Russia Invades Ukraine

[raison de arizona]

BREAKING: Belarus says constitutional referendum passes, revoking its non-nuclear status and paving the way for Russian nuclear weapons in the country

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/2 ... ear-status

New @Maxar satellite images show a 3.25-mile convoy of Russian ground forces with 100s of military vehicles NE of Ivankiv, Ukraine and moving toward Kyiv (40 miles away). Contains fuel, logistics, armored vehicles (tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery).

Satellite imagery of the Antonov airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, NW of Kyiv. You can see the damage caused by recent airstrikes and heavy fighting in and near the airport. : @Maxar

[sugar magnolia]

I know so many people from Brasil who love Bolsonaro, but hate Trump. They don't see them as same.

My daughter lives there and has the opposite opinion, as does most everyone she knows. Apparently, so does about 80% of the country, based on his 20% approval rating.

[neonzx]

I know so many people from Brasil who love Bolsonaro, but hate Trump. They don't see them as same.

My daughter lives there and has the opposite opinion, as does most everyone she knows. Apparently, so does about 80% of the country, based on his 20% approval rating.

I'm speaking of Brazilians living in the USA, not those still stuck in Brasil.

[Foggy]

In today's exciting episode of History On The March, look out for the increasingly brutal financial penalties, which are gathering speed and roaring downhill toward the tottering oligarchy.

At the same time, those of us with an eye on history are fascinated by the use of technology, in particular the worldwide web, as a weapon in the battle for freedom. Did Anonymous really take down the Russian stock exchange? Are they really going to take down all Russian connections to the international money markets? Is the US gubbermint anti-hacking team qualified to fend off the storm that is surely coming in response to the financial penalties?

To a guy born in 1952, the Internet can often seem a little ... ephemeral. It's just a lot of ones and zeroes. Today we're finding out it's not just a real thing with real concrete power, it's a really important weapon in a war that's happening 5,000 miles 8,000 kilometers away from my front door.

Folks, back in the day they used to say DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL.

Today, that's my motto. Well, and falsehoods unchallenged only fester and grow, yeah.

[neonzx]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ru ... 022-02-28/

KYIV/MOSCOW, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials began on the Belarusian border on Monday as Russia faced deepening economic isolation four days after invading Ukraine.

Russian forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency said.

But they ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two failed to make as much ground as some had expected.

Talks began with the aim of an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces, the Ukrainian president's office said. Russia has been cagier about the talks, with the Kremlin declining to comment on Moscow's aim.

It was not clear whether any progress could be achieved after Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia's nuclear-armed units on high alert on Sunday.

[filly]

If someone can explain this Russian Central Bank thing that would be great. A dizzying swirl of information and I am not able to read long stories.

[Chilidog]

If someone can explain this Russian Central Bank thing that would be great. A dizzying swirl of information and I am not able to read long stories.

As near as I can figure, they are offering 20% interest rates for deposits in a currency that has already lost 15% of its value over the past week and is almost certain to lose more.

[raison de arizona]

The Russian central bank’s financial reserves in dollars and euros held by financial institutions around the world which total around $650B are frozen. Is my understanding.

[neeneko]

As near as I can figure, they are offering 20% interest rates for deposits in a currency that has already lost 15% of its value over the past week and is almost certain to lose more.

Heh.. so they are trying to go the same route as turkey with their rather untested 'we will match your losses if you just keep money in the bank!' plan.

[Mr brolin]

Couple of items.

Externally hosted Russian Central Bank reserves are now basically held hostage by the Bank of England, Federal Reserve etc, Frozen and held until sanctions are withdrawn

As the Rouble is now Rubble, inflation is spiking high, so monetary policy needs to increase interest rates to attempt to control an uncontrolled flight of capital.

In an attempt to stop the Russian stock market from collapsing further the central bank took the opportunity of the market being off line to close the market to try and restrict mass dumping of stock/securities

Russian bonds are now basically rated at "Junk" levels which means the only way to make them even vaguely attractive is to whack up the return, typically interest or coupons are now massively increased....but still few takers.

The government is attempting to prevent foreign investors who hold Russian company stock and securities from dumping it, see BP dumping its 19.75% voting stake in Rosneft

Expect to see the Central bank sending out instructions to restrict withdrawals from individuals bank accounts in the next few days if the market continues to tank

[p0rtia]

ICYMI, Rachel Vindman is a BOSS.

[raison de arizona]

Senator Ron Johnson is one of the US politicians that celebrated American Independence Day... in Russia.

WaPo called them the Prostrate Eight: Sens. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Hoeven (N.D.), John Neely Kennedy (La.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), John Thune (S.D.) and Johnson, plus Rep. Kay Granger (Tex.).

[MN-Skeptic]

I stumbled onto this extreme pro-Putin blog post and thought you folks might want to see what an over-the-top Putin apologist has to say -

The Situation in the Ukraine: Predictions vs. Reality

Last Thursday I reposed my “top ten signs that Russia has invaded the Ukraine” from 8 years ago when the Ukrainian regime change and civil war first started and the West continuously made claims that Russia had invaded. Well, last Thursday Russia did indeed invade.

Russia had the full legal right to invade the Ukraine from several perspectives: to defend its allies in Donetsk and Lugansk; to defend itself against Ukrainian WMDs, which the Ukrainian president threatened to start producing at the Munich Security Conference; and to stop NATO from continuing its advance toward Russian borders in violation of its previous commitment of “not an inch to the east.” Russia exercised its right of self-defense under article 51 of part 7 of the UN Charter. The Ukraine had forfeited its right to territorial integrity under the 1970 UN Declaration by refusing to honor the rights of its Russian-speaking population. It also refused to renew its Friendship Treaty with Russia and therefore no longer had a defined border with Russia that Russia was obligated to honor.

From a strictly legalistic perspective, claims that “Russia violated the Ukraine’s territorial integrity” or that this is “an act of Russian aggression” is just pure twaddle. From a moral perspective, the fact that the entire international community idly stood by and ineffectually discussed politics for eight years during which the civilian population of Donetsk and Lugansk was continuously shelled by the Ukrainian “anti-terrorist operation” is utterly shameful.

People who are now speaking out against Russia’s military action in the Ukraine need to answer a simple question: Where have you been for the last eight years while the carnage in Donetsk and Lugansk was going on, while people were being burned alive in Odessa, while the Ukrainian government organized terrorist operations on Russian territory and while the entire Ukrainian population has been forced to kowtow to Americans and to speak Ukrainian, most often against its will? If your answer is “I didn’t know” then you have forfeited your right to an informed opinion on what’s happening there now. Please keep that in mind and act accordingly.

More at the link above. The comment section is just as bad as the article.

[RVInit]

I have a very uneasy feeling about what is really going on here. Russia should have been able to just destroy Ukraine on Day 1, 2, or maybe even take 3 days. I am having increasingly foreboding thoughts that Russia and generals have been deliberately making bad choices and sacrificing in order to build a false sense of security and false sense of Ukraine's ability to fend them off.

There is a caravan at least 3 to 5 miles long of very heavy artillery and rockets heading straight for Kiev. Wouldn't it be smart to distract them by offering "talks", which means Zelenskyy had to spend at least some time talking strategy on that, possibly losing a day of military defense strategy. If those heavy artillery reach Kiev, I don't see any way that it's not all over. They are suspiciously offering for civilians a free way out of Kiev. They plan to bomb Kiev into oblivion. And Zelenskyy will likely be killed.

[neeneko]

I have a very uneasy feeling about what is really going on here. Russia should have been able to just destroy Ukraine on Day 1, 2, or maybe even take 3 days. I am having increasingly foreboding thoughts that Russia and generals have been deliberately making bad choices and sacrificing in order to build a false sense of security and false sense of Ukraine's ability to fend them off.

Yeah, I am really wondering what happened there. The invasion seems so badly miscalculated that it feels really wrong.

The Russian military has always had issues with being a bit of a patronage system, and as Putin has been getting more paranoid and wagon circling over the decades, it is possible that between purges and promotion of loyalists, the current military brass and planners really are that incompetent. Russia has been really big lately on the appearance of strength, but even before the invasion there was a lot of speculation about how much of a paper tiger they were. I have also seen speculation that this was all on a politically defined time table that they just couldn't meet.

But yeah, some of the mistakes here are really baffling. Invading a weaker country via your own borders is a best case scenario when it comes to planning and logistics, there is no excuse for having trouble keeping troops supplied over such short distances from your own network.

[Ben-Prime]

But, y'all, what if we have it all wrong and the Ukrainians are really out there chanting "Let's Go, Rusty!"?

[northland10]

Yeah, I am really wondering what happened there. The invasion seems so badly miscalculated that it feels really wrong.

I wondered if the army might be capable of doing what looks sloppy to slow him down. If that is the case (pure guess right now), they may be able to control his worse impulses at least a bit.

Then again, never bet against stupidity because the dear leader purged too many who had the capacity to make this work. It would not be the first time for Russia.

[New Turtle]

Seems kinda dangerous, she just gave herself a new hairstyle.

[raison de arizona]

Wow, gives a whole new meaning to "going out for cocktails!"

That's crazy.

[Phoenix520]

I don’t think they care about their hair or even safety all that much. The chance to join the fight must be exhilarating.

[chancery]

It's all fun and games until the Russians respond with reprisals.

[Volkonski]

[p0rtia]

Liberty goes Ukraine.jpg (66.8 KiB) Viewed 856 times

[Volkonski]

The New York Times
@nytimes
·
20m
Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held initial talks in Belarus on Monday amid limited hopes for a breakthrough that could end the war that started when Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Delegates returned to their respective capitals for consultations. https://nyti.ms/3hmCMlU

[Volkonski]