Ukraine Invasion: Part 24

[MagicFox]

Welcome one and all and thanks again to everyone contributing

Thank you

Sad pmk and thanks.

Putin has apologised for Lavrov’s Hitler comment. Must be the first time ever he’s apologised for anything at all

Just copying this from LGO from the last thread...

Crikey, there's a first!

Link as requested on the previous thread.

twitter.com/israelipm/status/1522251564517408769?s=21&t=NQ4tslr76_uUCqzKmKR0jQ

Pmk…thank you to all contributors 🍰

Thank you. Sorry, posted below the link on the last thread.
Glad to see Putin's started apologising. He's got a long job ahead of him though.

Thank you @MagicFox.

Thank you.

Israel must be valuable to him. He must be afraid they'd weigh in on Ukraine's side.

Trumpian.

Say something for effect. Then issue reversal and deny it was said / meant.

Putin can deny. But the comment by Lavrov still stands.

There was a doubling down before the apology.

Its merely playing to various audiences so they can be all things to all men.

It effectively is moral bankruptcy at its most effective.

Lavrov knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

But people will go, its ok cos Putin apologised...

Its grossly naive. This was a strategic and deliberately made comment to gain support from certain quarters.

Bullshit.

It was manipulative. Nothing to do with wanting Israel’s support or for them to stay out of it.

Magicfox, thanks for the new thread

What RedToothBrush said.

If you spray lies all over the place, people who don't think deeply pick out what they want to hear so you can ride all boats all the time.

Deeply cynical, dishonest and manipulative tactics. Nothing new there.

Thanks for the new thread

As we vote today in local elections ( all council seats in Scotland) I recognise the privilege that we enjoy in being able to vote freely and peacefully.

Thanks for the new thread.

Niinistö (Finnish President) is going to declare whether or not he supports joining NATO by the 12th. He used to be quite anti-NATO if I remember correctly, but its almost guaranteed he's for it now, and as soon as he comes out supporting it then public support will rise even higher. The SDP (party of the prime minister) will declare their party line on the 14th and if they come out in support then its definitely happening. US, UK, France and Germany have all pledged military support during the process too, for Sweden as well.

Amen to that prettybird

🌻

Thank you for new thread 🙂

Guardian were reporting 2 hrs ago that a UN convoy was on its way to evacuate remaining civilians from the steel plant in Mariupol. Not seen anything since but preying doesn’t a good outcome.

Ukrainian forces memes is giving me mild amusement

Not a fan of Lukashenko in any way but had a snigger at his reasoning for not using nukes in Ukraine - “it might knock our terrestrial ball flying off the orbit to who knows where”

Phillips P OBrien AT PhillipsPObrien
When this war is over, and Ukraine is a peaceful, democratic state in the European Union, people are going to look back at the last four months and be shocked at how so many people in Europe and North America denied Ukraine any agency for such a long time.

We’ve heard what Russia wants. What Putin must have. What we need to do now once Ukraine will be conquered. Or more recently that Ukraine must accept a bad peace, that Ukraine must cede this and give up that.

The great lesson of this war so far destroys all these analyses. Ukraine gets to decide Ukraine’s future because it choose to fight for itself and is winning the war. Maybe we should start talking about what Ukraine wants.

Speaking of agency, this gives Ukraine bucketloads when it comes time to negotiating an end to this.

Ukraine World AT Ukraineworld
Sanctions from Russia will NOT be lifted without Ukraine's consent: Germany's chancellor Scholz told Stern magazine in an interview.

https://apnews.com/article/belarus-alexander-lukashenko-ap-interview-9bc1f6524eb65841b924883705684b7f

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, but he said he didn’t expect the 10-week-old conflict to “drag on this way.”

He also spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine but wouldn’t say if Russian President Vladimir Putin had plans to launch such a strike.

AND

But in his comments to the AP, Lukashenko said he and his country stand for peace and repeatedly called for the end of the “war” — a term the Kremlin refuses to use, calling the invasion a “special military operation” instead.

And

Lukashenko said using nuclear weapons in Ukraine was “unacceptable because it’s right next to us — we are not across the ocean like the United States.”

The Kyiv Independent AT kyivindependent
Biden, Scholz won't recognize Russian territorial gains in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden agreed in a call on May 5 that they wouldn’t acknowledge any Russian territorial gains in Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said.

Important. This means US and Germany will not pressure Ukraine to cede ground in any negotiations that might happen.

Significant ahead of 9th May and Putin potentially declaring a strategic victory which is one possible rumour floating about atm.

Its signalling that if Putin declares victory and then pushes for peace this week, he will not be allowed to keep Mariupol or anywhere else.

My twitter user name atm is Russian Bridges Go Boom.

Anyway...

Jimmy AT JimmySecUk
A rather ominous website that has appeared warning of the imminent destruction of the Crimean Bridge, complete with a countdown timer.

Its probably nothing, but it would be quite something if it did go on May 9th.