Russia-Ukraine War

To reconcile some of the above posts - it could well be 250,000 Russian casualties and another 250,000 casualties from the annexed regions, Wagner etc etc who have been used as cannon fodder. The way those from the annexed regions were used puts the lie to Putin's claims to be doing this to protect those so-called ethnic Russians or merely to annex those regions.

My point about the 50k v 500k Russian/Ukrainian dead was not that the true figure was 500k/50k but that is was closer to the truth than the original absurd assertion.

If Putin had the intention of protecting ethnic Russians in the Donbass, the 2022 invasion would have been concentrated squarely on that region instead of the three pronged mode of attack they went with.

We may say it's 500,000 casualties for Russia, but Putin probably doesn't see it that way. All the convicts who got enlisted and died don't really count as actual people in Putin's world. To him, the best case would be that those dead prisoners paid their debt to Russian society through their blood sacrifice and can essentially be scrubbed from the ledger. With those from the Republics, they don't really have the political capital to start a movement that would topple Putin. So long as Putin can keep the majority of the particularly bad casualties to prisoners, ethniks and possibly even foreign mercs, he'll try to see the conflict out.

Last year or so, highlighted that Latvia was going to send cars seized from drunk drivers over to Ukraine for use by the armed forces. Someone in the thread attacked the plan as pointless.

To date Latvia has delivered over 1,500 cars to Ukraine armed forces (cars are desperately needed to ferry wounded, minor logistics, etc)

seeing as your bringing up Italy 1948 why don’t you tell us about the democratic elections in Czechoslovakia, Hungary , Poland , which all rejected communism in the late 1940’s only to be crushed by the Iron Stalinist fist.

I very much doubt the Russians count their dead, into the mobile furnace, wood chipper or just left to rot.

If they don't confirm the deaths they save a fortune on bags of onions.

What are families going to do, take the state to court?

There's been a lot of posts on here about the Russian invasion, but that post saying that the Azov battalion was responsible for the Boucha massacre is the first of its kind (to me anyway) and they being the real power in Ukraine is news to me. Can you elaborate?

But I also think this thread is thoroughly ghastly too

Ah the old calling out raping, murdering bands of invading forces as scumbags makes us as bad as them canard. I 've never subscribed to that kind of brain falling out of your head moral relativism myself. But if it makes you feel above it all then go ahead I guess. We'll get over your disapproval somehow I reckon.

My point, a great many of the revolting things said about ordinary Russians and Russian society in this thread would apply to Ukrainians too. When you laugh at Russians being ignorant, or poor, or describe them as a miserable lesion on the face of humanity you forget that the guys you support have far more in common culturally with Russia than they have with us.

The overwhelming point to be made though is Ukraine are not fine with either being invaded or the principle of invasion and genocide as a means of politics on the world stage. A point that Russians by and large have not taken to the streets to condemn. The point that both countries have poor people and are slavic in culture is not one that is primarily being used to deride Russia.

In essence the whole conflict is about Ukrainians wanting to be less like Russia and more like us. They're dying and shedding blood for that right to self determination. And keeping the Russians busy while we prepare our crumbling defense base. And you're somehow surprised that we empathize with one side more than the other? Like ….. really?

I’m pointing out the speciousness of the cheerleaders here when they routinely cast appalling aspersions about Russian people as a whole. Do you understand?

Oh we understand fine. We just think you're wrong. You want to point out how this conflict is much more a both sides thing and we should somehow feel bad for cheering on Ukraine and intellectually dishonest for deriding Russia. It's a point that's been made and debunked hundreds of times on the thread you claim you've read from the start. It's neither interesting nor unique by now. Do you understand?

Well, that was then and this is now. I imagine whatever cultural ties Ukraine had with Russia have long since been cut, given Russia's attempt to murder and subject Ukrainian citizens.

you have to admire the rank hypocrisy of being upset POTUS called out Republicans during a diplomatic visit, as if there was ever this “waters edge” norm during the last administration or his network ever called him out for same. Even in this administration Doocey and Fox leave unchecked violation of this “waters edge” by Republicans either when they themselves are overseas such as in Israel etc or when Biden is

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/peter-doocy-snarks-on-bidens-blaming-us-conservatives-for-delaying-aid-to-zelensky-politics-used-to-end-at-the-waters-edge/

That sounds much more believable!

This whole Nazi business is strictly for home consumption. Even if few if any Russians who fought in the war are alive now, it's still re-enacted each year with the annual parade, and continues to be taught in the school's (Putin's version, that is!!) None the less, it would be hard to find any home in Russia without pictures and medals hanging up on the walls in prime positions depicting family members who had fought in the Great War. So while it pretty meaningless for us here in the west, for Russians it still very emotive, a fact that Putin has used shamelessly to encourage hatred of Ukrainians and the west, and as a justification for his invasion. Even so, that excuse must be wearing pretty thin by now, even amongst dedicated Russians.

" I'm guessing the Redd Cross never inspected that POW camp." Well, sarcastic or not,12 posters liked it, so it made an impact. The problem that I have with it is that it implies that the Red Cross could have visited the POWs but didn't by choice. And that's as far from the truth as you can get. Now if you had said " Thats one camp the Red Cross were not allowed into." And that puts a whole different perspective on it.

Yeah, sometimes I don't word good. I don't believe for a second they'd comply with any kind of international inspection, and even if they did it would be some sort of Potemkin camp with smiling POWs in clean surroundings and not a protruding ribcage in sight.

I've done my part. Gave Mick Wallace the 23rd of 23* preferences in the European elections.

I hope the good voters of Dublin see fit to give Clare Daly an equally low preference so that we'll finally see the back of the pair of them.

*before someone chimes in with I shouldn't have given him any preference at all, giving him my final preference is effectively the same as no preference

Combat Veteran Reacts on Youtube is saying that Putin accidentally let slip that current Russian casualties is running at 20,000 a month, with 5,000 being killed and a further 15,000 being injured to various degrees.

I actually had to fold it in 2 and flip it back and forth to mark my preferences. My locals had 16 on it so combined it was easily the longest that it's ever taken me to vote.