Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Syt]

That heat pump idea sounds better the more I think about it.  I've traveled in Europe in February.  Much milder winters than the US.  You guys don't need furnaces.

Only problem might be where to put them, for a row house with no yard.

Do the installation as a big public labor project.

A lot of new developments around here already have them (not apartment buildings, though - but in Vienna they often build those with remote heating now, and start to also add remote cooling).

[Admiral Yi]

Poland hands over all its MiG jets to the USA who will replace them with equivalents and transfer the MiGs to Ukraine and asking other countries to do the same.

I don't doubt Polish sincerity in helping Ukraine - but is this also just a free way to upgrade their airforce? (I genuinely have no idea - I assume the US planes they're getting are better?)

Where would the US find planes that were not better than MiG 29s? 

I mentioned earlier that Poland already had F16s on order.  Taiwan was ahead of Poland in line, so they must have agreed to let Poland jump the line*

*Queue

[Sheilbh]

Where would the US find planes that were not better than MiG 29s? 

I cannot emphasise enough how little I know about military stuff

Separately - interesting thread on the Z trend to counter the earlier points about it:
https://twitter.com/irgarner/status/1500875002647822336

[Barrister]

Poland hands over all its MiG jets to the USA who will replace them with equivalents and transfer the MiGs to Ukraine and asking other countries to do the same.

I don't doubt Polish sincerity in helping Ukraine - but is this also just a free way to upgrade their airforce? (I genuinely have no idea - I assume the US planes they're getting are better?)

Where would the US find planes that were not better than MiG 29s? 

I mentioned earlier that Poland already had F16s on order.  Taiwan was ahead of Poland in line, so they must have agreed to let Poland jump the line*

*Queue

I'm pretty sure Poland is getting used F-16s that the US is replacing with F-35s, which is why Poland can expect to get them relatively quickly.  But yes pretty sure those will be an upgrade on MiG-29s, and much more compatible with NATO.

[The Minsky Moment]

It's extraordinary that Russia is still fundamentally the model it was pre-WW1 or in the 30s: export raw materials to pay for importing tech.

It's really not that extraordinary; there are fundamental resource and political economy dynamics that push in that direction and Putinism has encouraged that flow.

[Threviel]

I've been following this war more closely than any large scale event in my life. Twitter has been magnificent and I've felt that I have been able to keep myself well ahead of traditional news outlets, just keeping myself to here and twitter.

Okay, so I've been on Twitter a lot.  I've always followed some English-language news sources out of Ukraine, but I've picked up a bunch more.

But don't think that you're "well ahead of traditional news outlets".  Traditional news outlets don't report a lot of what you'll see on Twitter because it can not be verified.

Twitter is also full of journalists and historians and eye-witnesses. There are lots of analysis and news and links to other longer texts and even podcasts. There's even lots of debunkers. The things I took away as news in the evening went into Swedish news in the afternoon the next day. To give an example of Swedish journalistic quality: https://twitter.com/OKhudetska/status/1501145738474106885

I'm not an idiot and it was not the quality of the information that was my point. It was that I don't want to see anymore of that horrible shit. I know what will happen, I've read lots of eye witness accounts and histories of wars, I do not want to see dead children, I do not want to see dead women, I do not want to see dead civilians and I don't want to see dead soldiers.

[The Brain]

I've been following this war more closely than any large scale event in my life. Twitter has been magnificent and I've felt that I have been able to keep myself well ahead of traditional news outlets, just keeping myself to here and twitter.

Okay, so I've been on Twitter a lot.  I've always followed some English-language news sources out of Ukraine, but I've picked up a bunch more.

But don't think that you're "well ahead of traditional news outlets".  Traditional news outlets don't report a lot of what you'll see on Twitter because it can not be verified.

Twitter is also full of journalists and historians and eye-witnesses. There are lots of analysis and news and links to other longer texts and even podcasts. There's even lots of debunkers. The things I took away as news in the evening went into Swedish news in the afternoon the next day. To give an example of Swedish journalistic quality: https://twitter.com/OKhudetska/status/1501145738474106885

I'm not an idiot and it was not the quality of the information that was my point. It was that I don't want to see anymore of that horrible shit. I know what will happen, I've read lots of eye witness accounts and histories of wars, I do not want to see dead children, I do not want to see dead women, I do not want to see dead civilians and I don't want to see dead soldiers.

... Those who can't teach gym, get into journalism.

[mongers]

I've been following this war more closely than any large scale event in my life. Twitter has been magnificent and I've felt that I have been able to keep myself well ahead of traditional news outlets, just keeping myself to here and twitter.

Okay, so I've been on Twitter a lot.  I've always followed some English-language news sources out of Ukraine, but I've picked up a bunch more.

But don't think that you're "well ahead of traditional news outlets".  Traditional news outlets don't report a lot of what you'll see on Twitter because it can not be verified.

Trying to follow news of this war from the Russian side is completely useless which means we're only getting news from the Ukrainian side.  And while Ukraine is a much freer country, including press freedom, they obviously have an agenda here too.  The only things I've seen on Twitter have been burned out Russian vehicles, or shelled cities / huddling refugees.  There's been nothing on what the Ukrainian military is doing, good or bad.

That's a good sumation of the dangers of relying on an incomplete spectrum of news sources.

[Berkut]

Poland hands over all its MiG jets to the USA who will replace them with equivalents and transfer the MiGs to Ukraine and asking other countries to do the same.

I don't doubt Polish sincerity in helping Ukraine - but is this also just a free way to upgrade their airforce? (I genuinely have no idea - I assume the US planes they're getting are better?)

What I heard was that the US offered F-16s to Poland to replace the Mig-29s. The problem there was that the F-16s we were offering were actually slated to go to Taiwan. So what does Taiwan get instead?

The US apparently needs to start churning out a lot more warplanes.

edit: I see this was already pointed out.

But it does illustrate what a fucking mess the US has made of our fighter procurement programs. We replaced F-15 with F-22, which is too expensive for even ourselves, and there is no less expensive alternative.

We replaced the F-18/18 with the F-035, which is not too expensive for us, but IS too expensive for many other countries who need a reasonable replacement for that first line but not top of the line slot.

[viper37]

That heat pump idea sounds better the more I think about it.  I've traveled in Europe in February.  Much milder winters than the US.  You guys don't need furnaces.

Only problem might be where to put them, for a row house with no yard.

Do the installation as a big public labor project.

A lot of new developments around here already have them (not apartment buildings, though - but in Vienna they often build those with remote heating now, and start to also add remote cooling).

I'm not sure it's the most economical thing for apartment buildings though.

[viper37]

Sanctions seems to have it a nerve to some:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/russian-sanctions-oligarchs-offshore-wealth/623886/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

he United States, United Kingdom, and European Union had barely announced sanctions on overseas Russian wealth when the oligarchs began to whine and protest. That meant the policy—enacted after Russia invaded Ukraine—was working as intended, to punish Russia's elites for supporting President Vladimir Putin. By last weekend in Moscow, the Russian-state-television host Vladimir Solovyev raged on camera over what the sanctions would mean for him personally: loss of access to his two luxury homes in Lake Como, Italy, near the villa of George Clooney.

We're creating economic refugees in Russia. Damn.  I'm gonna cry a little now.

[Legbiter]

It's extraordinary that Russia is still fundamentally the model it was pre-WW1 or in the 30s: export raw materials to pay for importing tech.

Yeah that's been the Russian business model since at least the Muscovy Trading Company in 1555. Hence rather difficult to do a quick turnaround to China. 

[Habbaku]

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraines-zelensky-says-he-has-cooled-on-joining-nato-2022-3

In addition to his NATO comments, Zelensky said on Tuesday that he is open to discussions about the control of Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, possible openings to peace talks with Russia.

"It is important to me how people who want to be part of Ukraine will live there. I am interested in the opinion of those who see themselves as citizens of the Russian Federation. However, we must discuss this issue," Zelensky said.

Zelenskyy seems to be indicating peace is on the table, and maybe soon.

[Savonarola]

No break for you today, Comrade:

McDonald's is shutting down its Russian restaurants

As the article explains, the majority of McDonald's in Russia are company owned (rather than franchises.)  Russia and Ukraine account for about 10% of worldwide sales.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraines-zelensky-says-he-has-cooled-on-joining-nato-2022-3

In addition to his NATO comments, Zelensky said on Tuesday that he is open to discussions about the control of Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, possible openings to peace talks with Russia.

"It is important to me how people who want to be part of Ukraine will live there. I am interested in the opinion of those who see themselves as citizens of the Russian Federation. However, we must discuss this issue," Zelensky said.

Zelenskyy seems to be indicating peace is on the table, and maybe soon.

Now if they can just work out that pesky denazification thing.