Posted on 09/20/2022 9:45:32 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Vladimir Putin appeared poised to go all-in on his war in Ukraine today, sparking fears of an escalation in fighting that could drag in NATO and spark World War Three.
In a day of rapid-fire developments, Kremlin stooges in Ukraine's Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions simultaneously announced referendums on becoming part of Russia between September 23 and 27, with the sham votes expected to easily pass.
Dmitry Medvedev, a staunch Putin ally, then vowed 'all forces of self-defence' will be used to protect what he called 'Russian territory' - teeing up a new phase in the conflict involving weapons and tactics the Kremlin has so-far held in reserve.
Underlining that point, Moscow's rubber-stamp parliament passed new laws paving the war for Putin to end his 'special military operation' and officially declare a war, allowing him to mobilise Russia's massive population into the army.
It comes after Ukraine humiliatingly routed Putin's forces to the east of Kharkiv and recaptured a swathe of territory, with the despot's allies, propagandists and political hardliners calling for an escalation amid calls for the president to resign.
Putin was said to be preparing an address to the nation tonight, Russia's national broadcaster reported, without giving any further details.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Yeah...that was 80 years ago. I think we can move on from the WWII equivalencies.
I have to hear how the Russians are used to hardship because...80 years ago.
I have to hear how Patton wanted to keep going...80 years ago.
The Russian mindset wants to go back to the late 1700s. Its absurd.
Russia is a massive country with resources THEY haven’t fully discovered. They could be a wonderful world power. But instead, they are pig-headed slavs who cannot see the world has changed and they allow their leaders to use them as fodder.
I am tired of all of this Russia stirring the pot because they are small minded people. No one wants your stuff. Stop lashing out at everyone.
Where do you live, Moscow?
Maybe his chemo went late.
“I cannot imagine that the Russian people will go along with mobilization over Ukraine. The country is not being invaded.”
Technically not, but Americans cannot really understand the connection of Russians to Russian-speakers in Ukraine. It would be like some fluke of nature left Texas in the hands of a Fascist-run, American-hating, Mexico. While the Leftists, no doubt, would celebrate, most Americans would be appalled and would demand that the US do something to get them back.
Russia did have the equivalent of our Leftists, the ones who hated Putin’s government and wanted to join Europe, but now most of them realize that the hatred from the West is directed at ALL Russian people, not just the leadership - and with that, I suspect they figure that they might as well finish the job in Ukraine, and they’ll stay out of the way of that.
Anyway, time will.
“Where do you live, Moscow?”
Where do you live, at Foggy Bottom?
Well, russia lives in that fantasy land. It takes full credit for the soviet victory over nazi Germany. It took the USSR’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council. It kept all soviet nuclear weapons including those deployed in Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in 1991. Can’t have only the good stuff, and not take responsibility for the bad stuff (you know, the Holodomor, gulags, ethnic cleansing, etc.). That is who Patton was talking about. And you know it.
“Read the articles (there are a lot of them).”
No linkie. No Quotie.
🤭😏
“Sorry, none of them quotes Putin as saying that Ukraine belongs to Russia.”
Your reading comprehension is substandard.
There can be NO treaty that does not address Putin specifically renouncing his laughably egregious Communifesto:
"In view of the historical destiny of Russia and its peoples, the Leninist principles of state-building were not only a mistake, but far worse than a mistake. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991 this became absolutely obvious.Of course, the events of the past cannot be changed, but we must at least speak about them directly and honestly, without reservations and without political coloration. I can only add that the considerations of the current political conjuncture, however spectacular and advantageous they may seem at a given moment, should not or cannot under any circumstances form the basis for the fundamental principles of statehood.
This is neither the time nor the place to discuss issues of state or constitutional law and to define the concept of citizenship. Nevertheless, the question arises: why did the country have to be shaken even further under these already difficult circumstances?"
Putin said it out loud, in black and white, and laid down a permanent marker to the Ukraine: 'You have no 'state', you have no 'sovereignty', and you have no 'citizenship' -- other than what I grant you from those 3 -- so, I'm going to the Ukraine (to get my ass kicked)'.
That is so true.👌
if only! Poor Trump, he is ssoooooo misinformed!!!
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: Latvia has lost its sovereignty because of NATO and Washington"Latvia lost its economic, military and humanitarian sovereignty when it agreed to deploy US and NATO troops on its territory, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"If the Latvian Foreign Ministry appreciates the meaning of freedom, it would not encourage the deployment of foreign military units on its territory," Zakharova was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
BTW: I’m still waiting for you to respond to the question I posed to you in comment #65.
Yep
I imagine when the Russian Army starts drafting the 30 year old professionals from the Western Regions, they will start to get some push back.
Up to now the state has been relying on Siberians and Central Asian Russians. Those guys are happy to be fed and fairly warm. Not so much with the intelligent folks from Moscow and St Petersburg.
How many body bags coming back to those cities will it take before people start getting angry.
I don’t know a lot of Russians, but the half dozen or so immigrants I have spoken to don’t care too much for Ukrainians..but to a person they said the war was not a good thing for Russia. They were more inclined to let the Russians in the East move into Russia proper, and then build a wall and have nothing more to do with Ukraine.
The problem comes with all of those pipelines flowing through Ukraine to southern Europe. When this is over, the Russians will want access to those markets.
Putin should simply end the war, resign and move to Switzerland with his wife and girlfriends, and let his facists underlings fight over control. We will witness Russia devolve into a bunch of religious states, constantly fighting with each other. But they won’t bother us.
But what does that say about the state of Russian forces that the Ukrainians had that much success against them anyway? Russia hasn't been able to mount even a hint of a counter-attack against the allegedly overextended and over-exposed Ukrainian army in the northeast. If they had any significant mechanized reserves at all, the right move would have been to hammer the Ukrainians. Who, as you point out, don't control the air. But that didn't happen. Even if you want to argue that this was a strategic withdrawal by the Russians, a sharp counter attack to make the Ukrainians pay still would have made tactical sense. But...nothing.
For that matter, isn't this threat of mobilization an open acknowledgement that Russia failed to accomplish its goals with the army that it currently has?
People need to stop looking at this invasion through the prism of World War II. In World War II, Stalin could grab a conscript, hand him a rifle (or have him pick one up from a dead buddy), and toss them into the line against the Germans. And if he didn't show sufficient enthusiasm, the NKVD battalions would mow him down.
That won't work in 2022. And Russia doesn't have enough of a functioning reservist system to give recruits even that much training.
As to #65, it was Ukraine’s choice - they chose war and that’s fine with me.
Where I object is us getting involved and turning it into a world war, as I’m against nuclear exchanges.
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