Russia's War Against Ukraine

[MengJiao]

Russian forces withdraw from Snake Island
From CNN's Olga Voitovych in Kyiv and Anna Chernova in Dubai

Russian forces have left Snake Island in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Thursday, after they carried out what they said was a "successful" operation.

On Monday, the Ukrainian military said it hit a second missile system on the island, as well as multiple Russian personnel in their efforts to keep them at bay.

In a short post on Telegram the Operation Command South on Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that "the enemy hastily evacuated the remnants of the garrison in two speedboats and probably left the island."

Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a Telegram post that Ukraine's armed forces had "conducted a remarkable operation."


Well...the Russians have withdrawn from Snake Island.



However, Russia gave a slightly different narrative of the events on the island.

Lieutenant General of the Russian Armed Forces, and spokesperson of the Russian army, Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing that Russian forces left the island "as a gesture of goodwill."

He added that "the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation finished fulfilling the assigned tasks in Snake Island and withdrew the garrison that had been operating there."

Konashenkov intimated that the removal of Russian troops should allow an easing for the passage of grain, "this solution will prevent Kyiv from speculating on an impending grocery crisis citing the inability to export grain due to total control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea by Russia."

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, China complains about the possible return of SEATO.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-rails-against-nato-as-asian-rivals-attend-summit-for-first-time/ar-AAYZOsd?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=fa086f1d94924d32826801a102015503

Well, if you keep sabre-rattling about the expansion of your communist regime by military and other warlike power, you can expect an anti-communist team of nations to join up again, China!

(Today I learned that SEATO didn't even last to 1978. I really thought it had gone through more of the Cold War.)

[MengJiao]

However, Russia gave a slightly different narrative of the events on the island.

Lieutenant General of the Russian Armed Forces, and spokesperson of the Russian army, Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing that Russian forces left the island "as a gesture of goodwill."

He added that "the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation finished fulfilling the assigned tasks in Snake Island and withdrew the garrison that had been operating there."

Konashenkov intimated that the removal of Russian troops should allow an easing for the passage of grain, "this solution will prevent Kyiv from speculating on an impending grocery crisis citing the inability to export grain due to total control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea by Russia."

  As usual, the Russians come up with something just plain weird:  They withdrew as a gesture of goodwill to prevent a "grocery crisis"...of course, they could withdraw everywhere else and prevent a lot of things, but no, apparently.  And of course Ukraine is supposed to be the bad guys now because they are going to "speculate" (ie charge more for whatever they manage to export?)

[Jarhead0331]

This is a test. This is only test.

[Uberhaus]

I read on CNN that Sweden and Finland had to recognize the PKK as a terror organization, as a concession to Turkey.

https://jpost.pressreader.com/article/281848647292612

In an embarrassing moment for an alliance formed to confront threats from authoritarian regimes, NATO members had to beg authoritarian Turkey to allow it to admit two democracies.

Finland and Sweden had faced the bizarre prospect of being banned from the military alliance at the whim of Turkey, which is the world's largest jailer of journalists, and a country that crushes dissent and regularly commits human rights abuses in Syria and Iraq. However, as a NATO member, it has been given control over which countries can join the alliance because of the nature of NATO rules and bureaucracy.

As such, Ankara now uses every opportunity to blackmail NATO, refusing requests or threatening other members, to get what it wants.

Its latest stunt involved the desire by Sweden and Finland to join the alliance in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Turkey works closely with Russia and purchases its S-400 surface-toair missile system. Ankara indicated it wouldn't agree to let the two Norwegian democracies join NATO unless they agreed to crack down on what Turkey deems as "terrorists."

The article is a fair assessment of Turkey and its behaviours.  Pretty egregious is the fact of near co-habitation with ISIS and al-Qaeda.  " The fact the leaders of ISIS have been found in Syria within shouting distance of Turkey's border; that the US regularly has to carry out airstrikes against al-Qaeda and other extremists near where Turkish forces are located in Syria"

I don't have an opinion of whether Erdogan will be gone next year.  His two five year term limits will be up but authoritarians seem to like to get around such legal niceties.

[Gusington]

Just the mention of SEATO really brings me back.

Russia is trying to push gestures of good will?? The world really has gone nuts.

[MengJiao]

Just the mention of SEATO really brings me back.

Russia is trying to push gestures of good will?? The world really has gone nuts.

   It's supposed to make the Ukrainians look bad because (I'm not sure -- they are invading themselves?)...because the Russians would just stop and leave if the Ukrainians let them stay and take
everything (?hmmm?).  Not sure exactly why this is all Ukraine's fault if the Russians leave a few places or even declare victory or even say "Hey, Finland in NATO is fine, but we will take vengeance on
something."  Very puzzling what the logic is supposed to be.

[Gusington]

Maybe it's beyond us to understand...I dunno :/

[GDS_Starfury]

we make the mistake of thinking rationally when dealing with russia. 
dont do that.

[Pete Dero]

And those messages are really only intended for internal use in Russia.

You have to be an idiot to believe the lies : Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says he'd still 'take a bullet' for Vladimir Putin, "Because he's a first class person and what he's doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia." 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/ex-f1-boss-bernie-ecclestone-27362623

[Gusington]

WTF Bernie??

[GDS_Starfury]

that fucking idiot checked out of reality a looooooong time ago.
so glad he's not in charge of F1 anymore.

[Millipede]

Bernie Ecclestone is a horses' ass and always has been. Ignore him!

[GDS_Starfury]

a very interesting thread to read

https://twitter.com/samagreene/status/1542468816382435328

[JasonPratt]

a very interesting thread to read

https://twitter.com/samagreene/status/1542468816382435328

The full article with more details (and links) can be found here: https://tldrussia.substack.com/p/why-we-fight

"But the fact that Western leaders cannot talk openly about participating in the war means that they cannot talk openly about what their aims are, about what would constitute victory, and thus why the sacrifices being asked of Western societies are worth it. As a result, there can be no open conversation, as befits democratic societies, about how this war should be prosecuted. And as a further result, when the emotional fatigue eventually sets in — and it will set in — there will be no intellectual commitment to victory."

I'm going to speculate that by June 30th, when Sam posted his article and analysis, emotional fatigue has already set in... ;)