Posted on 04/03/2022 4:49:06 AM PDT by FarCenter
Odessa (Ukraine) (AFP) – Air strikes rocked Ukraine's strategic Black Sea port of Odessa early Sunday, AFP reporters said, but there were no casualties, according to the army.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed the strike.
"This morning, high-precision sea and air-based missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three storage facilities for fuel and lubricants near the city of Odessa, from which fuel was supplied to a group of Ukrainian troops in the direction of Mykolaiv," it said.
At least three huge columns of black smoke and flames rose into the sky over an industrial zone.
The rocket attacks came as Russian forces and appeared to be withdrawing from the country's north after Kyiv warned that Moscow was trying to consolidate troops in the south.
Despite the rocket attacks, there were no casualties, said officer Vladislav Nazarov in a statement from the southern regional command that reiterated a ban on publishing the exact sites under fire or the extent of damage.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Don't think I need to repeat the stories about three Russian soldiers sharing one weapon during WW2.
First soldier had the weapon. When he got shot, the second soldier that was behind him picked it up and kept trying to advance the line. When he was shot, the third soldier who was behind him picked it up and kept trying to advance the line.
That was WW2. Don't see how it's different today. Same mentality. That doesn't win wars. If Russia had really been the military superpower we in this country had been lead to believe for decades (I'm pushing 60) there's no way Ukraine would've lasted this long.
Putin and Russia f'd up bad. Xi is watching this from China laughing at Putin while simultaneously learning all the lessons he can so he doesn't repeat the same mistake Putin did, when Xi orders the invasion of Taiwan.
Let's be honest: that's coming. I don't understand why it hasn't happened yet but when it does, the choke hold that China will have on the world's computer chip supply and everything computer chips are in today is going to devastate the global economy even more than it has been.
Big chip plants being built in AZ won'tbe putting out a single usable chip for at least two to three more years. Even then, China has control over the majority of raw materials needed to make them because the dumbass greenies in this country are in control and hey, no oil, no minerals, no energy, no water "save the planet" stupidity that has no real basis in science is running the show.
Back to Russia: the fact Ukraine hasn't outright surrendered by now tells us all we need to know about how weak and ineffective the Russian military really is. Were they not sitting on nukes, they'd be as easily stoppable as the Iraq Republican Guard was in 1991, and they were nothing but cannon fodder for our guys. I know this to be true because a dear friend was there picking them off until our guys were ordered to stop. It was a slaughter. The ONLY reason we left any of the Iraqi Republican Guard live was to be a presence against Iran. Balance of power. Russia would be no different if they didn't have the nuke card to play. It would be a slaughter if the US went up against Russia head to head on the traditional field of battle. Anyone who doesn't know that is either kidding themselves listening to propaganda, stupid, or both .
That's how I see it anyway, and between Putin, Zelensky, Biden, Xi and the rest, there are NO good guys in this, period. NONE. When you invade another sovereign nation under false pretenses though, that makes you the bad guy.
Invaded because of Nazi's .. right. Whatever happened to it being common sense around here that the first person to use the term Nazi in an argument was automatically determined to be too f'nd stupid to even have a conversation with? Back in the good old days here on FR, everyone would look at that person, determine they were a complete loser and shun them. What happened to FR that people actually buy into the "Russia went in to Ukraine because of Nazi's" bullshit??
That people actually somehow think Putin's defending Christianity and Christian values here is just beyond me. Putin's an opportunist. Putin is all Putin. Nothing more.
I know.
Just the other day, celebrities had a Zoom call where they sang "Imagine" from their mansions. Pretty soon, I hear Bono is going to speak out!
And have you seen all the hashtags on Twitter mocking Putin?
Victory is near!
The problem for Russia is who owns these refineries.
The one in Odessa is owned by Lukoil, a giant Russian company. Blowing it up is wiping out billions in Russian assets.
Where I would hope we are going is back to consolidating our position as a maratime trading country with partners and allies on the rims of the oceans, you know, your old view of the pacific rim. What goes on in the collision between China, Russia and India, cannot be our affair.
I don't preach isolationism and solipsism. But I do believe in friendships and alliances with kindred spirits - if there are any anymore. That is enough. We can be friends with England and Israel and Japan and France - if you must - without worrying about Kazakhstan overly much.
And #deathtoPutin
Where in the various circles of hell would Dante cast George Orwell who tried to warn us all and instead was taken as a prophet for a brave new world run by $4itocrats.
You are very well learned and a thinking man on Rooskies vs Ukraine. You display yourself as neutral on this, and screw both corrupted regimes. The hole in your libertarian logic is this:
If Russian wins to dominate Ukraine, then CCP will follow soon after, by taking Taiwan and TSMC. Do you know what TSMC is? And no cheats via a Google lookup! ! ! !
Which view makes me not a very good libertarian. And by trading partners on the Pacific Rim, I mean SK, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, and others.
Only in the globalist West.
“Australia and New Zealand...... “
Proven Covid panicked idiots. Next! I need more words of wisdom from you.
And what is TSMC? ... No googling on this one!
One of those brilliant globalist creations where we put all of our precious gold in one little basket at the end of a fragile supply chain where one good bomb and anything using a semicondutor is out of luck for seven years at a minimum.
That TSMC?
You are getting warm...
Looks like they’re starting to soften up Odessa.
And if you plan on being the de facto ruler/puppetmaster of Ukraine, they are all yours. You wanna keep anything that’s worth anything in working order.
Putin was great in his first 10 years of presidency. The Russian economy boomed. Then 10 years after that, the economy stagnated due to corruption. So it was underachieving. But Russia can live with that. Now Putin declared war with a military who was not ready to fight? This is looking like Russo-Japanese War. A humiliating defeat for Russia.
China will take Taiwan soon no matter what any non-Chinese person does or does not do.
It's shameful that in the so-called information age that we are all so ill-informed by our useless lapdog media.
Newspapers, radio and news reels of 1942 were superior to what we have today.
Likely because the NATO AWACS orbiting in Poland near the Moldova border gave them warning early enough to get their people clear.
“And what is TSMC? … No googling on this one!”
**********************************
I know! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju-lptJweTc
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.