Russia invades Ukraine

[FlameOn]

Der Spiegel reporting German intelligence (BND) obtained intercepts of Russian officers discussing and planning the killing of civilians in Bucha in 'normal' conversation suggesting that this was not a one off act by desperate soldiers but an orchestrated campaign to terrorize the population and stifle resistance to Russian occupation.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1511968324007170051

[FlameOn]

US Senate approves reviving the WWII-era Lend-Lease act to send weapons to Ukraine. The bill would let Biden transfer title of, lend, lease, or otherwise dispose of any defense article to Ukraine without procedural senate/congressional approval.

The Senate unanimously passed major legislation late Wednesday to revive a World War II-era program allowing President Joe Biden to more efficiently send weapons and other supplies to Ukraine amid Russia’s bloody invasion.

Senators quickly rallied behind the proposal, known as Lend-Lease, as Ukraine’s military proved it could fend off Russian troops who have been shelling Ukrainian cities and towns since late February. The Lend-Lease program created during World War II was seen as a game-changer in the conflict, as it allowed the U.S. to quickly resupply the Allies without time-consuming procedural hurdles.

It’s also an indication that the Western world believes Ukraine can now win the fight against the Russian invaders. Congress recently approved nearly $14 billion of military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, some of which has already been doled out. On Tuesday, the State Department announced an additional $100 million in funding for Javelin missiles and other materiel, bringing the total security assistance to $1.7 billion since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Horrific images emerged from the town of Bucha last weekend showing civilians laying dead in the streets with their hands tied behind their backs, prompting Western leaders to amplify their allegations of war crimes.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...lease-00023668

[Firebot]

Oryx is pissed with so many analyst being stupid of late.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1512068189965807618

He's also having problems counting the Russian losses. Sums up how Russia is doing.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1511775738277597185

[Firebot]

Also...things like this is why it's really hard to take the MSM seriously sometimes. This tweet by
Carl Quintanilla from CNBC is claiming that Ukraine losses are 91%, and that Ukraine had 55 helicopters at the start of the invasion and lost 91...for a 100% loss rate. Where the hell is the due diligence before posting such a tweet?

https://twitter.com/user/status/1511507866477338636

https://twitter.com/user/status/1511612007581200385

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Are the sanctions having any effect on the average Russian Pointy?
Groceries, gas, entertainment?

Yes, effects of sanctions are slowly creeping in. First off, we can't fly to US or Europe as there are no direct flights. Then we have no Instagram/Facebook/Twitter and some people were living off accounts or at least used them for promotions. I planned to make a course to sell on Udemy, but now I can not. I can't take exams for any IT certificates. Me and my wife considered enrolling our 6 years old into an online USA school, but now it's going to be problematic. Groceries prices are up like twice. I don't drive so I don't know about gas. Our company has started layoffs and massively cutting costs. Annual bonus is out of question. At this point losing a job is by far the biggest threat for an average Russian. Finding a new job after layoff is a tough ask in current environment.

Yet, more mundane parts of lives are still the same. Shops are still full, services are reliable and as long, as people can keep their jobs, they are somewhat alright.

Also, we have started a repatriation to Israel process. Waiting time is extremely long due to demand, but hopefully by 2023 I will be done with this country.

[calumniate]

Spotify going to get dropped soon as well in Russia. Thanks for the updates Pointman

[karl262]

Originally Posted by Pointman

Putin's rhetoric is getting weaker each day. Now he says that sanctions are a price Russian people have to pay for their freedom and independence. Well, before the war we had just as much "freedom and independence", as we have now. In fact, we had way more freedom - at least we had western media in the country and had a little bit of free speech, compared to now. We also could use Udemy, Facebook, could fly to other countries... We also could trade western securities (I had few Amazon shares for instance). We definitely lost a lot of freedom, rather than gained freedom at the price of sanctions, as Putin implies.

Yet, polls say that support for war and Putin's popularity are allegedly rising. That's because people don't tell true in polls. If a random man calls me and asks whether I support the war and Putin in general, I would say "yes". There's no incentive for me to say "no". I would sure say "yes" and move on with my life. So does everyone.

With the restrictions on information I'm wondering how you, as person living in Russia, knows that the war is going horribly? Is western media/internet readily available? Do most people there take everything Putin says with a giant grain of salt?

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Pointman

Yes, effects of sanctions are slowly creeping in. First off, we can't fly to US or Europe as there are no direct flights. Then we have no Instagram/Facebook/Twitter and some people were living off accounts or at least used them for promotions. I planned to make a course to sell on Udemy, but now I can not. I can't take exams for any IT certificates. Me and my wife considered enrolling our 6 years old into an online USA school, but now it's going to be problematic. Groceries prices are up like twice. I don't drive so I don't know about gas. Our company has started layoffs and massively cutting costs. Annual bonus is out of question. At this point losing a job is by far the biggest threat for an average Russian. Finding a new job after layoff is a tough ask in current environment.

Yet, more mundane parts of lives are still the same. Shops are still full, services are reliable and as long, as people can keep their jobs, they are somewhat alright.

Also, we have started a repatriation to Israel process. Waiting time is extremely long due to demand, but hopefully by 2023 I will be done with this country.

Best of luck dude, to you and your family. You're obviously one of the good ones there, you have your head on straight, and you've helped me personally on CP during my time of need. Will always appreciate that.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Firebot

He's also having problems counting the Russian losses. Sums up how Russia is doing.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1511775738277597185

Holy #### that tank is obliterated.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

US Senate approves reviving the WWII-era Lend-Lease act to send weapons to Ukraine. The bill would let Biden transfer title of, lend, lease, or otherwise dispose of any defense article to Ukraine without procedure senate/congressional approval.



https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...lease-00023668

Looking at this cynically, the more arms sales/supplies can flow fluidly into Ukraine, the less interest American leaders tied to the arms industry have in any quick resolution to the conflict. No doubt Ukraine legitimately needs the weapons, but it's a situation ripe for putting personal gain from corporate arms dealing ahead of peace.

When the current secretary of defense stepped into his role straight off the board of Raytheon, he committed to recuse himself from anything having to do with Raytheon. I wonder how that's going with all the javelins and other arms being sent to Ukraine.

[burn_this_city]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1512065700029820934

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Looking at this cynically, the more arms sales/supplies can flow fluidly into Ukraine, the less interest American leaders tied to the arms industry have in any quick resolution to the conflict. No doubt Ukraine legitimately needs the weapons, but it's a situation ripe for putting personal gain from corporate arms dealing ahead of peace.

When the current secretary of defense stepped into his role straight off the board of Raytheon, he committed to recuse himself from anything having to do with Raytheon. I wonder how that's going with all the javelins and other arms being sent to Ukraine.

There will always be those who benefit from conflict.

There is still tons of profit to be made when the conflict is over as Ukraine will quickly be brought up to NATO standards, even if they aren't officially joining NATO.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Looking at this cynically, the more arms sales/supplies can flow fluidly into Ukraine, the less interest American leaders tied to the arms industry have in any quick resolution to the conflict. No doubt Ukraine legitimately needs the weapons, but it's a situation ripe for putting personal gain from corporate arms dealing ahead of peace.

When the current secretary of defense stepped into his role straight off the board of Raytheon, he committed to recuse himself from anything having to do with Raytheon. I wonder how that's going with all the javelins and other arms being sent to Ukraine.

This is mostly controlled by Biden and he's has a pretty anti-war stance. I can't see him wanting to keep sending supplies to Ukraine longer term if the conflict ends in half a year or something. American companies would benefit and see a cut of the re-arming Ukrainian military contracts post war. The whole war is an ad campaign for Raytheon after all.

There's a huge risk of arms proliferation that I'm sure is being considered inside the Pentagon that'd likely cut off arms to Ukraine post conflict. We've already seen 10ish Javelins captured by Russian forces after all and far right groups like the Azov battalion would likely not give up their arms easily.

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Holy #### that tank is obliterated.

Russian tanks (except the T-14) are death traps because of their design. Rounds for the main gun are stored directly in the crew compartment right under the autoloader in the turret. So if the tank is hit in the side near the tracks where there isn't ERA or the top turret hit triggers an ammo rack explosion the tank will just blow itself up from the inside out. Western tanks on the other hand have ammo in their own compartment with blow-out panels that are designed to vent the explosion away from the crew. There might be more than one vehicle in that mess tho.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

There will always be those who benefit from conflict.

There is still tons of profit to be made when the conflict is over as Ukraine will quickly be brought up to NATO standards, even if they aren't officially joining NATO.

Sure. There will always be those who benefit, and those profits from re-arming Ukraine and adding supplies to other European countries will still be waiting to be made after the war however long it goes. Still, it's worth recognizing and acknowledging the conflict of interest when there are political leaders whose incentives are aligned with a prolonged and more brutal war rather than peace.

It's a bit like the US currently making a big deal of war crimes and the International Criminal Court, even though the US does not even recognize the legitimacy of the ICC.

It seems important to question whether the expressed motivation for peace/justice is sincere on the part of all leaders, or just a convenient alignment with political and strategic interests, especially if the goal is to have peace and reduce suffering as soon as possible.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Russian tanks (except the T-14) are death traps because of their design. Rounds for the main gun are stored directly in the crew compartment right under the autoloader in the turret. So if the tank is hit in the side near the tracks where there isn't ERA or the top turret hit triggers an ammo rack explosion the tank will just blow itself up from the inside out. Western tanks on the other hand have ammo in their own compartment with blow-out panels that are designed to vent the explosion away from the crew. There might be more than one vehicle in that mess tho.

Makes ya wonder if it is worth saving the manpower by having an autoloader......

[Puppet Guy]

[FlamesAddiction]

The UN voted to suspend Russia's membership in the Human Rights Council, being only the second country to have this done to them (the first being Libya under Qadafi).

The countries that voted "no" are pretty much a "who's who in the lunatic zoo".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...rights-council

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Makes ya wonder if it is worth saving the manpower by having an autoloader......

The way the Soviets designed their tanks, no. Autoloader, maybe. Soviets envisioned a massed forward armor charge like in Kharkiv against enemy
armor so they sacrificed the armored ammo compartment to make the tank lower and in theory have a smaller target profile i.e. harder to hit at a distance.

Autoloaders themselves, depends. You have one less crew person to fix tanks if something goes wrong, but you don't have to deal with loader fatigue. In future rounds may also be too heavy for a person consistently to handle.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The UN voted to suspend Russia's membership in the Human Rights Council, being only the second country to have this done to them (the first being Libya under Qadafi).

The countries that voted "no" are pretty much a "who's who in the lunatic zoo".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...rights-council

Serbia voted in favor which is surprising.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The UN voted to suspend Russia's membership in the Human Rights Council, being only the second country to have this done to them (the first being Libya under Qadafi).

The countries that voted "no" are pretty much a "who's who in the lunatic zoo".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...rights-council

Do China next plz.