Russia's War Against Ukraine

[Gusington]

Wow. What a f@cking lunatic.

[Pete Dero]

On Russian state TV (discussion about Finland joining NATO) : About the Soviet invasion of Finland: "We never invaded, we just moved our borders deeper into Finland."  :o

[al_infierno]

On Russian state TV (discussion about Finland joining NATO) : About the Soviet invasion of Finland: "We never invaded, we just moved our borders deeper into Finland."  :o

"I didn't kill my wife, I just shot her until she died on her own."

[Dammit Carl!]

On Russian state TV (discussion about Finland joining NATO) : About the Soviet invasion of Finland: "We never invaded, we just moved our borders deeper into Finland."  :o

Amazing.  ???

[Gusington]

'I didn't punch him, he hit my fist with his face. Over and over.'

[Sir Slash]

I did not steal your car. I just used it while you were asleep. Several times. It's not MY fault you sleep when I need to go somewhere.

[JasonPratt]

"I heard he slipped and fell on a knife, five times." -- Snake (Joe Pantoliano), in Running Scared, 1986.


Couldn't find a clip of the funeral scene, but here's the theme song to this now-classic buddy-cop comedy! Haven't heard it in decades!

Just pretend there's a Ukrainian partisan action clip fest running with it.   8)

[Gusington]

^Hahaha one of the great 80s buddy cop movies!

And Klymaxx!!

[MengJiao]

Unlike the Russian military, which thankfully has been plagued with plenty of 'military technical' difficulties.

And from alJerzira:

Moscow has said that sanctions on Russia would have to be reviewed if it were to heed a UN appeal to open access to Ukraine's Black Sea ports so that grain could be exported, according to an Interfax news agency report.

Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain producers, used to export most of its goods through its seaports, but since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, it has been forced to export by train or via its small Danube River ports.

UN food chief David Beasley appealed on Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, "If you have any heart at all, please open these ports."

Beasley's World Food Programme feeds some 125 million people and buys 50 percent of its grain from Ukraine.

Interfax on Thursday quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying, "You have to not only appeal to the Russian Federation but also look deeply at the whole complex of reasons that caused the current food crisis and, in the first instance, these are the sanctions that have been imposed against Russia by the US and the EU that interfere with normal free trade, encompassing food products including wheat, fertilisers and others."

Russia's decision to send its troops into Ukraine almost three months ago has prevented Ukraine from using its main ports on the Black and Azov Seas, and cut its grain exports this month by more than half compared with a year ago.

Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies. Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, while Russia and Belarus – which has backed Moscow in its intervention in Ukraine and is also under sanctions – account for more than 40 percent of global exports of the crop nutrient potash.

[ArizonaTank]

....

UN food chief David Beasley appealed on Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, "If you have any heart at all, please open these ports."

Beasley's World Food Programme feeds some 125 million people and buys 50 percent of its grain from Ukraine.

.....

I am starting to wonder if all this results in some sort of "port opening" operation by the West. However I don't know what organization would do it.  A UN "blue hat" operation would be blocked by Russia. NATO is not being attacked, so couldn't do it. The EU does not really do that type of thing and as long as they are taking Russian gas they probably would not do anything. The US would not do it unilaterally since that would probably bring us into the conflict.

Still I think that some clever folks might be able to figure out a way to get it done. Maybe some sort of quid pro quo with Russia on select sanctions.

[MengJiao]

....

UN food chief David Beasley appealed on Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, "If you have any heart at all, please open these ports."

Beasley's World Food Programme feeds some 125 million people and buys 50 percent of its grain from Ukraine.

.....

I am starting to wonder if all this results in some sort of "port opening" operation by the West. However I don't know what organization would do it.  A UN "blue hat" operation would be blocked by Russia. NATO is not being attacked, so couldn't do it. The EU does not really do that type of thing and as long as they are taking Russian gas they probably would not do anything. The US would not do it unilaterally since that would probably bring us into the conflict.

Still I think that some clever folks might be able to figure out a way to get it done. Maybe some sort of quid pro quo with Russia on select sanctions.

   What's kind of interesting is that the Russians are suggesting in a round-about way, that if sanctions were reduced they would back off and let Ukrainian ports be used for some
purposes by somebody.  Of course, this suggests another round-about which is: increase pressure on Russia until they let somebody use Ukrainian ports for something.

   But what agency and how to link "pressure" to "use of ports"?  This sounds like the beginning of  some pretty complicated negotiations.

[FarAway Sooner]

Nothing that gets done here happens without Turkish support or Russian acquiescence.  I can't believe we'll get any movement here, without some kind of major resolution of the larger Russian-Ukraine conflict.

I suspect that this is more likely a political pawn being moved across the diplomatic board as one more effort to find some common ground and/or another dimension on which somebody might be able to compromise.  That, or it's a pretext for seizing Russian wheat shipments that enter the open seas after leaving either Sevastopol or one of their Baltic ports?

I don't know the shelf life of grain (on the stalk or in a granary), and I have no idea what sort of shape Ukrainian farmland is in for yielding wheat later in the year.  If Ukrainian wheat goes abroad, I can't believe that the proceeds won't be used (in part) to purchase more weaponry, so a Russian blockage of Ukrainian ports is predictable, if no more justified than their invasion was in the first place.

[Uberhaus]

You need to harvest cereals in a timely manner so they don't rot in the field or be eaten by pests. Grains can last a long time (6 months plus) if they are treated (dried, aerated, fumigated, etc.) and stored properly.  https://www.agrivi.com/blog/the-art-of-managing-grain-quality-with-silos/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20maximize%20grain,other%20post%2Dharvest%20management%20functions.
All difficult to accomplish in a war zone not to mention destruction /theft of equipment.  Not to mention this lovely piece of news https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/russian-troops-planted-mines-in-ukraines-fields-to-ruin-harvest-sajjan
Planting season for Ukraine is April - May

As to opening ports what would the legality be of escorting WFP hired ships even if they can't fly the UN flag.  I was wondering if an end run could be done by using an autonomous ECOSOC arm but Russia is one of the controlling members.  If there is an NGO big enough can escorts be provided or for countries sending ships?   Stream of thought.

[GDS_Starfury]

so we wait for a grain ship to get sunk and start escorting?

[Gusington]

Russia looking for older recruits for their army:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-parliament-consider-allowing-over-40s-sign-up-military-2022-05-20/