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 ...
“that could drag in NATO and spark World War Three.”
“Kremlin stooges”
“sham votes”
“Moscow’s rubber-stamp parliament”
“mobilise Russia’s massive population into the army”
“Ukraine humiliatingly routed Putin’s forces”
“the despot’s allies, propagandists and political hardliners”
Yep. All true.
And China invades Taiwan
I think that Russia would indeed use nukes if they thought that they were going to go down as a country. That’s not happening now but it’s hard to predict where this war may go.
Damn straight
Hitler had huge stock piles of gas that he could have unleashed in 1945 but he didn’t. Suicide by first strike just isn’t going to happen.
Oh that must be a different Obama. The Obama I know openly mocked Mitt Romney for saying Russia is our number one global adversary, and that same Obama told Dmitry Medvedev , “ Tell Vladimir I will be able to be more flexible after the election.”
Your logic is that of a demented psychopath.
The Russian neocon politicians at the Kremlin are not only warmongers, they are imperialist land-grabbers. They always had this goal of expanding Russia’s territory.
Instead of accepting the MSM’s interpretation of what Putin said, people should look at the actual text.
The subject of my speech is the situation in Donbass and the course of the military special operation after its liberation from the neo-Nazi regime that seized power in Ukraine in 2014 with an armed coup (…)
It will be about the necessary, urgent steps to protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Russia, about supporting the desire and will of our compatriots to determine their own future, and about the aggressive policies of some Western elites who try by any means necessary to maintain their supremacy, and to this end try to block and suppress any sovereign, independent centers of development, in order to continue to crudely impose their will on other countries and peoples and implant their pseudo-values.
The aim of this West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country.
They are already saying outright that they managed to split the Soviet Union in 1991 and that now is the time for Russia itself to disintegrate into a multitude of regions and territories that are deadly enemies with one another.
(...)
Weaponizing total Russophobia, they have for decades purposefully incited hatred of Russia, particularly in Ukraine, for which they destined the fate of an anti-Russian beachhead.
And they turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder and drove them to war with our country.
(...)
Before hostilities began, more than seven and a half million people lived in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
Many of them were forced to become refugees and leave their homes.
Those who remained - some five million people - now face constant artillery and rocket attacks from neo-Nazi militants.
They attack hospitals and schools and carry out terrorist attacks against civilians.
We have no moral right to turn those close to us over to the executioners to be torn apart.
We cannot ignore their sincere desire to choose their own destiny.
The parliaments of the People’s Republics of Donbass and the civil-military administrations of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions have decided to hold referendums on the future of these regions.
And they turned to us, to Russia, with a request to support such a move.
(...)
In this situation, I consider it necessary to take the following decision, which is fully responsive to the threats we face: In order to defend our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the security of our people and that of the population in To ensure the liberated areas, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to introduce partial mobilization in the Russian Federation.
I repeat once again: we are specifically talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in reserve are called up for military service, primarily those who have served in the ranks of the armed forces and through certain military ones Have specialist knowledge and relevant experience.
(...)
With its aggressive anti-Russian policy, the West has crossed all borders.
We constantly hear threats against our country, our people.
Some irresponsible politicians in the West are not only talking about plans to supply Ukraine with long-range offensive weapons - systems that would enable attacks in Crimea and other regions of Russia (...)
Washington, London and Brussels are directly urging Kyiv to transfer military operations to our territory.
They no longer hide and talk about defeating Russia by any means on the battlefield.
This is to be followed by the withdrawal of political, economic, cultural and in general any kind of sovereignty and the complete plundering of our country.
Nuclear blackmail has also now begun.
I am speaking not only of the Western-sponsored shelling of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which poses a threat of nuclear catastrophe, but also of the statements made by some senior officials of leading NATO countries on whether it is possible and permissible to use weapons of mass destruction - nuclear weapons - against Russia.
I would like to remind those who dare to make such statements about Russia that our country also has various means of destruction, some of which are more advanced than those of the NATO countries.
Of course, if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all means at our disposal to defend Russia and our people.
This is not a bluff.
The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our homeland, our independence and our freedom, I reiterate, will be safeguarded with all the means at our disposal.
And those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons need to know that the compass rose can turn in their direction, too.
It is in our historical tradition, in the destiny of our people, that we stop those who strive for world domination, who threaten to dismember and enslave our fatherland, our homeland.
We’re going to do that now - and that’s how it’s going to be.
I believe in your support.«
Hard to predict where any war will go. Everyone at the start of WWI thought they would be home by Christmas. Yeah, Christmas four years later with many millions dead.
Nobody has any idea how this will play out. The worst case scenario is total nuclear war and the mutual destruction of Russia and the U.S. Nobody alive can guarantee that will never happen.
IMO, there should be a hard push for some negotiated settlement before this thing gets totally out of hand. Not a Putin lover here, only someone who wants our world to survive instead of being irradiated for the next 100,000 years.
"Confidence" and the Biden gang don't belong in the same sentence except the in the phrase "confidence game."
Now you’re just imitating what I’ve said.
Btt
I have 3 children adopted from Russia. They were not infants at the time of their separate adoptions.
I spent a lot of time in Russia and loved it.
The first child we adopted was almost 7, so I took several semesters of Russian language in preparation.
I have seen the Moscow circus 3 times, been to the Bolshoi ballet, lived with many fine Russian people in all parts of Russia, met a ten yr old Russian child who spoke perfect English and was pondering which 3rd language to study, and hitchhiked all over Moscow with a three yr old.
I have toured St Basil cathedral many times and became an eastern orthodox Christian in a russian church.
It is fair to say that I deeply love Russia and her people.
Biden wants to destroy Russia and will take all of us with him. Why do you support him?
Thank you.
Just imagine the emergency powers decrees by US politicians in the event of all out war with Russia. Goodbye constitution.
No one wants to destroy Russia; except perhaps, ironically, pro-Putin fans, who by cheering Putin on may unwittingly bring about the destruction of Russia.
And, in typical fashion, you jump to conclusions about me “supporting Biden.” I have said many times on FR, and I’ll say again for you: I support the Ukrainian people defending the country and their homes and their families and loved ones against an unwarranted and unprovoked invasion by a larger and stronger neighbor; and the presidents of Ukraine and the US are IRRELEVANT and IMMATERIAL to my support of the Ukrainian people.
Why do you say that? That’s the same garbage they said when Russia first invaded. Russian military is actually garbage. They have no professional NCOs. It’s pretty much conscripts with an officer telling them what to do. And those officers need their Generals to direct them.
It’s really a 19th century construct for a military. If Russia was smart, they’d try to stop and get a peace agreement in place and then completely rework their military to modernize it. I’m not talking weapons...I’m talking organizations, training, and culture.
I have 3 children adopted from Russia. They were not infants at the time of their separate adoptions.
How do you feel about Russia blocking US adoptions ? It seems you love Russia more than Putin’s Russia loves you. Or maybe you are not American?
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