Russia invasion of Ukraine

[mangamuscle]

Meanwhile, the death tally of the earthquake in turkey is over 9000. What does that has to do with the war in Ukraine? quite a lot, but some perspective is needed.

In 1985 there was a 8 magnitude hit the capital city of my country. Thousands died and people were mad at the piss poor reaction of the government and the corruption that allowed buildings to be built with below standard materials. That was the beginning of the end of the one party dictatorship that ruled the country for seven decades.

I fully expect that the reaction of erdogan's government to this tragedy to be piss poor and that after the death tally has ended, many tales about corruption will come to the light of day. Therefore I do not see erdogan winning next elections, at least not on a fair election. So either we have turkey move towards western democracies on the near future, or erdogan will do a coup and go full autocratic mode, which would signal turkey switching sides on this conflict.

[MeoTwister5]

Yeah uh one thing about autocrats is they they usually hate other autocrats...

[Jaden]

Those earthquakes were pretty substantial, destroyed more stuff than an average war would do. It's going to way more than 10,000 dead.
There are some European politicians wanting to deny aid or make it contingent on this or that political concession. That just rubs me the wrong way, victims of natural disasters should be given aid unconditionally.

[Sheba]

Unfortunately, politics of all leanings don't think the way humanitarians do. I have low expectations of all aids of any gov to NOT come with any conditions.

[Yu Ominae]

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianCo...rcial_we_have/

Combing through internet land and Wagner's claiming that 10 million applications were sent to them online. Majority came from the US, according to their statements via Telegram.

[Roger Rambo]

So looks like Musk is pulling some more fuck fuck games with Starlink. They're trying to limit the capacity of the Ukrainian military to use Starlink to remote control drones.

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - SpaceX has taken steps to prevent Ukraine's military from using the company's Starlink satellite internet service for controlling drones in the region during the country's war with Russia, SpaceX's president said Wednesday.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, which has provided Ukraine's military with broadband communications in its defense against Russia's military, was "never never meant to be weaponized," Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, said during a conference in Washington, D.C.

This all seems a tad disingenuous considering that off the shelf-commercial drones have been used by the Ukrainians since literally the start of the war. I don't think it's all that believable that SpaceX had no inkling this would be a possible way the system would be used, or they only recently noticed it this long in the the conflict. This all seems rather suspect given the kind of pro-appeasement rhetoric that's come out of Musk.

[ramlaen]

Strapping Starlink terminals to drones is not a reasonable expectation of their use and almost certainly outside the realm of SpaceX's ability to legally export it.

[Ithekro]

War tends to foster innovation, customization, and desperation. Ukraine will do what Ukraine must to survive. Having a tool used for a different purpose than intended is a natural consequence of warfare.

[Key Board]

Ukraine's infrastructure is being bombed periodically and they still have their hands tied behind their backs by their aid givers

//

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Key Board

Ukraine's infrastructure is being bombed periodically and they still have their hands tied behind their backs by their aid givers

How do you boil a living frog in water? Very slowly rising up the heat, otherwise it will jump out of the cooking pot. This is no different, the biggest risk for the west is not nuclear war, but leaving a half-cooked mess like the korean war aftermath. russia is a several orders of magnitude bigger risk for the free world that should be addressed thoroughly.

Yeah, it is unfair for the ukranian people to suffer, just as unfair that in history books we read about how russia suffered at the hands of nazi germany, not how Ukraine (plus Belarus & the Baltic states) suffered at the hands of nazi germany. This is not the first time, lets hope it is the last.

[Yu Ominae]

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status...C-hc7z74ktAAAA

The Ukrainian Air Force (via Air Command South) reported that a KH-55 was taken down by a MANPAD. It's equipped with a KTS-120-12 inert warhead imitator.

[Yu Ominae]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/com..._supporter_to/

The Ukrainian Embassy in Beijing received a gift, a model of the Moskva, from an anonymous Chinese supporter of Ukraine.

[Jaden]

Told you guys, it's the new meta

https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/02/...etrovsk-oblast

Spoiler:

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Told you guys, it's the new meta

https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/02/...etrovsk-oblast

The real question is, does the balloon cargo is homegrown or is it shock full of chinese equipment?

I'm surprised no one here is talking about how the nordstream was bombed by the CIA (yeah, biden is a blabber mouth)

[Yu Ominae]

Moldova accused Russia of planning to do a “Little Green Men” scenario.

The SBU in Kyiv sounded the alarm.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64626785.amp

[Yu Ominae]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ss-2023-02-13/

Vladimir Makarov (No relation to a certain COD bad guy) was sacked from his position at the MVD. He's been responsible for hunting/arresting "extremists", including Navalny.

So he chose to end himself with a gun. His son called for help, but it was too late.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by mangamuscle

I'm surprised no one here is talking about how the nordstream was bombed by the CIA (yeah, biden is a blabber mouth)

I just don't get it. It seems like literally nobody benefits from that thing being blown up. Scholtz had just agreed to phase out Russian gas anyway, and you'd think that even the CIA has a lot to lose when they inevitably get caught.

Fuck man, the baltic sea is polluted enough already without these shenanigans

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Yu Ominae

Moldova accused Russia of planning to do a “Little Green Men” scenario.

No doubt putin wants the stockpiles of soviet era ammunition stored in transnistria. Also, seeing how they are treating their own citizens, it would not surprise me after a successful coup that they drafted the entire Moldovan population to wage war against Ukraine.

Originally Posted by Jaden

I just don't get it. It seems like literally nobody benefits from that thing being blown up. Scholtz had just agreed to phase out Russian gas anyway, and you'd think that even the CIA has a lot to lose when they inevitably get caught.

In retrospective it makes no sense, but a politician's word is not the coin of the realm, if you know what I mean.

I suppose atm there are negotiations behind closed doors about how and when the USA will pay for this mess, that is, supposing all interested parties were not contacted right after for immediate negotiations, I mean, nobody here is surprised that they didn't demand russia to pay right after the incident?

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by mangamuscle

No doubt putin wants the stockpiles of soviet era ammunition stored in transnistria. Also, seeing how they are treating their own citizens, it would not surprise me after a successful coup that they drafted the entire Moldovan population to wage war against Ukraine.

While I'm sure the Russian army would *like* all that Soviet Era ammo in Transistria, how is couping Moldova supposed to get it for them?

Spoiler:

Honestly this reads as some guys in the Kremlin and FSB just plain refusing to admit the plans they made to annex Moldova right after conquering Ukraine in a week just aren't tenable anymore. The Russian alligned troops in Transistria are few in number and geographically cut off from any Russian support, and have a massively militarized Ukraine at their back. Tranistria would need to throw all their available troops at Moldova if they wanted to occupy it, and that'd leave them catastrophically vulnerable to the Ukrainian deciding to intervene and attacking them in their rear lines with some of their reserve troops and their air force (the Transistrian defense forces have no modern anti-air weapons). At that point if anyone was getting their hands on Tranistria's old soviet ammo stockpiles it'd be Ukraine.

I'm inclined to believe Ukraine's intel that some FSB types in Tranistira were wanting to pull off this stunt. It just seems like it's a massively stupid idea.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

While I'm sure the Russian army would *like* all that Soviet Era ammo in Transistria, how is couping Moldova supposed to get it for them?

It just seems like it's a massively stupid idea.

At that point putin would be: