Is Ukraine about to have a war?

[Atlantic Explorer]

Time for Boeing and Airbus to cut complete ties and support for the Russian fleet.

[ORAC]

Twitter

[NutLoose]

Lukashenko saying Belarus is not involved in the attacks, define involvement.

[fab777]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Perhaps we really should have had a European Army to deal with things like this.................

indeed, it is past time. That would be a great achievement of Vlad’s, if his actions were to lead to that.

[skridlov]

Originally Posted by tartare

I think there's quite a lot the west can do, without firing a shot.
The question is the extent to which it's prepared to subject itself to economic pain.
Will Volkswagen be prepared to shut down it's plant in Kaluga?
Would the UK Government be prepared to confiscate private properties in London and freeze all Russian financial assets?
How about expropriating Abrahmovich's ownership of Chelsea - seizing his yacht?
How about stealing every single piece of Russian owned property, assets and roubles in our respective countries?
And on top of that - entirely locking them out of the Western Financial System?
As I said earlier - I'd be prepared to pay higher taxes and prices.

I concur absolutely. Unfortunately the world of finance and the cabal of international banksters is totally immune to moral considerations. After almost bringing down the entire world economy due to untrammeled greed, these people suffered no significant consequences. What chance is there of such a crackdown?

[charliegolf]

Angus Roxborough, former BBC man in Moscow: Sanctions are targetting the wrong group. The Kremlin/puppet parliament/upper civil service is a several (hundred?) thousand-strong group of corrupt, wealthy individuals, in hock to Putin for their positions. Not billionaires, but very wealthy- the type who ski in Courchevel and Meribel and take security teams for their wives and girlfriends. They sail to Monaco in their yachts, and own minor palaces in London and Paris etc. They are NOT the ones minding Putin's dosh. THIS, he says, is the group to **** off by withdrawing visas and locking them inside Russia and sending their families home. I think he has a fair argument.

CG

[ORAC]

Ukranian SU-27 crossed the Romanian border this morning declaring an emergency and was intercepted by 2 x F-16s and escorted to Bacău.

Various reports indicate it was involved in the defence of Odessa and had to divert when its base was attacked and damaged.

Pilot surrendered and is custody.

[dead_pan]

Looks like a huge refugee crisis is already brewing, given the roads in Kiev.

[ROC man]

Time to change the thread title

[ORAC]

Russian Stock Market down 50% before trading was suspended.

https://www.ndtv.com/business/russia...crisis-2786096

[ORAC]

Any indication yet as to their axes of attack?

The move south from Belarus seems pretty obviously aimed at Kyiv, as do the assaults at Kharkiv and Mariupol to seize the rest of the Donbass.

The push out of the Crimea is more opaque. They seem to be making a major push into the Kherson Oblast, but unclear if that is just to secure the water supply to Crimea, move north to cut off the Ukrainian army to the east, go west to join up with the other forces moving east, or head west towards Odessa.

Contrary to earlier reports the amphibious task force offshore from Odessa is not reported to as yet made any landing.

[NutLoose]

If they are going to give the Ukraine more weaponary, perhaps some cruise missiles would help, some of those dropping on Moscow might bring it home to the Russian populace

[Mike6567]

I may have missed it but how well does the Russian military have control over the nukes to avoid a Strangelove situation?

[Imagegear]

A simple warning for Russians to leave Moscow would give rise to some serious thinking.

[Beamr]

A video everyone should see. Putin acts like a Bond villain getting angry at his minion and his head of intelligence seem VERY scared of him. But the important bit is what the shivering and stuttering intelligence guy says: "I support the entry of Donetsk and Luhansk into the Russian Federation". Then he gets it again from Putin.
He apparently forgot his part in the play and said what the Russians are really doing. Their intention is not to leave Ukraine but annex parts of it once again.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Since I haven't found an English version online, I've added subtitles to Putin's humiliation of his spy chief during today's grotesque security council meeting in the Kremlin. <a href="https://t.co/bFx25nWzTK">pic.twitter.com/bFx25nWzTK</a></p>&mdash; Peter Liakhov (@peterliakhov) <a href="https://twitter.com/peterliakhov/status/1495851796782362628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

EDIT: I am facing issues in inserting a tweet, probably just me and my inadequate skills. If someone else manages to, you're most welcome to correct it.

[ORAC]

Twitter

[admikar]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

If they are going to give the Ukraine more weaponary, perhaps some cruise missiles would help, some of those dropping on Moscow might bring it home to the Russian populace

Not even Milosevic was stupid enough to attack surrounding NATO forces in '99. Hitting Moscow would bring hell. Although this situation sucks for Ukrainians, do not underestimate Russian capabilities to bring pain.

[Beamr]

Perfect, thank you ORAC, I do owe you a pint!

[ORAC]

Twitter

[dead_pan]

Originally Posted by Beamr

A video everyone should see. Putin acts like a Bond villain getting angry at his minion and his head of intelligence seem VERY scared of him.

It wasn't just him. Mushustin (the Russian PM) got a similar roasting. Even Lavrov looked deeply uncomfortable with the proceedings. Clearly all is not well in the upper echelons.

Its a case of "You're either with me, or stay away from open windows"