Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

T R E 4 5 O N

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Second rate reporter says what?

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

You are here: Home / War in Ukraine / Ukraine Resources (Open Thread)

Ukraine Resources (Open Thread)

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People in the comments keep asking what they can do to help with Ukraine, and we are all looking for good information sources.  I should say good external sources because Balloon Juice is a most excellent source for good information, especially this week.

Below is a screen capture of the banner – if you’re on a computer or a tablet, the blue category bar now includes WAR IN UKRAINE.  If you click that, at the top of the page you’ll find a list of solid news sources, twitter feeds, lists of ways you can help, and more, related to the war in Ukraine.

Just below that, you will see all the Ukraine posts, and new Ukraine posts appear on that page as soon as they are posted.

If you are on mobile, clicking the hamburger menu takes you to the exact same resource described above.

Auto Draft 61

Talk about Ukraine or use this as an open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

191Comments

  4. 4.

    Mallard Filmore

    As far as an open thread on Ukraine, this popped up at DailyKos.

    Back in January, #Russia’s state TV experts estimated it would take “approximately 11 minutes” to completely overtake #Ukraine, with minimal losses on their part.

    So much for that.

    Link

    #StandWithUkraine

    [ETA] and naturally the link did not post, so here it is naked.

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    I posted this just now at the end of the previous Ukraine thread. Would love to hear your thoughts.

    —-

    A thought I have had today…. it seems like Trump’s (and Tucker’s) Putin blowjobs might just be the thing that cracks their edifice of support. Just a little. Like, I think it is undeniable at this point that Trump is dumb as a fucking stump, and traitorous. His die-hards will of course ride or die for him, that’s not who I’m talking about. But he also had the support or at least the allyship of a bunch of people who think he’s a useful idiot and who want his cohort in their coalitions. And it feels like this might have just demonstrated that he’s not actually a very useful idiot. More like a superfluous idiot. It only matters at the margins, but that’s a step.

    Am I too optimistic in thinking that these events will get the GOP to firmly sideline him?

  11. 11.

    brendancalling

    My ex’s sister and I are still in touch, and she told me their parents are en route to Poland, but out of Kyiv. However, sister’s in-laws are stuck in the city, as are many of her friends and other family.

    i fucking hate Putin. I have for a long time, but It’s personal now. Her folks visited the US around Thanksgiving 2017, so they came to with my dad’s house for the holiday. They barely spoke a word of English, Katya translated. They brought Ukrainian vodka which was wonderful. Such gracious and fun people.

    Fuck Putin.

  18. 18.

    Almost Retired

    The front pagers and commenters with relevant knowledge and experience with Ukraine and military issues in general are doing an extraordinary job of leading and directing this conversation. I learn more here in perusing the Ukraine posts than I do watching hours of cable news (McFaul excepted – I drop everything when he is on).

    I can’t thank you all enough, even though I don’t comment much on this issue because I have no relevant information and insufficient expertise to offer an informed opinion (ugh, that admission is going to get me disbarred).

    This weekend I fulfilled my role as dutiful faculty spouse at a weekend event for my wife’s job.  My marching orders are generally to smile and nod a lot but generally shut up.

    Ukraine came up, and I ignored my instructions and basically parroted a synthesized version of information from various sources on Balloon Juice.  Her colleagues seemed impressed.  Or possibly appalled.  It was hard to read the room, so I decided not to go full Balloon-Juice and lecture them on the importance of adopting older shelter pets.

    Good thing she is already planning on retiring or I may have inadvertently accelerated the process!

    But seriously, thanks to all the subject matter experts for your thoughtful and measured contributions.

  19. 19.

    Calouste

    Two bits of news from the EU:

    1. EU president von der Leyen says that Ukraine is welcome to the EU. Not immediately of course, there’s a fair amount that needs to be sorted out legally, but in due course.
    2. European Central Bank says that Sberbank Europe, the European subsidiary of the majority government-owned Russian Sberbank, with operations in Slovenia and Croatia, is going to collapse. Basically, reading between the lines, because customers were withdrawing their money.

  21. 21.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Suzanne: 

    it seems like Trump’s (and Tucker’s) Putin blowjobs might just be the thing that cracks their edifice of support. Just a little.

    I think a bigger draw to SFB, for the political middle, was his image as a winner. A totally fraudulent image but he managed to keep it. If the Russians had been able to take Ukraine in a day, he would have kept it up. The total mess that the invading army is making splatters LOSER stink all over.

  22. 22.

    trnc

    @Suzanne: A thought I have had today…. it seems like Trump’s (and Tucker’s) Putin blowjobs might just be the thing that cracks their edifice of support. Just a little. Like, I think it is undeniable at this point that Trump is dumb as a fucking stump, and traitorous. His die-hards will of course ride or die for him, that’s not who I’m talking about.

    …

    Am I too optimistic in thinking that these events will get the GOP to firmly sideline him?

    I’ve been down that road a few times, so it’s hard to say with any certainty but I do feel like something has to give sooner or later, and this could very well be the thing that does it.

  24. 24.

    Mallard Filmore

    @WaterGirl:

    Maybe there was no point in setting that up because no one appears to look at it.:-)

    I am not a User Experience type, but maybe replace the “2021-22 FUNDRAISING” up top with the Ukraine help link for a week or two would be more easily seen.

    And make the color Neon orange.

    And flashing.

    //

  25. 25.

    Suzanne

    @Mallard Filmore: Trump was a lark that the GOP could indulge on behalf of its crazy/trash faction because it seemed like situations were low-stakes in 2016. Those of us who had read a history book once knew that wasn’t true, that chaos and destruction and evil are always lying in wait. Lots of them knew he was terrible, but there was a large price to pay for saying so, so they rolled with it.

    But it feels like it became absolutely undeniable this week how dangerous and stupid he is, and how he cannot ever come back to public life ever.

  27. 27.

    Suzanne

    @trnc:

    I’ve been down that road a few times, so it’s hard to say with any certainty but I do feel like something has to give sooner or later, and this could very well be the thing that does it. 

    This feels extra different. I mean, in addition to praising the murderous, invading thug…. he did it on some piece of shit show that doesn’t even matter. He looked extra-special unserious, unpresidential, thirsty…. just a terrible look. Even for the GOP, I think it is undeniable that he is not the man for the moment.

  28. 28.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Suzanne: 

    But it feels like it became absolutely undeniable this week how dangerous and stupid he is, and how he cannot ever come back to public life ever.

    I think even minority leader Kevin McCarthy [R-CA] has given up on Trump this week. A quick visit to Mar-a-Lago won’t patch up Trump’s role in the GOP.

  32. 32.

    japa21

    @zhena gogolia: ​
      I was just coming here to ask that. He did post in one of the early threads, or at the end of one of the late night ones. I haven’t seen him since. That concerns me.

  36. 36.

    japa21

    @WaterGirl:  First of all, nothing you do is ever wasted.  This particular link will be used a lot in coming days for a multitude of reasons.  I shudder to think of what BJ would have become without your guiding hand.

  37. 37.

    Kent

    @Mallard Filmore:I think a bigger draw to SFB, for the political middle, was his image as a winner. A totally fraudulent image but he managed to keep it. If the Russians had been able to take Ukraine in a day, he would have kept it up. The total mess that the invading army is making splatters LOSER stink all over.

    As a middle-aged white guy I have occasional opportunity to concern-troll Republicans who automatically assume I am one of them by virtue of my demographic.

    My favorite theme is the play up the loser stench.

    “Honestly the problem with Trump is that he is such a loser.  I just can’t get behind him anymore.  He lost the Senate, he lost the House, he lost what should have been an easy race against BIDEN??!?  He lost the trade war against China.  I mean what the fuck.  We need to find some who is an actual winner and doesn’t have such a loser stench about him.  People can smell a loser from a long ways off and they can smell that on Trump.  That is why he is so desperate with all the stolen election nonsense”

  38. 38.

    Lyrebird

    @japa21: Yes, he said he would be away all day.

    But seriously, thanks to all the subject matter experts for your thoughtful and measured contributions.

    I agree with @Almost Retired: – see above, sorry for bad formatting-

    big time.

  39. 39.

    Alison Rose

    Watching CNN and they’re showing a citizen’s video of Ukrainians surrounding a line of disabled and abandoned Russian tanks, and off camera someone says (translated by the reporter) “And that’s how we meet the fucking Russian army!” Then a few minutes later, another reporter quotes someone yelling at Russian troops “You came to our country – now go to hell.” Damn, these people are hardcore and tough as nails and I fucking love them. My mom posted a picture of her Grandpa Nathan, who was from Ukraine, and I feel so proud to have that in my DNA.

  40. 40.

    sab

    Just saw my first JD Vance ad on tv here in Ohio. Weird timing. It just followed a news show with Gov DeWine visiting a Ukrainian church.

  43. 43.

    Jinchi

    @Mallard Filmore: #Russia’s state TV experts estimated it would take “approximately 11 minutes” to completely overtake #Ukraine, with minimal losses on their part.

    Good to know they have their own Rumsfeld-caliber intellects over there.

    It seems like pretty much everyone who decides to embark on an offensive war has an over-inflated estimate of their own capabilities.

  45. 45.

    JMG

    The truth is that the decisive group in American elections, the people who’re so down on Biden now, and were down on Trump before, have NO other rationale for measuring politicians but their own personal comfort. For $2 a gallon gas, they’d let Putin nuke Kyiv. They’re mad life ain’t perfect now (it sure isn’t) and it’s the President’s fault because he’s the only pol they’ve ever heard of. As a citizenry, we are failing democracy. Might as well admit it.

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Suzanne: If you want to take the temperature of the GOP,  Younkin in Virginia denounced the Russian invasion of the Ukraine today and called Putin a dictator. I think Trumpy has lost his cool kid status with the Right.

  48. 48.

    japa21

    @JMG: ​
      Someone asked me, not really in a complaining way, how high I thought gas would go with what is happening in Ukraine. I said, “I don’t know, and I really don’t care as long as Putin gets his ass kicked in.”
    I’ll pay $7 bucks a gallon (I don’t think it will get there) if it meant getting rid of Putin the Tiny.

  49. 49.

    mali muso

    The Ukrainian mechanic of a yacht owned by a Russian tycoon (who made his fortune supplying the Russian military) sabotaged and sank the yacht.

    “My boss is a criminal…I don’t regret anything and I’d do it again,” he said, upon turning himself in.https://t.co/aCqjnCYFjp
    — Antonio García Martínez (agm.eth) (@antoniogm) February 27, 2022

    Inspiring stories from unlikely heros.

  51. 51.

    Suzanne

    @Kent: For sure. But I’m talking about the cohort of Republicans, mostly white educated dudes, who are financially aware and vote GOP because of their taxes. The country club types, the ones who really wanted Please Clap Low-Energy Jeb or Lil’ Marco or Lyin’ Ted. Most of them weren’t on the Trump train, and lots of them are vaguely disgusted by the MAGA dead-enders. Trump’s people, the ones who really love him, are like the throng of Palin children: dumb, getting into brawls in public because they have childish views of masculinity and honor, low-class. These people are the Republicans who think they’re smart and honorable, that they know how the world really works. They’re full of shit, of course. But it feels, this week, that this cohort has never been solidly in Trump’s corner, they were on board only due to strategy, and it is embarrassing to them.

  52. 52.

    Mike in NC

    @brendancalling: I was involved in a NATO exercise in Scotland in 2003 and there was a Ukrainian PFP presence. When the exercise concluded the officers offered our staff members a bottle of Nemiroff honey-flavored vodka. I was happy to learn many of them were not vodka drinkers. More for me!

  53. 53.

    japa21

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​
      What took him so long? Seriously, they complained about Obama waiting 2 days to call Benghazi a terrorist attack (which he didn’t). Anybody who either did not loudly condemn even the idea of an attack before it started or condemn it with 24 hours (and I am being generous) after it started should be shunned forever.

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    @Almost Retired:

    I decided not to go full Balloon-Juice and lecture them on the importance of adopting older shelter pets.

    Oh, why not? C’mon, man, you were on a roll!

  56. 56.

    Mike in NC

    @JMG: I’ve always thought any idoit who promised voters gas at a buck a gallon would be elected president in a landslide.

  57. 57.

    trnc

    @Jinchi: Good to know they have their own Rumsfeld-caliber intellects over there.

    It seems like pretty much everyone who decides to embark on an offensive war has an over-inflated estimate of their own capabilities.

    Well, sending troops and weapons into another country offensively means you’re willing to kill a significant number of people or that you’re deluded enough to think that won’t happen, and either one requires a god complex, right?

  63. 63.

    trnc

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: If you want to take the temperature of the GOP, Younkin in Virginia denounced the Russian invasion of the Ukraine today and called Putin a dictator.

    Needs to be an ad with calendar showing 4 days going by alongside video of major events of those 4 days and end with Lil’ Glenn finally working up the nerve to criticize Russia.

  64. 64.

    japa21

    @Mike in NC: Only because there are enough idiots that actually would believe him/her.  Although I don’t think any woman would be stupid enough  to make that promise.  Except maybe MTG, Boebert, Blackburn… Heck some women would.

  65. 65.

    Almost Retired

    @Miss Bianca:  I was about to segue into a discussion about the virtues of naked mopping before I got the “shut up you fucker” glare-of-death that she has perfected over the years.

  66. 66.

    RSA

    This may have appeared before (sorry if so) but David Frum has a nice piece in the Atlantic on Russia’s financing of the war, based on conversations with “Michael Bernstam, an economist and Soviet-born analyst at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.” Excerpt:

    What does it mean that Russia “has” X or Y in foreign reserves? Where do these reserves exist? The dollars, euros, and pounds owned by the Russian central bank—Russia may own them, but Russia does not control them. Almost all those hundreds of billions of Russian-owned assets are controlled by foreign central banks. Russia’s reserves exist as notations in the records of central banks in the West, especially the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve. Most of Russia’s reserves are literally IOUs to the Russian central bank from Western governments.

    Remember the saying “If you owe the bank $10,000, you have a problem—but if you owe the bank $10 billion, the bank has a problem”? We, the people of the Western world collectively owe the Russian state hundreds of billions of dollars. That’s not our problem. That’s Russia’s problem, an enormous one. Because one thing any debtor can do is … not pay when asked.

    To finance its war on Ukraine, Russia might have hoped to draw down its foreign-currency reserves with Western central banks. The Russian central bank would tell the Fed or the ECB to credit X billion dollars or euros from the Russian central bank to this or that private Russian bank. That bank would then credit the accounts of Russian businesses or individuals. Those businesses or individuals would then pay Western companies to whom they owe money.

    All of this requires the cooperation of the Fed or ECB in the first place. The Fed or ECB could say: “Nope. Sorry. The Russian central bank’s money is frozen. No transfers of dollars or euros from the Russian central bank to commercial banks. No transfers from commercial banks to businesses or individuals. For all practical purposes, you’re broke.” It would be a startling action, but not unprecedented. The United States did it to Iran after the revolutionary regime seized U.S. diplomats as hostages in 1979.

    The best line is in the conclusion:

    The power Putin is about to feel is the power of producers against gangsters, of governments that inspire trust against governments that rule by fear.

    Let’s hope it works.

  68. 68.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @trnc: Needs to be an ad with calendar showing 4 days going by alongside video of major events of those 4 days and end with Lil’ Glenn finally working up the nerve to criticize Russia.

    I believe rectal thermometers are noted for working slowly. lol

  69. 69.

    Martin

    @japa21: It was $5/gal here in California before Putin invaded. It’s $5.09 for regular across the street. $7 doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

  71. 71.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mike in NC: We got below $2 a gallon in December 2008. All it took was the entire global economy falling in. I remember the Republicans trying to use that as the baseline for complaining about Obama making it go up.

  72. 72.

    smith

    @Alison Rose: Damn, these people are hardcore and tough as nails

    Years ago, I had a job that took me to Kyiv to present a week-long training program. A couple years before, the group I went with had presented a similar program in Moscow. As part of that one we’d carried out a role-playing exercise, which the Russians seemed to enjoy. During the planning phase for the Ukraine program we asked our Ukrainian liaison if they’d like to include something like that. After a brief silence, she replied, slowly enunciating each word, “Ukrainians. Do. Not. Play. Games.”

    Watching developments of the last couple days, I can see she wasn’t kidding.

  73. 73.

    sab

    @Alison Rose: Actually it is a bit of a relief to see JD Vance blow himself up so thoroughly, while wasting Thiel’s money.  There he was on screen being praised by Tucker Carlson on a day where every major city in Ohio had huge pro-Ukraine demonstrations. The Republican Senate Contender crab bucket still has a bunch of crabs left clawing each other.

  74. 74.

    Starfish

    @Suzanne: There are a number of people who want to sideline him. However, Trump is sticking around to scam the rubes. This behavior is depriving the Republican Party of money it needs to help people running for office.

    I would like to see them figure out a way to move away from Trump, but I am not sure that any of them will do it. To get it done, they have to work together, and it is not clear that the Republican Party knows how to play with others.

  76. 76.

    Mary G

    In some ways this feels like Chernobyl.2 Electric  Boogaloo- not with such dire consequences of course, but watching that miniseries as layers and layers of management hid, lied, repeated what others had said that they knew to be false, etc. So they almost blew up the world until a bunch miners (I prefer to think they were Ukrainian) basically agreed to plug the hole knowing they were dead men.

    Putin has a lot more layers of guys who are probably still telling him he’s got this in the bag in order to avoid suicide by bodyguard.

    Visuals matter, too. I only saw a still.shot of Vlad during his nutcase speech last week, but it shocked me how puffy misshapen his face had become, and instead of a lethal villain I saw an old man telling kids to get off his lawn.

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: But he couldn’t even get that right.

    (Repost from downstairs.)

    The invasion of Ukraine by Soviet dictator Vladimir Putin cannot stand, and the people of the Commonwealth are ready to rally in opposition to this senseless attack on a sovereign nation and western ideals.

    — Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) February 26, 2022

    (Emphasis added.)

    He’s a clown. With incompetents around him.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: George Stephanopoulos asked Sen Cotton several times whether or not he would disavow trump’s comments about Putin.   He evaded each time.   I really wanted the follow up to be if he is the nominee of your party, would you vote for him.

    That question tells you all you need to know about republicans.

  82. 82.

    Ken

    @Jinchi: It seems like pretty much everyone who decides to embark on an offensive war has an over-inflated estimate of their own capabilities.

    Donald Bensen’s And Having Writ… has an alien remarking that generals are on average not very good at their jobs. Right off the bat, half of them are on the losing side of any war; and even on the winning side, there’s a large number who confidently predicted the war would be over quickly, or would have minimal troop losses, or would pay for itself.

  84. 84.

    Suzanne

    @Starfish:

    There are a number of people who want to sideline him. However, Trump is sticking around to scam the rubes. This behavior is depriving the Republican Party of money it needs to help people running for office. 

    The challenge for the GOP is that they have decided to form a coalition including some of the worst people in the country,

    I don’t know how they move away from him and keep this coalition together, either. It feels like they’ve been hoping that he would retreat into golf, die, or that the MAGA people would rally around someone younger, better-looking, and less crazy as Trump got old and more embarrassing. But this week it feels more likely than it did the week before.

  85. 85.

    Ken

    @Mike in NC: I’ve always thought any idoit who promised voters gas at a buck a gallon would be elected president in a landslide.

    CANDIDATE NYARLATHOTEP: “Gas at a buck a gallon!”

    CROWD: “Nyarlathotep! Nyarlathotep! Nyarlathotep!”

    NYARLATHOTEP: “To achieve this, we will need to render the bodies of old people and babies in the refineries!”

    CROWD: “… Nyarlathotep! Nyarlathotep! Nyarlathotep!”

  88. 88.

    Mike in NC

    “Winter On Fire” is still streaming on Netflix. Going to make my wife watch it this week. So uplifting.

  89. 89.

    Starfish

    @Suzanne:

    the MAGA people would rally around someone younger, better-looking, and less crazy as Trump got old

    The youngest MAGA politicians are some of the craziest ones though. I just hope that some of these folks realize that having competent representation sort out their social security and veterans’ benefits is better than having whoever will be the most racist, burn the most books, etc.

  90. 90.

    Miss Bianca

    @Starfish:

    I just hope that some of these folks realize that having competent representation sort out their social security and veterans’ benefits is better than having whoever will be the most racist, burn the most books, etc.

    How I’d hate to be sitting on a red-hot stove till *that* happened.

  91. 91.

    Kent

    @Suzanne: The GOP had a chance to pull off the bandaid in November 2020.  They could have congratulated Biden in mass and isolated Trump and forced him to move on.   Instead they took the cowardly route of coddling his delusions and now we are where we are.

    Look at how very few GOP politicians came out to congratulate Biden after the race was declared.  Barely any of them.  That right there is when the die was cast.  It would have taken all the air out of his “stop the steal” bullshit.

  93. 93.

    Kelly

    @Starfish: I just hope that some of these folks realize that having competent representation sort out their social security and veterans’ benefits is better than having whoever will be the most racist, burn the most books, etc.

    Near as I can tell my wingnut relatives and neighbors think “Damn it we almost got there. Try it again a harder this time”

  94. 94.

    Suzanne

    @Kent: I know how spineless and calculating and utterly bereft of morality they are. They chose to ride that tiger. I think some of them are trying to slip off unnoticed, but I remember what garbage they are.

  97. 97.

    smith

    @Starfish: I just hope that some of these folks realize that having competent representation sort out their social security and veterans’ benefits is better than having whoever will be the most racist, burn the most books, etc.

    I doubt that most Goobers even know that they should expect constituent services from their reps. These are people who are deeply ignorant of how government works. They imagine that all power resides in the president, and Congress exists primarily for show. As long as their reps are out there owning the libs, they’re satisfied.

  99. 99.

    Mike in NC

    @Another Scott: I was in the Navy Reserve after the collapse of the USSR. Many times in the following years career dimwits would still talk about the Soviet Threat. 50 years they couldn’t revise.

  101. 101.

    Suzanne

    @smith:

    As long as their reps are out there owning the libs, they’re satisfied. 

    Yes. They don’t give half a shit about governance. It’s all just psychodrama about how much they hate libz. And they hate libz because they are deeply, deeply jealous.

  103. 103.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    My impression is that it’s very rarely the generals who promise a quick, easy war that will pay for itself, at least these days.  It’s almost always the politicians claiming the generals said that, and the generals not being allowed to defend themselves.  And “half of them are on the losing side” is a BS claim, too.  It’s like saying 95% of the NFL must be made of bad players because they didn’t win the Super Bowl.

  105. 105.

    Winston

    Many years ago there was a forum which discussed the origin of the term “nazi”. Someone pointed out that National Socialist Party didn’t really lend itself to that nickname. But Ashkenazy was a term for Jewish people in central Europe at the time that did.  Turns out that this disinformation (lie) was disseminated by the National Socialist Party to obscure their crimes and blame Jewish people for the war. You can see Putin doing the same thing with his idea that he is justified “getting rid of the nazis”  in Ukraine. This is why you know he is a flaming anti-Semite in addition to his other deficiencies as a human.

  106. 106.

    Yarrow

    This development seems not good.

    Belarus renounces its non-nuclear status in a referendum. Lukashenko may now ask Putin to station nukes in Belarus. Ironically, before/during the ongoing invasion vs Ukraine, Putin had been accusing Kyiv, not Minsk, of seeking to ditch its nuclear neutral status.— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) February 27, 2022

  108. 108.

    Jay

    Bellingcat noted that a bunch of RT media posted an op-ed on how “Putin solved the Ukranian Question forever”, then pulled it,

    but there are screenshots,

  110. 110.

    Kalakal

    @Yarrow:  seems more of a medium term thing

    From the BBC

    Speaking at a polling station on Sunday, Lukashenko said: “If you [the West] transfer nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, to our borders, then I will turn to Putin to return the nuclear weapons that I gave away without any conditions.”

    Perhaps Putin trying to establish a bargaining chip. (looking at it optimistically)

  111. 111.

    debbie

    @Suzanne:

    they were on board only due to strategy, and it is embarrassing to them

    Yes, but their embarrassment is at being found out, not that they supported him.

  114. 114.

    Jay

    @Kalakal:

    meh, Belorussia won’t  have nukes,

    Russia will, on Belorussian soil, like the USSR did during the Cold War.

    Right up there with Putin’s hypersonic global nuclear cruise missile that they are still trying to recover parts from after the last crash or his imaginary Tsunami nuclear submarine drone.

  115. 115.

    debbie

    @Another Scott:

    That reminds me of when the GOP began using Twitter and relied on prewritten statements that everyone used. Remember Grassley’s tweet that included something like “Call (name) and tell him …” without filling in a name?

  120. 120.

    Another Scott

    Sources close to Putin say that the Russian president became visibly agitated, even erratic when he learned that he would not be able to see or post his old Wordle scores after the New York Times bought the popular online game.

    — New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) February 28, 2022

    Oh man!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  121. 121.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I will put this up again, since many people may have missed it in the morning:  Valdivia’s father passed away Friday evening after a long illness. He was in hospice care at home, so this was not unexpected. I am sure she and her mom would appreciate any thought and prayers you can spare. For those of you who are cat fans, you may appreciate that one of Valdivia’s two cats appointed himself nurse and stayed by her dad’s side throughout.

    Valdivia looked at the morning thread and asked me to pass this message on to the Jackals:  Just saw all the lovely messages at BJ. Lots of tears and am deeply grateful for their words.

  122. 122.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jay: The thing about trying to make nuclear weapons scarier in some geopolitical or super-technological way is that existing nuclear weapons are kind of maximally scary already. ICBMs are hypersonic, always have been. They can get you in less than an hour, pretty much regardless of where you are. Sub-launched ones, probably sooner. There’s no reliable way to up the ante from there.

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    @JPL:

    I really wanted the follow-up to be if [Trump] is the nominee of your party, would you vote for him.

    There is a longer clip that shows that Stephanopoulos did follow up with that question. Cotton’s answer was that he wasn’t concerned about the midterm elections, much less the one in 2024, because his sole focus now is on the crisis in Ukraine. ?

  131. 131.

    West of the Rockies

    @Jay:

    So if Belarus (its government) throws in with Russia, will that not super-wealthy country be hit with crippling sanctions?

    Seems an odd time to go all-in with pug-ugly Putin.

  132. 132.

    Winston

    All this talk of nukes reminds me of my high school days; duck and cover run to the interior hall way, kiss you ass good bye.

  133. 133.

    Kalakal

    @Jay: Oh I know they wouldn’t be Belorussian, they’d be Russian manned, guarded and controlled. I was speculating as to wether Putin was trying to find a face saving out by trying to get a “no Nato nukes in Eastern Europe” for no “Russian nukes in Eastern Europe”. Shades of Cuba and the removal of Thor missiles from Turkey.

  135. 135.

    RaflW

    Any elected Republican making sudden noises about fighting Putin should be asked why the entire Republican party reviles our Commander in Chief during a global struggle.

    Because this is the official message of the GOP:

    GOP @GOP

    Joe Biden is a failed president.
    3:39 PM · Feb 27, 2022

  138. 138.

    West of the Rockies

    @Ken:

    Got it.  They’re Russia’s puppet, so presumably they’re declared alliance was probably forseen anyway.

  143. 143.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kalakal: My name,” said he, “is Omnes Omnibus—all for all. Let that suffice you now. I am a herald, a mouthpiece, a voice; no more.

  144. 144.

    eclare

    @Omnes Omnibus:   I missed that.  Please pass along my deepest condolences to Valdivia and scritches to a very good kitty.  I’m sure it was a great comfort all around to have a warm, furry, affectionate companion there.

  145. 145.

    CaseyL

    @smith:

    I doubt that most Goobers even know that they should expect constituent services from their reps. …As long as their reps are out there owning the libs, they’re satisfied.

     

    A lot of those states never had much in the way of government services, certainly not since Reagan gutted (among other programs) the Federal Aid to Cities program. Politics is only theater to them because that’s all their elected officials have ever given them.

    That’s why I keep mentioning the idea of a fully-, or even semi-, functioning polity, and how the memory of ever having had one has receded into the mists.

  149. 149.

    West of the Rockies

    @Kent:

    Truthfully, I’ve been fairly ignorant on eastern European affairs.  I know Belarus is a thorny player, but that was about it.

  151. 151.

    Jay

    @West of the Rockies:

    Lushanko held an election and lost. Belorussians took to the streets, so he had to jail or exile the Opposition, then had to blow Putin’s cock to get Russian troops and the FSB to put down the demonstrations brutally to cling to power.

    that was like last year.

  152. 152.

    Winston

    So there was a massive mass ejection on the far side of the sun a few days ago, and will orbit the sun such that we may be in its path in a couple of weeks. If it hits us it will seem like an EMP and will disrupt our comms.

  158. 158.

    West of the Rockies

    @Jay:

    Well, I hope the people of Belarus can throw off those Russian yokes in due time.  Thanks for the info.  Always good to keep learning.

  160. 160.

    Jay

    @Kalakal:

    maybe, but who cares.

    13 seconds less flight time and mobile launchers, in a region with weak air defence.

    Lushenko is trying to play the “nuclear bluff” with out any nukes.

  161. 161.

    Kalakal

    @Omnes Omnibus: Cool! I read practically everything he wrote as a teenager ( and still reread) After I’d read Stevenson The adventures of Captain Blood & The Seahawk were the next step and I was hooked

  164. 164.

    Sebastian

    @Grumpy Old Railroader:

    While it might be an actual International Brigade redux, my spidey senses are telling me this is the cover for the “volunteers” from NATO countries.

    Context: Denmark just authorized Danish citizens to join Ukrainian voluntary forces. I can’t even begin to describe how big of a deal this is.

    For one, Denmark is a pacifist society and country. Second, all European countries are extremely sensitive to serving in other armed forces. It is cause for immediate loss of citizenship and not just a paper tiger law. If it becomes known that you fought for another country or faction in an armed conflict, regardless of whether your home country is involved in that conflict or not, you lose your citizenship. The process is swift and draconic. The statute of limitations is also bigass long.

    It’s a third rail.

    When Denmark nonchalantly declared “no biggie, feel free to sign up in a hot war” I almost spit out my coffee. This is anything but normal.

    Let’s keep an eye out for similar statements from other countries. If they happen, something bigger is afoot, namely NATO playing the “Little Green Men” game that Putin started in Donbas 2014.

  165. 165.

    Kalakal

    @Jay: Lukashenko is saying what Putin wants him to say. You’re right makes no real difference as to the nukes themselves

  167. 167.

    Mallard Filmore

    There is a YouTube video out of Ukraine called “Ukraine’s army invalidated the Russian invasion plan. Day 4.”  At 4min 30sec they put up “We know what #Putin’s plan was:”

    • 12 hours … air dominance
    • 36 hours … destroy military comms
    • 48 hours … bypass big cities, cut off Eastern Army, government flees
    • 72 hours … install puppet government

    https://youtu.be/yoGkUmAtlT4?t=275   (starts 4:35 into the video

    this list is from a tweet by Marco Rubio, today.

  170. 170.

    Yarrow

    From Belarus several hours ago.

    Belarusians are chanting “Glory to Ukraine” and “Long live Belarus” from the windows of their apartments. Today's protest continued even at night. We all feel the same feeling of unity as in 2020. pic.twitter.com/aBlZ9Kcscd— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) February 27, 2022

  171. 171.

    HumboldtBlue

    @eclare:

    Indeed.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I can’t say I’m that surprised, I knew Snider was definitely a good guy open and proud to stand with the lefty good guys, but Rose and Bach were not in my immediate music sphere as a teen and I never paid much attention. But seeing guys who could rock some music stand up seems a good fit with liberal politics.

    I’m not expressing myself well, let me go find some more
    Sixers highlights.

  175. 175.

    Yarrow

    Ha!

    Hey everybody. Be nice tomorrow to your neighborhood GOP employees and influencers. They’re going to have redo their budgets and find out if they can even pay their bills now that the Putin money is getting cut off. Maybe we can start a ‘GoFuckYou’ fundraiser.
    — Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) February 28, 2022

  182. 182.

    Roger Moore

    @Sebastian:

    I think there’s a lot of pent up anger and frustration with Putin throughout the EU, and the war in Ukraine is giving it an outlet.  Some of the stuff the EU countries are doing is probably not in their best long-term interest, but they’re doing it anyway because it’s a way of showing Putin how much they hate him.

  184. 184.

    eddie blake

    wow, the ukranians are using those artillery batteries like german 88’s. hopefully they’ll be just as good in the anti-tank role.

  187. 187.

    Sebastian

    @eclare:

    To do what? Putin doesn’t understand military campaigns, he sees everything from a special forces point of view.

    There are a million armed Ukrainians in Kyiv, hellbent on fighting. He can send 40,000 and it wouldn’t change the outcome.

  188. 188.

    eclare

    @Sebastian:   Thanks.  I just wondered if anyone else had heard that rumor.  Wiki states the founder named the company after Hitler’s fave composer.  Because of course he did.

  189. 189.

    Steeplejack

    @eclare:

    Russian “private” paramilitary group that was active in Syria and supposedly also in the previous “little green men” activities in eastern Ukraine. I think there’s a Wikipedia article.​

    ETA: And I see that you apparently saw the Wikipedia article.

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