Sanctions against Russia

[facthunter]

Are they allowed to tell him the truth or what he wants to hear?   Deadly steps and windows. Nev

[onetrack]

How a fleet of cheap, used farm utes, from the U.K. and the EU are fooling Russian snipers ....

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-snipers-fooled-british-pickup-trucks-ukraine-2022-12

 

The used utes being provided to the Ukrainian military forces by the support group, "Car4Ukraine" are providing a cheap and useful method of attacking the Russians and even their missiles and drones.

The Russian snipers are being fooled because they're aiming at the regular LHS driving position of the utes to hit the "driver" - but the utes are RHD and the Ukrainians are often using dummies in the LHS seat position, to fool the Russians even more.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

How a fleet of cheap, used farm utes, from the U.K. and the EU are fooling Russian snipers ....

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-snipers-fooled-british-pickup-trucks-ukraine-2022-12

 

The used utes being provided to the Ukrainian military forces by the support group, "Car4Ukraine" are providing a cheap and useful method of attacking the Russians and even their missiles and drones.

The Russian snipers are being fooled because they're aiming at the regular LHS driving position of the utes to hit the "driver" - but the utes are RHD and the Ukrainians are often using dummies in the LHS seat position, to fool the Russians even more.

One thing is for sure - they beat the Russians hands down in the smarts department.

 

One thing Putler and some of his followers have been babbling on about is Russians and Ukrainians being brothers culturally. The Russians see the war as bringing their wayward cousins back in to the fold (the Russian world). That's the nicer ones. Some others view Ukrainians as inferior beings who should all be exterminated.

 

Most Ukrainians are of the opinion that the cultural bond thing is a load of codswallop. They are saying to the Russians - no, we are nothing like you; we are not a part of your Russian world. If there was any doubts before the war about major differences existing between the peoples of both countries, the huge volume of social media postings by Ukrainians since February 24 has settled that issue once and for all.

 

From what I have seen, the Ukrainians are completely different. They have a great sense of humour, and a good sense of loyalty and honour. But the major difference is their ability to openly display emotion in public. These concepts are largely unknown in the bulk of Russians. The Russians come from a country where it is not culturally appropriate to smile or show emotion in public. If they do show public emotion, it's usually limited to anger and/or aggression. The Ukrainians are right - they are not like them, nor do they want to be part of their world.

 

Putin's ravings about them being one people are just weasel words. His only interest in Ukraine is a land grab, and he knows that. It's just sad that the average Russian is so brainwashed that they believe his propaganda. Unfortunately, it's a hangover from the old Soviet mentality, where the government supplied you with a job or pension and an apartment, and you didn't have to think for yourself or need to question the leaders.

 

Ukraine is doing the right thing by ridding itself of it's Soviet past, and trying to join the modern world. On the other side, it's back to the USSR. The Russians are actually erecting brand new statues of Lenin in the occupied territories. You just couldn't make this stuff up, it's so ridiculous. A country that hasn't been communist for more than thirty years invades their neighbour and puts up statues of Lenin. I don't know where the doctors have gone, but the patients are running the madhouse.

[willedoo]

Just when we thought the Russians were on the back foot without a plan, they come up with a master stroke like this. Guaranteed to keep those pesky Ukrainians out of Crimea.

 

[willedoo]

Igor Girkin, the dude who recently was handed a life sentence for his involvement in the MH17 shootdown, is certainly not Jerkin the Girkin in this interview. I'd say his honesty will earn him a trip down the stairs before long.

 

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1604425636671627271

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I don't know where that interview took place, but I am guessing certianly not a major Russian city, if in the coutnry at all. He says he is working to ensure he is not held responsible for the SMO, which I can only take to mean ihe is working against the Kremlin.. that would be one hell of a thing to say in any major city, or anywhere where they know his whereabouts. Otherwise, I would not expect him to be alive by the time I finish typing out this reply

Edited December 18, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[Yenn]

We all seem to think that Putin is wrong, but why are we not doing more to stop this attempt to wipe out Ukraine, it looks as if our leaders are just as guilty as Putin. At least in 1939 Britain got it right when they declared war on germany.

[facthunter]

You weren't dealing with Psycho with the worlds largest arsenal of Nuclear warheads ready to  destroy the world rather than Have Mutha Russia  be humbled. . You have one of the Pillars of the UN and able to VETO anything who have LIED to the UN while  last in attendance. and it was their turn to have the chair... Nev

[Old Koreelah]

Which also explains why N Korea and Iran are going all-out to build up a nuclear deterrent. They saw what the West did to Libya and Iraq.

[willedoo]

47 minutes ago, Old Koreelah said:

Which also explains why N Korea and Iran are going all-out to build up a nuclear deterrent. They saw what the West did to Libya and Iraq.

Other countries will also be taking note on Russia double-crossing Ukraine in regard to nuclear weapons. After independence from the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited the nuclear weapons on their territory, and became a major nuclear power. They gave them up a couple of years later for a security guarantee signed jointly by Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.. Russia didn't honour the agreement and invaded Ukraine. What's obvious to the world is that Putin would never had invaded if Ukraine was still a major nuclear power. The lesson learned is that if you give up your nukes, someone will eventually belt you over the head.

[willedoo]

This is an interesting article about the Delta software package developed by Ukrainian programmers to give their army an edge over the Russians.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/18/our-weapons-are-computers-ukrainian-coders-aim-to-gain-battlefield-edge

[kgwilson]

20 hours ago, willedoo said:

One thing is for sure - they beat the Russians hands down in the smarts department.

 

One thing Putler and some of his followers have been babbling on about is Russians and Ukrainians being brothers culturally. The Russians see the war as bringing their wayward cousins back in to the fold (the Russian world). That's the nicer ones. Some others view Ukrainians as inferior beings who should all be exterminated.

 

Most Ukrainians are of the opinion that the cultural bond thing is a load of codswallop. They are saying to the Russians - no, we are nothing like you; we are not a part of your Russian world. If there was any doubts before the war about major differences existing between the peoples of both countries, the huge volume of social media postings by Ukrainians since February 24 has settled that issue once and for all.

 

From what I have seen, the Ukrainians are completely different. They have a great sense of humour, and a good sense of loyalty and honour. But the major difference is their ability to openly display emotion in public. These concepts are largely unknown in the bulk of Russians. The Russians come from a country where it is not culturally appropriate to smile or show emotion in public. If they do show public emotion, it's usually limited to anger and/or aggression. The Ukrainians are right - they are not like them, nor do they want to be part of their world.

 

Putin's ravings about them being one people are just weasel words. His only interest in Ukraine is a land grab, and he knows that. It's just sad that the average Russian is so brainwashed that they believe his propaganda. Unfortunately, it's a hangover from the old Soviet mentality, where the government supplied you with a job or pension and an apartment, and you didn't have to think for yourself or need to question the leaders.

 

Ukraine is doing the right thing by ridding itself of it's Soviet past, and trying to join the modern world. On the other side, it's back to the USSR. The Russians are actually erecting brand new statues of Lenin in the occupied territories. You just couldn't make this stuff up, it's so ridiculous. A country that hasn't been communist for more than thirty years invades their neighbour and puts up statues of Lenin. I don't know where the doctors have gone, but the patients are running the madhouse.

Yes my wifes Mother was born in Donetsk. She spoke fluent Russian. She hated the Russians. She witnessed her father & grandfather being executed by the Russians in the early 20s. When the Germans came in 1941 & put her in a labour camp for 4 years she still hated the Russian more than the Germans. I got this from her before she died

[willedoo]

5 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

Yes my wifes Mother was born in Donetsk. She spoke fluent Russian. She hated the Russians. She witnessed her father & grandfather being executed by the Russians in the early 20s. When the Germans came in 1941 & put her in a labour camp for 4 years she still hated the Russian more than the Germans. I got this from her before she died

There's a lot of bad history there. I don't think Ukraine will ever forgive the Holodomor in the 30's. The ironic thing about Putin's war is that a big majority of the civilians killed and wounded are Russian speakers, the very people he uses the pretence of protecting to justify his aggression against Ukraine.

[willedoo]

10 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

Yes my wifes Mother was born in Donetsk. She spoke fluent Russian. She hated the Russians. She witnessed her father & grandfather being executed by the Russians in the early 20s. When the Germans came in 1941 & put her in a labour camp for 4 years she still hated the Russian more than the Germans. I got this from her before she died

It's amazing how many Russian speakers in Ukraine are strongly pro Ukraine and anti Russian. Cultural groups are usually defined by language and Putler uses that to claim what's not his. At the end of the day, it's just a language. We speak English, but it doesn't mean we want to be English. The same would apply to the Russian speaking Ukrainians.

[facthunter]

Russia keeps occupied territory by FORCE. Ask the Hungarians about 1956. I worked with  few teachers from there who fled after the tank invasion by the Ruskies. The warring tribes of Europe (and every other place). Dig a bit and you'll find it near the surface in every place going back sometimes a thousand years.   Putin is a born thug, murderer and despot ex KGB so what do you expect?  Nev

[willedoo]

There's not a huge amount of difference between the two languages. Possibly a comparison would be the difference between Bahasa Indonesian and Malay. Ukrainian and Russian would probably have more difference in writing than in pronunciation of words. There's some alphabet differences and a fair few vocab differences, but generally the two can understand each other. The Ukrainians have  adopted one of their letter differences as a symbol of defiance against the Russians . It's the one that looks like our i, except it has two dots. It's been showing up as graffiti on walls in the occupied territories.

[facthunter]

In most of the earlier euro films if there's any bad guys they were always UKRANIANS. They are tough Mr Putin. You UNITED them under a media comic . HE's the REAL MAN and doesn't take $#!T from Russians whose Heart is not in it or some one who has special guards around him to prevent being killed..  While HE kills and destroys from a position of safety (though THAT is changing, Mr Putin).   Nev

[willedoo]

This propaganda video shows how pathetic the situation is becoming in Russia. A retired veteran is shamed into joining Putler's war, then returns home safely with the money to buy his daughter a mobile phone. And everyone is happy.

 

In reality, the only phones servicemen are bring back to Russia are those that they looted in Ukraine.

 

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1604548265802096641

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

2 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Yes my wifes Mother was born in Donetsk. She spoke fluent Russian. She hated the Russians. She witnessed her father & grandfather being executed by the Russians in the early 20s. When the Germans came in 1941 & put her in a labour camp for 4 years she still hated the Russian more than the Germans. I got this from her before she died

Sorry to hear about your wife's passing, KG.

 

There isa Ukranian with her daughter living in the next door house, and she has admitted she does not want to return to Ukraine, as "Russia will still be our neighbour" and she wants her daughter to grow up in a a (relatively) safe environment.

 

When Putin goes, there will be some other nutter to take advantage. As I tell my son, it is not the laws that make a society, it is its culture, and it would appear the Russian culture is exemplified in this war, as it was in Syria.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[onetrack]

Jerry, I think you misread Kevins post - it was his MIL that died, not his wife.

[willedoo]

I don't know if this clip is genuine or not. It could be Ukrainian made propaganda, but I think it's genuine as the lady doesn't seem to be scripted or reading from a prompt. It's supposed to be a Russian woman being interviewed in the street, and she is talking about the evil West. From what I've seen of the mentality of the Russian public since the start of the war, this attitude is quite believable. It's the exact same carp being sprouted by the mentally deficient TV hosts on the nightly television. The Kremlin has done their fair share of promoting this view as well.

 

The Kremlin needs to keep sprouting this stuff so the Russian public think the war is all about good against evil, with Russia being the good and righteous participant.

 

https://twitter.com/maria_drutska/status/1604498393069502466

[Jerry_Atrick]

Oops.. Sorry @kgwilson - misread it...

[willedoo]

Another Russian oil and gas field has gone up in flames. This one is in the Irkutsk region.

[willedoo]

There's been a lot of recent speculation about whether or not Putler is going to pressure Belarusian president Lukashenko into joining the war against Ukraine. So far, Luka has kept involvement to allowing Russian attacks from Belarus, but not directly supplying troops. He knows it would be the end of him and his army, so he's tried hard to avoid. The Belarusians aren't as gullible as the Russian public, and there's a lot of the population in Belarus that want Lukashenko out.

 

He needs his troops at home to keep the population in line and stay in power, and he only has a small military to start with. Possibly Putin is about to make him an offer he can't refuse. Or it could all be a bluff to tie up Ukrainian forces in the north. Whether the threat is real or not, Ukraine still has to use up a part of their forces guarding the border.

[kgwilson]

9 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Oops.. Sorry @kgwilson - misread it...

No worries. After all the hardships & abuse she still managed to get to 90. She spoke 7 languages but her English was relatively poor. She met her (Romanian) husband in the forced labour camp (their common language was German) & they only came to Australia because at the time they could not speak English & got in the wrong queue. They thought they were going to America. Better choice anyway though not by design.