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PerilPastry posted:Between this and the story about him urging the Ukrainians not to negotiate and warning that the west might not be willing to join Ukraine at the negotiation table, my grudging respect for Johnson's handling of the crisis is kind of being eroded: Zelensky talked about this in detail and the reasons that countries help Ukraine or don't help Ukraine. And one of them is "Lets help them, but not enough because we want Russia to bleed to death so they're not a problem anymore." So this is the tact you will see Boris take up where they want Ukraine to be winning, but not winning or ending it too soon. This was definitely the United States's own view until it became obvious Russia's expansion didn't end at Ukraine and Russia's military is so weak that they will have to resort to nuclear threats to obtain what they want. So the strategy now is throw everything we can that doesn't require a base to operate so Ukraine can win and defeat Russia once and for all. With the $40 billion dollar lend lease going into effect Biden bought the end of the war.
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May 12, 2022 10:23
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Chill Monster posted:My secret conspiracy theory of why Boris Johnson has turned up the hardliner rhetoric on Russia is that he is secretly ashamed of how poorly Brexit has been going and he blames Putin for manipulating him and planting the idea in his party's collective conscious, and wants to get back at Putin in any way possible. Eh, simpler explanation is he just wants to be seen as a Churchill type as well as it's a good distraction from all his domestic issues.
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May 12, 2022 10:23
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Chill Monster posted:My secret conspiracy theory of why Boris Johnson has turned up the hardliner rhetoric on Russia is that he is secretly ashamed of how poorly Brexit has been going and he blames Putin for manipulating him and planting the idea in his party's collective conscious, and wants to get back at Putin in any way possible. He is embroiled in multiple domestic scandals, and whenever he is he starts picking fights with other countries. He is also currently threatening to renege on the NI protocol, because antagonising Ireland and the EU plays well to his domestic audience. Also, he cannot feel shame.
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May 12, 2022 10:25
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PerilPastry posted:Between this and the story about him urging the Ukrainians not to negotiate and warning that the west might not be willing to join Ukraine at the negotiation table, my grudging respect for Johnson's handling of the crisis is kind of being eroded: He is a despicable, lying, grandstanding oval office and many of us suffer under his and his party's rule... all is image without substance. I very much doubt it was his idea to give aid to Ukraine but we gladly do so. 
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May 12, 2022 10:31
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PerilPastry posted:I mean other than the satisfaction of giving vent to your righteous indignation what's the benefit of making such a statement? We are very loving stupid.
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May 12, 2022 10:33
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Speaking as someone with a bit of insight into the Swedish armed forces, I can't overstate how far our military is already integrated into Nato. Our weapons, gear, communications etc are all compatible. We regularly hold exercises with Nato members we send troops to basically any place Nato members stick their noses into, from Chad to Afghanistan. And our entire defense policy in case of invasion is 100% dependent on outside forces bailing us out. For decades, we've taken on all of the obligations of a Nato membership with none of the perks.
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May 12, 2022 10:41
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dr_rat posted:Eh, simpler explanation is he just wants to be seen as a Churchill type as well as it's a good distraction from all his domestic issues. This was my immediate take. This is straight out of the playbook - when things aren't going your way, distract, obfuscate, and hide the problem(s) you are responsible for while pointing to an external or unrelated issue.
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May 12, 2022 10:53
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Mr. Sunshine posted:For decades, we've taken on all of the obligations of a Nato membership with none of the perks. Not quite all the obligations; no article 5 means that you have no obligation to actually participate in a defensive war. Of course you'd probably decide to help anyway, but there's still a difference between having to and choosing So I'd say article 5 cuts both ways, you're not getting that perk as a non-member, but also you're not paying the cost of it by being bound by it in case a NATO member gets invaded
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May 12, 2022 10:55
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If the bus driver is a oval office, but is driving the bus in the right direction, be happy about the direction. You don't have to join the bus driver's fan club.
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May 12, 2022 10:55
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Mr. Sunshine posted:Speaking as someone with a bit of insight into the Swedish armed forces, I can't overstate how far our military is already integrated into Nato. Our weapons, gear, communications etc are all compatible. We regularly hold exercises with Nato members we send troops to basically any place Nato members stick their noses into, from Chad to Afghanistan. And our entire defense policy in case of invasion is 100% dependent on outside forces bailing us out. Well, not quite ALL obligations, right?  Defence spending has been well under 2% for decades https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=SE-EE-LV-LT-FI-NO SirTagz fucked around with this message at 11:00 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 10:56
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Saladman posted:To pull out of the Scandi thread, on the Swiss side of things there's zero push here to join NATO now, because why bother? We're already surrounded by NATO (yes I know Austria isn't NATO, but then it's all NATO all around Austria) so being part of it won't protect us from any external threats. If I were Finnish I'd be all in on NATO right now due to Russian irredentism and desire to gently caress things up drat the consequences. I've heard some  theory in Austria that if Russia had been successful, Orban would have done an about face, joined Putin, and started rolling into Austria. Therefore, Austria needs to increase its military spending to fend off the Russo-Magyar hordes.I'm hardly an expert in Scandinavian diplomacy, but supposedly, one of the factors why the Soviet Union respected Finnish neutrality, or at least why Finland was able to push back against more overt attempts to influence it, was that it was very clear that as soon as the Soviet Union acted aggressively against Finland, Sweden would stop being neutral and join NATO. If Finland joins NATO itself, Sweden no longer has an incentive to maintain that stance. Another, more prosaic reason would be that joining NATO makes it easier for the Swedish defense industry to get contracts in NATO countries.
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May 12, 2022 11:03
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SirTagz posted:Well, not quite ALL obligations, right? This is true, but before that during the cold war we spent 4% of our defence budget since we were all 'alone' so to speak.
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May 12, 2022 11:04
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Gejnor posted:This is true, but before that during the cold war we spent 4% of our defence budget since we were all 'alone' so to speak. Too bad the stats on that page do not go further back in history. Would be interesting to see the expenditure throughout the cold war in the entire world. I am sure the numbers can be looked up somewhere but building such a nice dynamic graph is a hassle
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May 12, 2022 11:31
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Gejnor posted:This is true, but before that during the cold war we spent 4% of our defence budget since we were all 'alone' so to speak. The good old days!
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May 12, 2022 11:40
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Saladman posted:From what I can understand for Sweden, the only theoretical Russian irredentist claim is on Bornholmn.  gay picnic defence posted:Is there expected to be much pushback from other NATO members? I know Croatia might be digging their heels in, can a couple of member states hold the entire process up or would a majority of members pressure them until they agree?
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May 12, 2022 11:44
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I simply had to share this. (The woman is wearing a Pussy Riot t-shirt, the man on the right is Igor Girkin AKA Strelkov. The two are from different, but real photos.) Paladinus fucked around with this message at 11:52 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 11:49
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Atreiden posted:Bornholm is part of Denmark He also thought Åland belongs to Sweden...
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May 12, 2022 11:52
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Ola posted:It's fair enough to not join NATO, but if you want to help make the world a better place, you really really need to stop banking for all the criminals of the world. I'd like to see some tougher stance against Switzerland in this regard when this poo poo is over. Switzerland toughened up its banking laws like a decade ago. Numbered accounts are on their way out and have not actually been anonymous in many years. I’m sure a lot of black money is grandfathered into the Swiss banking system, it’s a lot harder to bring it in now. There’s still a lot of money from foreign politicians there but so is there in Canada, in the US, in the UK, wherever. Jersey is a lot sketchier than Switzerland and has been for years. Banking secrecy has been gradually neutered since the late 2000s and its on the slate to be completely axed soon. AFAIK the real dark money these days is in freeports in places like Geneva and Luxembourg and Dubai, where people store millions of dollars of assets in weird tax no man’s lands. Atreiden posted:Bornholm is part of Denmark Oh sure enough. Isn’t Bornholm the only one of those islands / archipelagos that Russia actually has some theoretical crazy irredentist claim to? They never actually had anything on Gotland, so it doesn’t really seem in Putin’s revanchist world to attack there. Maybe Sweden should invade Finland and reclaim Aland and return their oppressed Swedish brothers to the motherland. Tbh I’d never heard of Bornholm or Gotland before this war and I also didn’t know Estonia had two huge islands there. I did know about Aland but could never remember if it was Swedish-Finnish or Finnish-Swedish, so I’m not exactly up on my Baltic geography. And I’d only heard of Aland because sometimes on those "what country do you come from" pull down menus occasionally you see "Aland" as the top list of countries to select. Those stupid pull down lists that also include like "Jan Mayen land" as a possible place to select. Saladman fucked around with this message at 12:21 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 12:04
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Zat posted:He also thought Åland belongs to Sweden... tbf they really try hard to pretend to be
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May 12, 2022 12:07
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Åland is going to belong to Russia at this rate if they dont reconsider their status as a DMZ
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May 12, 2022 12:09
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Saladman posted:Switzerland toughened up its banking laws like a decade ago. Numbered accounts are on their way out and have not actually been anonymous in many years. There are worse tax havens, and they too need to be dealt with, but there's still some way to go for Switzerland. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/us-commission-accuses-switzerland-of-hiding-russian-assets/47570650
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May 12, 2022 12:10
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CNN video containing a war crime from the start of the war. Russian Soldiers try to break into a business, the owner and a security guard goes and talk to them. After they are allowed to leave two Russian soldiers apparently change their minds and goes back and shoot them in the back. The video is a bit graphic as you see the shooting and one of them didn't die immediately, but gets up and staggers to the security guard booth and call for help, but dies in the end. There is some blood in the video from the guard booth. code:Somebody fucked around with this message at 12:18 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 12:13
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Atreiden posted:CNN video containing a war crime from the start of the war. Russian Soldiers try to break into a business, the owner and a security guard goes and talk to them. After they are allowed to leave two Russian soldiers apparently change their minds and goes back and shoot them in the back. The video is a bit graphic as you see the shooting and one of them didn't die immediately, but gets up and staggers to the security guard booth and call for help, but dies in the end. There is some blood in the video from the guard booth. I think i'll go with your description and pass on the click. They are just criminal scum wearing uniforms.
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May 12, 2022 12:28
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Saladman posted:Oh sure enough. Isn’t Bornholm the only one of those islands / archipelagos that Russia actually has some theoretical crazy irredentist claim to? They never actually had anything on Gotland, so it doesn’t really seem in Putin’s revanchist world to attack there. Russia has no claim on Bornholm. They'd just really like to own it, like everything else in their immediate vicinity that they cast their eyes on. They had troops occupying it for a year after WW2 ended, but only because they needlessly invaded it (the german garrison already had orders to surrender at that point, but only to the western allies. The soviet union was literally bombing towns on the island while the rest of Denmark was celebrating being liberated) and then refused to leave again until it became clear that the West weren't going to let them keep the island. Slashrat fucked around with this message at 12:31 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 12:28
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What is 'Opsec'  https://twitter.com/ThreshedThought/status/1524687925870567425?s=20&t=0WpdHS05-pgtXw1jyIY8tA
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May 12, 2022 12:40
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KitConstantine posted:What is 'Opsec' Very interesting that the huge concentration is actually further up nearer to Kharkiv than it is to the front lines at Izyum.
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May 12, 2022 12:47
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gay picnic defence posted:Very interesting that the huge concentration is actually further up nearer to Kharkiv than it is to the front lines at Izyum. Some of the replies to the post imply that this image is pretty out of date at this point
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May 12, 2022 12:48
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KitConstantine posted:What is 'Opsec' That area seemingly left alone between Melitopol and Kerson must look tempting to the Ukrainian military.
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May 12, 2022 13:06
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https://twitter.com/maria_shagina/status/1524660169250119689gay picnic defence posted:Very interesting that the huge concentration is actually further up nearer to Kharkiv than it is to the front lines at Izyum. They have realised that line convoys are vulnerable from the rear, and are advancing towards Sieverodonetsk in a ladle formation.
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May 12, 2022 13:11
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mrfart posted:That area seemingly left alone between Melitopol and Kerson must look tempting to the Ukrainian military. How are they supposed to get there? Build a 10km long invisible bridge?
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May 12, 2022 13:12
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https://twitter.com/zelenskiy_m/status/1524652304246448134 What is the secret of Ukrainian army? Difficult to believe it, but Kyiv has been able to glue together a combination of a world’s strongest Russian soldier, zealous fascist officer, and all of that - under external command of American generals with terrorist tactics.
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May 12, 2022 13:14
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cinci zoo sniper posted:https://twitter.com/zelenskiy_m/status/1524652304246448134 Ummm do they mean that literally? Like are they saying that Ukraine are combining the DNA of histories greatest soldiers to make an army of Serpentors?
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May 12, 2022 13:18
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KitConstantine posted:What is 'Opsec' Regardless of how out of date this map is, I’m kind of surprised by how little activity there seems to be in Mariupol? Or am I misreading the Cyrillic on the city at the black sea coast down the south-east?
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May 12, 2022 13:21
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The Question IRL posted:Ummm do they mean that literally? Almost that literally, this is a line of crystalline copium, ready to be snorted. They’re trying to say that the only reason they’re losing is that they’re fighting someone as great as themselves, but richer and more motivated.
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May 12, 2022 13:21
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And way more handsome, too.
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May 12, 2022 13:24
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cinci zoo sniper posted:Almost that literally, this is a line of crystalline copium, ready to be snorted. They’re trying to say that the only reason they’re losing is that they’re fighting someone as great as themselves, but richer and more motivated. It shouldn’t be this way because I am an American, but I am always amazed at the completely unhinged things regular people can come to believe, and how some people just cannot see through propaganda and understand that someone is intentionally trying to manipulate them.
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May 12, 2022 13:30
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cinci zoo sniper posted:Almost that literally, this is a line of crystalline copium, ready to be snorted. They’re trying to say that the only reason they’re losing is that they’re fighting someone as great as themselves, but richer and more motivated. I was kinda thinking they'd eventually go this route. "See, the Ukrainians are basically Russians, they're little Russians, so almost as good as us, but they have all this Western support too". Whatever. Russia rationalizing the loss is "Acceptance" stage.
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May 12, 2022 13:39
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Deltasquid posted:Regardless of how out of date this map is, I’m kind of surprised by how little activity there seems to be in Mariupol? Or am I misreading the Cyrillic on the city at the black sea coast down the south-east? Probably lack of telecom infrastructure still standing/active at this point to register Sim cards considering the amount of destruction that has been done.
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May 12, 2022 13:46
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unknown posted:Probably lack of telecom infrastructure still standing/active at this point to register Sim cards considering the amount of destruction that has been done. Also would LDNR troops show up as having RU SIM cards?
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May 12, 2022 13:51
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Deltasquid posted:Regardless of how out of date this map is, I’m kind of surprised by how little activity there seems to be in Mariupol? Or am I misreading the Cyrillic on the city at the black sea coast down the south-east? Most of the cellphone infrastructure was destroyed by the time the last journalists left. I believe Mariupol is down to satellite communications and military radios.
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