Posted on 06/27/2022 12:08:01 PM PDT by Mariner
Russia fired a series of rockets at a shopping center in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on Monday, raising alarm bells that Russia is stepping up its attacks on civilian structures regardless of the loss of life.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday there were more than a thousand civilians inside the shopping mall and the casualties to come might bring even more shock and horror to Ukrainian people already confronting so much death and destruction as Russia has been waging war in Ukraine for 124 days.
“The number of victims is impossible to imagine,” Zelensky said on Telegram. “The mall is on fire, rescuers are fighting the fire.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Like Hueys, Bunker Busters, land mines, or maybe Firebombing like we used to do?
Ask the folks of Dresden.
Oh yeah, ya can’t. They’re all dead.
War is political murder. There are no Good Guys.
No, this is the Russian way of war. The US didn’t line up 20,000 enemy officers and shoot them dead. Russia did. No different here. Russia mass murders civilians as an instrument of its policy in Ukraine. It can’t dominate Ukraine economically so it must steal its land. It can’t defeat Ukraine militarily so it tries to destroy it. It’s that simple.
“What makes you think every school, hospital, and church, and shopping mall is a legitimate military target?”
The war criminal is the Ukraine who stores military logistics materials with civilians as as to make them targets.
We always had the conscience. We developed the weapons we have today so we didn’t have to resort to fire bombing.
It’s many other cultures, including Russians, who clearly have no conscience.
“And you know this mall housed fighters or war materials how?”
It was targeted with a very expensive munition, which allegedly Russia is running out of.
If they were targeting civilians they’d likely use a few TU-22s loaded with 500lb dumb bombs and level the entire block.
Basic economy of resources.
When you are called a war criminal for protecting your countrymen or giving them supplies, food, or ammo, then maybe you will see how silly your argument is.
So you read their minds....got it.
“You expect defenders to only bed down in open terrain?”
International law specifically forbids sheltering fighters and storing equipment amongst civilians.
We often accuse Palestinians of such crimes. Why not Ukrainians? It’s their MO.
“And embedding on your home turf is not ‘using human shields’”
It most certainly is.
International law? You want to cite international law while defending Russian war crimes? I want to post a LOL emoji except it’s too sad.
“It’s been more than 50 years since carpet bombing was a legitimate war fighting tactic.”
What makes one tactic legitimate and another forbidden?
Who makes those rules?
The winner. Exclusively.
uh, no. It’s not. Restraining people from exiting would be. That is not what is going on. This is freedom fighters, probably working with many in the local population. Considering the numerical advantage the Russians have, it’s a legitimate strategy.
“When you are called a war criminal for protecting your countrymen or giving them supplies, food, or ammo, then maybe you will see how silly your argument is.”
You’re just full of non sequiturs.
I said you don’t mix civilian areas with military targeting materials, after you complained those civilian areas were being bombed because they had military materials, and you give that stupid answer. You’re nothing but a bigot. Nothing makes you happy.
“International law? You want to cite international law while defending Russian war crimes?”
What is on the table here are Ukrainian war crimes.
It’s just a cognitive disconnect for you because you’re emotionally attached to a side. You’re OUTRAGED!
Would you defend a Palestinian unit storing material in a shopping mall?
Maybe you would...
A shame Zelenskyy won’t surrender and save his people.
Expect more of this.
Here’s the truth on Ukraine, as far as I can tell
By Dan Truitt
First, and most importantly, virtually no one in the US has got this right, including conservative outlets and pundits. Putin’s a thug, but he’s an excellent politician and a strong leader. And he’s not crazy, as some seem to surmise. He is a cold, calculating, strategic thinker who has disciplined his mind and body for decades. He’s a Russia first guy. Think Donald Trump minus all that hot air, Big Macs, and add a willingness to off his enemies.
We promised Russia we would not expand NATO when the Soviet Union fell. We went back on that promise and incorporated almost the entire Eastern Bloc into NATO.
Then after 9/11, Bush II unilaterally canceled the ‘72 ABM treaty, which until then had frozen nuclear weapon development in the Soviet Union and the US, effectively ending the arms race. Bush’s rationale was that we needed to develop new nuclear weapon tech to defeat terrorism. Like we were going to nuke Osama Bin Laden.
Bush’s rationale for NATO expansion was also terrorism. So, Bush triggered a fresh arms race. Bush was a decent man, but the more time goes by, the more he looks like an absolute moron to me.
Ukraine belonged to Russia for centuries. They have almost identical cultures and languages. Kyiv used to be the capital of Russia. Putin’s war is a war of defense. Russia (rightly, in my view) feels threatened by NATO expansion. Russia is a mainly land-based, continental power that desires a buffer with the West. Ukraine serves that purpose perfectly.
The US triggered a coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, overthrowing the democratically elected president who was Russia-friendly and installing a pro-western, pro-NATO leader. Putin has had his eye on Ukraine ever since but dared not do anything when Trump was in power because he feared and respected Trump.
So, Putin in the meantime brilliantly helped move along a green revolution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, leaving Europe, with its wind farms and solar panels, hungry for more energy, which they bought from Russia in the form of natgas.
Trump’s right: Putin is a genius. Unfortunately, we seem to be in a historically rare period in which the leaders of 1.5 billion people, i.e., the West, are to a person either feckless, obtuse, senile, or some combination of the three.
Now that we have President Potted Plant in office, Putin has made his move. BTW, the story is that Russian annexed Crimea some years ago. Putin’s version is that the Crimeans had a plebiscite, and over 90% voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia. That alone should give you an idea of what a dysfunctional country Ukraine is.
Putin has no intention of “reconstituting the Soviet Union.” That’s a big fat lie. This war is the West’s fault, not Putin’s. At any time, we could have discussed these issues with him. Instead of seeking closer ties with Russia (as Trump was attempting — he even talked about disbanding NATO, since Russia is no longer a territorial threat to Europe), we constantly antagonize Russia with our NATO expansion.
Nice deflection from the topic.
In case you didn’t get it, the American culture classically abhors war, though we haven’t shied away from it when threatened. Unlike other cultures where burning cities to the ground has been a norm of history, we have worked to avoid the ‘total war’ ideology since WWII after seeing what devastation total war wrought. It may be a silly concept to some, but we try to distinguish ourselves from ‘the bad guys’ by not going scorched earth on our enemies population. Heavy focus on precise munitions that take out threats and minimize civilian casualties.
One can debate whether this humane style of war is better than total war or not, but it’s what many say keeps us from becoming the monsters we see from Muslim or other cultures.
So it’s not about rules, as there arguably aren’t any. It’s about knowing good from evil, and not crossing that line of becoming evil while protecting your own life, families, and country.
of course you apply this to the Ukraine’s but not to the Russian invaders. I see.
I think your post is not on topic so I don’t think it’s productive to try to discuss it. The Israelis are not the Russians, nor are they the Ukrainians.
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.