Interesting thread. It tells us that the Russians have gone in there as a hostile occupying army and an oppressor, definitely not as a 'liberator' - probably akin to Nazi occupation of various countries in Europe in 1940 and later.
Update on those two security guards shot in the back by Russian forces captured on security cameras.
One survived the attack and died in his hut. Other died straightaway.
Footage of the soldiers knocking back whisky in the garage office.
As stated above, I reckon it's not the Russian people who are being referred to as Orcs. Rather the term is specifically being used to describe the Russian army in Ukraine. This from an article in Le Monde on the use of Lord of the Rings terminology following the invasion of Ukraine.
"In early March, in the city of Melitopol occupied by Russian troops, demonstrators protested against the "looting Orcs." A little later that same month, the Ukrainian defense minister vowed in an official speech that his troops "would stand firm against Mordor's assaults." On April 8, Dmytro Jyvytsky, the governor of the Sumy province, announced from the Russian border that the area was now "free of Orcs". He was followed the next day by the mayor of Makariv, near Kyiv, stating on television that the bodies of 132 civilians had been found and that they had been "killed by the Russian Orcs."
"Whether in the speeches of Ukrainian officials, in the country's press or on social networks, the comparison is everywhere: Ukraine, a peaceful country comparable to the Shire in the Lord of the Rings, is defending itself against a purely evil force, the Russian army, compared to the troops of Mordor, which are led from Moscow by a Vladimir Putin likened to Sauron."
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2022/04/23/ukrainian-and-russian-tolkien-fans-battle-over-the-legacy-of-the-lord-of-the-rings_5981383_13.html
If the Ukrainians are calling the invading Russians "Orcs", and considering what they and the world now knows about what the invading Russians are doing in Ukraine, then that's good enough for me
Better to have militarised Russia on your border than Russia invading (again). Finland took the view that Putin was on an imperial quest (Finland was part of Russia for a time, and that's more than enough reason to invade) and thought it best to throw their lot in with NATO and have zero chance of being invaded. Now, based on what we've seen Ukraine doing they probably had little to fear, but this is a belts and braces approach by Finland.
..
Those Russian ships need to replace their deep fat fryers with microwave ovens. Their deep fat fryers are not good for their health.
Just throwing my uninformed thoughts onto this thread...
Finland have played a bad move here.
Now, the borders of NATO on Russia has more than doubled. Obviously, Russia will treat this new border to be militarised. This broadens the potential for a wider conflict. A shift in the geo-tectonics.
Also, how the hell did UK create a security pact with Sweden, with no resort to a mandate from the house, or even people of the UK, which or now under threat should Russia attack Sweden?
I must disagree here.
The Russian people have had a generation to get over soviet type of life. There are no excuses anymore.
Interesting video, reminded me of growing up in the country during the 80s, including the play houses.
I don't think anyone is calling the Russian people orcs, but invading soldiers only and their leadership. And while there is undoubtedly good people getting killed on the Russian side on an individual basis, it's really not possible to be so nuanced where the Russian military machine is involved. The entire invading army is open to ridicule and yes even hatred. They are 100% in the wrong. It can only be considered such during a war. Shít, but that's the way it is.
Also, I'd hazzard every enemy since the dawn of warfare had names, nips, krauts etc. It's not a new phenomenon.
Aye Button, that's an issue alright. Too many of those who would and could rise up were in the west of the nation and have left or are planning to. The brain drain is scarily high. That said and because I do know, have known, a few Russians, even from the "back of beyond", or at least in the urban back of beyond, their living standards are fairly OK. Their access to world media, if they choose to look at it, pretty high. Take this young lass whose Tube channel was referenced earlier in the thread.
She's from the "back of beyond", right beside the Chinese border IIRC. Any more east and she'd be swimming in the Pacific. Now she's naturally inquisitive about the wider world and has traveled outside Russia, to America for studies again IIRC. Even in that back of beyond she was able to learn more and learn english and get a youtube channel off the ground. There are more like her and on Telegram even more, though in Ruski. They may and do live in shítholes, but many of them know about places that aren't. Plus shítholes can have different perceptions. Yer wan above's neighbourhood looks a bit "primitive", but you find similar in Ukraine, Belarus etc and people live simpler lives. Just because they're not supporting mad loans on gaffs, new cars and the latest iphone doesn't mean their lives are crap to them. Nor does it mean they're out of the loop of the wider world if you get what I mean?
Though I have noted those with such wider connections and on the wider connected world are almost exclusively White Russians. Of the ethnic Russian folks there is little enough by comparison.
TBH I'd pretty much agree with all of that CHBS. I'm very much against painting an entire people as "orcs" and other retarded jingoisms just because they're Russian and there are Russians who don't buy the bullshít, a fair number I'd be willing to bet, but cowed into silence by understandable fear of the facist state they live under. And as we've seen even then there are some bloody brave buggers who won't remain silent. Bravery I'd further bet few of the shoutier on this thread could muster. Even so their overall actions as a nation don't exactly help. At all.
It's their high speed train.
Nothing to do with military matters. That looks like a Hyundai-Rotem HR-CRS2 trainset. Ten of these were ordered to provide modern rail services during Euro 2012. These trains are painted in a two-tone grey paint scheme.
Great to see. Seems a bit intrusive/voyeuristic, but good to humanise what this invasion is doing.
Lovely scene.
Maybe someone with (military) expertise could answer this. The UA trains are normally blue and yellow in colour, and later in the video there is one that is. Any reason why this train would be stripped of colour?
Russia is making alot of artificial reefs these days in the black sea
Not one bit surprised. The same happened in Crimea.
When you consider the actions of the military. Well they didn't lick it off a stone.
A rare example of a good job by the UK Civil Service. It's as if they only allow the smart ones to make decisions when they're actually important. 😅
A thread of hope at Kyiv train station.
Another day , another Russian ship ,
The Vsevolod Bobrov a Russian navy supply and logistics vessel(one of their latest) is or was on fire off the coast of Ukraine after being stuck by the Ukrainans
That’s the long foreign policy game, have a weaker Russia so they would not be involved in whatever confrontation hot or cold I’d coming twix US and China.
Unfortunately for Ukraine and it citizens there at the cold fromt
It's perhaps not that surprising. The Russians are on record as having brought dedicated Tank mechanics with them to Ukraine. I reckon that also includes guys who are experienced in electronics where needs be.
Delighted UK has signed a security pact with Finland and Sweden. Clever tactic to call his bluff. He's mouthed threats against it. Now it's his move. Fcuk him.
Grim stuff. But unfortunately not surprising. The longer Russians are allowed fester in an area the more cleansed of Ukrainians it becomes.
It's not a case of the West organising peace talks when Russia is weakened to an acceptable degree, but that Russia's only going to compromise at this point. There have already been peace talks arranged and held, but Russia wouldn't budge on their demands, thus they broke down.
There are a number of places NATO forces could go into tomorrow and drastically change the situation - North Korea, Iran, Taiwan (defensively), to name a few, but the potential ramifications of doing so make it a risk they're unwilling to take. Ukraine's just another on that list (direct confrontation with Russia), so it won't likely happen.
Neither of those things are going to bring back ordinary Ukrainians senselessly slaughtered by the Russian military, and the occurrence of either or both will likely only pressure Putin to try and react with greater force, thus making the situation worse not better, as the conflict gets locked into a vicious cycle of escalating reprisal. Who needs to burn are the Russian soldiers themselves carrying out such deeds, and the Ukrainian military are making a pretty good go of that so far, and hopefully that can continue until there's no more fight left in the Russians and they F off back across the internationally-recognised borders, where they belong.
I had heard otherwise. Still, I'd probably be more scared of someone that would use a catapult to launch a missle ;)
(Am I right in remembering that you could do that in the game civilisation? )
Let's address this.
Firstly, are you suggesting the russia have it's nuclear weapons removed, it's conventional forces lessened and be told that if they do anything to change that, they'd be nuked as "containment". Is that what you're actually saying? Because no-one has threatened to nuke Iran or north korea. Know why? Because threatening to nuke a country is insane. Actually nuking them is worse.
Germany had great minds. And yet the nazi's still came to power. Many of those great minds were in the nazi party. And they believed germany was humiliated. And I have honestly, no idea why you're mentioning it.
Germany received massive investment, and yet still felt humiliated because other countries were dictating what it could and could not do. So no idea why you're mentioning that.
"* Germany right up to ww2 had massive trade flows, Russias already collapsing". I have absolutely no idea why you're doing this. Germany had huge trade flows until the war started. They disappeared after the war started. Russia had trade flows too, before the war. They disappeared too.
And none of what you said addresses the point that dictating stuff like no nuclear weapons. limiting conventional forces, dictating who can be in power are ways to humiliate countries. When you look at countries this has happened to in the past, it always works out bad. It breeds hatred and resentment. It can even cause an unpopular leader to become popular simply because they fight against it. It might actually make the countries fight harder to avoid domination by a foreign power. And that includes using nuclear weapons.
If we want a peaceful and friendly russia, then we have to wait for regime change from inside. Forcing it from outside simply reinforces the narrative that the other countries are enemies. And when you look at rogue nations like north korea and Iran, they still find ways, not just to keep weapons, but actually develop them from scratch, whilst having huge sanctions and keeping their population down.
So I have no problem believing that forcing russia to give up its nuclear weapons through sanctions is anything except a deluded pipedream.
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