Russia's War Against Ukraine

[MengJiao]

On the other hands (...plural not originally intended but kept for the relevant humor...!)

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-soldiers-monsters-secret-experiments-biolabs-us-1725908

To quote one of the final quips from Cyrano de Bergerac, "I believe I may call that flattery!"  >:D

   The content of the "observations" themselves seem incoherent:

"for a number of diseases, including those atypical for Ukrainian territory, the content of the relevant substances is several times higher than the permissible norms."

  "Permissible norms"?  There's a "permissible norm" for disease organisms? or "relevant substances"?  I'm guessing this is supposed to translate somehow into some sort of
disquiet about something, but I think it exceeds the "permissible norm" for pure drivel long before it reaches any level of translatability.

[Windigo]

I think News Week just cut and pasted a Russian news article and ran it through Google translate.
Then an unpaid intern, who was missing a party, was told to 'make it legible'.
The copy editor , attending the same party, just gave it auto approval and went back to snorting lines off of Star's butt.

[MengJiao]

I think News Week just cut and pasted a Russian news article and ran it through Google translate.
Then an unpaid intern, who was missing a party, was told to 'make it legible'.
The copy editor , attending the same party, just gave it auto approval and went back to snorting lines off of Star's butt.

  Something like that...but now, yes, the Russians say they really want more (but is this sort of a step back from exterminating all Ukrainians?):

Russia's objectives now extend beyond eastern Donbas region into Ukraine's south, minister says
From CNN's Radina Gigova and Vasco Cotovio

Russia's objectives in Ukraine now extend beyond the eastern Donbas region into the country's south, a senior government minister has said.

As the war in Ukraine approaches its fifth month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state media that the "geography is different."

"It is far from being only DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People's Republic) — it is also Kherson Region, Zaporizhzhia Region and a number of other territories. And this process continues, it continues steadily and persistently," Lavrov said during an interview with RIA Novosti, published Wednesday.

Lavrov's remarks signal the Kremlin's refocused approach to the war in Ukraine.

Just three months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin shifted military efforts onto the country's east after failing to capture Kyiv.

Earlier this month, Russian forces followed through with Putin's order and captured Lysychansk, the last city in Luhansk region still in Ukrainian hands. Their next move was anticipated to be in the neighboring region of Donetsk.

If Donetsk were to fall, Moscow would overrun the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which has harbored Russian-backed separatist factions since 2014.

However, recently supplied US weapons systems worth $400 million have bolstered the Ukrainian military's ability to strike down Russian targets — a significant factor that has caused fresh problems for Moscow.

Lavrov pointed out that as the West continues to supply Ukraine with more long-range weaponry, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), Russia's geographical objectives in Ukraine would move further away from the current line.

"We cannot allow any weapons in the part of Ukraine controlled by Zelensky — or whoever will replace him — that pose a direct threat to our territory or the territory of the republics that declared independence or those that wish to determine their future independently," Lavrov said.

"The President was very clear, as you quoted: denazification and demilitarization in the sense that there should be no threat to our security, no military threat from Ukraine's territory, and this objective remains," Lavrov added.

CNN's Rob Picheta, Tim Lister and Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.



  So what's especially goofy about this is that the Russians have yet another excuse/gripe/thing/justification for something they seem to be doing sort of with some kind of aims -- well now its -- we have to take over a lot of the Ukraine because these Western Weapons have the range to blow things up well into the area we have captured (but aren't weapons with range aways going to be able to do that no matter where you stop or go?).  It's like every week they have a different set of objectives and reasons for doing things.

[GDS_Starfury]

at this point I honestly dont know why we're penny packeting a lot of this kit to them.
give 60 himars and fuck russia.

[FarAway Sooner]

I wonder how much of it is stinginess on the US side, and how much of it is simply a restricted ability for the Ukrainians to digest new equipment.  That's not simply about getting the equipment into their hands, but getting their forces trained on it and getting logistics set up. 

I have to think that building the supply and maintenance chains for anything more complicated than a disposable rocket-launcher is the biggest barrier for the more logistically complicated systems (tanks, planes, helicopters, self-propelled artillery, and integrated C3I systems all come to mind here).

[Skoop]

at this point I honestly dont know why we're penny packeting a lot of this kit to them.
give 60 himars and fuck russia.

Amen to all of that especially the fuck Russia part.

[Uberhaus]

Another quote from a Gwynne Dyer article I posted sometime ago.  https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/columnists/us-helps-ukraine-but-ensures-war-doesn---t-go-nuclear.html

It's striking that the United Kingdom announced that it is sending similar rocket launchers at the same time, but there was no nonsense about three weeks of training outside Ukraine. The Ukrainian Army has one of the best artillery schools in Europe, so the UK is just sending along instruction manuals.

It's not an issue of the Ukrainians not being able to use the weaponry being sent.  It is an issue of avoiding conflict between Russia and the West.   I think this is a moot point as Russia will eventually lose and blame the West and we will have an even worse continuation of Russia blaming its failures on again, the West.  Or less likely, Russia ekes out some kind of victory and turns its attention to the Baltics. 
We need Kissinger to come out of retirement and bring some sense and realpolitik to this intractable situation before it spirals out of control.  Russia will not give up Crimea, nor Donbas but Ukraine will probably be able to take them back.  The West cannot tolerate Russian use of nuclear weapons, the escalate to de-escalate doctrine. 

While I am being that guy, I will take a break from tormenting 4 to 99+ year olds and point out that modern camouflage netting can defeat thermal vision.   

[MengJiao]

We need Kissinger to come out of retirement and bring some sense and realpolitik to this intractable situation before it spirals out of control. 

  I studied intro to undergrad history with a student of Kissinger's...needless to say, Kissinger's student didn't know what to think when I showed him telegrams from the British Imperial Ambassador to
Austria-Hungry in 1914 discussing with his own (ie British) Foreign Office how to use just a few slightly obsolescent battlecruisers to put pressure on everybody in the Mediterranean even after the Royal Navy pulled most of its fleet out of the Mediterranean.
PLUS, Kissinger's big book was A World Restored which described how Europe was "restored" by totally defeating Napoleon.  Sometimes realpolitik means total defeat for somebody yet the Kissinger approach to reality tends to overlook anything related to specific weapon systems and their deployment.
I would argue the only sensible realpolitik solution to Russia's current ambitions is some form of total defeat for Russia...pretty much a UN-supervised phased withdrawal and phased economic reintegration probably taking a few years.

[JasonPratt]

I think the main point to the Newsweek article about the 'mutant killer' Ukrainian troops (which was picked up from the Daily Beast), was to illustrate how far the morale problems on the Russian side have dropped. Whereupon the article then gets into Russian claims about bio-weapons being developed in Ukraine, to fill out the article.

The original Daily Beast article is here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia-says-its-losing-because-ukraine-has-experimental-mutant-troops-created-in-secret-biolabss?source=articles&via=rss

NewsNation has confirmed that Russian lawmakers have propagated the mutant ninja supersoldier theory: https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/russia-at-war/no-truth-to-russian-claim-of-ukrainian-mutant-soldiers/

There ARE American-based bioweapon labs in the Ukraine, as confirmed by retired U.S. Gen. William Enyart (in an interview with NewsNation back on Tuesday). "Enyart said the U.S. does run bio labs in Ukraine, but they are used for tracking down and handling old chemical weapons[.]"

(I recall seeing more discussion about this, including suspicious activity in these biolabs, but that was several months ago and I don't recall the details nor the sources. One way or another, the current version of this accusation is linked to gain-of-function research at Wuhan, of course.)

[ArizonaTank]

I think the main point to the Newsweek article about the 'mutant killer' Ukrainian troops (which was picked up from the Daily Beast), was to illustrate how far the morale problems on the Russian side have dropped. Whereupon the article then gets into Russian claims about bio-weapons being developed in Ukraine, to fill out the article.

The original Daily Beast article is here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia-says-its-losing-because-ukraine-has-experimental-mutant-troops-created-in-secret-biolabss?source=articles&via=rss

NewsNation has confirmed that Russian lawmakers have propagated the mutant ninja supersoldier theory: https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/russia-at-war/no-truth-to-russian-claim-of-ukrainian-mutant-soldiers/

There ARE American-based bioweapon labs in the Ukraine, as confirmed by retired U.S. Gen. William Enyart (in an interview with NewsNation back on Tuesday). "Enyart said the U.S. does run bio labs in Ukraine, but they are used for tracking down and handling old chemical weapons[.]"

(I recall seeing more discussion about this, including suspicious activity in these biolabs, but that was several months ago and I don't recall the details nor the sources. One way or another, the current version of this accusation is linked to gain-of-function research at Wuhan, of course.)

I think the story is amusing, but not really worth much else. On any given day you can find lawmakers from any country propagating crazy ideas. Heaven knows that here in the US, we have "lawmakers" of all political persuasions coming out with the craziest statements.

The next thing will be accusing the Ukrainians of being witches:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qq8NQabchE

[GDS_Starfury]

we have ppl in Congress that believe in Jewish space lasers.  <:-)

[Gusington]

^The best space lasers are Jewish!

[SirAndrewD]

Jewish Space Lasers and Cronenberg body horror style mutant super solders....

This war's starting to get really exciting.

[Gusington]

It was just a matter of time and imagination.

[SirAndrewD]

Oh!  And Witches.  Missed the witches. 

And Satanists. 

I bet Satanist Ukrainian Witches are really hot and do it on the first date.