Just to get the subject back to the subject, Ukraine now reporting gains across the entire front. Could be exaggeration or even total BS, of course, but that would be a risky proposition with little upside. Putin’s forces being pushed back ‘in all directions’ as Kyiv’s troops advance - live
Sad … At the beginning of June, under pressure for the U.S., the Ukrainian army finally launched its counteroffensive. It was a dud. The Ukrainian troops entered the Russian security zone miles away from the real defense lines and immediately ran into mine fields and came under intense artillery fire. After 4 weeks of fighting they 'liberated' some 50 square miles of open land and a few small settlements. This came at significant costs: Moon of Alabama
Someone calculated that, at present pace, it will take Ukraine 117 years to recapture the 40,000 square miles Russia has taken. I’m guessing the Russians are betting they’ll run out of Amerikrainians to kill before that.
As per the usual, the point sailed over your head. Nobody is attempting to justify Russia's bombing of civilian structures. International humanitarian law requires all parties to a conflict to avoid locating, to the maximum extent feasible, military objectives within or near densely populated areas. From the article, Ukraine is doing the following: Military bases set up in residential areas including schools and hospitals Attacks launched from populated civilian areas I'm not sure why we would continuously lament Russia's war crimes, yet ignore some very underhanded and callous things the Ukrainians are doing to their own people. I would venture to say most of Russia's strikes into these residential neighborhoods are to take out Ukrainian military targets that have been interspersed amongst the Ukrainian population. I highly doubt Russia is randomly wasting their missiles to strike civilian targets in Ukraine. Most of the women and children have left the country and the men who stayed back are required to fight. So it's not like the Russians are going to stir a mass revolt against the war inside of Ukraine by striking civilian targets. Russia are trying to hit military targets housed in residential settings. You are correct that Russia's invasion is wholly unjustified. Thus, their bombing of any installation in Ukraine is wrong, but as the article rightly points out, that doesn't absolve Ukraine's humanitarian responsibilities. More importantly, from the U.S. standpoint, it really calls into question who we are helping here and why. There's nothing remotely humanitarian about what we're doing over there. As with so many examples in history, we don't find out until a few years down the road some of the awful things the government we were fighting our proxy war through was doing to their own during said war.
Kramatorsk: Ukraine accuses man of treason over deadly Russian missile attack So, why did Russia need a Ukrainian's help to take out a pizza restaurant? Seems like pretty low hanging fruit if your goal is to randomly attack civilian targets, does it not? Ukraine arrested the man for treason. Hmmmm....
Not sure I understand your point. If the man filmed Ukrainian high-value targets and sent the footage to the Russians for targeting, then that’s textbook treason in any culture. To the Russians, he gets to be a hero and die a hero’s death, though. So fair trade. I don’t see the “Hmmmm….”
the hmmmm is he’s a fricken Russian apologist constantly and he tries to hide like a weenie behind the curtain of “objectivity” but he’s just straight up rooting for Russia and is getting worse at covering it up as time goes by. I mean seriously… a country should be able to put their military wherever they want as long as their own people don’t mind. It’s not ukraines fault they are being invaded. His logic is so damn backwards. Like how dare Ukraine hide their army from a huge first world nuclear power. Maybe they were hiding in civilian locations, which makes sense since this is a war inside their own country and often in their own cities. So are they allowed to have troops in cities being actively attacked? Or are they only allowed to line up in pretty rows on open fields? Seriously these takes are so bad.
Even so, I don’t see the “hmmm.” If he’s suggesting that Ukraine is doing something shady by charging an alleged traitor with treason, then I don’t see it. If it’s that Ukraine is doing something shady by putting military forces into cities, then I would say Russia has put Ukraine into a situation where it has to defend cities. As I’ve stated before, I don’t begrudge Russia attacking military targets inside of cities. I merely mock them for being unable to do so without hitting an apartment complex two blocks away. If they don’t have the capability to hit targets with precision, then they should focus on something that they know how to do.
People on this thread are apologists for Washington’s War on the World. They’re America right or wrong, however wrong.
The "Hmmmm..." is because the report doesn't tell you the pizza restaurant building was being used by the Ukrainian military. Obviously it was, to be worth mentioning to the Russians in the first place. The man leaked that to Russian forces and the attack commenced. My guess is some Ukrainian special operatives or higher level military was in the complex. Ukraine is not going to waste time investigating a possible treason charge unless military assets were compromised. Obviously, it was Ukrainian military using a pizza restaurant as cover. The story leaves that part out. Hence, the sarcastic Hmmmm....
They do mind and no, a country shouldn't be able to use schools and hospitals as cover for military ops when there are still children and patients present. That's a huge violation of international law. That you don't understand this and look past it as though it's meaningless is quite telling. And if you read the story, the Ukrainians very much do mind it. They aren't stupid. If military is hiding out in your house, you and your family just became targets when they didn't need to be. You've basically admitted Ukraine can't win the war without flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. That you can't discuss it without getting all emotional tells me you're just cheerleading one side of a war without looking at the details of who we are helping. Yes, I'd say it's extremely problematic that Ukraine are using apartment buildings, restaurants, schools and hospitals to cloak their troops. You try to gloss over it with "cities". No, they are in buildings where civilians are gathered and extremely vulnerable in an ongoing war where the opposing side has made it clear they won't bat an eye if they need to hit an apartment building to accomplish their objectives. That's why the international courts have made it an illegal practice.
I don't care about Ukraine charging the alleged traitor with treason. I see nothing wrong with that. But it's only treason because Russia hit some (at least) semi-valuable Ukrainian military target. Ukraine charging the suspect with treason is completely understandable. The media leaving out the fact that the reason the pizza restaurant was hit was because Ukrainian military was using it, likely at a semi-high level for it to be worth leaking to Russia in the first place and for it to be worth the treason hubbub. That's where the Hmmmm... came from. The media conveniently excluding a very relevant piece to the story. On the other stuff, I appreciate your honesty on the subject. My point again is that Western media often omit what you very casually admit to here. Public opinion would likely look different if people really understood what's going on in Ukraine.
Using the pizza parlor as cover for what? Developing land mines shaped as pizzas? Coming up with a garlic and tomato-based Calzone-shaped grenade? A missile that releases small cannoli-shaped charges that explode with flavor in the enemy's mouth (but have a foul aftertaste)? Are you saying that military personnel are not allowed to eat at restaurants?
That detail is relevant to the story of how the war is going, but not relevant to the issue of identifying and prosecuting traitors. It's really two stories wrapped in one. Obviously, Ukraine does not like the bad publicity associated with allowing some of their troops to get killed, so they omitted that aspect.
We’re all rooting for Ukraine here. Except for you apparently. Trying to justify indiscriminate Russian attacks all over Ukraine on civilian targets because this time they may actually have shot at something actual military doesn’t make you objective.
