Ukraine Invasion Part 18

[Ijsbear]

Place for information, discussion, points of view, useful links and above all, a hope that this sovereign land can regain its freedom.

Russian Ambassador to UN now blaming Ukraine for Nazism, using citizens as human shields etc etc

It's a perfect example of gaslighting

Just after I typed my last post about the Russians planning to blame atrocities in Mariupol on the Ukrainians, the Russian representative to the UN started blaming atrocities in Mariupol on Ukrainians.

I really want someone to get up and just start slapping that guy around the face. He should remember what happened to Ribbentrop.

This Russian is blaming everything on Ukraine and Zelensky

Bless him, he's just claimed that the Russian advance didn't progress as expected because the Russians were trying to be careful and non-destructive.

Tim White @TWMCltd
1/2
Something strange happening in #Belgorod in #Russia.

Firstly some locals noticed pigeons suddenly started dropping dead - maybe poisoned? Maybe something else?

2/2
And then this is seen in #Belgorod with some saying it's another explosion and others a possible chemical leak. All speculation right now.

Euromaidan Press @euromaidenpress
The 64th Brigade which massacred & tortured civilians in Bucha is returning to Ukraine
By April 6, it will be transported by rail to Belgorod, then go in the Kharkiv direction. Ukrainian Intelligence highlights this brigade is redeployed faster than others

Of course it is. To capitalise on fear. Its a terror campaign. Plus they are being regarded as good soliders for what they've done as they performed as requested.

Good speech from the Ireland rep

I am really struggling to get my head around the type of person who can look at the pictures coming out of Bucha and not feel absolutely horrified. How can you sit in front to the entire world and not hang your head in absolute shame. I've always been passionately opposed to the death sentence but for this lot I'd happily do it myself.

“Rape is the weapon of war we don’t want to talk about
Christina Lamb
Sunday April 03 2022, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
When a female activist in Lviv contacted me a couple of weeks ago to say Russian soldiers were raping Ukrainian women and posting videos on porn sites, my heart sank, but sadly I wasn’t surprised. As a woman reporting on conflict, I have always focused on what happens to women in war, seeing them as the real heroes for somehow feeding, educating and sheltering their children as all hell breaks loose around them. Yet there is also a dark side: over the past few years I have seen more sexual violence inflicted on women by soldiers and militias than at any time in my three-decade career.”

I want to say that I don’t think it is just a ‘weapon’. I think it is ordinary lust mixed with power that bubbles below the surface. How many men in our EU countries who might say they sympathise with Ukraine are watching soldiers’ uploaded videos of themselves raping, I wonder? The porn users are vicariously enjoying these rapes even though they aren’t at war themselves. Where is the weapon there. The weapon aspect may be an added advantage to an aggressor but I don’t think it is the prime motive.

So, the Russians possibly claiming their new offensive is in response to Ukrainian provocations in Belgorod. Explosions, chemicals, you poisoned our pigeons, blah, blah.

(Wild birds do drop dead from shock from bangs and explosions. I guess that blowing up the oil depots could have made crops toxic or leaked oil could have got onto feathers.)

@MagicFox

Good speech from the Ireland rep

What did they say. BBC link was covering news

It was a long speech but it was very clear in its damnation

You can watch the whole meeting live on YouTube

James Clayton @JamesClayton5

BREAKING: Twitter has just moved to limit Russian government accounts. They will no longer be "recommended or amplified". Applies to more than 300 accounts.

The network has posted a series of misleading and false claims about Ukraine.

Twitter: "When a government that's engaged in armed conflict is blocking or limiting access to online services within their country, while they themselves continue to use those same services to advance their positions and viewpoints - that creates a harmful information imbalance"

China has just repeated same position. Critical of sanctions and forcing parties to choose sides whilst saying their interest is in promoting peace which requires a dialogue between Russia, the US and the EU

whilst saying their interest is in promoting peace which requires a dialogue between Russia, the US and the EU

So Ukraine doesn't get a say in this?

Good point, I'm pretty sure he didn't mention ukraine! But it might be my omission

China is still calling it a 'conflict'

Not in Chinese eyes, of course not. Ukraine is small fry really for the Chinese; the problem is the big powers arguing about it and getting in the way of Trade and spreading influence.

He was certainly making the point that this is about a larger issue between russia and the wider west

From Zelenskiy's speech:

"They need our wealth, our people.

Russia has already deported hundreds of thousands of our citizens to their country. They abducted more than 2,000 children. They just abducted those children and continue to do so. Russia wants to turn Ukraine into silent slaves.

The Russian military are looting openly the cities and villages that they have captured. This is why it’s called looting. They are stealing everything, starting with food and earrings. Gold earrings that are pulled out and covered with blood."

K: This is a direct appeal to non-Western countries that have themselves been colonised. Clever, we'll see if it shifts some off the fence.

Thank you all for keeping these threads going. It's my go-to because I can't bring myself to watch the msm but don't want to be totally ignorant.

I just can't understand how there can still be sanctions we haven't applied yet (apart from gas), or 'diplomats' we haven't expelled yet??? Surely total exclusion is the obvious and only response?

As RTB said, I am becoming increasingly disgusted with our (everyone against the invasion's) response.

Can MN create a sunflower emoji, please?

How an ordinary Russian TV viewer (one of whom I currently am) sees it
twitter.com/navalny/status/1511368941758787592?s=20&t=YoLL7Y5Llk0M1BnSq7kJ7w

@PippinStar

Thanks *@UltimateFoole*, I will check those out! I’m a MH professional and I’m getting a lot of emails this past week about training to help work with Ukrainian refugees. But still not noticing anything for the public, which there needs to be. I’ve had to help a couple of people realise that they are too traumatised themselves to take in other potentially traumatised people. Scary.

*@PippinStar* I’m pages behind, so I don’t know whether anyone has posted this yet. It’s a resource developed through work with Syrian refugees, designed to help refugee parents with trauma in their children. They’ve had it translated into Ukrainian, Russian and a few other languages: www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/psychologists--use-syrian-experience-to-help-ukrainian-families/

@ClaudineClare
Thank you for that link to Alexei Navalny
twitter.com/navalny/status/1511368941758787592?s=20&t=YoLL7Y5Llk0M1BnSq7kJ7w

He said the TV is whipping up a cry for blood and going to the bitter end no matter what that takes:
8/14 They demand a war to the bitter end, storming Kyiv, bombing Lviv. Even the prospect of a nuclear war does not scare them. They mop up the floor with their fellow Putinists on live television if they as much as hint at the fact that peace talks are a good thing