That's new
I thought the same as you and have read those great books by Steig Larssen also. But I think you hit the nail on the head when you pointed out the important word there being "reported". I suspect that reporting of sexual violence in many east European countries is a lot less frequent for example.
Alot of history behind this current war caused by Russia. To history we should look, as it helps us understand better whats going on currently. Wars like this didnt just start or happen out of the blue in the last few years.
For the history behind all this, particularly where UKRAINE & russia is concerned, Timothy Snyder is your man:
https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder
He writes great articles on SUB STACK and also has a complete free course about UKRAINE on Youtube:
Youtube UKRAINE History course - excellent - 23 classes / videos FREE:
From February 2024
Glad somebody is finally calling out that fat troll publicly without pulling punches.
Completely off topic, but I'm quite surprised to see every single Nordic / Scandinavian country in the Top 10 of highest amount of reported sexual violence; kinda immediately begs the question about their culture and WTF is going on. I can see why Stig Larsen made a point of writing about it back in the day.
But then is it more saying that Nordics will report the crimes, cos the key word there is "reported" - and that other countries have a problem with hidden violence & a reluctance by women to report it. Yeesh, quite the depressing rabbit hole to go down there.
Some interesting statistics
Homicide. A national sport in Russia - Homicide rate in Europe | TheGlobalEconomy.com
Apologies, I meant Feb 24th 2022 of course. It'd be hard to argue the annexation of Crimea and the unrest in the Donbas region were "all out war" but the full blown invasion certainly counts as such. Just like his friend Trump can claim his "two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart" when the rest of the world knows him to be a sexist, paedophilic, grifting rapist, Putin can claim his war is a "Special Military Operation" all he likes, anyone with a brain in their head knows it's an all out war being lost by a deranged megalomaniac.
Probably a big diesel generator and a full bowzer gone up. Yard and bottom floors would be packed with very flammable building materials too.
US ambassador really laying it out to Hungary's Viktor Orban over his relationship with Russia and his increasing accusations against the US
"The US ambassador to Hungary has said Washington will act amid Budapest’s “dangerously unhinged anti-American messaging” and “expanding relationship with Russia”.
In a landmark speech in Budapest on Thursday, David Pressman took direct aim at the controversial foreign policy of Hungary’s longtime prime minister, Viktor Orbán, while also accusing the Hungarian government of rampant corruption and undermining independent institutions.
“This speech is about a longtime friend and ally saying and doing things that undermine trust and friendship,” Pressman said, referring to Hungary. “We cannot ignore it when the speaker of Hungary’s national assembly asserts that Putin’s war in Ukraine is actually ‘led by the United States’.
“We can neither understand nor accept the prime minister identifying the United States as a ‘top adversary’ of our ally Hungary. Or his assertion that the United States government is trying to overthrow the Hungarian government – literally, to ‘defeat’ him.”
The ambassador added: “While the Orbán government may want to wait out the United States government, the United States will certainly not wait out the Orbán administration. While Hungary waits, we will act.”"
and
"“Orbán, who on one hand baselessly claims that the United States government is trying to overthrow his government, publicly calls for the political defeat of the president of the United States and actively participates in US partisan political events,” he said.
“Hungary advocates for electoral candidates around the world from Poland to Brazil, all while decrying foreign interference here at home,” the ambassador emphasised. “Who leads the United States government – or any government – is a question for the people of that country alone to decide.”
The ambassador was blunt about how Washington sees Hungary’s links to Moscow. “Now Hungary’s allies are warning Hungary of the dangers of its close and expanding relationship with Russia,” Pressman said.
“If this is Hungary’s policy choice – and it has become increasingly clear that it is, with the foreign minister’s sixth trip to Russia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and with his next trip to Russia scheduled in two weeks, following his engagement with Russia’s foreign minister earlier this month, and the prime minister’s own meeting with Vladimir Putin in China – we will have to decide how best to protect our security interests, which, as allies, should be our collective security interests.”
Pressman, who insisted the US wants good ties with Hungary and that he will keep reaching out to the government, said Budapest’s behaviour was putting its relationship with the US at risk. “While the Hungarian government’s wild rhetoric in state controlled-media may incite passion, or ignite an electoral base, the choice to issue, on a daily basis, dangerously unhinged anti-American messaging is a policy choice, and it risks changing Hungary’s relationship with America,” he said."
So it wasn't fake news as some thought?
No loss is easy to swallow, but from what I've seen Ukraine has scored a lot more substantial hits that Russia over the past 6 weeks, so 2 choppers and a couple of AA batteries has to be seen in context.
Yes, he will, for sure, despite all the nay-sayers, and prophets of doom. Taking a country and holding it are two different things. Regardless of what's happening in the US at the moment, the EU / UK etc are taking up the slack. And Ukrainians are made of different stuff than what Putin is used to dealing with in the republics.
Oil executive falls from window after oil plant hit by drones.
It's spicy in Russia today.
Two helicopters destroyed with casualties. Third, damaged, manged to escape.
Opposition in Russia. Putin's media warning of a fifth column in Russia. And if children want to protest in Russia then they have to apply to government for a licence to protest.
It's been at war for a lot longer than a month
It doesn't matter what Putin wants to brand it as, Russia's been at "all out war" with Ukraine since Feb 24.
Prepping for the possible?
I am braising myself for WHEN Putin wins his sham election this Sunday, patricks day. Why am i braising myself - i reckon he is going to use the occasion to announce something new and big now that he has a new 6 year mandate. Special Operation upgrade to all out war declaration against Ukraine perhaps. And / Or he may have something new happen more expansive happen on the battlefield. I dont think this event on Sunday will go by without a "Surprise"
However Bloomberg and Reuters say different it seems. All that may happen is a reshuffle
However, no significant changes in domestic and foreign policy are expected, and there are no signs that any plans for a successor for Putin himself are on the horizon.
Good read ..
A story on the atmosphere in Crimea 10 years after annexation and two years into the full-scale war: nervousness, terror, denunciations, some quiet resistance and also a a fair bit of indifference.
Very flammable insulation ?
What I don't understand is how the surrender advocates think it will play out after the supposed Ukraine's surrender to Russia
Let me explain, it's quite simple: they don't care. Ultimately, it's nothing to them who wins. It's just some country on the árse end of a part of Europe they already possessed minimal knowledge of before the war started; they all sound about the same to their ears, and in all likelihood are old enough to remember when anything East of Berlin was just one big red blob marked "USSR". Maybe it is just Russia, really? (see the "russian speakers" fallacy beloved of those justifying the invasion) The quiet-part-loud is - and I admit this is me making a bold & confrontational swing - a flippant disregard whereby Moscow swallowing Ukraine is simply reverting back to previous normalcy. One tinpot for another.
Then you can mix that in with hostility projected from an anti-migrant bias; as seen with one particular example of that broken record, so if you're already a bit leery about those dirty slavs hanging around our unused hotels, better the war be over tomorrow so we can turf them all out. Least back in the USSR days, Pawel wasn't over here taking our jobs etc. etc.
Sure, it's very difficult to see how Ukraine "win" this in any conventional sense, the Ukrainian flag hoisted over Crima unlikely to happen any time soon, but there's a huge distance between a fatalistic appreciation of the war - and outright shrugging one's shoulders that Ukraine surrender even more territory. Cos we'll be right back here again when Putin comes looking for the other 80% of the country left sitting in a post-war limbo. You could be damn sure any surrender treaty forced by Moscow would leave Kyiv powerless, without an economy or military, and be a carcass for picking a few years hence.
Anything further on this one?
What I don't understand is how the surrender advocates think it will play out after the supposed Ukraine's surrender to Russia. Ok, they would probably say, sure, a bit of genocide by the Russians is expected, and nobody outside Europe would mind millions of refugees trying to flee the systematic persecution that Putin's regime will unleash on Ukraine. And if after that Putin takes over Moldova, so what, who care about few thousand of deaths in an impoverished country in the middle of nowhere, right? And after that Baltic states are overrun, that's fine too, yes? Just another European matter far away.
But don't they see that if the USA is seen as weak and untrustworthy by its allies, the whole world will be affected, the USA included?
Tver is about 100kms north of Moscow. WHAT were they using in this building, unusual fire
Spot on @odyssey06
For those who think the only way to finish this war is for Ukraine to sit down and negotiate with Russia and / or be forced to do so:
In Russia, former PM and President and current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitri Medevedev published Russian demands to Ukraine. See translation below:
They can be summed up as liquidation of Ukrainian statehood and annexation of Ukraine by Russia.
https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1768222550067143057
For "negotiate" with Russia, read "surrender". And if Russia doesn't get what it wants this time, it will just come back again for it.
https://kyivindependent.com/bloomberg-ukraines-recent-drone-strikes-hit-facilities-representing-12-of-russias-oil-processing-capacity/
Keep hitting them and the war machines will stop
Exodus of Russians from inside Russia to Russia
he will loose. There has not been a singled war that rotten failed state have won.
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