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

[farmerjo]

7 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday embraced calls for an international war crimes investigation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, citing the “atrocities” of bombing civilians, including a maternity hospital.

 

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-duda-andrzej-duda-kamala-harris-europe-792555553cca39ef9e1b4f1e7f8cebe6

 I don't have a link for the last time the fair side won a special mission.

[Bkk Brian]

Maybe this gives some perspective on Russia's arms sales and I India in particular

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

Back to the topic

 

From the UK Ministry of Defense, that 40 mile convoy is getting shorter.....lol

 

The large Russian column north west of Kyiv has made little progress in over a week and is suffering continued losses at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

 

From Bellingcat amazing video of a convoy attacked by Ukraine.

 

Russia's problem is it's so muddy they have to stick to roads, which makes it pretty easy to figure out their possible directions of attack and prepare accordingly.

 

This video of a Russian military column coming under attack and retreating was geolocated to 50.587111, 30.837889 by

@MrWolfih and confirmed by Bellingcat. Filmed in Brovary, northeast of Kyiv.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

34 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

The United States on Wednesday denied renewed Russian accusations that Washington was operating biowarfare labs in Ukraine, calling the claims "laughable" and suggesting Moscow may be laying the groundwork to use a chemical or biological weapon.

 

Like many other countries, Ukraine has public health laboratories researching how to mitigate the threats of dangerous diseases affecting both animals and humans.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-demands-us-explain-biological-programme-ukraine-2022-03-09/

 

More countering Russian propaganda:

 

https://www.newsweek.com/us-biological-weapons-ukraine-labs-germ-warfare-1685956

 

"As part of its latest attempts to justify its invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials are once again pushing a false narrative that the Eastern European country is developing biological weapons with the assistance of the U.S.

...

In April 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine also issued a statement ...

The statement explained that the U.S. and Ukraine have had a partnership since 2005 to prevent the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases, as well as allowing for peaceful research and vaccine development."

...

Filippa Lentzos, a bioweapons researcher and faculty member at King's College of London, also told the Agency France-Presse news agency that there are no indications that these labs in Ukraine are being used to develop biological weapons and actually aim to prevent preventing disease outbreaks."

 

[Bkk Brian]

 

Video

Interesting, Chinese media embedded with Russian troops.

 

 

[ozimoron]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

More countering Russian propaganda:

 

https://www.newsweek.com/us-biological-weapons-ukraine-labs-germ-warfare-1685956

 

"As part of its latest attempts to justify its invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials are once again pushing a false narrative that the Eastern European country is developing biological weapons with the assistance of the U.S.

...

In April 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine also issued a statement ...

The statement explained that the U.S. and Ukraine have had a partnership since 2005 to prevent the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases, as well as allowing for peaceful research and vaccine development."

...

Filippa Lentzos, a bioweapons researcher and faculty member at King's College of London, also told the Agency France-Presse news agency that there are no indications that these labs in Ukraine are being used to develop biological weapons and actually aim to prevent preventing disease outbreaks."

 

This propaganda is borrowed directly from the playbook argument that legitimate research into zoonotic behaviour of viruses in China was somehow a "gain of function" and led to coronavirus. The irony is that it's in everyone's interest to understand how infectious diseases and viruses develop and spread. It is rooted in the insanity that science is somehow evil.

[tgw]

I hope one day Putin can be taken prisoner and put before a court.

 

Maybe Ukraine can one day conduct a "special military operation" in the style of operation "Neptune Spear" and extract him from where he will be hiding in Russia.

 

By the way, as oligarchs and their families are "under sanctions", I do hope that also applies to Putin's girlfriend and their children.

[farmerjo]

11 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

This propaganda is borrowed directly from the playbook argument that legitimate research into zoonotic behaviour of viruses in China was somehow a "gain of function" and led to coronavirus. The irony is that it's in everyone's interest to understand how infectious diseases and viruses develop and spread. It is rooted in the insanity that science is somehow evil.

You don't ever think it's out of the playbook of WMD's in Iraq.

It seems to me they are covering there way on past experiences.

Zelenskyy said after i think day 4 if there was no no fly zone each death forward would fall equally on the west as well.

Well it's into the 3rd week now.

[tgw]

44 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

This video of a Russian military column coming under attack and retreating was geolocated to 50.587111, 30.837889 by

@MrWolfih and confirmed by Bellingcat. Filmed in Brovary, northeast of Kyiv.

 

yes ...

BTW, Brovary is the home of a Ukrainian Special Forces base, just West of it, in the woods.

I'd expect it has already been levelled to the ground by Russian missiles.

[ozimoron]

Just now, farmerjo said:

You don't ever think it's out of the playbook of WMD's in Iraq.

It seems to me they are covering there way on past experiences.

Zelenskyy said after i think day 4 if there was no no fly zone each death forward would fall equally on the west as well.

Well it's into the 3rd week now.

The propaganda is that the labs are weapons research so that claim is equivalent to the lie that Iraq had WMD. You are trying to imply that the opposite is true which doesn't make sense. Just as the US could not prove there were WMD neither can the Russians prove that the labs are weapons research facilities.

[Bkk Brian]

3 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

You don't ever think it's out of the playbook of WMD's in Iraq.

It seems to me they are covering there way on past experiences.

Zelenskyy said after i think day 4 if there was no no fly zone each death forward would fall equally on the west as well.

Well it's into the 3rd week now.

Yea but you're neutral on this "Special Mission" as you and Russia call it when infact its an unproved invasion of a sovereign country so any distraction is one worth throwing out there. Throw enough at the wall and some may just stick somewhere...............maybe.............

 

Of course currently we have daily lies. First Putin denies any conscripts were engaged in Ukraine, then 2 days later his own army chief admitted there was. 

 

Lets not forget Sergeĭ Viktorovich Lavrov today in the press briefing today talking about your Special Mission that Russia has "not attacked Ukraine"

[Bkk Brian]

5 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

The propaganda is that the labs are weapons research so that claim is equivalent to the lie that Iraq had WMD. You are trying to imply that the opposite is true which doesn't make sense. Just as the US could not prove there were WMD neither can the Russians prove that the labs are weapons research facilities.

The propaganda from Russia is also that the labs were being run by the US and in fact all that happened was some donations for construction.

[Virt]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Maybe this gives some perspective on Russia's arms sales and I India in particular

 

 

India painted themselves into a corner.

They are dependent on Russian missile systems S-400 Triumf to protect against Pakistan and maybe China.

[ozimoron]

19 minutes ago, friendofthai said:

Its so unusual that we are allowed here to even discuss such things. As far as I remember It was impossible to write a word bioweapons somewhere in the so called "free" Western world.
Looks like the Big Brother watched the news and drink too much after that.

Got any evidence that there are bio weapons labs in Ukraine? It's extraordinary unlikely and fanciful to suggest there are.

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, friendofthai said:

I have never said that they are there. Bio weapon is a very very ancient thing. As far as I remember from school history lessons, catapults with infected rats or dead people were used for this purpose.

infected people too in Constantinople

[Chris.B]

1 hour ago, tgw said:

I hope one day Putin can be taken prisoner and put before a court.

 

Maybe Ukraine can one day conduct a "special military operation" in the style of operation "Neptune Spear" and extract him from where he will be hiding in Russia.

 

By the way, as oligarchs and their families are "under sanctions", I do hope that also applies to Putin's girlfriend and their children.

Unfortunately, they are in Switzerland which are famously "neutral". he has probably got some bank accounts there as well. ☹️

 

 

[ozimoron]

 

How Corruption Destroyed the Russian Military Machine

 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/9/2084877/-How-Corruption-Destroyed-the-Russian-Military-Machine

[balo]

Now here in Norway the prizes on petrol are skyrocket high , as a oil producing country we still have to pay more then many other countries due to the taxes.   So today even for diesel you have to pay $3 per litre.  A new record!   Day by day it's getting worse.

I am all for the economic sanctions, but the governments in Western countries have to reduce taxes and find a way so we actually can survive this war. 

In other news NATO will start their planned exercise Cold Response up in Northern Norway, close to the Russian border. Well at least they get some training before all hell could break loose. 

 
 

 

[rudi49jr]

2 hours ago, ozimoron said:

 

How Corruption Destroyed the Russian Military Machine

 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/9/2084877/-How-Corruption-Destroyed-the-Russian-Military-Machine

What I understand is that much of the defense budget over many years has been funneled away, among other things to buy super yachts in Cyprus. And everyone involved lied their @sses off. 

[sammieuk1]

Terrorists  invaders will be defeated ????

 

 

[coolcarer]

10 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Earlier in the thread you thought i was anti democratic.

Living in Thailand for nearly 20 years it is not the same as my home country or as the US or the EU.

So i would like to know while Kamala Harris is standing in Poland making a speech about how united every is while the country next door is getting flattenedwhich democracy does that belong to. 

 

Confused, point me to where I thought you were undemocratic. I certainly pointed out a bias article you posted from India earlier in the thread.

 

Where you come from makes no difference to me

[Hummin]

7 hours ago, balo said:

Now here in Norway the prizes on petrol are skyrocket high , as a oil producing country we still have to pay more then many other countries due to the taxes.   So today even for diesel you have to pay $3 per litre.  A new record!   Day by day it's getting worse.

I am all for the economic sanctions, but the governments in Western countries have to reduce taxes and find a way so we actually can survive this war. 

In other news NATO will start their planned exercise Cold Response up in Northern Norway, close to the Russian border. Well at least they get some training before all hell could break loose. 

 
 

 

Took part of Øvelse Barfrost (Cold Response) in 1989, and had two weeks contenious operations in the field. Chaos exercise for us with little sleep, always on the move, lost two battles, digging, patrol, guarding the camp, little food, and constant fighter jets and helicopters passing low above our heads. 
 

soldiers fighting each other when being raided and when lost a battle where food was stolen, and the loosing  part had to brake camp, go to quarantine area, before move and make new camp. Alot of digging was done. 

 

Can just imagine how a real war would have been, since at the end we where so tired, that If we had died right there and then, we would not care, of course in real war, adrenaline would flow, and you would fight for your life, your King (yes we fight for our King) and country. Right there in that play, it seemed meaningsless, since it seemed chaotic, not very well organized, and some officers really shouldnt been in charge at all of many reasons. 
 

Bad leaders and judgments leads to unecessery losses and chaos

[ChrisP24]

14 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Took part of Øvelse Barfrost (Cold Response) in 1989, and had two weeks contenious operations in the field. Chaos exercise for us with little sleep, always on the move, lost two battles, digging, patrol, guarding the camp, little food, and constant fighter jets and helicopters passing low above our heads. 
 

soldiers fighting each other when being raided and when lost a battle where food was stolen, and the loosing  part had to brake camp, go to quarantine area, before move and make new camp. Alot of digging was done. 

 

Can just imagine how a real war would have been, since at the end we where so tired, that If we had died right there and then, we would not care, of course in real war, adrenaline would flow, and you would fight for your life, your King (yes we fight for our King) and country. Right there in that play, it seemed meaningsless, since it seemed chaotic, not very well organized, and some officers really shouldnt been in charge at all of many reasons. 
 

Bad judgments leads to unecessery losses and chaos

For us American soldiers it was Reforger exercises in the 1980s in West Germany.  But (by accident/circumstance and not intention) I ended up not getting to experience one. 

 

It was during that time also that I decided to become a U.S. Army officer, seeing that the officers over me generally did not live up to my expectations.  In the U.S. things have changed a lot since then, and I would not hesitate at all to serve with (or under) the officer corps that we have now. 

[RJRS1301]

Video shows Russian convoy caught in Ukrainian ambush on way to Kyiv

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/video-shows-russian-convoy-caught-in-ukrainian-ambush-on-way-to-kyiv/news-story/ee55ff981ba3bb693d103b8eb687f9ca

[ozimoron]

A Russian air strike has killed dozens of civilians queuing for food in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, an investigation has found.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/russian-dumb-bombs-kill-innocent-ukrainians-queuing-for-food/100900146

[RJRS1301]

11 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

A Russian air strike has killed dozens of civilians queuing for food in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, an investigation has found.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/russian-dumb-bombs-kill-innocent-ukrainians-queuing-for-food/100900146

Mans inhumanity to man, not only in this war, but in so many conflicts sickens me, as I am sure it does to any decent human

[Bkk Brian]

14 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

A Russian air strike has killed dozens of civilians queuing for food in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, an investigation has found.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/russian-dumb-bombs-kill-innocent-ukrainians-queuing-for-food/100900146

I can't imagine how anyone can still be neutral in this terror instigated by Russia. Can you really still sit on a fence and not know what side you should be on?

[Bkk Brian]

From AFP

 

Facebook eases rules to allow violent speech against 'Russian invaders'

 

Facebook said Thursday that due to the invasion of Ukraine it has temporarily eased its rules regarding violent speech to allow statements like "death to Russian invaders," but not credible threats against civilians.

 

Moscow's internationally condemned invasion of its neighbor has provoked unprecedented sanctions from Western governments and businesses, but also a surge of online anger.

 

"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders,'" Facebook's parent company Meta said in a statement.

 

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/facebook-eases-rules-allow-violent-233854788.html

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

Sounds ominous................

 

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Satellite photos show Russian convoy outside Kyiv appears to have dispersed to surrounding areas.

 

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

I can't imagine how anyone can still be neutral in this terror instigated by Russia. Can you really still sit on a fence and not know what side you should be on?

 

4 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

From AFP

 

Facebook eases rules to allow violent speech against 'Russian invaders'

 

Facebook said Thursday that due to the invasion of Ukraine it has temporarily eased its rules regarding violent speech to allow statements like "death to Russian invaders," but not credible threats against civilians.

 

Moscow's internationally condemned invasion of its neighbor has provoked unprecedented sanctions from Western governments and businesses, but also a surge of online anger.

 

"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders,'" Facebook's parent company Meta said in a statement.

 

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/facebook-eases-rules-allow-violent-233854788.html

 

 

I think this rather sad actually. I believe it's also a pretext by Facebook to allow other forms of hate speech as well. FB are notorious for permitting misinformation and conspiracy theories.