The Invasion is ongoing...Part 8

[Damnloginpopup]

Following on...

@Roussette

thats horrific.Left to their fate but yes, where could these people or any special needs people/hospitalised, actually go? there seems no way to get them out!

TellMeMore it makes me feel ill to be honest. Those poor people.

I know most of us can't understand Putins mentality, but does anyone have suggestions as to why they would agree to a ceasefire and then breach it? Do you think they are being deliberately provocative/cruel or could it possibly be poor communication as PP have suggested? I personally find it hard to believe that such an important message could be lost be equally can't fathom why they would break the ceasefire. Surely that's a step too far even for him.

A statement was published by Meduza (independent Russian media outlet) and signed by a group of prominent writers. It calls on all Russian speakers outside Russia to use any possible means of communication to tell those in Russia what is really happening in Ukraine. The statement concludes "This criminal war must be stopped."

Here is the link to the statement for anyone who knows Russian: meduza.io/feature/2022/03/05/mezhdunarodnoe-obraschenie-pisateley-po-povodu-voyny-k-tem-kto-govorit-na-russkom-yazyke?fbclid=IwAR3fholPRsxHnVepml5KnluNjR8b9PKMtSfBe6nmizQ3R1VJodc2fUj8NC0

Am not up to date on this thread so apologies if already discussed - should we be buying iodine? And what level of iodine should we have eg is a normal supplement worth having in the cupboard. I'm not panicking but am by nature a prepper, organising is how I cope with crisies!

@Roussette

TellMeMore it makes me feel ill to be honest. Those poor people.

Me too. It's kind of tipped me over the edge for today. I know that sounds (and probably is) self indulgent.

Sorry just seen iodine discussed about ten posts down what an idiot I am 😁

@littledrummergirl

Throwing some musings around this morning, I wonder what would happen if every athlete in the olympics and other individual sporting events opted to identify as Ukrainians? Would the Ukraine national anthem be played for them if they win gold? Seems a relatively easy way for the world to show solidarity.

Another musing was to hack into Russian media and tell the population that Putin is dead, the war is lost and those now in charge are responsible. Probably against some international law on fair play in war but the Russian government is hardly behaving in accordance.

During the second world war a British propaganda radio station near present-day Milton Keynes regularly pumped out stories that were often based on ‘rumours’ both into Germany and to U-boat crews. They often actually knew which streets had been bombed by the RAF and where the fathers, sons and husbands of those killed were serving. They could ‘inform’ U-boat crews that apartment three in this block on this street in Hamburg had been destroyed, with high casualties in the hope of demoralising crews and persuading them to surrender.

A mixture of truth and embroidery.

t was to illustrate that despite what had happened in the past they love and welcome Ukrainians. I had never heard of this “genocide”/ethnic cleansing but it sounds pretty horrific

Terrible things happened during WW2 that people may not have heard of. Whole towns laid to waste and the entire populations either sent to concentration camps or murdered purely to take revenge on a population.

The Poles suffered at the hands of the Russians and the Germans. 22,000 Polish military personnel and intelligentsia were massacred by the Russians - something denied by them until 1990.

This is why I find post WW2 Europe such an amazing place. Countries who suffered at each other's hands have moved on. Except a couple who are determined to repeat the horrors of WW2.

Sorry Claudine to link it on here, I just feel we need to know what sort of disgusting human being Putin is (as if we didn't know)
The most vulnerable in society who really won't be able to understand.

On that note... this is interesting... the richest Oligarchs. Some have been sanctioned and some (like Abramovich) haven't.
They all look like Bond villians...

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/meet-the-oligarchs-sanctions-russian-billionaires

There is literally no point buying iodine. Even if the blast didn't kill you, no one is surviving a nuclear winter.

I think talking about such things is just whipping up panic and it is so unlikely that it really feels irresponsible.

Roussette no need to apologise. We can't turn our faces away from these terrible things.

@timetochangeusername

Am not up to date on this thread so apologies if already discussed - should we be buying iodine? And what level of iodine should we have eg is a normal supplement worth having in the cupboard. I'm not panicking but am by nature a prepper, organising is how I cope with crisies!

I don't think anyone needs to be panicking to buy some now, especially not in the UK (unless you live near a nuclear plant, in which case you should always have some in stock) but some countries say its a thing homes should have in stock always - the Chernobyl radiation reached Finland so I expect that's why they say that here. (just suddenly remembered being told off by a security guard in St. Petersburg for sitting on the granite floor, saying I mustn't sit there if I want to have babies in the future and I think now maybe it was something to do with radiation. Or then he was just being weird)

The idea that everyone in Russia is swallowing Putin's lies is simply untrue. However, the censorship of the press has been happening for many years and the shutting down of Echo of Moscow and TvRain has escalated the process. So it's more important than ever to make the person-to-person contacts called for in the statement I posted above. It may seem like a drop in the ocean but as a Russian speaker I think these connections can make a difference.

(just suddenly remembered being told off by a security guard in St. Petersburg for sitting on the granite floor, saying I mustn't sit there if I want to have babies in the future and I think now maybe it was something to do with radiation.

No, that would have been because your nether regions would have caught a cold from sitting on the cold stone. It's a common belief.

Crikey iodine preppers. Probably time to stop doom scrolling if that's a thing. I remember though my dear mum saying at the time of the Cuban missile crisis they all thought that nuclear war was likely. I would say it's a lot less likely now. I have to believe we wouldn't do a pre-preemptive strike and the Russian command (not necessarily Putin though) would cross that very very blood red line.

But if you must

www.health.ny.gov/environmental/radiological/potassium_iodide/fact_sheet.htm

@NCdBcOuting

Interesting discussion on WW2 knowledge and school vs home. I too thought it was enough to talk about it at home and in culture, but actually now see both need to happen side by side. This is such a helpful thread. Those teens not knowing really is shocking.

@TheSillyMastiff upthread in the bit on women staying behind to fight, you said

“because of the historic issues with the Russian army and attacking and raping women to death.”

Is there more info on this? As in, does such abuse of women happen in all wars? Like when Germans invaded countries? Vietnam? Or is there some sort of known thing that Russians do this more in war? I feel like I don’t understand enough. All suggestions of stuff to read most welcome.

I studied international relations at university in the 90s and we studied rape as a weapon of war. It's well documented, although I can't quote anything off the top of my head.

Re iodine pills I’m really not a doom scroller - have been accused of opposite many times though

But I understand why those in Finland are getting them, do we have same issues? With Dungeness power station in Kent

Just need clear answers without the insults re losing it and being a doom head if possible!

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/brittney-griner-russia-custody-wnba-b2029375.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Main&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1646497758
Russia says it has American WNBA star Brittney Griner in custody

Russian customs officials claim the basketball player had hashish oil in her luggage

Russian customs officials say they have detained an American basketball player at an airport in Moscow, claiming they found hashish oil in her luggage.

The Russian news agency TASS has identified the athlete as Brittney Griner, 31, of the WNBA team the Phoenix Mercury.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

(just suddenly remembered being told off by a security guard in St. Petersburg for sitting on the granite floor, saying I mustn't sit there if I want to have babies in the future and I think now maybe it was something to do with radiation.

No, that would have been because your nether regions would have caught a cold from sitting on the cold stone. It's a common belief.

Granite may contain Radon {Naturally occurring radiation}

@yoolia

There is literally no point buying iodine. Even if the blast didn't kill you, no one is surviving a nuclear winter.

I think talking about such things is just whipping up panic and it is so unlikely that it really feels irresponsible.

The iodine would be in case there was damage to a nuclear power plant, and therefore radiation, such as after Chornobyl.

A friend of a friend lives near (what I think has now been decommissioned) nuclear power plant close to Luneburg in Germany and they had iodine tablets in case there was an accident.

Russia's foreign ministry has released a statement taking direct aim at the British government for its support of Ukraine.

Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokesperson, says Russia won't forget the UK's cooperation with Kyiv, or with what she calls the "ultra-nationalist forces of Ukraine", according Russian media.

"The sanctions hysteria in which London plays one of the leading, if not the main, roles, leaves us no choice but to take proportionately tough retaliatory measures," she said, adding that British interests in Russia would be "undermined" by Moscow's response.

The official narrative in Russia is that the threat to civilians in Ukraine comes not from Russian forces, but from "Ukrainian nationalists".

The UK government has provided weapons and financial aid to Ukraine amid the invasion.
From the BBC
What do we think this means?

Granite may contain Radon {Naturally occurring radiation

yes there is a lot of natural radiation in Devon & Cornwall due to the granite. But I don't think the cancer rates there are any higher than the rest of the country, so don't worry if you live there!

Russia's foreign ministry has released a statement taking direct aim at the British government for its support of Ukraine

They were whining about someone in the French government last time I looked at Twitter. Don't worry. They just don't like the truth - they know what it is, even if they refuse to let their people have the same luxury.

@Thewayshetalks

Russia's foreign ministry has released a statement taking direct aim at the British government for its support of Ukraine.

Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokesperson, says Russia won't forget the UK's cooperation with Kyiv, or with what she calls the "ultra-nationalist forces of Ukraine", according Russian media.

"The sanctions hysteria in which London plays one of the leading, if not the main, roles, leaves us no choice but to take proportionately tough retaliatory measures," she said, adding that British interests in Russia would be "undermined" by Moscow's response.

The official narrative in Russia is that the threat to civilians in Ukraine comes not from Russian forces, but from "Ukrainian nationalists".

The UK government has provided weapons and financial aid to Ukraine amid the invasion.
From the BBC
What do we think this means?

Great. On one hand you get people decrying how weak we are compared to others

Now this