Author Topic: Will Russia invade Ukraine?  (Read 154404 times)

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #435 on: April 21, 2024, 07:21:45 AM »
Moscow Marjorie and her band of Putin sycophants are defeated... better late than never.

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APR 20, 2024, 01:48 PM | 118TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION

Vote Question: On Passage

Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Vote Type: Yea-And-Nay

Status: Passed

VOTES

 Yea: 311

Nay: 112

Present: 1

Not Voting: 7

In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #436 on: April 22, 2024, 04:36:36 PM »
This is pretty good... definitely a "I told you so"... read the article to get a feel for Russian news media...

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Putin’s Propagandists Rage Against the Republican ‘Betrayal’
By Julia Davis
April 22, 2024

 Celebrating the decline in Ukraine’s capabilities without American help, prominent propagandists started to refer to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as “our Johnson,” in a similar vein to claiming Trump as their own, calling him “our Trump” or affectionately referring to him as Trumpushka.

When Speaker Johnson finally advanced the long-stalled aid package and the House approved $61bn of desperately needed foreign aid for Ukraine — including a measure to allow the sale of frozen Russian sovereign assets to help Ukraine’s war effort — the disappointment in Moscow was palpable...

 Solovyov immediately contradicted himself by lauding one congressional representative who has stuck with the anti-Ukraine campaign. He approvingly played a clip of the extreme right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and one of her tirades against US aid for the embattled country. She was followed by the head of RT, Margarita Simonyan, a frequent guest on Solovyov’s programs who always gets the first word after the host.

Simonyan praised Greene, describing her as “a real beauty,” for her blonde hair, white coats, and fur collars. Later in the show, the RT head clarified that it doesn’t take much in America to be considered beautiful or to win a beauty contest. In case viewers wondered about her expertise on the issue, Simonyan revealed that she had once worked as a waitress in Maine....

https://cepa.org/article/putins-propagandists-rage-against-the-republican-betrayal/

But wait...there's more...Rofl...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/whiplash-as-russia-toasts-derided-marjorie-taylor-greene-as-their-top-new-hero
« Last Edit: April 22, 2024, 04:41:44 PM by BridgeTroll »
In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

Tacachale

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #437 on: April 22, 2024, 05:35:13 PM »
Moscow Marjorie and her band of Putin sycophants are defeated... better late than never.

Quote
APR 20, 2024, 01:48 PM | 118TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION

Vote Question: On Passage

Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Vote Type: Yea-And-Nay

Status: Passed

VOTES

 Yea: 311

Nay: 112

Present: 1

Not Voting: 7


Dosvidaniya, losers.
Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?

Tacachale

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #438 on: April 22, 2024, 05:46:23 PM »
Good outcome and it puts the lie to the idea that the far right were ever serious about the border issue. This whole time it’s been, no aid without a border deal. The Dems offer a border deal with 99% of what they demanded, including the truly cuckoo demands to strip legalization, DACA, etc. The GOP shot it down because the far right wouldn’t go for it. Now the GOP has approved aid with no border deal. Just stunning.
Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #439 on: April 25, 2024, 06:52:26 AM »
https://moldovalive.md/popsoi-russia-is-using-a-variety-of-measures-from-ai-generated-deep-fakes-to-bags-of-cash-to-undermine-democracy-in-moldova/

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POPSOI: RUSSIA IS USING A VARIETY OF MEASURES — FROM AI-GENERATED DEEP FAKES TO BAGS OF CASH — TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY IN MOLDOVA

ByMARINA GRIDINA

APRIL 24, 2024

Russia employs a multifaceted array of tactics, ranging from AI-generated deep fakes to financial incentives, to subvert democracy in Moldova, offering a glimpse into potential challenges faced by Western nations, according to Mihai Popsoi, Moldova’s Foreign Minister.

“Moldova is sort of a Petri dish of Russian hybrid warfare and election meddling. What we see in Moldova now will most likely be deployed in upcoming elections in our partner countries in the West,” Mihai Popsoi, Moldova’s foreign minister, said in an interview in Washington.

Describing Moldova as a testing ground for Russian hybrid warfare and election interference, Popșoi highlighted the significance of developments within the nation, indicating their potential replication in Western democracies. Moldova, with its population of 2.6 million and strategic location between Ukraine and Romania, has experienced mounting pressure since the onset of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, exacerbated by its reliance on Russian gas, which has triggered energy crises.

Popsoi outlined Russia’s tactics, which include the creation of AI-generated deep fake videos targeting Moldovan politicians and the distribution of financial incentives to sway voters across villages and towns. With presidential elections and a referendum on European Union membership scheduled for October, these efforts are expected to intensify.

He revealed instances where Moldovan customs officials intercepted luggage containing substantial sums of cash, earmarked for voter bribery, with individual town and village names inscribed on the bags. Popsoi noted the fusion of traditional and modern methods by Russia to maximize their influence, incorporating tactics such as money laundering, AI manipulation, and the orchestration of protests.

Additionally, Popsoi emphasized cyber attacks as a favored tool of Russian interference. Moldova recently experienced a severe cyber attack that temporarily incapacitated postal services, a disruption attributed to Russia with high certainty by Moldovan authorities.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2024, 06:55:33 AM by BridgeTroll »
In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #440 on: May 03, 2024, 09:23:03 AM »
https://frontelligence.substack.com/p/situation-report-may-1-2-2024

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Situation Report: May 1-2, 2024Chasiv Yar, Ocheretyne, Sivers'k, Kharkiv

FRONTELLIGENCE INSIGHT

MAY 02, 2024

In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #441 on: May 09, 2024, 05:49:02 PM »
https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine

Nine charts depicting US and allies  aid to Ukraine. What stand out to me is the percentage of aid sent to Ukraine Asa percentage of GDP... the US sits near the bottom with Bulgaria and Switzerland...
In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #442 on: May 14, 2024, 06:35:35 AM »
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/putins-safe-space-defeating-russias-kharkiv-operation-requires-eliminating-russias

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PUTIN'S SAFE SPACE: DEFEATING RUSSIA'S KHARKIV OPERATION REQUIRES ELIMINATING RUSSIA'S SANCTUARY

May 13, 2024

By George Barros

Current US policy prohibiting Ukraine from using US-provided weapons in the territory of the Russian Federation is severely compromising Ukraine's ability to defend itself against the renewed cross-border invasion Russia has recently launched in Kharkiv Oblast.  US policy has effectively created a vast sanctuary in which Russia has been able to amass its ground invasion force and from which it is launching glide bombs and other long-range strike systems in support of its renewed invasion.  Whatever the merits of this US policy before the Russian assault on Kharkiv Oblast began, it should be modified immediately to reflect the urgent realities of the current situation...

In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #443 on: May 20, 2024, 07:44:32 AM »
Hilarious... even AI knows...

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-may-19-2024

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Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev threatened Russian internet technology and telecommunications company Yandex because its large language model failed to provide responses that cohere with ongoing Russian information operations. Medvedev criticized Yandex's Alisa voice assistant (ostensibly similar to Amazon's Alexa) on May 19 for being unable to answer questions about the US law approving the seizure of Russian foreign assets or supposed monuments in Ukraine to Nazi sympathizers.[17] Medvedev asserted that Yandex's artificial intelligence (AI) is a "coward" for failing to provide his desired answers to these questions and suggested that Yandex may be concerned about offending its Western clients. Medvedev suggested that Yandex's supposed unwillingness to provide answers to these questions greatly undermines trust in Yandex's products and could provide grounds for the Russian government to recognize Yandex's services as "incomplete" and even identify Yandex's current managers as "foreign agents." Russian news outlet RBK reported that Russian officials have previously submitted complaints against similar large language models for failing to generate sufficiently patriotic responses.[18] Russian officials will likely continue to struggle with shortcomings of large language models that are well known to others with more experience of those systems as the Kremlin continues efforts to solidify its control over the Russian information space.
In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #444 on: May 24, 2024, 07:09:22 AM »
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Russian border guards removed buoys in Estonian waters of the Narva River, which demarcates the Estonian-Russian international border, likely to set conditions to further question maritime borders and test NATO resolve. The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board reported on May 23 that on the night of May 22 to 23 Russian border guards removed 24 buoys used to mark shipping routes in Estonian waters in the Narva River, which demarcates the international border between Estonia and Russia.[17] The Estonian Eastern Prefecture Border Guard Bureau Head Eerik Purgel stated that Estonia had placed the first 50 of a planned 250 buoys on May 13 in accordance with a 2022 Estonian-Russian agreement made prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.[18] Purgel reported that Russia announced that it did not agree with the locations of about half of the planned placements of the buoys earlier in 2024. The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that Russia's removal of the buoys "fits well within the broader pattern of Russia's provocative behavior" and stated that Estonia would treat the event as a "provocative border incident."[19] The Estonian MFA demanded an explanation from Russian border and diplomatic officials and the buoys' immediate return. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated that "Russia uses border issues as a means to create fear and anxiety."[20] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) proposed on May 21 that the Russian government reassess its maritime borders in the Baltic Sea, and Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the Russian MoD's proposal "appropriate steps" to "ensure [Russian] security" in response to the escalation of tensions and the increased level of confrontation in the Baltic region.[21] Russian border guards are likely attempting to create contention along the international border between Russia and a NATO member country to gauge NATO reactions to future Russian efforts to challenge established delimitations.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-may-23-2024
In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #448 on: June 19, 2024, 05:18:30 PM »
Great article containing outstanding research... awesome graphics.

https://en.zona.media/article/2024/06/10/wagner

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The price of Bakhmut. We reveal the staggering toll of Russia’s bloodiest battle since WW2 and Wagner’s inmates recruited to fight it

10 June 2024, 18:04

In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

BridgeTroll

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Re: Will Russia invade Ukraine?
« Reply #449 on: June 26, 2024, 02:15:52 PM »
Pretty sick stuff... If you're interested in the unabridged version please click the link.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-prisoner-of-war-describes-captivity-in-russia-at-night-i-prayed-i-wouldnt-survive-to-the-next-day-a-a2343696-f237-49cd-8c29-9f566b5e775e

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A Prisoner of War Describes Captivity in Russia"At Night, I Prayed I Wouldn't Survive to the Next Day"

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Oleksiy Anulya reported for military duty. Russian soldiers took him prisoner. How does one survive hunger, torture and rape? Here, a former prisoner of war tells his story.

By Alexander Kauschanski in Ternopil, Ukraine24.06.2024, 09.58 Uhr

It isn’t possible to confirm every detail of Anulya’s story. In Russia’s war against Ukraine, information forms another battle line where where truth fights with lies, propaganda with facts. Very little information leaks out of Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship, and Russia’s detention centers are particularly shielded from prying eyes. Nevertheless, videos from the inside regularly make their way out – videos that show torture and bear witness to systematic brutality.

Despite a lack of access, human rights organizations and the United Nations have documented the conditions for Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity. The UN has spoken to more than 200 liberated Ukrainians for this purpose. In its dossiers, it accuses Russia of violating international humanitarian law, and possibly committing war crimes. The list of allegations includes prisoner abuse, inadequate nourishment, poor medical care, torture, sexualized violence and executions. Anulya is quoted in one of the documents.

DER SPIEGEL investigated Anulya’s account as far as possible. We compared medical records, photo material and videos with his narrative and checked them against reports from international organizations. His medical documents, photos of his injuries and his emaciated body speak to the consequences of imprisonment in Russia. Anulya tells the story of his stint as a prisoner of war in his own words....

The soldiers brought me to an old farm near the Belarusian border. They tied me up and threw me into a room with another Ukrainian soldier. Filthy animal, the soldiers said when they saw that he had soiled himself. One shot, and he was dead.

They beat me. One soldier pointed his rifle at my knee. At first, he wanted information. Then, he said: 'Ok, you scumbag Ukrainian, have you washed your ass?’ He told me to undress. He pulled down his pants. His knees were touching my calves. He grabbed my behind.

I wasn’t able to free my hands. Another soldier held me down and said: 'Faster. I want a turn too.’ Outside, dead bodies were burning on a truck, and I was covered in blood. Suddenly, there was a detonation, Ukrainian artillery attacked the site. The soldiers ran away. I was left behind, naked on the ground.

They came back the next morning. They tied my hands with a cable and pulled me up to the ceiling. And there I hung. Before long, I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. They turned purple and swelled up to the size of my thighs. Every couple of hours, different soldiers showed up to beat me. I spent several days in unbearable pain. My medical files show the consequences: overstretched muscles and ligament damage.

In a small bus, they drove me across the border to a tent camp. A few weeks later, they drove me and other prisoners of war to a detention center in Kursk. I spent 40 days there. In early May, they put us in an airplane, our mouths taped shut and sacks over our heads. They told us we were flying home. When we got out, a Russian special forces unit beat us. My leg had started to rot, and it hurt like hell when I stretched it out. So I held it away from my body and hopped on the other one. Immediately, the Russians started calling me 'grasshopper.’

That night, we reached Penal Colony Nr. 1 in Donskoy, near Tula. Bright spotlights were shining on the two-story prison behind a wall topped with barbed wire. The guards beat us with clubs and tasered us. They pushed 50 of us into a small yard where we had to wait for hours. We were told we had to pee in a canister, but we weren’t allowed to empty it on Russian soil. Whoever filled the canister had to drink it.

Every morning, we had to get up at 5:50 a.m. They forced us to sing the Russian national anthem over and over again in the icy cell. For breakfast, they gave us three spoonfuls of porridge, a thin slice of white bread and a small glass of boiling hot water.

At 9:30 a.m., the guards led us to the yard. They called us 'fascists,’ and said: 'We'll set up your very own Auschwitz.’ They beat us with pipes. Meanwhile, the others sang the Russian national anthem. We could still hear the screams of the ones being tortured. Few things are more frightening than the howls of grown men.

Most of the time, we had to stand in the cell with our hands behind our backs and our heads bowed. One knock from a guard meant we had to greet the 'boss.’ Two knocks: We had to report how many prisoners were in the cell. Three: 500 squats. Four: shout 'Pika-pikachuuu’ like the yellow Pokémon. Five knocks: Yell 'Zelenskyy is a faggot. Biden is a faggot. Putin is our president.’

One time, I was forced to chew on my filthy socks for three hours. They pulled my teeth for fun. They forced me to carry water in my mouth from a puddle to another spot of the yard. Fourteen times – I was counting – I hand to sit on the electric chair until my entire body spasmed.

Once, I was bleeding so heavily that they took me to the prison doctor. 'The guards aren’t beating you, they are reeducating you,’ she said, instead of treating me. 'We are vaccinating you against fascism, against being a Nazi.’ I washed my self-made bandages with my own urine.

In late August 2022, after three-and-a-half months, they moved me to a penal cell. I was all alone. Water was dripping from the moldy walls. There was no window, just a flickering lightbulb. When winter arrived, the cold was almost unbearable. Only one thought kept me alive: If I were to die in Russia, my children wouldn’t be able to visit me at my grave.

I fed myself on toothpaste from the garbage, I chewed on toilet paper to fight the hunger. In the yard, I collected earthworms – no piece of chocolate since then has tasted as good. One time, I managed to catch a rat. The guards saw on the surveillance video that I had moved. They dragged me out of the cell, but I had already put it in my mouth. The animal was scratching and bit my tongue. The guards beat me until they saw blood running out of my mouth. It wasn’t mine. I happily crawled back to my cell. The rat would help me survive.

In December, the guards showed me a list, they were planning a prisoner exchange. My name was the only one that wasn’t marked. They said they were going to keep me there. That day, I pulled the sheet from my bed, I wanted to hang myself from the bars. Then, something unexpected happened: My dead grandmother appeared at the sink. 'What are you doing?’ she asked. 'You haven’t got your children any New Year’s presents yet.’ The hallucination saved me. Before I could hang myself, the guards pulled the door open....

In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."