:sunglasses: 16.7 % :pray: 16.7 % :laughing: 33.3 % :cry: 16.7 % :🤗 16.7 %
User avatar
By The Weeping Angel
#32242
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... ce=twitter
PARIS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin's chief envoy on Ukraine told the Russian leader as the war began that he had struck a provisional deal with Kyiv that would satisfy Russia's demand that Ukraine stay out of NATO, but Putin rejected it and pressed ahead with his military campaign, according to three people close to the Russian leadership.

The Ukrainian-born envoy, Dmitry Kozak, told Putin that he believed the deal he had hammered out removed the need for Russia to pursue a large-scale occupation of Ukraine, according to these sources. Kozak's recommendation to Putin to adopt the deal is being reported by Reuters for the first time.

Putin had repeatedly asserted prior to the war that NATO and its military infrastructure were creeping closer to Russia's borders by accepting new members from eastern Europe, and that the alliance was now preparing to bring Ukraine into its orbit too. Putin publicly said that represented an existential threat to Russia, forcing him to react.

But, despite earlier backing the negotiations, Putin made it clear when presented with Kozak's deal that the concessions negotiated by his aide did not go far enough and that he had expanded his objectives to include annexing swathes of Ukrainian territory, the sources said. The upshot: the deal was dropped.
Never again do I want to hear about NATO expansion being the cause of this war.
User avatar
By Abernathy
#32487
Vladimir Putin’s puppet leaders in eastern Ukraine have announced a number of sham referenda in those territories, which are supposed to decide an issue of momentous significance to the people of an entire country on an absurd Yes/No question, and which will without doubt be set up on a questionable franchise, with “arguments” delivered as lies and propaganda, designed solely to advance the agenda of the Russian state as personified by Vladimir Putin, and whose result will probably be rigged.
Now, just *where* have we heard this sort of thing before ?
Oboogie liked this
User avatar
By kreuzberger
#32490
If the answer to the question is "nuclear war", it looks much like my holiday plans are somewhat jeopardised. No refunds. Requested or otherwise.

Whilst I will be fried within seconds, that much is guaranteed, there is a rather interesting chap on Quora who lifts the veil on the reality of what is, if he is right, mutually assured distraction.

https://qr.ae/pvWB5V
By Bones McCoy
#32498
Mobilising your youth is a last chance saloon move.

a) They'll be about as effective as those central African militias unless there's a way to get them 16-24 weeks intensive traning. I understand that many of the regulars who might have delivered that training are now captured or dead.

b) You're gonna piss off a lot of mums and other families when you drag their sons off on a death ride.
User avatar
By The Weeping Angel
#33359
Happy Birthday Vlad

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -to-crimea
An explosion has crippled the heavily guarded bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland, a hated symbol of Russian occupation and key logistics link for Russian troops in southern Ukraine, in the latest heavy blow to Vladimir Putin after weeks of military humiliation.

The Kerch bridge was a personal prestige project for the Russian president, and the hit came the day after his 70th birthday. The blast destroyed the road into Crimea and left the railway link in flames.

Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the attack, which Russia said was carried out by a truck bomb. But one senior Ukrainian official posted a “happy birthday” message with images of destruction, and the country’s post office revealed – within hours – designs for a commemorative stamp, showing the bridge ablaze, raising questions about whether the explosion had been anticipated.
User avatar
By kreuzberger
#35285
It's rather the splendid that the Russians have hot-footed it out of Kerson and abandoned the city to the residents and a phalanx of extraordinarily well-nourished troops. Barely a Russian there to trouble the scorers.

Let's hope that it is not now a ripe target for an exemplary nuclear attack. What is to stop them?
User avatar
By Malcolm Armsteen
#35287
kreuzberger wrote: Fri Nov 11, 2022 9:00 pm
Let's hope that it is not now a ripe target for an exemplary nuclear attack. What is to stop them?
China.
Oboogie liked this
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