Russia invades Ukraine

What a strange coincidence, another one in this "three-day special operation" that's been going on for more than a year with the aggressor definitely not being above the "scorched earth" tactics, especially since they've been fucking up terribly for the entire time!
That's almost so big a coincidence as those civilian mass graves and torture chambers were! Or those missiles on civilian areas and kids dying under the rubble. Blowing up hospitals and neonatal care? Such an unfortunate development, it was definitely a mistake! Oh, wait, dear, love, please don't go away, it wasn't me, I just tripped and slipped right into that tattooed red-headed bird with the nose ring! I'm innocent!

So there must be another explanation. An old oikophobic linguistic professor told me so!
 
Yax said:
As I said, it seems like they are attempting to find the weak spots in the Russian defences, as per the Clausewitz playbook, in contrast to the precursor to last year's offensive.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much the predominant interpretation in German media. Some are clueless and try to spin every bullet fired by Ukrainian soldiers into the great offensive, but those consulting people who actually know what they are talking about have been suggesting the scenario you outlined for months.


Yax said:
It's also interesting that you are somehow pairing western and russian media as equally truthful (or not). That is not the case; russian media (aside from the odd independent media that is now operating from outside Russia) are parroting kremlin narrative; it is solely propaganda. They are not held to any international journalist standards. The western, although a bit flawed and selective (this is a war after all), are far more truthful and balanced, and any notion of that Kremlin propaganda and independent media are somehow anywhere near two halves of the truth is bizarre, at best.
Click to expand...

This, and something else. It's true that in war, both sides need scrutiny, but for what it's worth, I need to stress again that the war is not between Russia and some undefined "West", but between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine has agency. Ukraine is a country. Ukraine is fighting this, can we finally agree on this for fuck's sake? And reports from Ukrainian media are as much fact checked by "western" media as those from Russian ones. But you actually have to read "western" media to know thos, and not go by an assumption of what they would be saying.
 
Heh, came to me via twitter

FyFXeCKWcAUsh6x



I'm sorry for being so acerbic, sorry for all the bile and vitriol, but I've had it, really.

Especially since we are close (just look - Czechia - Ukraine) and we get a lot of the Ukrainian refugees. Just today a girl in a classroom is toying with her mobile phone. The teacher goes to reprimand her and then discovers that the girl was sent photos of her house, where she was born and grew up, being almost completely underwater. Her grandparents, who stayed there in the Cherson area, cannot be contacted.

We know the very family members of the dead kids.

And we also have to deal with actual, subversive, paid Russian propaganda, which a non-negligible percentage of people do believe.

So, any armchair theorist who, utterly disengaged, spends all his time just thinking and calculating and crusading the internet can go eat shit and die in that precious armchair of his, for all I care.
 
Last edited:
Yax said:
Oh, I know this and I already talked about it. As I said, it seems like they are attempting to find the weak spots in the Russian defences, as per the Clausewitz playbook, in contrast to the precursor to last year's offensive. You are not as supremely informed compared to us stupid sheep of the west as you think.
Click to expand...

Obviously I don’t have this opinion for you (plural) or you (singular) otherwise why I should bother engaging here? It’s not that I receive tons of applauds or likes every time I post in this thread.

Yax said:
It's also interesting that you are somehow pairing western and russian media as equally truthful (or not). That is not the case; russian media (aside from the odd independent media that is now operating from outside Russia) are parroting kremlin narrative; it is solely propaganda. They are not held to any international journalist standards. The western, although a bit flawed and selective (this is a war after all), are far more truthful and balanced, and any notion of that Kremlin propaganda and independent media are somehow anywhere near two halves of the truth is bizarre, at best.
Click to expand...

I don’t bother with anything Russian or Ukrainian, both laughable, but I have lost a lot of faith in Establishment Media. I am following for years Politico, New York Times & New Yorker plus a few independent reporting, Twitter etc.
I was following closely and very accurately Bahkmut battle, one of my sources being Swedish politician Mikael Valtersson and I was struck when I saw the huge delay that the loss was reported and even so in the small letters. It’s not that they lie outright, they are as you correctly said, selective.

Yax said:
You left that out though, and it comes across as you're spinning Kremlin talking points more than a "balanced position" when you leave things hanging like that.
Click to expand...

Agreed I should have said it from the start, so my message which was “hold your horses for now” would be transmitted easier and clear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yax
So one of your sources is a Swedish nationalist, a party of alt-right conspiracy theories and pre-war era kremlin narrative and ties. Wholeheartedly, ignore everything the party of fascists and alt-reality says. They are no authority on truth. Definitely not over real media. Just throwing it out there. Everything their representatives say is a red flag. For H’s sake, they even own their own Fox News style alt-right ”news” outlet to push party narratives and spread conspiracies. Sure, Valtersson has a military background, but so do others. Get other sources than extreme, nazi rooted nationalist parties. They are most often spinning something.

Edit: I'm not saying Valtersson is by default wrong about anything. I'm saying that Sweden Democrats are not reputable or credible sources.
 
Last edited:
Ha ha ha, i sensed that his info gathering channels are wacko from a mile away. Simply by reading what he wrote. He lost his common sense compass. Lost in Lost a World.

edit: Hmm... what are the chances that he watches Tucker Carlson... pretty high I think.
 
Last edited:
Yax said:
So one of your sources is a Swedish nationalist, a party of alt-right conspiracy theories and pre-war era kremlin narrative and ties. Wholeheartedly, ignore everything the party of fascists and alt-reality says. They are no authority on truth. Definitely not over real media. Just throwing it out there. Everything their representatives say is a red flag. For H’s sake, they even own their own Fox News style alt-right ”news” outlet to push party narratives and spread conspiracies. Sure, Valtersson has a military background, but so do others. Get other sources than extreme, nazi rooted nationalist parties. They are most often spinning something.
Click to expand...

Are these the same people burning Quran publicly in order to piss off Turkey and hinder Sweden's attempts to join NATO or are these completely unrelated?
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Are these the same people burning Quran publicly in order to piss off Turkey and hinder Sweden's attempts to join NATO or are these completely unrelated?
Click to expand...
Not unrelated, although that is a bizarre mixture of left-wing extremists and far right extremists fueling the fire.
But a prominent alt-right figure was instrumental in that, and he has ties to that party and has been an election observer in Russia, as well as pushed Kremlin narratives for years. The party's official position following the war is pro NATO (although they are flying low), but they are always feeding their alt-right base.
 
Yax said:
Edit: I'm not saying Valtersson is by default wrong about anything. I'm saying that Sweden Democrats are not reputable or credible sources on anything, really.
Click to expand...

I don't know his background, that's why I mentioned to you, but his reporting for Bahkmut via Twitter was visibly very accurate. In the end one obviously needs people like him a bit to cross check and reference the info with other media and get own conclusions.

I'm open to suggestions for other analysts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yax
It’s interesting how things work out and there are no coincidences. I found an article in the Greek mainstream press (though managed by a collective of journalists instead of a tycoon) that straight fwdly blame Ukraine for the dam, citing the article from Washington Post below.

I was stunned to see something like this in a mainstream media, then remembered that Greece is objecting the 11th sanctions package against Russia to save the shipowners’ profits. So here you go why now. It’s funny, they never objected the auctions of the principal real estate of poor people to funds to EU & Troika, as a matter of fact this must be the first ever objection to EU this government ever did.

Anyway, here’s the article. I don’t consider it an evidence and I‘m still skeptical on who did the dam and why. We will continue to get bits and pieces for the case.
Maj. Gen. Andriy Kovalchuk admits to have shelling the dam (it’s known that this dam has been shelled more than once since November) and that they have considered to flood it:

The two bridges were targeted with U.S.-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — or HIMARS launchers, which have a range of 50 miles — and were quickly rendered impassable.
“There were moments when we turned off their supply lines completely, and they still managed to build crossings,” Kovalchuk said. “They managed to replenish ammunition. … It was very difficult.”
Kovalchuk considered flooding the river. The Ukrainians, he said, even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages.
The test was a success, Kovalchuk said, but the step remained a last resort. He held off.

 
This is his reaction to some Western media's doubts. And you better hold your horses, this guy met Zelensky, unlike Chomsky etc.
1686404926294.png

He's not some random no-name.
1686405312733.png
 
Last edited:
I know him, you have post his tweets before. Not impressed. He retweets Ukrainian MoD posts all the time. He is like a cheerleader of war, building his career in Washington. I don't see any value following people like this, there's no substance in what they're saying they are only parroting.

I'm sure there are many serious pro Ukrainian analysts to follow. You can start by this one.

rusi.org

Homepage

Royal United Services Institute
rusi.org rusi.org

rusi.org

Ukraine

Access our comment and analysis on the Ukraine crisis as the situation unfolds.
rusi.org rusi.org

rusi.org

Meatgrinder: Russian Tactics in the Second Year of Its Invasion of Ukraine

Russian tactics are changing as lessons are learned from military failures in the war in Ukraine.
rusi.org rusi.org
 
He's fighting for Ukraine in the ways available to him, it's all that matters. And you, yet again, soar above all and want to stay neutral for the sake of what? You can't be neutral in war. If it's wrong it's wrong.
 
Staying neutral is not the goal, but getting the facts right as much as possible, is. How else one can have an original view for what’s happening and therefore be able to make important decisions in life?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top