Russian-Ukrainian War: Live Thread

[Grizzly]

Far right wing Dore, pothead ...

[Harvey]

Never thought I'd hear myself say it, But George W Bush is absolutely correct...

[MacCruiskeen]

President T-Shirt Zooms To Davos:


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTiusbHXwAE ... name=small

[conniption]

Flag Abuse And Other Bits On Ukraine

MoA
May 24, 2022

The Pentagon reports about the continuing efforts to sell new U.S. weapons to those nations which discard their old ones in Ukraine.

Austin Hosts Ukraine Defense Contact Group to Continue Support for Beleaguered Country

To express the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine the Pentagon decided to hoist Ukraine's blue-above-yellow flag upside down.


bigger

Hanging a flag upside down is a sign of either dire distress or cultural ignorance. Given that this was a Pentagon event the later is the more likely to be the case.

****
continues - https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/f ... raine.html

[conniption]

[drstrangelove]

Found in leaked documents handed to Zelensky by US military advisors in February -

[Belligerent Savant]

The NY Times sending signals to their captured/captive audience:

@ggreenwald
·
Better late than never: the NYT publishes a very worthwhile op-ed by Christopher Caldwell, providing critical historic and strategic context to the aggressive US role in Ukraine, and why Biden has been trying to escalate, not diplomatically end, the war.

The War in Ukraine May Be Impossible to Stop. And the U.S. Deserves Much of the Blame.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/opin ... n-war.html

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1 ... 1NaJptUd4w

[Elvis]

Better late than never: the NYT publishes a very worthwhile op-ed by Christopher Caldwell, providing critical historic and strategic context to the aggressive US role in Ukraine, and why Biden has been trying to escalate, not diplomatically end, the war.

Very good to see this in NYT, thanks for posting.

Where tf were they last February??

[LolaB]

"Gravity is the enemy. Levity is the salvation." Timothy Leary

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV8OgfXNP14&list=WL&index=12&ab_channel=NikosTANGODalamagkas[/youtube]

[Grizzly]

[Belligerent Savant]

(ostensibly) U.S. Tax Dollars to send weapons to the Ukraine so they can sell them on the dark web.

https://techstartups.com/2022/06/02/jav ... e-darknet/

Javelins and other weapons supplied by the US and NATO to Ukraine are now listed for sale on the Darknet
Daniel Levi
JUNE 2, 2022

Late last month, the United Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40 billion emergency military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine as part of the effort to support the country in its ongoing war with Russia. The war, which is in its fourth month, has displaced millions of Ukrainians and thousands of civilian deaths.



However, this is not the first time the United States and its NATO allies have sent weapons to Ukraine. In January, the US sent a shipment of 300 Javelin anti-tank missile systems in military aid to Ukraine. But as we reported back in February, a large number of the weapons ended up in Russian hands.

Interfax reported that Russian troops conducting a special operation in Ukraine have seized a large number of weapons recently supplied by Western countries, including U.S. Javelin Missile Systems and British NLAW missile.

However, as western countries ramped up weapons and ammunition shipments to Ukraine, arms trade experts have warned that some of the lethal assistance given to Ukrainian forces could end up falling into the wrong hands. It now appears their worst fear has been confirmed.

Today, ASB Military News reported that some of these weapons have now made their way to the dark web, the part of the web that can only be assessed using the TOR browser. According to a report, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now selling Javelins, military equipment, and other weapons supplied by the US and its NATO allies on the darknet to buyers in the Middle East and North Africa.

[Grizzly]

For LolaB

[Belligerent Savant]

.

Applicable across a few threads:

@esaagar

Bloomberg: White House officials privately admit "the collateral damage" from Russia sanctions "has been wider than expected"

And that they originally believed sanctioning food/energy would have a "minimal" effect on inflation here at home

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... c-blowback



More: White House is privately encouraging US companies to buy more Russian fertilizer because the supply shock is driving food prices further and could spark famine risk in developing world

https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/1536 ... inAS6Rnv9Q

[MacCruiskeen]

^^ That is simply not credible. It is transparent arse-covering propaganda. Of course they knew what they were doing and what effect it would have.

"Oops, whoopsie, tarnation, gosh darn it, we impoverished the people yet again! Sorry! Our intentions were the best!"

[Belligerent Savant]

.
Taken at face value the above Bloomberg story essentially presents Biden's 'strategy advisors' as incompetent buffoons, wholly unaware of basic, fundamental economic repercussions for the actions they carried out.

Tempting to believe, given the ineptitude of Biden as a human, let alone as a president of a country. -- on paper, the most influential nation on Earth.

But as you suggest, this is fodder for the 'inept' defense rather than larger malevolent agendas beyond the interests of the U.S. alone.

On edit, here's another commentary, related; plays on some of the tropes referenced above:

@citizenjournos_
·
Ukraine is a NATO proxy war against Russia. The losers are everyone bar Big Military - the real power in the US. Wee Joe Biden doesn't know where he is half the time - fact. His mental fragility is being used by the Neo-cons to enrich themselves & war machine. Elder abuse 101.

@SalehaMohsin
NEW: Some Biden officials privately express concern that rather than dissuade the Kremlin as intended, US sanctions have instead exacerbated inflation, worsened food insecurity and punished ordinary Russians more than Putin or his allies

w/ @DanielPFlatley + @nwadhams

@DanielPFlatley
Scoop w/ @nwadhams @SalehaMohsin: US officials surprised by companies pulling out of Russia are worried the move could worsen other problems, like inflation
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... c-blowback

As Pope Francis said recently, this isn't a war of 'good vs evil' it's much more complicated than that. It's a NATO vs Russia war wherein the poor Ukrainian people are being used as pawns by NATO. Meanwhile Yemenis are being slaughtered daily...but they aren't white!

https://twitter.com/citizenjournos_/sta ... inAS6Rnv9Q

[Side-note: Why didn't the Pope call out the mandates and lockdowns for the crimes against humanity the clearly were? Instead, they 'Church' recommended faulty vaccines to their flock.
Foolish to expect anything different from organized religion]