War in Eastern Europe, what's it good for ....

[WLJ]

Sevastopol

Yes he wanted Sevastopol but they annexed all of Crimea. You're trying to split hairs.

[Ron]

Also, Ron, the "globilist" overlords do not want war with the asshat they pay for energy. Which is how they got caught with their pants down.

If they actually were surprised then things are even worse than any of us thought!

[WLJ]

Italian police seize oligarchs' yachts
Alexey Mordashov
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Alexey Mordashov is Russia's richest manImage caption: Alexey Mordashov is Russia's richest man

Italian police have seized yachts belonging to two of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs in a raid on Friday, as EU sanctions begin to bite.

Officers seized a 213ft (65 metre) yacht worth $27m (£20m) owned by Alexey Mordashov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and Russia's richest man, in the northern port of Imperia, officials told local media.

Another yacht, owned by Gennady Timchenko, another oligarch with close ties to Putin, has been impounded in the coastal city of Imperia, officials said.

Mordashov is worth an estimated $29bn (£22bn) and built his wealth around the Russian steel producer Severstal, while Timchenko is estimated to hold around $17bn (£13.5bn) of assets and made his fortune in oil trading.

The men were among the 680 individuals and 53 entities slapped with sanctions by the EU on Monday.

There were similar seizures in France and Germany this week of yachts belonging to other Russian oligarchs.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60532634

[WLJ]

Seriously, until today you lot have done a very good job of posting key events of the day, which meant I didn't have to go look *expletive deleted*it up myself...

But today ya'll have dropped the ball.

Also, Ron, the "globilist" overlords do not want war with the asshat they pay for energy. Which is how they got caught with their pants down.

*shrug* This ends four ways:

1. Ukraine makes like Finland did and beats Russian ass.
2. Russia claims the smoking rubble that was once Ukraine.
3. WWIII
4. There is a change of management in the Kremlin.

I'm hoping for 1 or 4.

While #1 would put a smile on my face I don't see it happening unless #4 occurs first. More likely at this point it will be #2. I think the Russians are going to keep grinding down the Ukrainian army until it's gone. Then the long bloody insurgency begins.

[sumpnz]

Seriously, until today you lot have done a very good job of posting key events of the day, which meant I didn't have to go look *expletive deleted*it up myself...

But today ya'll have dropped the ball.

Also, Ron, the "globilist" overlords do not want war with the asshat they pay for energy. Which is how they got caught with their pants down.

*shrug* This ends four ways:

1. Ukraine makes like Finland did and beats Russian ass.
2. Russia claims the smoking rubble that was once Ukraine.
3. WWIII
4. There is a change of management in the Kremlin.

I'm hoping for 1 or 4.

While I’m not fully with Ron, it does seem like the “west” is hurtling towards #3.  I don’t get the logic, but then I’m not a leftist elitist.

Ultimately I don’t think there’s any major players that are good guys here.  Including the USA.

[WLJ]

    Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately.

    Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.

    — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022

    Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports.

    — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022

[Ron]

It's hard to know what our military or intelligence agencies believe. Our media has gone into full blown propaganda mode and is pretty worthless for getting information as to what is really happening or why for that matter.

This article is a reasonably balanced look at things IMHO.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10569141/Putin-NOT-crazy-Russian-invasion-NOT-failing-writes-military-analyst-BILL-ROGGIO.html

[Ron]

The threat is not having a NATO member on their border, which as I pointed out they already enjoy.  Granted, not as strategically placed as Ukraine might be, but it's not nothing. 

The threat Putin is responding to here is to their government's economic well-being which relies massively on their government control of the energy sector and the fact that Europe is hungry for that energy.  They cannot abide a potential competitor for Europe's energy money.  This is using military force to protect market share, not trying to keep NATO from marching on Moscow.You're missing the point.  That doesn't require Ukrainian NATO membership at all.  For that matter, it doesn't even require Western influence.  Simply a Ukrainian government that cares about Ukrainian interests ahead of Russian. 

Ukraine had placed significant tariffs on Russian gas pumped through their pipelines, so Russia decided to build around them. 

Significant natural gas fields offshore of Crimea were seized by Russia when they annexed Crimea thereby cutting Ukraine off from most of their offshore reserves in the Black Sea. 

Ukraine begins to develop their shale oil fields - most of which are found in eastern Ukraine where - surprise, surprise, Russia decides to set up a couple of breakaway puppet states and then invade.

The problem is not the West pushing NATO on Ukraine, it is Putin being frustrated that a non-puppet Ukraine could cut the state-owned energy companies off at the knees.  It was a non-puppet Ukraine that legitimately feared Russian aggression that sought protection from NATO and now the EU.I'm not blind as to the US having terrible, inconsistent, and often counter-productive foreign policy.  However, I don't think this conflict had beans to do with NATO or the west.

Might want to let Germany know that NATO membership isn't really the issue. The Germans saying it is off the table doesn't carry the weight of a NATO resolution or whatever they are called.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ukraines-nato-membership-will-not-take-place-german-chancellor_4317515.html

Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership appeared to be one of the core disputes that caused the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

In February 2019, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a constitutional amendment committing the country to becoming a member of NATO and the European Union after the parliament passed the bill.

Poroshenko told the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine days after he signed the amendment that joining NATO was a guarantee of security for Ukraine.

On the Russian side, Putin says Russia needs to lay down “red lines” to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO saying that Ukraine’s growing ties with the alliance could make it a launchpad for NATO missiles targeted at Russia.

[Hawkmoon]

Okay. I don't recall Putin using that as the excuse why he invaded Ukraine in 2014 and annexed a chunk of it. He may have I just don't recall.

Putin's excuse in 2014 was that he was "protecting" Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine from unspeakable harm.

Which was bovine excrement. I remember reading articles by people living there who said there was no enmity between/among the Ukrainian speakers and the Russian speakers. One article I remember in particular was by a woman who said she spoke Ukrainian and her neighbor spoke Russian, and the two languages were similar enough that they just conversed normally.

Putin and the Kremlin created the pro-Russian separatist movements in the Crimea and in the Donbass region, and then used "protecting" the separatists as a pretext for the invasion.

[Ron]

War is nearly always about land and resources.

Ukraine is too strategically placed for Russia to roll over and let it be absorbed into the western empire. I don't deny that energy and it being a breadbasket is important but the EU/NATO thing is huge to them. 

[Nick1911]

While I’m not fully with Ron, it does seem like the “west” is hurtling towards #3.  I don’t get the logic, but then I’m not a leftist elitist.

The secret global government has determined that there is no recourse for the impending climate catastrophe unfolding.  People will not, and can not, give up carbon emitting fuels.  The top scientists warn that it's already too late - even if we follow a drastic reduction schedule, the lowered particulates in the atmosphere will cause a runaway ecosystem warming failure.

The only way forward is to cut carbon emissions to the bone, and simultaneously maintain or increase atmosphere particulate matter to reflect light.  Only then will there be a chance for the system to correct - for natural sequestration to occur and runaway avoided.  The only way forward is a global nuclear war.  Decimation of the population, with enough ground bursts to put dust in the upper atmosphere for decades.  Enough people will survive to rebuild, and the hottest isotopes will burn off in the first few years. 

 

[Lennyjoe]

I seem to be getting raw videos more on FB than I do the news.  Twitter and FUNKER530 also have some good videos of the carnage on the ground. 

[WLJ]

The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent⚡️Ukrainian Navy sinks its flagship so that Russians don't get it.

Frigate Hetman Sahaidachny was under repairs in Mykolaiv. The commander was ordered to sink it, according to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Photo: News sites, social media, original source unknown.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1499672237829414915

[WLJ]

Crazy video

Sky News team's harrowing account of their violent ambush in Ukraine this week
https://news.sky.com/story/sky-news-teams-harrowing-account-of-their-violent-ambush-in-ukraine-this-week-12557585

[WLJ]

he Kyiv Independent
@KyivIndependent
·
40m
CNN: Russia is poised to deploy up to 1,000 more mercenaries to Ukraine.

The U.S. has already seen “some indications” that Russian mercenaries may be involved in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “in some places,” a senior defense official said earlier this week.

https://twitter.com/kyivindependent?lang=en

[Bogie]

Might want to let Germany know that NATO membership isn't really the issue.

Shame there wasn't someone active who could negotiate a deal between the Russian oil/gas folks and the Ukrainian pipelines/ports...

[BlueStarLizzard]

I seem to be getting raw videos more on FB than I do the news.  Twitter and FUNKER530 also have some good videos of the carnage on the ground.

Tiktok was a good source, but today nothings coming up in my for you feed.

[Bogie]

Tiktok shows  you what Tiktok wants  you to see.

[WLJ]

Might want to let Germany know that NATO membership isn't really the issue. The Germans saying it is off the table doesn't carry the weight of a NATO resolution or whatever they are called.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ukraines-nato-membership-will-not-take-place-german-chancellor_4317515.html

Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership appeared to be one of the core disputes that caused the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

In February 2019, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a constitutional amendment committing the country to becoming a member of NATO and the European Union after the parliament passed the bill.

Poroshenko told the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine days after he signed the amendment that joining NATO was a guarantee of security for Ukraine.

On the Russian side, Putin says Russia needs to lay down “red lines” to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO saying that Ukraine’s growing ties with the alliance could make it a launchpad for NATO missiles targeted at Russia.

I'm hitting a paywall

But from your posted quote I can't tell if "Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership appeared to be one of the core disputes that caused the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war." is the stated opinion of the writer or the German government or rather I should say someone in the government

[Angel Eyes]

Crazy video

Sky News team's harrowing account of their violent ambush in Ukraine this week
https://news.sky.com/story/sky-news-teams-harrowing-account-of-their-violent-ambush-in-ukraine-this-week-12557585

"Reporter in war zone is surprised he's being shot at.  Film at 11."

[WLJ]

Grain of salt mode on
Reported on a live feed Russian solders running out of food and raiding people's homes for food.
Grain of salt mode off

[cordex]

War is nearly always about land and resources.

Ukraine is too strategically placed for Russia to roll over and let it be absorbed into the western empire. I don't deny that energy and it being a breadbasket is important but the EU/NATO thing is huge to them.

Russia’s government revenue is something like 43%+ from oil and natural gas.
GDP is close to 50% energy.

Ukraine’s tariffs and development of Black Sea natural gas (oddly now 80% controlled by Russia after they annexed Crimea) and shale fields (most of which are found in the Donbas region which - coincidentally Russia decided needed to be protected from Ukraine) threaten a not insignificant chunk of that revenue.

Given that, assuming Putin couldn’t control Ukraine’s energy policy through soft power, and if NATO/EU had been off the table: Does he still invade?

I think yes - probably faster. Western interest in Ukraine makes invading more dangerous and expensive, not less.

Of course, the flip side is absent western interest it is likely he could have controlled Ukraine with soft power.

[Ron]

Blog post discussing our CIA directors analysis of the Ukraine and Russia crises.

https://peterbeinart.substack.com/p/bidens-cia-director-doesnt-believe?utm_source=url&s=r

[Ben]

Something of a tangent, but while Trump is still banned from social media, Putin has an active Twitter account.

To be clear, I don't believe Putin should be banned. I'm in the Elon Musk camp on this.

[WLJ]

Meanwhile in free speech China

China state media censors Paralympics official's plea for peace
Andrew Parsons, President of IPC makes a speech during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at the Beijing National Stadium on March 04, 2022 in Beijing, China.
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
International Paralympic Committee Chairman Andrew Parsons delivering a speech during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter ParalympicsImage caption: International Paralympic Committee Chairman Andrew Parsons delivering a speech during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics

Chinese national broadcaster CCTV censored a top Paralympics official's comments at the opening ceremony of the Winter Games currently taking place in Beijing.

Andrew Parsons - the Chairman of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) made an impassioned call for peace in his speech.

“Tonight, I want to begin with a message of peace," he said in English, addressing an audience that included President Xi Jinping.

But in the telecast by CCTV, his voice appeared to be muffled, and a sign language interpreter stopped translating his words onscreen.

The following segments of his speech were also censored:

"As the leader of an organisation with inclusion at its core, where diversity is celebrated and differences embraced, I am horrified at what is taking place in the world right now.

"The 21st Century is a time for dialogue and diplomacy, not war and hate. The Olympic truce for peace during the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a UN Resolution adopted by consensus by 193 Member States at the 76th UN General Assembly.

"It must be respected and observed not violated.”

Last week, the IPC banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the Paralympics in a rare move.

China has so far refused to call the situation in Ukraine an invasion and also abstained from voting against Russia at the UN so far.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60532634/page/3