Posted on 07/08/2023 4:56:26 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a video of himself visiting an island that became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance - as the war enters its 500th day.
At the start of the war, Ukrainian soldiers defending Snake Island famously defied an order from a Russian warship to surrender.
The Black Sea island was seized by Russia but later reclaimed by Ukraine.
In a video, the Ukrainian president called it a "place of victory" that would never be reconquered.
In the undated clip, posted on Telegram, Mr Zelensky described it as proof that Ukraine will return every inch of its territory taken by Russia since the war began on 24 February 2022.
"I want to thank from here, from this place of victory, each of our soldiers for these 500 days," Mr Zelensky said in the video, in which he was shown arriving on the island by boat and leaving flowers at a memorial.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Snake 🐍 Island, the scene of an early NATO scam 🤡
Look at his stoic face! The acting skills are on point!
TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. Meta. YouTube. Vimeo. Rumble. Selfies..... "Content creators." Tick tock.
place of victory...about the size of our Walmart parking lot.
But strategic nonetheless, which is why the Muscovites targeted it on the first day of the war.
I bet it’s a very GREEN island. The kind where the backdrop could be anywhere in the world.
That selfie could be from the Moon, for all we know.
“place of victory...about the size of our Walmart parking lot.”
It’s an absolutely critical piece of real-estate because of the laws regarding how far out your control exists based on where your land border is. If Russia held this bit of real-estate, then their legal control of the water and its use would have covered all of Ukraine’s coastline. The Russians would legally prevent any sea trade with Ukrainian cities.
There's video of the trip, the link for which I posted above the pic.
Was he “playing the snake” on Snake Island?
Different nations assert different limits. At 22 miles from the mainland, it is outside the 12 mile "limit" many nations assert. But not all. Some nations hold to a 200 mile limit. So the island has other "symbolic" and not legal issues.
Consider: "The Impact of the 200-Mile Economic Zone on the Law of the Sea"
Source: https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2163&context=sdlr
Besides, during war, what borders there might be are already violated, aren't they? So the legalistic land border issue becomes moot.
Where they told the Russians what to do.
Russia trolls are dumb.
My understanding is Snake Island is a barren piece of rock, easily attacked by either side.
Zelenski may have visited the Island but I doubt there is an ongoing military presence there.
Good PR move by the Z-man though...
The Russians were thinking ahead and imagining that the world would suck it up and accept an accomplished fact like they did in 2014 when Russia took the Crimean Peninsula. Then they’d put missile batteries on the small island and embrace their inner Brooklynite. They’d grasp their crotch and say, “Rule of law, eh? I got your rule of law. I got it right here. Talk to the missile battery.”
However things shook out, possession of that island would have greatly strengthened Russia’s self-perceived legal and actual military position. But everything was predicated on a weakened or non-existent Ukrainian state. Also, possession of the island would have given Russia some talking points to use to get UN votes from nations affected by the food embargoes. And regardless of what the world said, Russia could have harassed shipping with inspections that lasted until the cargo was degraded beyond use. (The Chinese do this to force their will on shippers regardless of what the law or national agreements say.)
The way things are working out is a shock to virtually everyone.
vs chipmunk Putin?
Why do you have a years long gap in your posting history?
Which on FR are Russian trolls? Given that the article under discussion says "In the undated clip, posted on Telegram, Mr Zelensky described it as proof..." it seems that an undated clip posted to Telegram is an interesting detail in the tale.
One reads: "...Telegram has overtaken WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to become the most popular instant messaging application in Belarus, Moldova, Jordan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Russia, and Ukraine."
And "Telegram is registered as a company in the British Virgin Islands and as an LLC in Dubai. It does not disclose where it rents offices or which legal entities it uses to rent them, citing the need to 'shelter the team from unnecessary influence' and protect users from governmental data requests. After Pavel Durov left Russia in 2014, he was said to be moving from country to country with a small group of computer programmers consisting of 15 core members. While a former employee of VK claimed that Telegram had employees in Saint Petersburg, Pavel Durov said that the Telegram team made Berlin, Germany, its headquarters in 2014, but failed to obtain German residence permits for everyone on the team and moved to other jurisdictions in early 2015. Since 2017, the company has been based in Dubai. It has a complex corporate structure of shell companies to delay complying with government subpoenas."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)
So just maybe Russian trolls -- Telegram? -- are Dubai-based. In the moment. Some seem YouTube based, also. Dumb? Apparently not so dumb, if they can evade "jurisdictions."
Ok. Plant your flag on the rock. Everyone can go home now and we don’t have to spend more tax dollars for the globalists.
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