Ukraine invasion discussion thread - part 9

[cakeorwine]

Because MN only allows 1000 posts and this is fast moving

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4496974-The-Invasion-is-ongoing-Part-8

The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
BREAKING: Reports that Russia's Sberbank will issue Mir card with China's UnionPay, after Mastercard and Visa stopped operating in the country.

China after doing an eye wobble at the craziness of it all will be looking at how they can profit from the crisis. Not least they will welcome the pivot away from bad man China to Russia. In that there are any 'winners' (there aren't) then China looks quitely poised to move forward.

Do Ukraine have any airfields left that the airforce can fly from ? It's all well and good getting planes but you need to take off from somewhere ?

Just had a stupid thought can't they get nato soldiers in dressed as Ukraine soldiers I know I know ..

@nottoday3000

Just had a stupid thought can't they get nato soldiers in dressed as Ukraine soldiers I know I know ..

What you mean as foreign legion soldiers....possibly 🤷🏻‍♀️😉

The Russians are probably doing better in the south because they want to. Russia want/needs the south east and would like the south. Have a look at a map, this is an important area for them.

Kyiv and the west might just be a bit of theatre to get them to their minimum negotiating requirements.

The AMA type thread on this conflict thought the stuck convoy was a bit funny. I'd go for a bit sad, sacrificial lambs to obtain end goals.

@nottoday3000

Just had a stupid thought can't they get nato soldiers in dressed as Ukraine soldiers I know I know ..

The reality is there could already be a small number of NATO special forces in Ukraine on a "black ops" basis.

But no, we can't play dress up and pretend or paint a Ukrainian flag on a Eurofighter and look innocent.

BBC news

TikTok suspends livestreaming and new content in Russia
Video app TikTok says it is suspending livestreaming and new content to its video service in Russia while it reviews the safety implication of a new law which threatens to jail anyone the authorities deem to have spread "fake" news on the armed forces.

The platform says its in-app messaging service will not be affected.

"We will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when we might fully resume our services with safety as our top priority," the company says.

A number of international media organisations have suspended their work in Russia, citing concerns over their workers' safety with the new law. They include the BBC, Bloomberg News, Canada's CBC, German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and Italy's Rai, among others.

The Russian government meanwhile has banned access to Facebook.

BreadInCaptivity: Ukraine is a big country so that's a hell of a lot of boots on the ground, not to fight the war but police the Ukrainian people in parts of the country that are not necessarily going to be decisive in winning this war if Kyiv can hold out.

That makes sense. That must be right.

Deep down, it feels like it is an unwinnable war for Russia in medium and long term and possibly even shorter term.

However, I fear Putin will level Ukrainian cities and create a huge humanitarian disaster before he finally runs out of road. What is his end game? It can only end in a humiliating retreat and a wrecked Russian economy but he continues to hurtles towards it.

When the invasion first started, it felt like Velensky (pls continue to survive) was leading a suicide mission. Now I think it is Putin who is intent on self-destruction.

My reasoning is probably too simplistic.

Jenny Hill also dropped off Moscow on Friday when they withdrew from Russia

Jenny Hill is usually in Berlin - maybe she's gone back to the day job.

Anna Holligan, who is usually the Netherlands correspondent, came back to London to present the World Tonight on Radio 4 the Friday evening before last.

They are probably swapping people around all the time at the moment.

Several hundred RAF members have been there for a week or so already. This was on the Polish news.

Apparently Cogent is cutting internet services to the Russian Govt.

They are one of the world's 4 big backbone providers. The Russian govt, if this goes ahead, will find access to the internet ropier.

"Disconnecting their customers in Russia will not disconnect Russia, but it will reduce the amount of overall bandwidth available for international connectivity. This reduction in bandwidth may lead to congestion as the remaining international carriers try to pick up the slack."

Anyone remember when it was Kate Adie who use to get sent to all the war zones?

I keep going backwards and forwards about if we/Nato are going to get involved or not sooner or later. I think the fact the kremlin must know about the migs but purely stated that airports used the launch strikes from is the red line as opposed to giving aircraft. Tells me they are just as desperate that we don't get involved as we are not to get involved.

Also looking at Boris 6 point plan it looks like a long term strategy that specifically revolves around us not getting involved. I do hope they really emphasise on a diplomatic resolution though as we're one of the few nations that instead of trying to broker peace talks just seems to want to poke the bear.

@PestorPeston

Yup. Remember that cartoon?

"stop the war, Kate Adie isn't here to report it yet!"

Security policy in Europe continues to rapidly shift

Danish PM Mette Frederiksen pledges:

🇩🇰 increased defence spending (eventually above 2% of GDP)
🇩🇰 independence from Russian gas.
🇩🇰 referendum on abandoning opt out of EU defence clauses.

twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1500552595592687619?t=l3nN9nLZ0iYQ0JBKhmmR-A&s=19

Has anyone else read this article?

To me it seems totally irresponsible and crazy:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/06/the-more-ukraine-resists-the-greater-the-danger-to-nato-it-should-act-now-to-stop-the-slaughter?CMP=twt_gu&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium#Echobox=1646583492

@PestorPeston

Anyone remember when it was Kate Adie who use to get sent to all the war zones?

When I graduated with my doctorate there were some honorary degrees awarded at the ceremony. There were tedious old blokes like Leon Brittan receiving hon doctorates, and Kate Adie received an honorary MA.

At the reception afterwards in the refectory, everyone made a beeline for Kate Adie. This was circa 1990 and everybody adored the woman even back then; and people were genuinely shocked that she'd not received the hon doc as had the males.

.

[quote Ijsbear]@PestorPeston

Yup. Remember that cartoon?

"stop the war, Kate Adie isn't here to report it yet!"[/quote]
At this point we also need to recognised Martin Bell and his bloody white suit plus Marie Colvin.

[quote DuncinToffee]Security policy in Europe continues to rapidly shift

Danish PM Mette Frederiksen pledges:

🇩🇰 increased defence spending (eventually above 2% of GDP)
🇩🇰 independence from Russian gas.
🇩🇰 referendum on abandoning opt out of EU defence clauses.

twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1500552595592687619?t=l3nN9nLZ0iYQ0JBKhmmR-A&s=19[/quote]
Out of all of them the last one is very interesting .

It's as if NATO is bolstering itself for something, why the flexing now, the increased spending. Germany, Denmark to name but a few. Remember, NATO is not getting involved.

Is it that the deceit and lies about Russia's military force has now become apparent, and NATO is ready to impose itself as the biggest military might in the northern hemisphere, untouchable, well armed and well funded.

@Wrongkindofovercoat

From that Igor Sushko twitter feed - 'There’s a rule - if you try to cover for bad quality leadership with quantity, you’ll make everything worse'

Looks at Boris Johnson ..

@PestorPeston

Anyone remember when it was Kate Adie who use to get sent to all the war zones?

Definitely. Read her book about children who don't know their birth dates and spoke to her at a book-signing. She still introduces From Our Own Correspondent.

.

There's no way back for Putin now - with probably 10s of thousands dead at his behest the western world and much more will never allow him back into the fold. Either Russian forces remove him (hopefully) or he plunges further into death and destruction.

Watching RT at the moment all the framing is Russia is defending the Great Homeland and Ukrainian fascists backed by evil US imperialists are terrorisng ethnic Russians. Along with stoical Russians are hard people and can take deprivation and hardship on the chin along with WW2 victories over Nazism.

Very dispiriting.

15 minutes was all I could stand.