Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Syt]

I'm wondering if Putin is prepared to escalate this. He makes noises about responding immediately to outside interference. Leaves him wiggle room to declare what he considers interference. Aid and supply? Would such shipments be legitimate military targets?

[Admiral Yi]

I've heard on NPR that the there are both Republicans who  think Putin is a swell guy and some who accuse Biden of being a pussy in the way he has responded.

[Syt]

I saw someone tweet "a dictator is invading a democratic nation and half the American polity is cheering him on." Is that accurate?

Between the Right and the far Left, yeah, I would say it is close.

Is the GOP fully and visibly in the tank for Russia? Are they hemming and hawing a bit? Are they split? Or... are they all in with Tucker Carlson et. al.?

FWIW, Ted Cruz: https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1496710355719962630?s=20&t=B3_W3IS0OWLORkwvttW_MQ

Following news of Putin's further invasion of Ukraine with enormous concern and anger.

The US will stand with our Ukrainian allies, continue to provide them with arms to defend themselves, and work to counter Putin and hold accountable those responsible for this aggression.

Of course chances are he will have to backpedal on Tucker Carlson in a couple of hours.

[HVC]

I'm wondering if Putin is prepared to escalate this. He makes noises about responding immediately to outside interference. Leaves him wiggle room to declare what he considers interference. Aid and supply? Would such shipments be legitimate military targets?

How far west could he go before he was stopped?

[Jacob]

I've heard on NPR that the there are both Republicans who  think Putin is a swell guy and some who accuse Biden of being a pussy in the way he has responded.

... and I bet you there are some who think both at the same time.

[DGuller]

I saw someone tweet "a dictator is invading a democratic nation and half the American polity is cheering him on." Is that accurate?

Between the Right and the far Left, yeah, I would say it is close.

Is the GOP fully and visibly in the tank for Russia? Are they hemming and hawing a bit? Are they split? Or... are they all in with Tucker Carlson et. al.?

I don't think they are for the most part, at least not yet.  Who knows how long that lasts, though, especially if Murdoch decides to commit to Putin's cause.

[Syt]

Trump was rambling on Laura Ingraham.

https://aaronrupar.substack.com/p/fox-news-russia-ukraine-invasion-trump?r=7g2f&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=url

[...]

A short time after the attack began, former President Donald Trump dialed in to Laura Ingraham's Fox News show to offer his reaction. Earlier in the evening, Trump delivered a speech to Mar-a-Lago club members in which he praised Putin, describing him as "smart" because he's "taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions." On Ingraham's show, Trump tried to lay blame for Putin's aggression squarely at Biden's feet, telling her ominously that the invasion couldn't have happened during his presidency for "a very good reason, and I'll explain that to you someday."

In comments indicative of much of the coverage of the invasion on right-wing TV, Ingraham and Trump teamed up to denigrate the American president, with Ingraham saying that Putin decided to "go for it" because he sees "a lot of weakness in the United States."

The former president agreed with her and then went even further, claiming that Russia's invasion is only happening "because of a rigged election." In order words, Ukrainians may be getting killed tonight, but Trump is the real victim.

Here's a transcript of Trump's rant, followed by the clip.

[Putin] sees the weakness and the incompetence and the stupidity of this administration. As an American I am angry about it and saddened by it. And it all happened because of a rigged election. This would've never happened. That includes inflation and that includes millions of people pouring in on a monthly basis, far more than three million people, they are coming from 129 different countries. We have no idea what's happening and they are destroying our country.

If that sounds like the rantings of a madman, things only got weirder from there.

Ingraham at one point mentioned a report she heard about Russian troops making an amphibious landing at Odessa. But the former president thought she was talking about American troops making a landing in Ukraine to fight Russians, and started criticizing the military for not maintaining better operational secrecy.

"You know what's also very dangerous is you told me about the amphibious attack by Americans. You shouldn't be saying that, because you and everybody else shouldn't know about," Trump said. "They should do that secretly, not be doing that through the great Laura Ingraham."

Ingraham corrected him.

"No, those are the Russians," she said.

"Oh, I thought you said that we were sending people in," he said. "That'll be next."

While it's hard to believe someone who was president just 14 months ago really thought American troops are fighting Russians in Ukraine, it was easy to foresee that Fox News's primetime lineup would make plenty of excuses for Putin while trying to pin blame on Biden or, in Ingraham's case, on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who she accused of a "pathetic display" by making a speech that represented a last-ditch effort to persuade Putin not to invade.

Along similar lines, just before Russia's invasion began, Tucker Carlson described Ukraine as "a pure client state of the United States State Department. That's fine ... just don't tell us it's democracy."

But Ukraine, of course, is a democracy, with a democratically elected government that has been trying to gradually move the country further away from authoritarian Russia and closer to the West. Trump, Carlson, and Ingraham, meanwhile, seem to prefer Putin to Biden — and they're getting closer and closer to just coming right out and saying it.

In any event, it was striking to watch American coverage of an authoritarian aggressor nation invading its democratic neighbor that actually seemed sympathetic to the invaders. It's a grim reminder that Trumpism is all about owning the libs at any cost, even if you wind up siding with murderous autocrats.

[DGuller]

I'm wondering if Putin is prepared to escalate this. He makes noises about responding immediately to outside interference. Leaves him wiggle room to declare what he considers interference. Aid and supply? Would such shipments be legitimate military targets?

How far west could he go before he was stopped?

He'll probably hit some logistical difficulties after Portugal.

[Syt]

Missile hit at the airport Ivano-Frankivsk (reportedly): https://twitter.com/ASLuhn/status/1496734064593674240?s=20&t=CuUQOlhjZuP_c4uQ2oYx_g

[Sophie Scholl]

Is the GOP fully and visibly in the tank for Russia? Are they hemming and hawing a bit? Are they split? Or... are they all in with Tucker Carlson et. al.?

I figure those that have denounced Russia and Putin will fall into line now that Trump, Carlson, and the like have all thrown their weight behind that platform. It will be like January 6th where it took them a bit to get their messaging on the same page. Eventually they'll pitch that being against America is patriotic and the right thing to do and their base will eat it up just like they now eat up the idea that it was a good thing that the January 6th domestic terrorists were doing.

[DGuller]

Missile hit at the airport Ivano-Frankivsk (reportedly): https://twitter.com/ASLuhn/status/1496734064593674240?s=20&t=CuUQOlhjZuP_c4uQ2oYx_g

So much for the idea that Lviv would be a safe haven in the event of war.  Ivano-Frankivsk is not far away from there.

[Syt]

Missile hit at the airport Ivano-Frankivsk (reportedly): https://twitter.com/ASLuhn/status/1496734064593674240?s=20&t=CuUQOlhjZuP_c4uQ2oYx_g

So much for the idea that Lviv would be a safe haven in the event of war.  Ivano-Frankivsk is not far away from there.

FF14 streamer Zepla (who had already moved from Kiev to Western Ukraine) said on Twitter they'll leave the country (I think she may have dual citizenship, or her boyfriend has Western nationality or something). Not particularly newsworthy, btu a small snapshot of someone affected by the conflict.

Out of curiosity I had a look at Quickybaby's account (he moved from UK to Belarus), but he has no political content on any of his channels, thought whether that's being smart or indifference (or both) is hard to say.

[Zoupa]

Forgive my military ignorance, but where are those missiles being fired from? Planes?

[Syt]

Meanwhile, German tabloid BILD's streaming service gives room to these people:


"The West is the true aggressor!"

Roger Köppel argues that people in the West hate Putin because he fights for traditional families, patriotism, traditions, masculinity, military might, national interests etc. and that maybe this crisis shocks Western countries into re-embracing these values.

[Syt]

Forgive my military ignorance, but where are those missiles being fired from? Planes?

Missile artillery, land and sea based, but probably also air launched. Depending on type, they have ranges of a couple hundred kilometers. From Black Sea, Crimea, Belarus, and Russian bases pretty much all of the country is in range.