World Politics

[Wideleft]

3 minutes ago, Tracker said:

In addition, a Russian blogger has reported that 1.5 million sets of winter combat outfits that were supposed to have been stored in a warehouse and ready for shipment are nowhere to be found. Either they have been mislaid (unlikely) or stolen (even more unlikely) or were never produced with the supplier pocketing the funds (probable). Either way, the coming winter is going to be even worse than the fall. Other reports say that the ethnic Russians have been pulled back from the front lines, leaving the Chechens and other minority draftees to face the oncoming Ukrainian forces who have not only the weapons, munitions and supplies from the West, but also massive amounts of abandoned Russian armoured vehicles, weapons and munitions from Russian forces. Not a good time to be a Russian grunt. 

Read a few stories reporting that Russia is disproportionately forcing its non-white regions to report.

[do or die]

As I speculated earlier.......that Northeast offensive has now swung south.......and may trap 20-25,000 Russians around Kherson...

[Mark F]

there are plenty of videos of russians being gunned down by Ukrainian soldiers using captured Russian weapons.

 

invading Ukraine is much harder than installing a puppet as American President.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Mark F

[Tracker]

4 hours ago, Mark F said:

there are plenty of videos of russians being gunned down by Ukrainian soldiers using captured Russian weapons.

invading Ukraine is much harder than installing a puppet as American President.

Invading Ukraine was the easy part- holding the seized territory is the problem. Putin gambled billions of rubles, the lives of tens of thousands of troops, and his own regency that no Western nation of any size would come to the aid of Ukraine, preferring comfort over involvement. He was wrong and his own thralls lied to him about the weakness of of Ukraine, the readiness of the Russian military and their willingness to die for his glory. I cannot see how Putin can survive this.

[Tracker]

                                               

[Tracker]

From the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence:

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-law-annex-ukraine-regions-war-1.6606535

Quote

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws that claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russia's territory while his country's military struggled Wednesday to control the illegally annexed areas. In a defiant move, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine.

Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that "certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia."

Putin last week signed treaties that purport to absorb Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia. The move followed Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums" in Ukraine that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.

The annexation is Europe's biggest since the Second World War and represents up to 18 per cent of Ukraine, some of which Moscow's forces do not control. If Crimea is added, which Russia annexed in 2014, Moscow is laying claim to 22 per cent of Ukraine, though it has yet to spell out where all of the borders will be located.

Putin has vowed to defend Russia's territory — including the annexed regions — with any means at his military's disposal, including nuclear weapons.

Kyiv, meanwhile, said it will never accept an illegal, imperial-style land grab and has recaptured hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of its own territory in recent weeks.

The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel shortly after Putin signed the annexation legislation that "the worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on."

Zelenskyy responded to the annexation by announcing Ukraine's fast-track application to join NATO. In a decree released Tuesday, he also ruled out negotiations with Russia, declaring that Putin's actions made talking to the Russian leader impossible.

“Don’t believe those who try to use Russia to scare you, who say that, after Crimea, other [Ukrainian] regions will follow. We don’t want to carve up Ukraine. We don’t need this.”

Vladimir Putin, March 18, 2014

**** you, Putin.

[17to85]

3 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-law-annex-ukraine-regions-war-1.6606535

“Don’t believe those who try to use Russia to scare you, who say that, after Crimea, other [Ukrainian] regions will follow. We don’t want to carve up Ukraine. We don’t need this.”

Vladimir Putin, March 18, 2014

**** you, Putin.

but he seemed like such a trustworthy guy...

[Tracker]

                                                                    

[Tracker]

                             

[Mark F]

https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-browder-putin-likely-behind-russia-mystery-executive-deaths-2022-10

 

In 2022 alone, at least 15 executives — most with strong ties to Russia's energy industries — have died in unusual ways. Authorities in Russia have generally called them accidents or likely suicides. 

 

interesting, the internal Russian mafia war is starting.

see who wins. not The Russian people.

would be nice to have someone spill the beans on trump.

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Mark F

[Wideleft]

Novaya Kakhhovka is the water source for Crimea.  Ukrainian forces now pushing down the West side of the Dniper towards it.

 

 

 

[blue_gold_84]

Sanna Marin hits the nail on the head.

[Mark F]

ukrainian foreign minister to elon musk.

 

The billionaire’s comments ignited a torrent of criticism online, including from Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s former Ambassador to Germany, who lashed out at Musk with expletive-laced insults about Musk’s business.

“**** off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” Melnyk said in a Tweet. “The only outcome [is] that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing tesla crap. So good luck to you [sic].”

 

 

[iHeart]

man I thought for sure that Zelensky would have been a shoe in

 

[Wideleft]

Russians flee by boat to Alaska after Putin’s military mobilization

The incident underscores the lengths to which some Russians have gone to avoid being called up as Ukraine’s military inflicts heavy losses

By Alex Horton

October 6, 2022 at 5:34 p.m. EDT

 

Two Russian nationals fleeing President Vladimir Putin’s call-up of military reservists landed by boat on a remote Alaskan island in the Bering Sea and are seeking asylum in the United States, the state’s two senators and U.S. government officials said Thursday.

 

The unusual incident highlights the lengths some Russians have gone to avoid a mobilization of up to 300,000 as Putin’s military, having suffered heavy losses in Ukraine, has made multiple retreats in recent weeks amid an aggressive offensive push by Ukrainian forces. An estimated 200,000 Russians have fled since the call-up.

The two appeared this week at a beach near Gambell, a tiny community on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island about 40 miles from mainland Russia, where they reported having fled “to avoid compulsory military service,” a spokesperson for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told the Associated Press.

Murkowski and fellow Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said the incident has exposed a need of greater security in the Arctic, where Russian military ships and aircraft have increasingly asserted their presence. Seven military vessels from Russia and China were spotted in the Bering Sea last month sailing in international waters.

“We are actively engaged with federal officials and residents in Gambell to determine who these individuals are, but right now, we already know that the federal response was lacking,” Murkowski said. “Only local officials and state law enforcement had the capability to immediately respond to the asylum seekers, while Customs and Border Protection had to dispatch a Coast Guard aircraft from over 750 miles away to get on scene.”

The Coast Guard referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which said the Russians were transported to Anchorage for processing.

Sullivan said in a statement that the incident made clear that “the Russian people don’t want to fight Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

[Tracker]

                                                        

[johnzo]

The Kerch Bridge is on fire and is partially collapsed.  Holy cow.

[HardCoreBlue]

7 hours ago, johnzo said:

The Kerch Bridge is on fire and is partially collapsed.  Holy cow.

The aftermath of all this will be staggering.

[bustamente]

45 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

The aftermath of all this will be staggering.

The damage done to Ukraine will take decades to rebuild and the death of innocent people can never be replaced. On the flip side Putin sent so many young Russians to be slaughtered.

[Mark F]

my hope, after ukraine get their country back, is,that they get an honest goverment, that does everything with the best interests of the people foremost.

and that we, the rest of the world let them decide whats best for them on their own.

been pillaged by criminal politicians of all stripes for years. and pushed from all,sides externally. americans, russians, europeans, all pushing them this way and that,promoting their own agendas and interests.

not easy, but Zelinsky is probably up to the job, and wants to do it. 

Putin will probably go, but the Russian people dont  seem to be inclined towards democracy. too many centuries of being under the boot maybe.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Mark F

[Tracker]

                                               

[Mark F]

dzerzhynskyi division.  oh oh.

named after felix probly, who ran cheka

The Cheka became notorious for mass summary executions, performed especially during the Red Terror and the Russian Civil War.^[23][24] The Cheka undertook drastic measures as thousands of political opponents and saboteurs were shot without trial in the basements of prisons and in public places.^[25] Dzerzhinsky said: "We represent in ourselves organized terror—this must be said very clearly,"

[Tracker]

14 minutes ago, Mark F said:

dzerzhynskyi division.  oh oh.

named after felix probly, who ran cheka

The Cheka became notorious for mass summary executions, performed especially during the Red Terror and the Russian Civil War.^[23][24] The Cheka undertook drastic measures as thousands of political opponents and saboteurs were shot without trial in the basements of prisons and in public places.^[25] Dzerzhinsky said: "We represent in ourselves organized terror—this must be said very clearly,"

The Russians are no strangers to reprisals, torture and extra-judicial killings for the past 90 years. This is deeply ingrained in their culture, particularly in their military and intelligence services. As I have posted here, there is strong evidence that they have resorted to the tactics (such as taking the gold fillings of slain prisoners) in Ukraine  that were the hallmark of the Nazi Gestapo. 

I fear that the Ukrainians will retaliate after driving the Russians back to pre-2014 borders using the same measures on Russians and Russian sympathizers they capture. This will create intergenerational hatreds that will poison any peace and ensure a century or more of instability.

[Tracker]