You wrote above that you're not defending Putin, yet you keep blaming NATO/US for causing Putin to invade another sovereign country. That sounds to me like a defense.
but we don't ahve the pipelines to get the oil to the coasts and we refuse to waive jones act requirements that would allow for cheaper transport by foreign flagged tankers. Meanwhile, Biden admin and the tribes are trying to kill the pipeline that is moving oil from ND to Illinois where it can get moved to east coast refineries that need it. desperately need a pipeline from ND and from Oklahoma to west coast refineries. Biden needs to waive Jones act and open up the SPR
because the Ukranian democracy was doing so well and spilling over into Belarus where Putin had to send in troops to put down the uprising before Belarus went democratic too? or because Putin is trying to build his legacy as the one who restored the empire?
my take on the thread...the current Minister of Defense is a political creature with no real leadership background who took over in 2012 and allowed corruption and incompetence to run rampant to the detriment of their fighting ability.
Ukraine striking back on Russian soil. Most excellent <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">Explosion rocked air base in Millerovo, Rostov region <a href="https://t.co/9hfalmAgWT">Explosion rocked air base in Millerovo, Rostov region Millerovo, Rostovskaya oblast' - Ukraine Interactive map - Ukraine Latest news on live map - liveuamap.com</a> <a href="https://t.co/WVQ6BdwyQM">pic.twitter.com/WVQ6BdwyQM</a></p>— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) <a href="">February 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Russian Military Base Blown Up as Ukraine Fights Back (msn.com) Ukrainian missiles appear to have hit a Russian military base in Millerovo, a Russian town 16 kilometers from the border of the two countries, according to unconfirmed social media posts.
Russian central bank raises key interest rate to 20% to try and encourage deposits Russia hikes key rate to 20% in emergency move, tells companies to sell FX (msn.com) (Reuters) - The Russian central bank raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5% on Monday in an emergency move, and authorities told export-focused companies to sell foreign currency as the rouble tumbled to record lows. .................. In another attempt to support the rouble, the central bank and the finance ministry also jointly ordered Russian exporting companies to sell 80% of their foreign currency revenues on the market. The recent moves add to a slew of measures announced since Thursday to support domestic markets, as the state scrambles to manage the broadening fallout from Western sanctions imposed in retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
UK has the ability to squeeze the oligarchs like no other country Londongrad tries to kick its 30-year Russian money habit | Reuters LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - VTB Capital last week lowered a large Russian flag at its palatial building opposite the Bank of England in London's financial district, signalling a retreat from one of the main global centres for money flows. Hours earlier, Britain had said it was freezing the assets of Russia's largest investment bank as punishment for Moscow's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, as part of what the government said is its largest-ever package of sanctions. So far Britain has only sanctioned ten Russians, with minimal assets in Britain, giving others a chance to move them to proxies offshore. Over the weekend, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich said he was giving management of Chelsea soccer club to the team's charitable foundation amid calls for him to be sanctioned. read more "If the government decides to take action, London could significantly impact the activities of ... (Putin's) inner circle," said Tom Best, an international investigations partner with Paul Hastings in Washington. IN OVERDRIVE Russian business has grown tentacles deep in Britain's financial system in the thirty years since the Soviet Union's collapse, prompting the British parliament's security and intelligence committee to warn in 2020 that its influence was so deeply embedded that by now it "cannot be untangled". While Russian billionaires are best known for their high-end mansions in Belgravia and Knightsbridge, the protection provided by the English legal system, along with light-touch regulation, has also made London a haven for much of their private wealth. Russians have more than 27 billion pounds invested in Britain where they come to bank, shop, educate their children and make use of the courts, government data shows.
Russia Stumbles in Biggest Test of Its Military Force The longstanding U.S. policy of modulating the supply of arms to Ukraine so as not to provoke Russia has also affected the country’s military capability. Stinger antiaircraft systems weren’t sent to Ukraine until January when the Biden administration approved a request by Latvia and Lithuania to provide the U.S.-made systems from their arsenals. The U.S. has since opted to send antiaircraft missiles from its own inventory. Experts say, however, that it takes time to distribute the weapons and train Ukrainian forces in how to use them. The U.S. hasn’t outfitted the Ukrainians with antiship missiles. The Ukrainian forces have benefited from the U.S., British and other allied training, however, as well as U.S. intelligence about Russia military moves. The Ukrainians have also been adept at moving their surface-to-air systems and turning them off at times to make them harder to be targeted by the Russians, Western analysts say. As a result, Russia has yet to achieve air superiority in the country. A senior U.S. defense official said Sunday that the Russians have been frustrated by the slow pace of their offensive but will try to adjust their strategy and tactics in the face of setbacks. “To some degree, they’ve done it to themselves in terms of their fuel and logistics and sustainment,” the official said. “We would expect them to learn from these issues and adapt to them and try to overcome them.”
And Cuba wasn't trying to invade the US, it's a sovereign country theoretically free to pick with whom to align and what weapons to station there. Yet when Russian nukes are placed there, we were prepared to invade and even go to nuclear war if needed. Iraq was a sovereign country, yet when they threatened to develop imagined WMDs, we invaded and executed their leader. Iran is a sovereign country, yet as they make progress toward developing WMDs, we slapped them with crippling sanctions and probably would go to war either by proxy via Israel or directly if they get any closer. Taiwan is a sovereign country, yet if they ever declare themselves so, China will go to war. Look, it doesn't matter what's right or wrong, all that matters is that all superpowers have red lines. Ukraine joining NATO is as much of a clear red line to Russia as it is for Cuba to have nuclear missiles is to the US or Taiwan declaring independence is for China. We thought Russia was bluffing. The Europeans did too but wouldn't have tested it without American push. We were wrong. As an update of my analysis of the progress of war. It seems like the overall Russia strategy is still to focus on the Black Sea shore and the regions east of the Dnieper. They're close to securing the Eastern side of the Black Sea shore, the last remaining target appears to be Mariupol. Another arm of the Russia army is attacking northward from Crimea, the goal is probably to link up with the forces from the north, forcing the Ukrainian forces on the Eastern front to either withdraw or be surrounded. Russian forces in the East are pretty quiet, they're probably there mostly to tie down the the Ukrainian army. On the Kyiv front it appears that the Russian focus right now is on encircling the city. In fact that appears to be the strategy across Ukraine as Russian forces are largely bypassing cities and focusing on encircling Ukrainian forces. These are pretty time honored tactics. Both the Germans and Russians conducted several large scale envelopment maneuvers in Ukraine in WWII. We'll see how the Ukrainians deal with it. What they need to do is to buy time. The timing of the Russian attack is a bit peculiar, as it happens right before the thaw in March. When the snow melts offroad maneuvering will be difficult for mechanized units as the ground turns to slush. Modern weaponry hasn't advanced as far in this regard. This doesn't leave the Russians a whole lot of time for these types of large scale mechanized maneuvers.
Ok...I want folks to think of how bad Russia's actions are...that JAPAN, yes JAPAN is considering entering a NATO-esque nuclear arms agreement with the US. "...former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a day earlier. On Sunday, Abe said on a television program that Japan should discuss a possible sharing of nuclear weapons similar to that of NATO members following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements permit the US to keep its nuclear weapons in Europe. Abe acknowledged the non-nuclear principles and said Japan must stick to the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons — especially as a country that has experienced atomic bombings — but argued "it's essential to understand how the world's security is maintained, and we shouldn't treat those discussions as a taboo."" (The current PM disagrees but can you imagine reaching the point where the country that had nukes kill thousands upon thousands of it's people has anyone reaching this point?)
To follow up on Japan and its situation. Since so many see Putin as justified, does this mean he'd be justified in invading Japan? South Korea joining in, per CNN live: "South Korea will ban exports of strategic materials to Russia and join the international effort to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments system, the country's Foreign Ministry said Monday. The ministry did not disclose which key strategic materials would be subject to export bans but said it had notified the United States of its decision via a diplomatic channel. The decision on whether to also ban exports of non-strategic materials, including semiconductors and electronics, will be made “as soon as possible,” the ministry added."
I worry about the next guy. It seems that since the Russiansthrew out the commies it has been a downward spiral.
Belarus held a "special referendum" to change it's constitution to allow for nukes, allow it's current president to run for 2 more terms, and requested Russia give back the nukes it returned if the allies put nukes in Poland & Lithuania. Lukashenko also accused NATO of pushing Russia into WW3. SMH
