priorities and point of view but I think the only way a life is "thrown away" is if a person does nothing at all with it.
Hahaha elite Russians like Putin and friends will be so glad to extract all the life of slavery you so gladly gave them if you prepare to surrender. Pro-tip: newspaper rolled up in your pants to protect your knees and legs. Having to get down in a big rush with no kneepads gets old and bloody very quickly.
