Zagadka Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 If anyone wants a brief and decent fairly objective overview (with a slight progressive but not left-wing focus), I find this a good read https://jewishcurrents.org/russias-invasion-of-ukraine-an-explainer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zagadka Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 27 minutes ago, Zagadka said: Regarding sanctions Further regarding sanctions from the US: https://www.dailyposter.com/bidens-ukraine-plans-face-wall-street-roadblock/ *clear left-wing bias Biden’s Ukraine Plans Face Wall Street Roadblock ... But while such a move might help deter further Russian incursions, Biden faces a significant obstacle: corporate lobbyists’ success in shrouding the American finance industry in secrecy, which makes it far easier for Russian oligarchs and their business empires to evade economic sanctions. .. Of late, law enforcement officials and sanctions experts have been sounding ever-louder alarms about weak transparency and disclosure requirements specifically in the most opaque corners of the economy: private equity firms, hedge funds, shell companies, and investment vehicles such as real estate funds and art assets. And because such entities target high-net-worth individuals as clients, disclosure loopholes for them could particularly undermine oligarch-focused sanctions. Biden doesn’t need Congress to crack down on money laundering through such shadowy conduits. His Treasury Department could revive a rule proposed during the Obama era under the half-century-old Bank Secrecy Act to extend existing disclosure rules to private funds and pooled investment vehicles. But he has so far declined to do so. The department also recently backed off tightening such rules for the art industry, even after a bipartisan Senate report spotlighted that industry’s role in helping Russian oligarchs evade existing sanctions, such as by laundering money through auction houses. The Treasury Department refusal to act came as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, real estate titans, the legal industry, and art dealers lobby the agency on issues related to the bank secrecy statute, according to federal records reviewed by The Daily Poster. Despite the warnings, corporate efforts to further weaken anti-money laundering laws continue — even now, as the threat of war looms. In December, the Biden administration proposed a rule to implement a 2021 law requiring corporations and shell companies to more thoroughly disclose their actual owners. Experts say the initiative is necessary to strengthen the effect of any sanctions aimed at Russian financial institutions and oligarchs. But that bipartisan transparency legislation had already been watered down by a corporate lobbying blitz that included pressure from Wall Street’s private investment firms. The result: Vast swaths of the financial, accounting and insurance industries were exempted from new transparency mandates. The gist of this is that our sanctions can tank the Russian economy and set the people back decades, but will have little impact on the elites and corporations controlling Russia. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 5 hours ago, Kernel.Panic said: I'm Polish. I see what's happening and can't help but see an obvious parallel to what took place in September 1939. But now the attacker has nuclear weapons that could be used as a trigger to completely obliterate humanity everywhere. That's a key difference. I agree with your sentiment, though and there are a lot of parallels. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 2 hours ago, Katya89 said: I don't believe that China will be Russia's ally. They are too different countries. True, but China has a stake in this. If they confront Russia, then their stake on territories outside their country needs to be condemned as well. If they support Russia, they can at least make themselves feel they have right on their side. As for China's power. We are to blame. We buy everything from China, whether we want to or not, making it more affluent and powerful. Companies are to blame for setting up production there and we are to blame for wanting more and cheaper stuff. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 2 hours ago, Katya89 said: Also Russian government is infiltrated by US and Chinese agents Where do you get that idea? The same has been said about the US government having been infiltrated by Russian agents, but apart from dodgy Trump and his gang, I have yet to see evidence of this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Zagadka said: Russia has previously stated that SWIFT sanctions would be seen as a declaration of war. That's what I suspected for quite a while and it's very worrying. If you corner a madman into a corner with nothing to lose, then anything can happen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantasmal Fingers Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 2 hours ago, Katya89 said: I don't believe that China will be Russia's ally. They are too different countries. USSR and China even couldn't be friends when they were governed by the same party (communists). I think that there is big strategic game between USA (and the West) and China, and Russia is an object of their strategic calculations and struggles and they fight with each other over the influence in Russia. Russia government on the other hand can't paticipate in such strategic games and use desperate malicious tactics while threatening nuclear war, that tactics is used due to weakness, desperation and strategic blindness. Also Russian government is infiltrated by US and Chinese agents, but I am not sure, I don't have access to the top secret documents. I can't otherwise understand such strategic blindness of establishment of my country. Russia doesn't have strategy of it's development at all. Yes, having lived in both China and Russia I get the impression that the racial divide is unbridgable from both sides, and was so, even in communist times. But political strategy may engender temporary alliances if self-interests align with each other. The strategic game between the US, China and Russia that is afoot is, I think, mainly over the Shia crescent. The Mosul field, the largest oil field in the world, with the gas and minerals that go with it, sits directly under Shia crescent and is the prize China, Russia and the US are playing for. Given the decline of the field on the eastern seaboard of Arabia - for example, Dubai ran out of oil quite some years ago now hence that region's recent attempts to diversify - Iraq (or whatever political entity eventually emerges from that area) will be the world's largest oil producer once peaceful conditions are restored. Sooner or later Iran will break up - it's a colonial empire full of unrest - and the northwest of Iran will join Azerbaijan, as it's population tried to do during the abortive 1991 uprising. The area around Tabriz, for example, is Azeri rather than Farsi, and is basically a colony waiting to break free and join Azerbaijan. So that looks great for BP and Amec but not so good for Rosneft. BP already has Azerbaijan and the Caspian more or less sewn up - it's by far the biggest player in that region - so Putin is playing to the Shia elites further east and encouraging them to look to Russia rather than the West. This is why Putin backs Assad in Syria. The US is stymied over this as they are in bed with the Sunnis in Saudi whether they like it or not. They've made that bed and will have to lie on it. In a sense this whole situation pivots on the hatred between the hardline Sunni regime in Saudi and the hardline Shia regime in Iran, which utterly despise each other. The US picked its side a long time ago in the Cold War so Putin moved in on the other side when he got the chance to. China is playing a waiting game. Xi Jinping will back Putin if he wins but abandon him if he fails. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 9 minutes ago, Phantasmal Fingers said: China is playing a waiting game. Xi Jinping will back Putin if he wins but abandon him if he fails. Let's double hope he fails, then. Thanks for that Phantasmal Fingers (how do you come up with those names?). Great bit of insight. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Since the 20th of February 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and intervented Donbass region, occupying 7% of Ukraine. Russia killed 14 000 people. 24th of February 2022, Russia started a full invasion. This already led to 150 deaths just in 2 days. If you are worried about me and maybe you want to send some support, you are very welcome, my family ❤️ In case you want to help Ukraine financially, please visit https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi Aso what you can do - demand from your government to help Ukraine, go to demostrations, be active online etc! Demands: - maximally hard sanctions, with disconnecting Russia from SWIFT and trading embargo; - full isolation of Russia in all formats; - maximal military support of Ukraine: weapons, ammunition; anti-aircraft is very important; - immediate sanctions for all Russian oligarchs, not just few individuals like that’s been done so far; - maximal financial aid for Ukraine - the most important is helping with anti-shelling, at least from the air Thank you! 12 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 I just read an interesting article but it's in German. Not sure if it loads in English if I paste the google translate link, but here goes. I'm sure Russian hackers are more clever than me, but I'm still going to vigilant by puter isn't used for any denial of service attack from now on. https://www-srf-ch.translate.goog/news/international/krieg-in-der-ukraine-swift-welche-konsequenzen-ein-ausschluss-russlands-haette?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp This is the site in German: https://www.srf.ch/news/international/krieg-in-der-ukraine-swift-welche-konsequenzen-ein-ausschluss-russlands-haette Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Opps, didn't see this already existed. I am Ukrainian, so you can show me your support here.... 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 *dear admins, you can combine my post with the topic called Ukraine* 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Acing It Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Not sure what to say in the way of support, other than that we stand by you? It's easy to feel powerless over here as an individual. I bet if you're in Odesa, you're in the thick of it already? 😞 Just read your other post. I'll do my best. I wish you strength. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kernel.Panic Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 54 minutes ago, Acing It said: But now the attacker has nuclear weapons that could be used as a trigger to completely obliterate humanity everywhere. That's a key difference. I agree with your sentiment, though and there are a lot of parallels. I'm aware of that. Putin likes to remind the world about it, after all. Which, in my opinion, is an act of terror on its own, but I digress. He might have "end the world" button at his disposal, yes. However, I refuse to submit to his Kim Jong Un-style intimidation attempts. I'd have no problem calling him on his bluff. Putin is a bully. Bullies back down only when they start to feel pain themselves. Anything different is a sign of weakness. It's simple as that. Слава Україні! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 21 minutes ago, Acing It said: Not sure what to say in the way of support, other than that we stand by you? It's easy to feel powerless over here as an individual. I bet if you're in Odesa, you're in the thick of it already? 😞 Just read your other post. I'll do my best. I wish you strength. Odesa is okay as for now. But there is a big possibility it will be under attack 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Still Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 30 minutes ago, ukrguy said: Opps, didn't see this already existed. I am Ukrainian, so you can show me your support here.... Hi! I actually thought about you yesterday, and I'm glad you're well (or at least alive). 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anemone hepatica Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 31 minutes ago, ukrguy said: I am Ukrainian, so you can show me your support here.... You are in my thoughts and prayers. Everyone in my country (and everyone in my Facebook bubble) is on your side. 💙💛 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zagadka Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 Developing: Discussion between Zelenskiy and Putin about a ceasefire drawing mixed reactions from leaders https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-russia-are-discussing-place-time-talks-zelenskiys-spokesman-2022-02-25/ Feb 26 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia are discussing a place and time for talks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's spokesman said on social media on Friday. "Ukraine was and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace," spokesman Sergii Nykyforov added. Real time wire: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-france-germany-europe-d9a2ed365b58d35274bf0c3c18427e81 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s security chief warned the West on Monday against forcing the country to fulfill a peace deal for eastern Ukraine brokered by France and Germany, charging that an attempt to implement it could trigger internal unrest that would benefit Moscow. Russia warning of future conflict https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sanctions-against-putin-reflect-wests-impotence-says-russian-foreign-ministry-2022-02-25/ Feb 25 (Reuters) - Relations between Russia and the West are approaching the point of no return, TASS news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Friday. China remains neutral https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/china-says-it-respects-ukraines-sovereignty-russias-security-concerns-2022-02-25/ WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told senior European officials on Friday that China respects countries' sovereignty, including Ukraine's, but that Russia's concerns about NATO's eastward expansion should be properly addressed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iff Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Russian ambassador getting called out for lying and being an apologist for slaughter 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ksenia Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 17 hours ago, Acing It said: Where do you get that idea? The same has been said about the US government having been infiltrated by Russian agents, but apart from dodgy Trump and his gang, I have yet to see evidence of this. There are even russian ministers and generals whose sons and daughters live in the West, they have assets in the West, etc. It is open information, noone hides it. So it would be not a big deal for CIA to obtain neccessary information, but I don't have access to the top secret documents, so I am not sure. CIA managed to obtain necessary iformation and recruit some russian officers even during Cold War era, nowadays it is far easier. No, Trump isn't russian agent, afaik He loves dictators (including Putin) due to his character, not because he is russian agent, imho. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kimmie. Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 @ukrguy please stay safe. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 THANK YOU ALL! Gave an interview to CNN today: https://www.facebook.com/ivan.melobensky.92/posts/346345374059310 12 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LeChat Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 @ukrguy I'm sorry this is happening in your country. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janus the Fox Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Not into this debate but it is a real threat from anywhere geologically close, like a large cargo plane spotted in the uk and a Russian sea ship patrolling the English Channel been intercepted. If the conflict don’t stop at Ukraine, where else would this spread? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 5 minutes ago, Janus the Fox said: Not into this debate but it is a real threat from anywhere geologically close, like a large cargo plane spotted in the uk and a Russian sea ship patrolling the English Channel been intercepted. If the conflict don’t stop at Ukraine, where else would this spread? at least to all non-NATO western-aligned countries. but it seems to me that NATO - Russia WW3 is very possible... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantasmal Fingers Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 The Western press are saying that the Russians plan to capture an airport with ground forces and then fly in 10,000 paratroops who would then storm key targets in Kiev. If this is correct this means the Russians are short of planes. The usual procedure with paras spearheading an assault on a large scale area/target is to drop the paras in force by parachute, allow them to capture an airfield, and then fly in whatever else you need - like the Nazis did in Crete in WWII. But you need quite a few planes to be able to do this. I haven't noticed anyone in the Western media making the point that the Russians seem to be short of transport aircraft. As we know, Soviet era passenger jets were designed with dual civil and military roles and could be easily converted from one to the other. But taking them out of service with Aeroflot would have made what was being planned very obvious to the West - it now looks like it hasn't been done. As we also know, the Russians took an airport on day one - and then lost it. That looks like an increasingly significant defeat for the Russians and quite a coup for Ukraine. Whilst the slower moving ground forces have been making their incursions Ukranian resistance has stiffened. In addition, the element of surprise has been lost, and it would seem that, at least in terms of air transport, the Russians are not as well equipped as they have been made out to be in the Western press. If I were Zelensky I would now be asking the West for more anti-aircraft guns/ground to air missiles. I wonder whether he's done this? There is still time for significant reinforcements of this nature to be made. All is not lost, @ukrguy! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Still Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Even if things look bad right now, I'd say WWIII is far from likely. Of course, after saying this, can't wait to wake up tomorrow to the news that nukes are already in the air. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ukrguy Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 2 minutes ago, Still said: Even if things look bad right now, I'd say WWIII is far from likely. Of course, after saying this, can't wait to wake up tomorrow to the news that nukes are already in the air. if you are far from war, you are always welcome here in Ukraine to help and feel what is a war like in the 21st century... it feels definately like WW3 for Ukrainians. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Still Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 13 minutes ago, ukrguy said: if you are far from war, you are always welcome here in Ukraine to help and feel what is a war like in the 21st century... it feels definately like WW3 for Ukrainians. I didn't mean to diminish what you're going through, and I'm very sorry if I came off that way 🙁All I meant was that I don't see a NATO-Russia WWIII as likely at this point. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J. van Deijck Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 The problem with Putin is that he is both intelligent and evil. It's the most dangerous combination. @ukrguy, I'm sorry to know what your country is going through. Wishing you lots of strength and I hope you will win in the end. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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