Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[jimmy olsen]

Seems Ukranians really are pushing the Russians back outside of Kyiv.
https://twitter.com/mhmck/status/1506552649285521453

Police resume work in Irpin.

The area is being cleared of saboteurs. Police help and evacuate civilians who are still in Irpin.

Police work with the Armed Forces of Ukraine to restore local authorities in the city.

– head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ihor

Is there any way for the Europeans to get around this outside of boycotting them?
https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1506617939629334541

Putin has ordered to make Europe pay for gas in rubles – potentially a big boost to the currency.

"The collective West has killed all trust in their currencies," he says – $ and € are "compromised" by sanctions on Russia's central bank reserves.

https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1506617939629334541

[alfred russel]

The Russian embassy in Warsaw was photographed with black smoke coming out of their backyard. Possibly destroying documents before departing?

See this is why Russia must be stopped in Ukraine. They haven't even finished Ukraine off and looking for the next target to pick a literal fight with.

Poland is kicking them out of the embassy, destroying documents seems like fairly normal procedure.

I've been to the Russian embassy in Warsaw! It was a very creepy experience.

How so?

I was trying to apply for a visa to visit Kaliningrad from Warsaw and the russian embassy kept hanging up on me so I thought I'd go in person. I walked up to the gate with the address and iirc it was unmarked. Maybe i wasn't at the standard entrance and going through the back door? I hit the button by a gate and they said something incomprehensible (I don't speak russian or polish) and i said why i was there (unsure it was even the russian embassy i was talking to) and the gate magically opened. I walked in and was in a random empty courtyard and a door opened. I walked in the door. I was then in a room that was empty and a guy was behind a black glass (couldn't see him) and was asked why i was there. I told him and he told me to go down a hall.

I then was ended up in a room with 3 people working behind desks and they were the first people I was able to see. They told me the process to apply for a visa. Then as I was about to leave they asked my nationality and I said "US" and they said all the processing times they told me before would be doubled.

I have still never visited Kaliningrad.  

[The Brain]

Someone is now in the TELEFON program.

[viper37]

Russia is poised to invade Poland, so it'll soon be Polish again and you'll be able to visit.    Assuming we are left standing after the nuclear holocaust.

[The Brain]

Russia is poised to invade Poland, so it'll soon be Polish again and you'll be able to visit.    Assuming we are left standing after the nuclear holocaust.

Again? 

[Tamas]

Russian state TV talking head blustering about nuking Warsaw and creating a Danzig Kaliningrad corridor if NATO goes ahead with the peacekeeping force idea. Calls Poland and Lithuania "so called countries".

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1506283895771348994

I do enjoy how a couple of other participants feeling visible awful having to listen to this tirade.

[grumbler]

Someone is now in the TELEFON program.

With miles to go before he sleeps.

[Duque de Bragança]

Russia is poised to invade Poland, so it'll soon be Polish again and you'll be able to visit.    Assuming we are left standing after the nuclear holocaust.

Again? 

Russian state TV talking head blustering about nuking Warsaw and creating a Danzig Kaliningrad corridor if NATO goes ahead with the peacekeeping force idea. Calls Poland and Lithuania "so called countries".

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1506283895771348994

I do enjoy how a couple of other participants feeling visible awful having to listen to this tirade.

Since Tamas mentioned a related news item...


Germany will sell it or the very least lease it to Poland since they are not interested in building Regiomontium/Königsberg (littéralement Montréal   )  anew. Some special status for Kant's tomb and that will be all. What's left of the Teutonic Knights presence there anyways? 

[OttoVonBismarck]

The Russian embassy in Warsaw was photographed with black smoke coming out of their backyard. Possibly destroying documents before departing?

See this is why Russia must be stopped in Ukraine. They haven't even finished Ukraine off and looking for the next target to pick a literal fight with.

Poland is kicking them out of the embassy, destroying documents seems like fairly normal procedure.

I've been to the Russian embassy in Warsaw! It was a very creepy experience.

How so?

I was trying to apply for a visa to visit Kaliningrad from Warsaw and the russian embassy kept hanging up on me so I thought I'd go in person. I walked up to the gate with the address and iirc it was unmarked. Maybe i wasn't at the standard entrance and going through the back door? I hit the button by a gate and they said something incomprehensible (I don't speak russian or polish) and i said why i was there (unsure it was even the russian embassy i was talking to) and the gate magically opened. I walked in and was in a random empty courtyard and a door opened. I walked in the door. I was then in a room that was empty and a guy was behind a black glass (couldn't see him) and was asked why i was there. I told him and he told me to go down a hall.

I then was ended up in a room with 3 people working behind desks and they were the first people I was able to see. They told me the process to apply for a visa. Then as I was about to leave they asked my nationality and I said "US" and they said all the processing times they told me before would be doubled.

I have still never visited Kaliningrad.  

I've never visited Königsberg (Kaliningrad is a fiction), but I am somewhat grateful I visited Russia in the 90s when doing so wasn't nearly as big a hassle as it has been the last 5 years, and likely to be even more so for the next 20.

[Josephus]

You all kid, but really we're as close to WWIII as we were during the Cuban crisis.

[Grey Fox]

A war sure, yes.

But Russia has no allies.

[Berkut]

You all kid, but really we're as close to WWIII as we were during the Cuban crisis.

I don't think that is even remotely the case.

If Cuba became a shooting war, it would be a shooting war over nuclear weapons.

This would be a shooting war of the attempt to conquer Ukraine. It is worrisome of course, but not at all the same kind of directly obvious that it will become nuclear or world wide.

[Barrister]

I don' necessarily think we're going to have a nuclear exchange, but I can see how we may be the closest risk to having one.

Throughout the cold war there were numerous examples of proxy wars - where one nuclear power was involved in a war, and the other side would covertly supply the enemy.  This was the pattern from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

But never throughout the cold war was the "helping" side so open and transparent about giving aid.

[Legbiter]

Seems Ukranians really are pushing the Russians back outside of Kyiv.

Hopefully Putin will promote the commander in charge of the Russian soldiers outside Kænugarðr to Field Marshal in the next few days.

[Berkut]

I don' necessarily think we're going to have a nuclear exchange, but I can see how we may be the closest risk to having one.

Throughout the cold war there were numerous examples of proxy wars - where one nuclear power was involved in a war, and the other side would covertly supply the enemy.  This was the pattern from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

But never throughout the cold war was the "helping" side so open and transparent about giving aid.

I think it is something of an error to compare this to cold war proxy wars like Afghanistan/Vietnam/Korea. This isn't that, not at all.

This is something different, and the response to it reflects those differences. This isn't the USSR supporting North Korea in an internal conflict to figure out if Korea will be in the US or Soviet sphere of influence.

This is one country engaging in a straight out war of aggression against another country. The response is based on most of the world saying "Hey wait a minute - that's not cool!"

This is not a Cold War proxy war - it is much more like the war against Saddam after he invaded Kuwait. Excelt in this scenario, Saddam has nukes.