Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[China]

2 hours ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

Surprisingly not from a Glenn Youngkin friend.

 

Liquor stores in Canada, US refusing to sell Russian vodka

 

In addition to official government sanctions, bars and liquor stores across the U.S. and Canada are attempting to economically hurt Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine by refusing to sell Russian vodka and other Russian liquor.

 

“Ontario joins Canada’s allies in condemning the Russian government’s act of aggression against the Ukrainian people, and will direct the [Liquor Control Board of Ontario] to withdraw all products produced in Russia from store shelves,” Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tweeted, adding, “#StandwithUkraine.”

 

“The people of Ontario will always stand against tyranny and oppression,” Bethlenfalvy later added.

 

Bethlenfalvy’s announcement came shortly after Canada's Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation (NLC) said that it would also remove Russian products.

 

“The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, along with other Liquor jurisdictions throughout Canada, has made the decision to remove products of Russian origin from its shelves,” NLC Liquor Store tweeted.

 

The corporation will no longer sell Russian Standard Vodka or Russian Standard Platinum Vodka in an effort to condemn Moscow’s recent actions.

 

Liquor stores and bars in the U.S. have also boycotted the sale of Russian-made liquor.

 

Jamie Stratton, manager of the Jacob Liquor Exchange in Wichita, Kan., told The Hill that his store removed more than 100 bottles of Russian vodka from its shelves, referring to it as a “tiny sanction.”

 

He also noted that the store plans to display Ukrainian vodka more prominently.

 

Meanwhile, a ski resort in Vermont posted a video of a bartender pouring Stoli vodka down the drain while saying, "We don't serve Russian products here."

 

"Sorry @Stoli lovers. No more," Magic Mountain Ski Area tweeted, along with an emoji of the Ukrainian flag.

 

Bill McCormick, owner of Pine Tavern in Bend, Ore., also shared a video in which he pours out two bottles of Stolichnaya vodka, KPTV reported.

 

“Russia is acting as though its 1939 and going into Europe with a full force that they have in the Ukraine. I am so concerned about it metastasizing into other countries,” he told the outlet.

 

Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D) late Saturday morning added to calls to remove Russian liquor products.

 

“We need to take strong actions to support Ukraine, so I am calling on @GovernorVA to order the removal of all Russian Vodka and any other Russian products from our ABC stores immediately,” she said in a tweet.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Barry.Randolphe]

Russia's army is looking like a paper tiger....the morale, training, etc just doesn't match up with the image they were trying to show the world.

 

They're lucky they have nukes....

[EmirOfShmo]

 

[China]

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Dang Russia took the super and power out from their super power title in just one unnecessary war.

[Destino]

Remember this?

 

 

Someone should ask Ted Cruz if he’s still lusting after the Russian military.  

[EmirOfShmo]

Armed Forces of Ukraine showed the collapsed equipment of the invaders (video)

 

The Ukrainian fighter could not restrain obscene words when examining the equipment of the "orcs".

 

The Ukrainian soldier examined the captured armored vehicles of the Russian military who invaded our country.

The corresponding video was distributed by the Ground Forces of Ukraine.

"In short, the Russian **** is worse than ours, boys. Mechanics, look and cry. **** ... I'm the strongest army in the world, nah ... There's nothing here ...", the Armed Forces officer came to the conclusion after examining the equipment of the occupiers.

 

<video won't load>

 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=468811151646257

 

https://www.unian.net/war/vsu-pokazali-razvalivshuyusya-tehniku-zahvatchikov-video-novosti-donbassa-11719426.html

Edited February 26, 2022 by EmirOfShmo

[Wildbunny]

Ok so Putin sent cannon fodder first? What is coming is the real army?

[ExoDus84]

1 hour ago, tshile said:

Why would he give up the football club. I don’t understand. 

 

I'm assuming he transferred it to a trust of some kind that he can control peripherally. That way, if he gets sanctioned, it can't be stripped away from him.

[Jabbyrwock]

51 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

Russia's army is looking like a paper tiger...

 

The correct technical term would be "*******".

[Redskins Diehard]

3 hours ago, PeterMP said:

 

Yeah but Baghdad is further from where our troop massed (Kuwait) than Russia is to Kiev, and we got slowed down by a sand storm.

 

We didn't try to take Baghdad the first day of the war.

 

Who knows if the number of Russian dead coming out of Ukraine are correct but if they are in comparison fewer than 200 coalition troops died in the invasion component of the Iraq war.  Even if the numbers are pretty far off, if they've even lost 1000 men that's a big deal.

And we also had been "softening" the defenses for months.  And the number of air missions and missile strikes were orders of magnitude higher. Of course these 2 scenarios are not the exact same.  But i think it's pretty obvious that the intensity of our movement into Iraq was significantly higher than what appears to be happening in Ukraine right now. And it took 3 weeks(I actually drove out for redeployment and that took about 12 hours from Baghdad to Kuwait). If we want to start closer to Baghdad,  it was several days from the time we took BIAP until the "Thunder Runs" into Baghdad. 

 

I'd also suggest that nobody(myself included) posting in this thread or yapping on the news knows what Russian objectives truly are let alone a day by day breakdown of them. So was "take Kyiv" a day 1 or day 10 objective? Who knows! 

 

Just in general...it is way early to understand how it's going let alone how it's going to turn out.  Keep American troops in NATO countries, American planes on the ground, American missiles in their launchers. Right now the world at large recognizes no legitimacy to what Russian is doing. Would be monumentally foolish to do anything to change that. 

[visionary]

 

[Wildbunny]

Interesting. Around 9500 french soldiers will be mobilized next week.

That'll be around 20k of nato professionnal soldiers near the borders Witherspoon more than likely superior training, weapons and completly fresh.

[visionary]

 

 

 

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chew]

Media interviews civilian Ukrainians as they stand in line to receive weapons and orders to fight the Russians.  

 

"Their objective, at least to me, seems to be the occupation of my entire country, and the destruction of everything I love.

 

I'm just a regular civilian. I have basically nothing to do with war or any other thing like it.  And I wouldn't really want to participate in anything like this, but I don't really have a choice, because this is my home."

 

Instant goosebumps.  What a bunch of gangster ass patriots.  

 

 

[visionary]

 

 

 

[visionary]

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

 

[The Sisko]

4 hours ago, tshile said:

So far who has stood up on russias side?

Tя☭mp and I think Iran are pretty much it. I guess next he'll be singing the praises of the Ayatollah. Strange bedfellows.

 

One way we could help, and maybe already are is if we just repainted a bunch of US drones with Ukrainian colors and started ****ing **** up. Our pilots would be safe in Peoria, Tempe, or wherever, and if any drones are shot down, well, we provided the Ukrainians with the hardware. Now prove otherwise Putin.

 

Like pretty much all of us here, I can't describe how impressed I am at the resolve and cojones of the Ukrainians. I know there's no way Putin expected this kind of resistance. I'm sure some Russian generals are going to be lined up and shot after this is over. In any event, I don't know how long the Ukrainians can hold out. I suspect Putin will do what he did in Chechnya and Syria where instead of trying to take cities, he just pounds them into dust and leaves nothing but bodies and rubble. The world would be outraged, but the world has all but done everything it can short of putting boots on the ground so there's no downside for him at this point.

 

So I could see it working out like this. Over time, Putin's total war grinds the Ukrainians down and they eventually end up retreating west over the Dnieper River. Putin stops there, sets up East Ukraine and calls it quits. That wouldn't be the best outcome for the Ukrainians, but it would prevent some deaths while allowing the sanctions to do their thing over time.

Edited February 26, 2022 by The Sisko

[Larry]

2 minutes ago, The Sisko said:

Like pretty much all of us here, I can't describe how impressed at the resolve and cojones of the Ukrainians. I know there's no way Putin expected this kind of resistance. I'm sure some Russian generals are going to be lined up and shot after this is over. In any event, I don't know how long the Ukrainians can hold out. I suspect Putin will do what he did in Chechnya and Syria where instead of trying to take cities, he just pounds them into dust and leaves nothing but bodies and rubble. The world would be outraged, but the world has all but done everything it can short of putting boots on the ground so there's no downside for him at this point.

Heck. I could see them blowing Chernobyl on their way out, and yelling that somebody else did it. 
 

Yeah, the radiation would cover Russia, too. But like Vlad cares about that?  

[Cooked Crack]

 

[PeterMP]

4 hours ago, Redskins Diehard said:

And we also had been "softening" the defenses for months.  And the number of air missions and missile strikes were orders of magnitude higher. Of course these 2 scenarios are not the exact same.  But i think it's pretty obvious that the intensity of our movement into Iraq was significantly higher than what appears to be happening in Ukraine right now. And it took 3 weeks(I actually drove out for redeployment and that took about 12 hours from Baghdad to Kuwait). If we want to start closer to Baghdad,  it was several days from the time we took BIAP until the "Thunder Runs" into Baghdad. 

 

I'd also suggest that nobody(myself included) posting in this thread or yapping on the news knows what Russian objectives truly are let alone a day by day breakdown of them. So was "take Kyiv" a day 1 or day 10 objective? Who knows! 

 

Just in general...it is way early to understand how it's going let alone how it's going to turn out.  Keep American troops in NATO countries, American planes on the ground, American missiles in their launchers. Right now the world at large recognizes no legitimacy to what Russian is doing. Would be monumentally foolish to do anything to change that. 

 

Okay, first I am assuming what is generally being reported is accurate.  What we actually know from the war zone well is obviously questionable.  But if we say we can only have conversations on information that we're sure is true, then there isn't much to say.

 

It is widely being reported, including by credible sources, that the Russians landed a force at an airport in/or near Kiev and the Ukrainians defeated them (i.e. the Russians hoped to take at least part of Kiev day one and be able to quickly bring in a larger force where we didn't try anything similar in the first day of the Iraq war), that the UK has information that the Russians didn't meet first day objectives, and that Putin his frustrated at the lack of progress.  Obliviously, hopefully the US intelligence agencies have better information and if what we're seeing isn't true that changes things.

 

Next, why the Russians are struggling (yes assuming they are struggling) is irrelevant.  If the Russian advance is going worse than expected because they didn't properly soften up Ukrainian defenses first, it doesn't matter.  Part of what worked for us in Iraq is ahead of time we secretly communicated with some of the Iraqi commanders and they agreed to not fight (the Taliban did similar things in taking Afghanistan).  That doesn't appear to be happening here.  If the Russian offensive is being frustrated because Putin/Russia failed to do the ground work to make it a success, then that works for us.

 

Lastly, international condemnation isn't going to win any battles, and I don't suspect longer term it is going to last if Russia wins.  Over time, the new will become the normal and sanctions (and/or their enforcement) will be relaxed.  People will (essentially) go back to treating Russia like they were.  Russia will only learn that international condemnation doesn't matter (though, I think they already know that after Georgia and the Crimea).  And in a few years, they will be looking for another target (the rest of Georgia, Turkmenistan, Finland, or a current NATO country).

 

If the Russian invasion is not going as they plan (which is what is widely being reported) and we can turn the tide with a little bit of action/involvement before they fix it, that's something we should consider.  If the Russians are already struggling and a little push from us can turn the tide before they have the opportunity to right their ship, then not acting would be stupid.  Because if we don't and Russia ends up winning, I'm pretty sure in a few years we'll be back in the same situation.

 

As I said before the invasion, Putin is going to keep going until he has a failure.  So far he's only really had successes (Chechnya, Georgia, Belarus, Crimea, Syria).  If a little involvement from us can make this that failure, we should strongly consider it.

Edited February 27, 2022 by PeterMP

[Redskins Diehard]

21 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

 

Okay, first I am assuming what is generally being reported is accurate.  What we actually know from the war zone well is obviously questionable.  But if we say we can only have conversations on information that we're sure is true, then there isn't much to say.

 

You're first assumption is questionable at best. I would assume that command and control is severely limited. I would also assume that even IF casualty figures were fairly well understood by each country they would not be accurately reported. Do you think Russia is reporting casualties accurately? Do you think Ukraine is? 

 

Right now it is more than international condemnation. How many countries are sending lethal aid to Ukraine? That is a helluva lot more significant than giving a speech. Damn near all of Europe is sending materiel that will facilitate Ukrainians killing Russians. That is pretty damn significant. 

 

Launching missiles and flying planes over Ukraine is so shortsighted. Honestly it's the kind of reaction I would expect from someone like Trump. America doesn't get to decide unilaterally that there is a no fly zone over Ukraine. It's still a sovereign country. America doesn't get to enforce a no fly zone unilaterally... its still a sovereign country. And if you're going to do it you may as well go full on kinetic at this point because you're going to have to shoot down some Russian planes.

 

Launch some missiles? And then watch missiles fall on 4000 American Paratroopers sitting across the border. 

 

It's surprising to me how many folks on this thread are beating their chests and eager for blood. Did we not learn a damn thing over the last 20 years? 

 

Honor our commitment to NATO. Facilitate an economic and diplomatic squeeze on Russia. Hell, start revoking Russian visas here in the States and send every Russian citizen back.

 

Do everything we can to keep NATO united.  And if the time comes where a NATO member faces imminent threat THEN take kinetic action. 

 

 

 

 

[PeterMP]

8 minutes ago, Redskins Diehard said:

Do everything we can to keep NATO united.  And if the time comes where a NATO member faces imminent threat THEN take kinetic action. 

 

So you take no military actions if Russia takes all of the Ukraine, Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Finland?

Edited February 27, 2022 by PeterMP