The Ukraine Crisis Part 1 The initial Battles

It would be interesting to see how peoples attitudes have changed since the start of the invasion .

Many probably didnt want active West intervention to avoid escalation .

I am guessing the mood has changed and more would now want a more direct military response ,after seeing atrocity after attrocity committed by the russian invading forces.

I still reckon the red line could be Chemical Weapons usage but also a stray missile going into Poland .

 

Okay... Let's stop the killing.


This is Brent.


Brent is dead.


RIP Brent Renaud killed covering the war in Ukraine. Rest in peace, friend. Your soul not lost or forgotten goes now with God to the world beyond knowledge or comprehension. You walk now with saints in the halls of heaven's corridors. Rest in peace. Your legacy endures and your gift is not forgotten. RIP.


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Lest we forget, our media duly and dutifully serves to inform the world in the most objective fashion with a nod to ethical practice and personal integrity. They put themselves at risk. Their lives are on the line, and Brent's sacrifice is one of many...


May the war end with finality and alacrity both.

 

There was a redline in Syria, when chemical weapons were used, and. . . . ..

 

Yeah I know the West bottled out .I just dont think that would happen this time but I could be wrong. I sense a different mood and of course we have Article 5 of Nato .

For the benefit of those that don't know, an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all and will be repulsed that way . The Nato members have been actively stating this as well.

 

This is a sad loss and a tragedy but it is a risk that comes with the job. Reporting form a warzone is dangerous.Whilst journalists should not be actively targeted and I hope this is the case here they can bet caught up in collateral damage being on the front line .

It is a job oddly enough I have always wanted to do .

 

Because I like to travel, it’s something that I might have been attracted to. I’m too old now.

 

Same with me actually . Starting semi retirement this year . But that job would fill me with excitement albeit with risk

 

Years ago, a friend, with several degrees in Photography applied to National Geographic. They had a waiting list of 50, but would add his name. I imagine it's a similar situation with the various news networks now..

 

Just a brief 'aside' to lighten the mood here. These Eastern European names and phrases are befuddling.

For instance the letter 'G'. Is that pronounced as a hard G, as in 'get' or 'give'? Or as a soft G as in 'ginger' and 'George'?

And names that end in 'c' like Stanic. Some are pronounced 'ch' but some are as a 'k'.

As Daffy Duck used to say, "I'm tho confuthed."

 

I can actually add to this now

This has just come in Courtesy of Sky News UK

NATO will respond 'with full force' if Russia attacks its territory, US warns
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has warned that if Russia "takes a shot on" NATO territory, the bloc would respond with its "full force".

Mr Sullivan said it would trigger NATO's Article 5, which says an attack on one NATO ally would be considered an attack on all allies.

"If there is a military attack on NATO territory it would cause the invocation of Article 5, and we would bring the full force of the NATO alliance to bear in responding to it," he told CBS.

"All I will say is that if Russia attacks, fires upon, takes a shot at NATO territory, the NATO alliance would respond to that".

It comes just hours after Russian forces fired 30 missiles on a base that was used by NATO just 15 miles from the Polish border - and NATO territory.

He also said the US was warning Russia directly against using chemical weapons, adding that if Vladimir Putin did deploy weapons of mass destruction, it would be a "shocking additional line" that he had crossed in international law.

 

I thought about that this morning.

Given the Russian's apparent ineptness at 'precision guided' and reliance on MRLS (multiple rocket launch), if just one of those had overshot and landed in Polish territory, news would have hit the world-wide news media. And there's a good chance that 'hell would have rained down' on the groups of Russian military forces in Ukraine.

I suppose all we can do, for now, is hope they fuck-up like that.

 

They actually do have lots of guided weapons like the West .

They chose not to use them as they want to pummel civilians into submission . That's the Russian Doctrine .

There is a line of communication between the US and Russia just in case of an accident for avoidance of doubt . That is the safety net that was established last week.

 

There's just in the last few hours reports, still un-confirmed by CNN and MSNBC, of Russia asking China for 'military assistance' in Ukraine.

If that's true, it has the potential to change this whole f******* thing into something really weird and scary.

 

It seems a bit odd that Russia is asking for help from China and Syria. It's a sign that Putin wasn't prepared for a resolute and tenacious response from Ukraine. He completely underestimated Ukraine's resolve and now he's getting desperate, which makes him even more dangerous. I wouldn't be surprised if he resorts to chemical weapons in the next few days.

What's really depressing is that we're watching a genocide unfold before our eyes and there is nothing anyone seems to be able to do about it because it could lead to nuclear war. That's the world in which we live. With all our advances in science and technology, there are still barbarians out there with the power and means to commit acts of evil with impunity. There is also a large segment of the population that enthusiastically supports their ruthless barbarism.

And it's not like the United States is guiltless. One needs to go back less than 20 years to our invasion and destruction of Iraq where we killed over a million people by some estimates — an action by our commander-in-chief that flushed every modicum of U.S. credibility and honor down the toilet. Add to that, our reneging on the Iran nuclear treaty, for which we're already paying the price. Let us not forget that the U.S. orchestrated a coup in Iran in 1953 which deposed their democratically elected Prime Minister and caused decades of suffering by the Iranian people. Who can blame them for wanting nuclear weapons?

Russia is showing the world that ruthless tyrants can get away with mass murder and there's not a damned thing that can be done about it since they're a nuclear power. Once Iran is a nuclear power, they'll no long need to worry about the U.S. attacking them.

Considering the pathetic and pitiful state of the world right now, perhaps the right thing to do is join Ukraine in their fight against the Russian invasion in a purely defensive action where we would limit the fight to Ukraine and not allow any fighters to enter Russian territory or air space. We could flood the skies with F-15s and bring in tanks and anti-aircraft munitions. We could shut down the invasion in 24 hours if we had the will. Doing so would restore U.S. credibility. That is, as long as it didn't trigger a nuclear war.

But hell, if we can't stop a genocide unfolding before our eyes, is this world really worth saving?

 

What a nice gesture

 

Vladimir Putin must be livid

French Activist Pierre Afner entered a villa owned by Alta Mira (Putin's daughter) in the small seaside town of Biarritz in southwestern France.

He changed the locks and declared the villa was ready to accept Ukrainian refugees

 

[QUOTE="Idlewild, post: 9265585, member: 301911"
But hell, if we can't stop a genocide unfolding before our eyes, is this world really worth saving?[/QUOTE]

That really is the $64K question, I vacillate between thinking just drop the fucking bombs already and jeez hope not, to feel things spiraling so out of control is an ethereal feeling

 

That really is the $64K question, I vacillate between thinking just drop the fucking bombs already and jeez hope not, to feel things spiraling so out of control is an ethereal feeling[/QUOTE]

It is a fine line and I think Nato is just about keeping a lid on things .

Its supplying defensive weapons only, to Ukraine without placing troops on the ground . From the footage I have seen these are very effective. The UK do intend sending Star Streak anti aircraft missile systems which are a kind of one up from the US supplied Stingers and will allow night use. I think Russia is just about tolerating that otherwise I think we would have seen a proper attack on a Nato member state ,with the attack on the military base near the Polish border acting as a warning.

I am quite confident as things stand ,things will not escalate .

 

I am not so sure. What does defending a NATO country actually mean? My impression is that if a Russian plane flew over a NATO country, we would shoot it down, or if Russian troops entered a NATO country we would engage them. If Russia launched missiles toward Poland and they didn’t hit anything, Russia could claim it as an accident.

 

If China does aid Russia then I think it is a world war. NATO would then have every right to enter Ukraine.