Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Culprit]

Terrorism is just that, kill and injure people to scare others by any means and that is what the Russians are doing. Good to see the Russians blaming Ukrianians so they can send a few 100 missiles over and call it legit.

[swoop42]

The suspects have clearly been tortured. Given it's Russia no surprise.

I know people wont have much sympathy for them but given it's Russia you need to always wonder what is truth and what are lies.

They seem to have be detained rather quickly and one worries whether those captured are innocents who have been tortured until they falsely confess.

Even if guilty it's odd they were able to pull off this terrorist act (despite American warnings) under the watchful eyes of the FSB and yet weren't smart enough to evade capture for any significant period.

Given Putin is trying to link the suspects with Ukraine (denied by them and US intelligence) you have to at least wonder if this terrorist act was allowed to occur or an even worse was some kind of false flag operation against it's own people.

Nothing would surprise me when it comes to Putin.

[stui magpie]

^

damn straight they're being tortured, you connect an 80 volt battery to my gonads and I'll take responsibility for whatever you ask me to.

[Magpietothemax]

[Magpietothemax]

[David]

Why leap to defend them like this? "Yeah but America does it too" is classic Putinist misdirection. The fact that Russian police treat terrorism suspects this way – apparently with full approval of government – is disgusting, and such police brutality is a stain on that society. We can point that out without qualification.

America has plenty to be ashamed of, of course. No need to wheel their own sordid history out here unless the goal is to downplay.

[Magpietothemax]

[Tannin]

I take your point @Magpietothemax, and it is a good one, or it would be if you hadn't overstated the case. Putin is far, far worse than the Americans ever were, and I say that as a card-carrying anti-American ever since the 1970s.

Yes, the Americans did (and presumably still do) some truly awful things, but no-one in his right mind would put them in even the same league as Putin's regime, which is as evil as any government ever known in any country. (At least I cannot think of a worse one.)

[Magpietothemax]

[Magpietothemax]

Article in the wsws quotes a report from the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor about the nature of the zelensky government in Ukraine.
Among the grave issues of human rights in Ukraine the report describes:

"enforced disappearance; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; restrictions on freedom of expression, including for members of the media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association; restrictions on freedom of movement; serious government corruption; extensive gender-based violence; systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association; and the existence of the worst forms of child labor. Some of these human rights issues stemmed from martial law, which continued to curtail democratic freedoms, including freedom of movement, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and legal protections.
Although the constitution and law prohibited torture and other cruel and unusual punishment, there were reports law enforcement authorities engaged in such abuse. Under normal circumstances, courts could not legally use confessions and statements made under duress to police by persons in custody as evidence in court proceedings, but the institution of martial law since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion permitted this."
Supposedly though, according to official propaganda, (including that of the Albanese government) the US is supporting democracy and freedom in Ukraine by arming the fascistic Zelensky regime to the hilt with yet another package of $60 billion

[Magpietothemax]

US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has just said to the NYTimes that it is inevitable that NATO troops will be deployed to Ukraine.

Brown’s statement that NATO will send troops to Ukraine, after US President Joe Biden categorically ruled out such a move because it would lead to “World War III,” continues the pattern: Every time the White House has said it would not do something in Ukraine, it has subsequently done it.
Biden said originally that he would not authorise the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, but later he did. Biden said that he would never send weapons to Ukraine that could strike Russian territory, then he did.

2 years ago Biden promised that US/NATO troops would never be sent to Ukraine, but now a high ranking US military official is declaring to the NYTimes that this is "inevitable".

In other words, the US strategy of fighting Russia to the last drop of Ukrainian blood is now exhausting itself, through lack of Ukrainian cannon fodder. So now it will be necessary to prosecute the war with NATO troops.

What if Russia feels that it is under existential threat from NATO as a result, and resorts to its only possible answer: a nuclear strike?

Biden of course will never explain why he should risk the existence of human civilisation in order to guarantee that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO (the reason why Russia invaded when it did was because the Zelensky government, backed by Biden, refused to give such a guarantee).

As time goes on, the real nature of this war is becoming ever clearer: it is a war led by the US, with its NATO allies at its heels, against Russia.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/17/smzs-m17.html

[pietillidie]

^The US has very clearly had to be dragged kicking and screaming into this because it gains them absolutely nothing, and in contrast to times yore is not even a political win for Biden because with Trump there, finances tight, Iraq in the back of mind, and the national draw bridge up, the context is very different.

The EU has been begging Biden for more help, and everyone is rattling cans to defend Ukraine at a time no one has the stomach for war after financially debilitating crises worsened by Putin's inflation blackmail.

You can't hold a single axiom that resonated with you in 1980 forever, no matter what happens in reality and what the clear facts say. That is the very definition of religion. Are you sure you're not still trying to prove your younger self 'right' to the doubters of your past?

Ambiguity of motive is the human condition, even for those you may dislike, especially at group scale where people coalesce on the surface despite being individuals of varying views and motives.

It's so frustrating watching you cling to this stuff to your own detriment. Find your own feet for today, M2M.

[Magpietothemax]

[pietillidie]

^Defend the dollar? Oh my goodness. You don't understand the economics, nor do you follow the economic policy. Last month the news was all about the Trump team's secret plan to devalue the dollar. Please, stop going on about things you of which you don't even have an entry-level knowledge. There are advantages and disadvantages to either depending on strategy or context.

You get away with inventing stuff in your mind's eye and blurting it out only because people around you aren't into economics. It's so unethical. I would come to you for insight on the dark side of the moon before I'd come to you for economics analysis. Have some self-awareness, for goodness' sake.

[Magpietothemax]