Cold war 2.0

[Virtual ghost]

However the timing of this is quite awkward.

After the two years of COVID we were finally looking at some kind of normalization of life. While with this invasion the normal is basically canceled until further notice. It is almost as if "someone" wants a permanent mess in western economy.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

To be fair it also looks like Romney was right.

Analysis: It's time to admit it: Mitt Romney was right about Russia

A decade ago, Mitt Romney went on CNN and made a statement that was widely perceived as a major mistake.

www.cnn.com

 

[JAVO]

A few interesting claims made by this Russian-born intelligence expert:

1. Putin's threat about other countries getting involved relates to their strategy of asymmetric warfare. That is, any involvement in Ukraine will be immediately escalated without warning to a widespread war as retaliation. And I take that to mean that economic sanctions will result in cyber warfare retaliation, at minimum. The USA has a specific policy that if there is an attack on infrastructure (such as the power grid), it will be treated as an act of war as if it were a physical attack. This is how this could easily turn into World War III.

2. Nothing will stop Putin because he has been planning this for decades, including developing the tactics, weapons, and technology to neutralize the USA's technology dependent weapons.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Russians tighten noose around Kyiv as Putin pushes for Ukraine to disarm

Closer still, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said the battle was ongoing near Hostomel, less than 10 kilometers from Kyiv city limits.

Judging by the maps the Russians are already entering the suburbs of the capital. At this rate the overwhelming of the country will not last long.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Live blog: War in Ukraine

The details that are coming in.

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[Falcarius]

Let's face it, the West does not care about Ukraine. It has essentially given Russia the go-ahead for the war by saying it would not do anything meaningful. If it wanted then Nato countries could arm Ukraine to teeth and shoot down every Russian plane that fly over Ukraine. It could essentially ban every single Russian person from travelling to Western countries, ban western companies from dealing with Russia at all, and totally isolate it from the financial system like the US historically done with Cuba and Iran.

The west needs to stop with its gesture politics about hitting oligarchs and hitting the whole country where it hurts. Let's see how Putin cronies like it when they can't bum around Paris, Rome, London taking stupid photos on Insta, they get all the assets in the west liquidated, and they can't send their kids to posh schools in England. Make every Russian person's life so miserable that they overthrow the despot.

Will it do it? Nah, Biden is clueless.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Let's face it, the West does not care about Ukraine. It has essentially given Russia the go-ahead for the war by saying it would not do anything meaningful. If it wanted then Nato countries could arm Ukraine to teeth and shoot down every Russian plane that fly over Ukraine. It could essentially ban every single Russian person from travelling to Western countries, ban western companies from dealing with Russia at all, and totally isolate it from the financial system like the US historical done with Cuba or Iran.

The west needs to stop with its gesture politics about hitting oligarchs and hitting the whole country where it hurts. Let's see how Putin cronies like it when they can't bum around Paris, Rome, London taking stupid photos on Insta, they get all the assets in the west liquidated, and they can't send their kids to posh schools in England. Make every Russian person's life so miserable that they overthrow the despot.

Will it do it? Nah, Biden is clueless.

I totally agree. All of this is like trashing a kid that he will not be able to hang out with all the cool kids and that his mom will never love him. While on the other hand this kid is planning a school shooting. What essentially makes all of this a meaningless threat.


It indeed seems that the west got so weak that you can just straight up resurrect USSR. Even if these sanctions will achieve something this will be on the long run and that means little to Ukraine. Especially since Russia with this push will have food, resources and energy within their borders. What makes any sanctions mild, even if we overlook that China and their other allies will not sanction them. What means that they still have at least half of the world to trade with. So yes, in practical sense the west is evidently loosing this "struggle".

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I have a distant cousin from Belarus that now lives in the U.S. Judging by Facebook, it seem like he still does have some family in Belarus. I'm not really sure how exactly this cousin is related to me but I've met him a few times.

Belarus is already controlled by Russia so I guess they don't have to worry about it invasion, but it's super weird to think about. Just the fact that I'm connected to someone in this place near where all this is going on.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Former European politicians, Germany’s Gerhard Schröder and France’s François Fillon, are being considered for British sanctions,

This is interesting line from the live blog. Since these people in current events are evidently traitors that decided to surrender all of their skill and knowledge to Russian interests. These are top politicians that at one point started merging European economy with Russia. What means they are too blame for plenty of economic fallout that is coming.

 

[Virtual ghost]

I am curious:


What are the odds that now the two main parties in USA will call some kind of a truce and even permanent normalization of political discourse in the country ?


Why I ask is kinda obvious since now the whole democratic world has to stand together and that includes both sides of the US. Cheap partisanship is simply the luxury that democratic world can't really afford at this point. Especially since there is more than enough "work" for everyone is the current situation.

 

[Virtual ghost]

From live blog.

The Polish authorities announced that the country has banned several Russian TV broadcasters, including RT. The Kremlin-backed channel has faced renewed scrutiny in recent days, including in the U.K. and France.

The ban covers cable networks, satellite and internet platforms.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I am curious:


What are the odds that now the two main parties in USA will call some kind of a truce and even permanent normalization of political discourse in the country ?


Why I ask is kinda obvious since now the whole democratic world has to stand together and that includes both sides of the US. Cheap partisanship is simply the luxury that democratic world can't really afford at this point. Especially since there is more than enough "work" for everyone is the current situation.

That is interesting. It's possible.

I am getting somewhat of a sense of a "united front" in this regard. I haven't been seeing anything pro-Russian (and definitely seen some anti-Russian) from right-wing relatives, even anti-Russian. So it's possible that this external threat might already b be creating unity.

I am inclined to think that this might help Republicans in 2024, but hurt Trump. I think it's likely they'll criticize Biden for being weak on this. Which brings them into conflict with the pro-Russian Trump elements. I am sure they will attempt to do both, but I think that is a leap too far people to make. You can claim that Russia is actually really good and awesome and Putin is a great guy and then criticize Biden for not doing more to stand up to him.

I am sure Trump will try to thread that needle, but I am skeptical that it will work;. He likes Putin too much, We can see in his recent statements how criticizing Biden was almost an after thought for him, compared to praising Putin's genius.

Ultimately, I think the right will have to choose between being pro-Russia, and being anti-Biden. I think at the end of the day, they will pick the latter. And I think that being anti-Russia and pushing that line successfully, that they can hold Russia in check better than Biden, means dumping Trump. The political opportunity this creates for them is effectively lost if Trump continues to be a dominant force, IMO. I think that they are strategic enough (unlike the Democratic party) to recognize that.

Greene wrong that Ukraine was Clinton campaign’s top donor

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., falsely claimed that when Hillary Clinton was running for president against former P

www.politifact.com

This was two days ago. Russia has made it hard in this climate for the pro-Russian Jewish space laser crowd to maintain momentum, I think. (The dumbest part about this is that this was done to trash a political candidate from two elections ago.)

 

[Virtual ghost]

That is interesting. It's possible.

...

To be honest I pay attention to what happened today and I noticed that today Fox and CNN in general sound pretty similar in this issue. Especially in the terms of external/foreign part of the story.

I mean what happened today is evidently the start of new era, there is no doubt about that. Therefore it would really help to have unified US in this situation. Since the democratic block is evidently losing this global struggle piece by piece. Therefore some kind of paradigm shift is desperately needed.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

To be honest I pay attention to what happened today and I noticed that today Fox and CNN in general sound pretty similar in this issue. Especially in the terms of external/foreign part of the story.

I mean what happened today is evidently the start of new era, there is no doubt about that. Therefore it would really help to have unified US in this situation. Since the democratic block is evidently losing this global struggle piece by piece. Therefore some kind of paradigm shift is desperately needed.

I took a peek
at the Fox News website and what I saw was mostly that Russia invading Ukraine was bad. I guess there are outliers like Tucker Carlson, but that doesn't seem to be the message they are going with.

I think there will probably be a united front with regards to Russia, although I don't think that will translate to being pro-Biden. I expect the main line of attack in 2024 will be that Biden was weak. Trump has obviously already tried to say that, but he really admires Putin and Russia too much for him to be very good at making that case. The question is if Trump can reverse his pro-Russia stance, and I don't think he can because it's something too fundamental to him. It's probably one of the few things he actually believes.

 

[Virtual ghost]

I took a peak at the Fox News website and what I saw was mostly that Russia invading Ukraine was bad. I guess there are outliers like Tucker Carlson, but that doesn't seem to be the message they are going with.

I think there will probably be a united front with regards to Russia, although I don't think that will translate to being pro-Biden. I expect the main line of attack in 2024 will be that Biden was weak. Trump has obviously already tried to say that, but he really admires Putin and Russia too much for him to be very good at making that case. The question is if Trump can reverse his pro-Russia stance, and I don't think he can because it's something too fundamental to him. It's probably one of the few things he actually believes.

Well, to tell you truth it only matters that on the outside you have shared and serious front. Of course that on the inside there will still be some partisanship and that is normal. It only matters that this doesn't negatively effect the front that looks outside. To be honest I am actually glad that my national politics found the consensus quickly. Since everyone from progressives to the far right agrees this is fundamental game changer that requires serious reaction. Therefore it seems that daily politics is suspended until further notice. Especially since the first refugees are starting to arrive and we will need to change plenty in various spheres, from energy supply to worldview.



Poland prepares for flood of Ukrainian refugees

The crisis is knocking at the door regardless of what everyone thinks about it.

 

[Virtual ghost]

From live blog



TRAFFIC CLOGGED ON ROAD TO POLISH BORDER
There were traffic tailbacks stretching more than 10 kilometers from the border crossing between Ukraine and the Polish city of Przemyśl on Thursday night as thousands sought to leave the country and escape the fighting. Polish authorities have set up nine refugee reception centers along its border. Many of those traveling on the road to Przemyśl opted to ditch their vehicles and make the final stretch by foot. But with confusing reports of disruption at the border post some were also turning back and heading toward Lviv, the closest large Ukrainian city. Many of those traveling were carrying young children through freezing temperatures.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Hacktivists come to Ukraine’s defense

The global hacktivist group Anonymous on Thursday evening said in a tweet it was "officially in cyber war against the Russian government"

If this is true we can call it a plot twist.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Cambodia determined to implement China-style 'Great Firewall' despite glitches


It seems that they want to spread the model around the globe.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Supposedly the Ukrainians have started blowing up some bridges in order to slow down the armored brigades.