Europe at War

[SimonNZ]

Musk asks Putin for a fight, with Ukraine on the line

"Bombastic billionaire Elon Musk has set his sights on Russian president Vladimir Putin with a tweet offering to fight him one on one, with Ukraine the prize.

"I hereby challenge Владимир Путин (Vladimir Putin) to single combat," the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder tweeted to his 78 million followers .

"Stakes are Україна (Ukraine)."

He then followed it up, copying in the Kremlin's official twitter account asking if Putin agreed to the fight."[...]

[LKB]

Musk asks Putin for a fight, with Ukraine on the line

"Bombastic billionaire Elon Musk has set his sights on Russian president Vladimir Putin with a tweet offering to fight him one on one, with Ukraine the prize.

"I hereby challenge Владимир Путин (Vladimir Putin) to single combat," the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder tweeted to his 78 million followers .

"Stakes are Україна (Ukraine)."

He then followed it up, copying in the Kremlin's official twitter account asking if Putin agreed to the fight."[...]

Apparently, Musk has so much money he's had to resort to storing it where brain cells are supposed to go.

[Mirror Image]

Apparently, Musk has so much money he's had to resort to storing it where brain cells are supposed to go.

Indeed. With that kind of money, just have the fucking bastard killed. Put a bounty of $20 million on his head and see who bites.

[Que]

     The most immediate danger is to Moldova, as the Russian advance in the south of Ukraine was intended to link up with the breakaway region of Transnistria.

Agreed, though I doubt that Putin still has the apetite for it after this military debacle.

[Que]

The invasion is running out of steam.... Like I said before: if Syrian mercenaries are his last hope, Putin must be pretty desperate.


War should be over by May, says Ukrainian government adviser
An adviser in the Ukraine government says the the war should be over by May because Russia will run out of resources to keep the invasion going. Citing a video published by several Ukrainian media outlets, Reuters reports that Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said:

"I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement, maybe much earlier, we will see, I am talking about the latest possible dates.

We are at a fork in the road now: there will either be a peace deal struck very quickly, within a week or two, with troop withdrawal and everything, or there will be an attempt to scrape together some, say, Syrians for a round two and, when we grind them too, an agreement by mid-April or late April.

The exact timing would depend on how many resources the Kremlin was willing to commit to the campaign, and whether it could risk using raw conscripts to supplement soldiers lost during the faltering Russian advance since launching the invasion on 24 February."

Arestovich's suggestion Russia might try to use Syrian mercenaries was backed up by a report from the respected Syrian Observatory of Human Rights which says Russia has enlisted 40,000 militiamen from its Middle Eastern ally.

[MusicTurner]

Hopefully. An agreement this Spring will make it possible for Ukraine to rebuild with Western support within a reasonable time frame.

One of the problems is though, that Putin needs some sort of major, official 'gain' - or he has in reality ruined so much for Russia, obtaining too little. And the Ukrainians are stern and can't accept major, official defeats, at least now. There's no doubt Putin has much confidence in his domestic propaganda to shape the public opinion, but there has got to be some real content too for him, of great symbolic value.

US intelligence now suggests 6 to 8 thousand Russian fatalities, in less than 3 weeks. The real number will probably never be known. During 10 years in Afghanistan, they apparently lost 15 thousand.

[Florestan]

Czechoslovakia also. Communists came first in the election of 1946, then seized complete power two years later. Soviet troops were absent from CZ between 1945 and 1968. This result wasn't surprising, because CZ was probably the most left-wing country in Europe between the wars. Its Communist Party was the biggest, in both absolute and relative terms (more members than France or Italy, even).

Yes, CZ too. It should be noted, though, that it took an armed coup for the Communists to assume complete power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Czechoslovak_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

My impression is that Hungary under "goulash communism" (1960s-80s) had both a more liberal regime and a higher standard of living than Yugoslavia, though I may be wrong about this.

My impression is the other way around but I too might be wrong, of course. I think it's safe to say that they were both more prosperous and liberal than all other Communist regimes in Europe.

[Florestan]

     The most immediate danger is to Moldova, as the Russian advance in the south of Ukraine was intended to link up with the breakaway region of Transnistria.

Yes.

[Florestan]

Agreed, though I doubt that Putin still has the apetite for it after this military debacle.

If Ukraine stood until a peace agreement is reached, a possibility which gets bigger with each passing day, Moldova would be safe.

[vandermolen]

I hope that the very brave Russian TV Editor, who photo-bombed the News on the main Russian TV channel, survives. It reminded me of the brave sign-language interpreter who broke off her translation of the TV news during the rigged Georgian election to sign 'It's all lies, the election was rigged - I hope that we meet again' (she survived and became a heroine like the young woman on Russian TV).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60744605

[Florestan]

Prime ministers of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia go to Kyiv

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Prime ministers of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia go to Kyiv

I heard that on the news early this morning.  Apparently they've managed to negotiate a 2-day cease fire.

PD

[The new erato]

The invasion is running out of steam.... Like I said before: if Syrian mercenaries are his last hope, Putin must be pretty desperate.

Assad will need his own mercenaries as Russian support is bound to dwindle.

[Mandryka]

Media presentation of Ukraine before Feb 2022. Truth is the first casualty of war . . . or peace . . .  or both?

[amw]

I heard that on the news early this morning.  Apparently they've managed to negotiate a 2-day cease fire.

PD

That would be good news if so, but not sure about the accuracy—I've seen/heard that more civilians are evacuating Mariupol and Mikolayiv, which does usually indicate a local lull in fighting, but if there is a ceasefire Russian/allied forces in the northern areas of Donetsk and Luhansk are definitely not honouring it.

I think an April/May ceasefire and peace agreement seems likely. We can hope for one in the next week but both sides currently seem too deeply entrenched.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

That would be good news if so, but not sure about the accuracy—I've seen/heard that more civilians are evacuating Mariupol and Mikolayiv, which does usually indicate a local lull in fighting, but if there is a ceasefire Russian/allied forces in the northern areas of Donetsk and Luhansk are definitely not honouring it.

I think an April/May ceasefire and peace agreement seems likely. We can hope for one in the next week but both sides currently seem too deeply entrenched.

Looking again, it seems that it was more of a partial cease fire to allow residents to leave two cities:  Mariupol and Volnavakha.  And was for 35 hours.  https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/05/russian-state-media-claims-temporary-ceasefire-at-mariupol-volnovakha.html  And it seems that it's not being honored by the Russians. 

I read the news re reaching an agreement.  What would be left by then?  3 million refugees (currently) and a whole lot of annihilated residential buildings not to mention infrastructure, schools, universities, a frozen food plant and historical buildings, etc.  You name it!  Not to mention all of the Ukrainians getting killed, maimed, assaulted, robbed, etc.

PD

[MusicTurner]

Media presentation of Ukraine before Feb 2022. Truth is the first casualty of war . . . or peace . . .  or both?

Ultra-right parliamentarian representation in the Rada in Ukraine (=Right Sector, Svoboda) has been small or non-existant in recent years. Svoboda currently has 1 member of the 450, Right Sector has 0.

The militant Azov Batallion is probably the biggest problem, cf. their bad logo, but allegedly there has been a good deal reforming it since 2014, including integrating it in the army command structure. In 2014 it was one of the only fighting groups able to halt Russian invasion in Donbass. But if Ukraine dissolved it, they'd get rid of an obvious image problem (btw, some sources with the nazi-/nazi-like flags tend to use photos back from 2014-15, or photo-shopping, or a staged 'some person with a flag').

[drogulus]

     

Media presentation of Ukraine before Feb 2022. Truth is the first casualty of war . . . or peace . . .  or both?

     Russians sometimes refer to "Banderites", a term used interchangeably with more familiar terms for what are usually called fascists. So far as I know it's not commonly used in the Western media outside the context of examining Russian propaganda.

     One thing we should be able to agree on, whatever fascist Ukes might say to the contrary, is that the world wide leader of ultranationalist white Christian supremacy is Vladimir Putin.

[Florestan]

Looking again, it seems that it was more of a partial cease fire to allow residents to leave two cities:  Mariupol and Volnavakha.  And was for 35 hours.  https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/05/russian-state-media-claims-temporary-ceasefire-at-mariupol-volnovakha.html  And it seems that it's not being honored by the Russians. 

Whoever expects the Russians to honor their agreements, or simply to have honor, is hopelessly naive.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Whoever expects the Russians to honor their agreements, or simply to have honor, is hopelessly naive.

As far as Putin goes and his buddies, yup!  Ironically, he's bringing out everything that he didn't want come to play--God willing.

PD