Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[DGuller]

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

Pure guess, but Russia has conventional ballistic missiles like Iskander, which have a range of up to 500 km.  Most parts of Ukraine are within 500 km of some part of Russia or Belarus.

[PJL]

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 Trump has effectively said both.

[HVC]

Saw some clips on CNN. The roads from Belarus ro Kyiv seem undamaged. Wouldn't those have been the first target for demolition by Ukraine? Or maybe they are in other spots.

[DGuller]

The cruel irony is that the uprising against Lukashenka turned out to be a huge setback for the forces of democracy.  It essentially handed the country on the platter to Putin.

[Syt]

FPÖ's chairman Kickl has been notably quiet during the crisis. He didn't outright reject sanctions (unlike German AfD), only said that they would also hurt the ones issuing them. In 2016, FPÖ party leadership flew to Moscow to sign a friendship treaty with Putin's party. Kickl let the agreement expire. I think Kickl is odious, and and further right and extreme than Strache or Hofer were, but he doesn't seem particularly in love with Putin, it seems.

Pics from the 2016 trip:

[Sophie Scholl]

The cruel irony is that the uprising against Lukashenka turned out to be a huge setback for the forces of democracy.  It essentially handed the country on the platter to Putin.

If it weren't the uprising, it would have been something else. Putin seems to have had this plan in place for a while. At least they get to go out fighting now and maybe survive with some international aid and backing.

[Zoupa]

UA claims 5 helicopters and 1 fighter jet shot down, per France24.

[PJL]

The cruel irony is that the uprising against Lukashenka turned out to be a huge setback for the forces of democracy.  It essentially handed the country on the platter to Putin.

If it weren't the uprising, it would have been something else. Putin seems to have had this plan in place for a while. At least they get to go out fighting now and maybe survive with some international aid and backing.

In retrospect, perhaps Yanukovich failed to realise he had a much better hand than he did in 2014. I suspect if he has asked for military help from Russia to quell the uprising, he would have got it.

[Admiral Yi]

UA claims 5 helicopters and 1 fighter jet shot down, per France24.

That's the stuff.

I knew those 500 German helmets would make a difference.

[The Brain]

Still waiting on those sanctions. Better be juicy.

[Tamas]

Still waiting on those sanctions. Better be juicy.

I don't want to get your hopes up but I think we might make mildly inconveniencing decisions against up to 10 Russians this time around.

[The Brain]

Still waiting on those sanctions. Better be juicy.

I don't want to get your hopes up but I think we might make mildly inconveniencing decisions against up to 10 Russians this time around.

Nice. The gloves are off.

[Threviel]

It'll take a decade to build away the reliance on Russian gas if it's all men to the pumps right now, in practice two decades or something like that. The west can't really sanction Russia to death until then.

Germany will huff and haw and do nothing presumably, some symbolic sanctions but they won't and the can't stop buying Russian gas in the middle of winter.

The west putting itself in this weak strategic position after 30 years of unparalleled growth in wealth is just pathetic... We should have been able to just tell the Russians to fuck off and instead we cower in fear. it makes me furious, this development has been obvious for at least a decade and nothing has been done.

[The Brain]

This is the cost of 40 years of Western engagement with Russia. Russians are not a people and Russia is not a country—they are an enemy to the West and have never and will never be a part of it. We need a new Cold War if complete severed economic relations that is permanent and intended to be so. Russia can never and should never be trusted.

Indeed. Like I've mention a few times of the years, I found it amazing in the 90s that some people in the West thought that Russia was gonna be a normal country. Soviet Union or no Soviet Union, Russia is still Russia.

[Syt]