Is Ukraine about to have a war?
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This has to be cheaper in the long run, because if we all didn't, we would then need to bolster our troops in Europe and the Far East and start on ramping up our military capability with the costs involved therein, far better to spend an outlay now and break the back of the Russian conventional forces thuse thwarting their ambitions for a couple of decades.
As I said before, any aid is often spent on providing weapons to Ukraine, that means American jobs and American revenue, the USA is not buying foreign weapons per se, but home grown weaponary and buying them in the USA to provide to Ukraine, they are in effect pumping those funds back into the USA economy. The cynic in me would also say it also allows the USA and the rest of NATO to remove life critical items from their stocks and replenish with fresh items.
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Though, sanctions, etc, against China can certainly be expected. Not to say, the current mood is already against expanding China-EU business. Sanctions against China might be far more effective than against Russia, since what China delivers to the EU, can also be produced locally in the EU (though at a higher cost, but also a higher quality). Who needs iPhones anyway ?
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Russia purported to have the ability to get around the black sea blockade.
H I Sutton - Covert Shores
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WOW, A Russian diplomat to the UN resigns and really lays into Putin and all the lies... let's hope he makes it to 42.
Russian diplomat to the UN quits and pens scathing letter slamming Putin’s ‘aggressive war in Ukraine’ (msn.com)
A veteran Russian diplomat to the UN Office at Geneva says he handed in his resignation before sending out a scathing letter to foreign colleagues inveighing against the “aggressive war unleashed” by President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
Boris Bondarev, 41, confirmed his resignation in a letter delivered on Monday morning at the Russian diplomatic mission after an official passed on his English-language statement to The Associated Press (AP).
“For 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year,” he wrote, alluding to the date of Russia’s invasion.
Reached by phone, Mr Bondarev - a diplomatic counsellor who has focused on Russia’s role in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva after postings in places like Cambodia and Mongolia - confirmed he handed in his resignation in a letter addressed to ambassador Gennady Gatilov.
A spokesman for the mission did not immediately respond to calls and a text message from the AP seeking comment.
The resignation amounts to a rare - if not unprecedented - public admission of disgruntlement about Russia’s war in Ukraine among the Russian diplomatic corps, at a time when Mr Putin’s government has sought to crack down on dissent over the invasion and sought to quell conflicting narratives from the government line about how the “special military operation” - as it is officially known in Russia - is proceeding.
“It is intolerable what my government is doing now,” Mr Bondarev told the AP.
“As a civil servant, I have to carry a share of responsibility for that, and I don’t want to do that.”
Mr Bondarev said he had not received any reaction yet from Russian officials, but added: “Am I concerned about the possible reaction from Moscow? I have to be concerned about it.”
Asked if some colleagues felt the same, he added: “Not all Russian diplomats are warmongering. They are reasonable, but they have to keep their mouths shut.”
He suggested his case could become an example.
“If my case is prosecuted, then if other people want to follow, they would not,” he suggested.
In his English-language statement, which he said he emailed to about 40 diplomats and others, Mr Bondarev said those who conceived the war “want only one thing - to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity”.
He railed against the growing “lies and unprofessionalism” in the Russian foreign ministry and took particular aim at foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who he said in “18 years, he went from a professional and educated intellectual ... to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world (that is, Russia too) with nuclear weapons!”
“Today, the ministry of foreign affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred.”
Mr Bondarev told the AP he had no plans to leave Geneva.
Hiller Neuer, executive director of the advocacy group UN Watch, said simply: “Boris Bondarev is a hero.”
“Bondarev should be invited to speak in Davos this week,” he added.
“And the US, the UK and the EU should lead the free world in creating a programme to encourage more Russian diplomats to follow and defect, by providing protection, financial security and resettlement for diplomats and their families.”
Boris Bondarev, 41, confirmed his resignation in a letter delivered on Monday morning at the Russian diplomatic mission after an official passed on his English-language statement to The Associated Press (AP).
“For 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year,” he wrote, alluding to the date of Russia’s invasion.
Reached by phone, Mr Bondarev - a diplomatic counsellor who has focused on Russia’s role in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva after postings in places like Cambodia and Mongolia - confirmed he handed in his resignation in a letter addressed to ambassador Gennady Gatilov.
A spokesman for the mission did not immediately respond to calls and a text message from the AP seeking comment.
The resignation amounts to a rare - if not unprecedented - public admission of disgruntlement about Russia’s war in Ukraine among the Russian diplomatic corps, at a time when Mr Putin’s government has sought to crack down on dissent over the invasion and sought to quell conflicting narratives from the government line about how the “special military operation” - as it is officially known in Russia - is proceeding.
“It is intolerable what my government is doing now,” Mr Bondarev told the AP.
“As a civil servant, I have to carry a share of responsibility for that, and I don’t want to do that.”
Mr Bondarev said he had not received any reaction yet from Russian officials, but added: “Am I concerned about the possible reaction from Moscow? I have to be concerned about it.”
Asked if some colleagues felt the same, he added: “Not all Russian diplomats are warmongering. They are reasonable, but they have to keep their mouths shut.”
He suggested his case could become an example.
“If my case is prosecuted, then if other people want to follow, they would not,” he suggested.
In his English-language statement, which he said he emailed to about 40 diplomats and others, Mr Bondarev said those who conceived the war “want only one thing - to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity”.
He railed against the growing “lies and unprofessionalism” in the Russian foreign ministry and took particular aim at foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who he said in “18 years, he went from a professional and educated intellectual ... to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world (that is, Russia too) with nuclear weapons!”
“Today, the ministry of foreign affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred.”
Mr Bondarev told the AP he had no plans to leave Geneva.
Hiller Neuer, executive director of the advocacy group UN Watch, said simply: “Boris Bondarev is a hero.”
“Bondarev should be invited to speak in Davos this week,” he added.
“And the US, the UK and the EU should lead the free world in creating a programme to encourage more Russian diplomats to follow and defect, by providing protection, financial security and resettlement for diplomats and their families.”
Last edited by NutLoose; 23rd May 2022 at 16:07. Reason: Added the letter
Russia purported to have the ability to get around the black sea blockade.
H I Sutton - Covert Shores
H I Sutton - Covert Shores
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Friendly reminder: please stay on topic.
China/Taiwan are not on topic for this threadl
If you all want to discuss that there's already a thread about the South China Sea here on Military Aviation.
Thank you all in advance.
China/Taiwan are not on topic for this threadl
If you all want to discuss that there's already a thread about the South China Sea here on Military Aviation.
Thank you all in advance.
WOW, A Russian diplomat to the UN resigns and really lays into Putin and all the lies... let's hope he makes it to 42.
Russian diplomat to the UN quits and pens scathing letter slamming Putin’s ‘aggressive war in Ukraine’ (msn.com)
https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/stat...541057/photo/1
Russian diplomat to the UN quits and pens scathing letter slamming Putin’s ‘aggressive war in Ukraine’ (msn.com)
https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/stat...541057/photo/1
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So the current disaster is not solely due to Putin's paranoia, but also to his desire to end an anti Russian pogrom at his border.
[...]
The end state desired by the Ukraine government is full control of its post USSR land, presumably free to continue ethnic cleansing of their Russian inhabitants
[...]
The end state desired by the Ukraine government is full control of its post USSR land, presumably free to continue ethnic cleansing of their Russian inhabitants
https://www.iri.org/wp-content/uploa...26,%202014.pdf
The number of casualties in this conflict has been going down year after year since 2014, and most of the recent deaths have been caused by mines planted by the separatists. So there was no legitimate reason for the large scale invasion Russia launched this year:
So, as international observers found no evidence supporting Putin's claims of genocide, and as you keep repeating those claims, would you care to provide some evidence for them?
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Sad effects of Putins war, I hope they prevent it 
https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/s...48736194191360
https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/s...48736194191360
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A look at the Russians mindset
https://newlinesinstitute.org/state-...ned-community/
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During WW2 they trained starving dogs to run under tanks to collect food, they then strapped explosives and a detonator to their backs and let them loose, the idea was they would rush under a German tank and blow up,
The trouble was the dogs were not selective and would also blow up Russian tanks so the idea was dropped, I don’t suppose the RSPCA or the equivalent would be best pleased either.
The Exploding Anti-Tank Dogs of World War II
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Yep, that’s about how I read it too, a totally insecure nation.
>>>>>Aviation related<<<<<<.
Another day, another General if true (it is being reported on a lot of outlets).
Wagner Generals at the pointy end, just how desperate are they??
Last edited by macmp419; 23rd May 2022 at 23:09. Reason: Wagner General
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Russian TV setting up the people for the long haul…