Interesting thread by retired US Gen Hertling (who you see on CNN a lot). He doesn't think Russia's army is all that good and its morale will be only dropping.

https://twitter.com/MarkHertling/sta...ZG5kFf0Kw&s=19

That book is one of the reasons I think that Putin is a moderate and that if he were not able to keep a tight lid on Russian politics then the hardliners would take over and we would get exactly that.

The Russians have deployed mobile crematoriums to hide the number of casualties. I can only imagine how motivating this is for the conscript 19 year old Russian boys to know that if killed in this senseless war, their mothers won't even be able to bury them properly.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...troops-battle/

In a piece of really good news the Ukrainians have regained control of Hostomel which was apparently going to be used to land Russian troop to attack Kiev.


edit: This is not a bad news aggregator if someone wants to follow news from various sources

https://old.reddit.com/live/18hnzysb1elcs/

Must be very long term then.

Maybe even more interesting than the economical part that after Russians took Chernobyl, the radiation values already increased by quite a bit:
https://www.saveecobot.com/en/radiat...comp+cams+fire
Shall we start checking if we still have the iodine at home?

I have.

Me too.

Gee, I wonder why Putin thinks he can get away with whatever he wants?

Don't bother, trolls never check their facts. They regurgitate whatever they are told on various channels, fact checking is not their thing.

A Russian friend has emigrated from Russia in the late '90s because of the war in Chechnya, she didn't want her ( toddler ) son to grow up and end up, like one of her 18 y.o. cousins, in an absurd war he never asked to take part in.

What a smart woman.

People who emigrated back then have a totally different view on Russia.

Because he can. Nobody so far has bothered to make all this costly for him and the West keeps on making the same mistake. Eastern Europe is apparently treated much more as a safety belt by the West, rather than a part of the same civilization. This is what makes me sad and worried and it will have long-lasting repercussions as it will lead to much wider disillusionment in the whole of Eastern Europe.

The eastern states have always been regarded as a buffer, just like Germany was during the cold war, all what changed is that this buffer no longer ends at the Oder-Neiße, now it ends on the river Bug on the border between Poland and Belarus.

That is so typical American, overestimate your own forces and underestimate your opponent.
What could possibly go wrong?

Western sanctions so tough Russian markets rebound 20%

I wonder if Biden had a phone call with Zelensky similar to the one he had with the former Prsident of Afghanistan, Ghani, urging him to keep up the appearance?

I am not a betting person but I wonder what the odds are that a certain scandal riven Swiss Bank turns out to be holding accounts from Putins bagmen?

Already getting some real hero stuff. Ukrainian soldiers on snake island were told by a Russian warship to surrender.

Ukrainian response: "Russian warship... Go fornicate yourself!"
Sadly they all died.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/25/e...-ml/index.html

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/statu...65471995523080

https://twitter.com/FutureBoy/status...99905839050757

I think this is starting to look very bad for Russia. Entering Donbass at the request of the separatists is one thing. But I don't see how they can in anyway justify a full scale invasion of Ukraine and with reports of portests in Russia, it's not clear whether this has domestic support either.

I'm not sure what Putin's game plan is. Is it to quickly decapitate the government and install a pro-Russia government instead? Surely the invasion will create long lasting animosity towards Russia? It's hard to see what he hopes to get out of this.

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Agree, really hard to see what the objectives are. There's a precedent though, when he went into Georgia he destroyed the military and then left again (whilst holding onto some land). Same again? Or will he annex half the country?

Don't see how he will be able to hold on long term when there is such resentment, especially if the West continues to arm insurgents.

Meanwhile we're still waiting for Sleepy Joe to make good on his promise to stand up to Putin!