Assault on Kiev: Russian helicopters swoop above Ukraine's capital

[RJRS1301]

45 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

Don't worry about China. Russia can't mount an invasion overground, a seaborne invasion of Taiwan by China will be much more difficult. I can imagine Chinese losses of hundreds of thousands of military personnel, even if they win. Don't forget, Taiwan have long range missiles and can hit the Chinese mainland. 

 

China may not be too concerned regarding Europe, however their ambitions are more likely to be centred on on Pacific regions and Asia.

They have the ability to conscript large numbers to replace any current standing force of over 4 million  

Edited March 25, 2022 by RJRS1301

[Chris.B]

5 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

China may not be too concerned regarding Europe, however there ambitions are more likely to be centred on on Pacific regions and Asia.

They have the ability to conscript large numbers to replace any current standing force of over 2 million  

Conscripts for use as cannon fodder? 

 

Most of the eligible Chinese men were born under the one child per family policy and there parents will be very reluctant to lose their only child. Secondly, as the only child they have probably grown up pampered nancy boys unable to fight. 

 

[RJRS1301]

7 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

Conscripts for use as cannon fodder? 

 

Most of the eligible Chinese men were born under the one child per family policy and there parents will be very reluctant to lose their only child. Secondly, as the only child they have probably grown up pampered nancy boys unable to fight. 

 

I doubt that those who are the current Chinese dictatorship care much about that. Saying no to the leadership would be unwise for the entire family.

 

Reluctance to conscription, could be a guaranteed death sentence anyway. Never doubt the Chinese ambition to dominate .,  Cannon fodder yes. 

However this  is currently about Ukraine and Russia.

 

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by RJRS1301

[Bkk Brian]

Death toll keeps going up...:

 

#BREAKING 300 feared dead in Russian strike on Mariupol theatre: city hall

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1507284508466421760

 

Mariupol City Council: Around 300 people killed in Russian attack on Mariupol Drama Theater. Russia bombed the theater, which was known to house hundreds of women and children, on March 16. The City Council says that witnesses report a huge number of casualties.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1507286032286466060

 

 

Same figure also just mentioned on the BBC

[rudi49jr]

52 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

Don't worry about China. Russia can't mount an invasion overground, a seaborne invasion of Taiwan by China will be much more difficult. I can imagine Chinese losses of hundreds of thousands of military personnel, even if they win. Don't forget, Taiwan have long range missiles and can hit the Chinese mainland. 

 

The Chinese powers that be will also probably be scratching their heads by now, after witnessing the reaction of the West to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I’m sure that both Russia and China thought the West would be hopelessly divided and wouldn’t be able able to come up with any potent reaction, but exactly the opposite happened: the West closed ranks and within days it came with support for Ukraine and unbelievable sanctions against Russia, Putin and the oligarchs. Even Switzerland and Sweden, two historically neutral countries, joined in.
China must be watching and monitoring all that like a hawk, and invading Taiwan has probably gone way down on their list of priorities. There’s no question they could invade Taiwan and win that war, albeit with great losses, but there’s 1,3 billion of them, and I don’t think Xi would care a whole lot if it would take one hundred thousand or two million dead Chinese soldiers to take Taiwan. But what China certainly doesn’t want, and can scarce afford, is the same kind of sanctions from the West that have been instated against Russia. So the Chinese rhetoric will no doubt remain as hysterical as usual whenever Taiwan is mentioned; the plans for invading Taiwan will probably be put on hold for now.

[RJRS1301]

3 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

The Chinese powers that be will also probably be scratching their heads by now, after witnessing the reaction of the West to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I’m sure that both Russia and China thought the West would be hopelessly divided and wouldn’t be able able to come up with any potent reaction, but exactly the opposite happened: the West closed ranks and within days it came with support for Ukraine and unbelievable sanctions against Russia, Putin and the oligarchs. Even Switzerland and Sweden, two historically neutral countries, joined in.
China must be watching and monitoring all that like a hawk, and invading Taiwan has probably gone way down on their list of priorities. There’s no question they could invade Taiwan and win that war, albeit with great losses, but there’s 1,3 billion of them, and I don’t think Xi would care a whole lot if it would take one hundred thousand or two million dead Chinese soldiers to take Taiwan. But what China certainly doesn’t want, and can scarce afford, is the same kind of sanctions from the West that have been instated against Russia. So the Chinese rhetoric will no doubt remain as hysterical as usual whenever Taiwan is mentioned; the plans for invading Taiwan will probably be put on hold for now.

My last comment about China, Taiwan may not be their primary objective right now ,however look at the Pacific region and their expansion their, over the past few years, which has largely ignored,  also Asia through their belt and road policies.

This about Ukraine, Europe and Russia. Let us hope it does not expand

 

[Jingthing]

Biden basically ordered Xi to not help Putin financially or with arms. OR ELSE. Xi won't be able to accept that. No more US / western hegemon for him.

There is now serious talk about GLOBAL secondary sanctions.

Two way cyber warfare is most likely coming.

This has already expanded.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Jingthing

[Kwasaki]

Biden said on a French 24 news report that NATO will respond if Putin uses Chemical or biological weapons.

Edited March 25, 2022 by onthedarkside
trolling comment removed

[Chris.B]

46 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Biden said on a French 24 news report that NATO will respond if Putin uses Chemical or biological weapons.

That was yesterday's old news.... ????

[Kwasaki]

Biden & EU are talking about stopping gas from Russia but nowt about Oil.

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Biden basically ordered Xi to not help Putin financially or with arms. OR ELSE. Xi won't be able to accept that. No more US / western hegemon for him.

There is now serious talk about GLOBAL secondary sanctions.

Two way cyber warfare is most likely coming.

This has already expanded.

Not the way to talk to China, will they never learn.

[Jingthing]

6 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Not the way to talk to China, will they never learn.

Do you thank asking politely would have worked?

Both Putin and Xi are dedicated to ending the US hegemon once and for all.

From their POV that's not insane but of course Putin's tactics are criminally evil.

[metisdead]

A post with a link to an unapproved social media source has been removed.

[Chris.B]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Not the way to talk to China, will they never learn.

I think that is just the right way to talk to China. 

[farmerjo]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60871601

 

 

[rudi49jr]

And that’s number six: 

Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, was reportedly killed in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces after telling his regiment the operation in Ukraine would only last a 'few hours'

 

Like I said before, it sure sucks to be a Russian general in Ukraine now. The remaining ones must be [deleted] their pants.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-russian-general-killed-strike-26554643

 

[tgw]

2 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

And that’s number six: 
Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, was reportedly killed in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces after telling his regiment the operation in Ukraine would only last a 'few hours'

Like I said before, it sure sucks to be a Russian general in Ukraine now. The remaining ones must be sh*tting their pants.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-russian-general-killed-strike-26554643

Russian general who bragged 'war would be over quickly' killed in Ukraine strike

well, he wasn't wrong, the war was over quickly for him.

[ozimoron]

Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive, recapturing towns on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

 

In an announcement that appeared to indicate more limited goals, the Russian Defence Ministry said a first phase of its operation was complete and it would now focus on two eastern regions claimed by Russian-backed separatists.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ukraine-urges-halt-russias-assault-biden-heads-poland-2022-03-25/

[ozimoron]

Lawyers for Russian businessmen say some are attempting to move assets to the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part. Specialist aviation sites have identified jets belonging to Russian tycoons, including that of Abramovich, coming to the city, though it is not known who was actually on board. The U.K. and European Union have placed sanctions on Abramovich, but there are none imposed by the UAE. 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-03-25/roman-abramovich-eyes-sanction-free-dubai-property-as-russians-flock-to-uae?sref=3OTf8B4q

[tgw]

36 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive, recapturing towns on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

 

In an announcement that appeared to indicate more limited goals, the Russian Defence Ministry said a first phase of its operation was complete and it would now focus on two eastern regions claimed by Russian-backed separatists.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ukraine-urges-halt-russias-assault-biden-heads-poland-2022-03-25/

would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

"first phase complete" yeah right ... after losing 20% of its troops and nearly 25% of its generals, Russia moves on to phase 2, where it will lose the rest...

 

Putin's war must be going well...

Putin sends in 'execution squads' to kill own troops if they try to flee Ukraine war

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/putin-sends-execution-squads-kill-26534705

Edited March 25, 2022 by tgw

[heybruce]

23 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Ukraine says more than 400,000 of its citizens have been forcibly taken to Russia.

Ukrainian Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said at a briefing Thursday that the Ukrainians were taken to by Russian troops from Mariupol and other besieged Ukrainian cities. The number includes 84,000 children. She says they are held in primitive conditions with little food and water.

 

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-boris-johnson-business-europe-nato-f36514497d3bbdbd2cb5dbc0b7f76cc4

 

23 hours ago, ozimoron said:

That's ethnic cleansing.

Possibly a combination of ethnic cleansing and pawns/hostages to be used during peace negotiations.

[heybruce]

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Not only does war criminal Putin "need" to win but China "needs" Putin to win too. Thus hoping I am wrong WW3 has already started and/or is inevitable.

China wants Russia to win; it will preoccupy the West with concerns in Europe and validate China's preferred world view that it is the natural order of things for great powers to dominate their regions.  China wants to become a great imperial power.

 

However China doesn't need Russia to win.  China can learn useful lessons from a Russian loss, and a weakened Russia will be more dependent upon China, a dependency that China can use and abuse--good deals on energy and other commodities, nuclear weapon technology transfers, an obedient ally in the UN, etc.

 

The war is a no-lose situation for China.  It's a no-win situation for Russia. 

[Jingthing]

43 minutes ago, heybruce said:

China wants Russia to win; it will preoccupy the West with concerns in Europe and validate China's preferred world view that it is the natural order of things for great powers to dominate their regions.  China wants to become a great imperial power.

 

However China doesn't need Russia to win.  China can learn useful lessons from a Russian loss, and a weakened Russia will be more dependent upon China, a dependency that China can use and abuse--good deals on energy and other commodities, nuclear weapon technology transfers, an obedient ally in the UN, etc.

 

The war is a no-lose situation for China.  It's a no-win situation for Russia. 

That's debatable but perhaps a more important question is whether Xi will help Putin financially and militarily in defiance of Biden. I think that they will in sneaky ways. Then how much help and what difference will Xi's help make in keeping Putin's war and regime going. Then how does Biden respond to Xi's defiance. You see, lots and lots of openings to further expand this into a more global conflict (it already is). 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, tgw said:

would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

"first phase complete" yeah right ... after losing 20% of its troops and nearly 25% of its generals, Russia moves on to phase 2, where it will lose the rest...

 

Putin's war must be going well...

Putin sends in 'execution squads' to kill own troops if they try to flee Ukraine war

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/putin-sends-execution-squads-kill-26534705

You say that as if Putin is the first to do so. Britain executed troops that deserted during WW1 for sure, and far as I know every army does so during active service.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive, recapturing towns on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

 

In an announcement that appeared to indicate more limited goals, the Russian Defence Ministry said a first phase of its operation was complete and it would now focus on two eastern regions claimed by Russian-backed separatists.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ukraine-urges-halt-russias-assault-biden-heads-poland-2022-03-25/

I did say in an earlier post that I thought it unlikely that Putin wanted to take the entire country, so that's not surprising to me at all. No doubt the propaganda will be that Putin is being forced to limit his ambitions.

[thaibeachlovers]

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Biden basically ordered Xi to not help Putin financially or with arms. OR ELSE. Xi won't be able to accept that. No more US / western hegemon for him.

There is now serious talk about GLOBAL secondary sanctions.

Two way cyber warfare is most likely coming.

This has already expanded.

IMO it would be a good thing for the west to not be so dependent on China, and hopefully this will force western companies to leave China and return to making things in their own countries, though I fear they will only transfer the exploitation of poor local people to other SEA countries.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, heybruce said:

It's a no-win situation for Russia. 

So long as western Europe needs Russian energy I doubt that. IMO a year after it's over it'll be forgotten except in the Ukraine, and it'll be just like prior to active hostilities.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/25/2022 at 9:22 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

I don't watch the news routinely, and I haven't been listening to the radio recently so first I knew about it was this thread. I'll switch on Al Jazeera for an update.

I doubt this thread will survive long though, given it can only become political.

Well I'll be the first to admit I was wrong about that, given it's 79 pages now.

[tgw]

43 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So long as western Europe needs Russian energy I doubt that. IMO a year after it's over it'll be forgotten except in the Ukraine, and it'll be just like prior to active hostilities.

Germany is building 2 gas terminals at the moment and the rest of the EU has put together a task force to eliminate EU's dependence on Russia's energy.

 

Soon mad Xui Lo Putin will only be able to sell his oil and gas to other pariah states.

 

I hope a global trade embargo including oil and gas is soon imposed on Russia with EU and US sanctions attached, for punishing third countries meaning to trade with Russia.

Edited March 25, 2022 by tgw

[tgw]

55 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You say that as if Putin is the first to do so. Britain executed troops that deserted during WW1 for sure, and far as I know every army does so during active service.

this is 2022, more than 100 years after WW1.

weren't the troops executed by the british given a hearing?

 

anyway, Putin's war must be going great if he sends death squads against his own men.