Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Consistently wrong since 2002

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

No one could have predicted…

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Everybody saw this coming.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Ukraine Open Thread: Alongside the Military News

Ukraine Open Thread: Alongside the Military News

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On the other side of the border…

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49Comments

  1. 1.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’ve seen that cigarette warning before and may even have commented on it. There are two forms of the verb “to die” in Ukrainian – one for people and one for animals. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which form is being used here.

  2. 2.

    Alison Rose

    @Gin & Tonic:  It’s brilliant.

    Saw some pics on Olena Zelenska’s FB earlier, with Antony Blinken, and it was very lovely. I’m glad FLOTUS invited her and I’m eager to see her speech on Wednesday!

  3. 3.

    Roger Moore

    Something important to remember about the Russian invasion is that they probably can’t commit too many more troops than they already have. They’re having trouble keeping the their existing forces supplied, so trying to add a lot more would just exacerbate their current logistical problems.

  4. 4.

    FlyingToaster

    @Roger Moore: The problem is attrition; they’re losing troops (as casualties) so they need bodies in the training pipeline or the Russian’s can’t hold what they’ve got.  The standard Russian war practice is to bombard until everything is flattened, then send in the tanks -n- infantry, then send in the TikTok soldiers to occupy the ruins.  They need the artillery manned, tanks driven, and infantry to take the ruins; they’re losing the tanks and infantry.  They got artillery for months yet.

  6. 6.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Gin & Tonic: 

    Are there other verbs on Ukrainian that take different forms depending of if humans or animals do it?

    I remember learning a long time ago in high school German that “to eat” has different words for humans and animals. I remember thinking that that was dumb. I realize now German speakers might think that having only one word for “to eat” probably is gross.

  8. 8.

    germy shoemangler

    Ukraine president suspends two top allies, citing Russian spy infiltration

    Nearly five months after Moscow’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy suspended the country’s security chief and top prosecutor, saying they failed to purge Russian spies from their organizations.

    One of those sidelined in the biggest government overhaul of the war, SBU security service chief Ivan Bakanov, was a childhood friend of Zelenskiy.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-president-sacks-security-chief-cites-hundreds-treason-cases-2022-07-18/

  9. 9.

    Andrya

    @Gin & Tonic:   If you feel so inclined, please help.  I wrote out the cigarette pack inscription on an online Ukrainian language typewriter, checked it carefully, then pasted it into five different English to Ukrainian online translators.  I got the following five results:

    (twice) If you burn, you will die and putin will die soon.

    (twice) You will die and you will not die.

    (The second two translators did not mention putin, although his name is clearly the last word in the cigarette inscription.)

    (once)  Throw smoking and won’t see putin’s breath.

    If you care to comment, I’d be grateful.  If not,  I accept that you have better things to do.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    The war in Ukraine has left vast quantities of abandoned and unexploded ordnance (bombs, grenades, landmines, missiles, rockets, shells etc) scattered across the country. These munitions pose a major risk to everybody living and working there, including local people, aid workers and soldiers. Awareness cards can help save lives.

    https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ukraine-cards

  13. 13.

    Betty Cracker

    I read an interesting article in The Atlantic this weekend by Kyiv-based journalist Veronika Melkozerova. It’s called “The Hate I Feel.” She described meeting a Ukrainian family that had fled Russians in Mariupol and were on their way to the western part of the country. Melkozerova described what happened when she and the refugee family passed by a display of destroyed Russian military equipment in Kyiv:

    Natalya [the mom] froze for a moment. Then she rummaged through her handbag, took out her lipstick, and rushed to the nearest vehicle, a mobile missile launcher. BURN, RUSSIA, AS YOU’VE BURNT MY MARIUPOL, she wrote in red.

    No one, including me, tried to stop her.

    Basically, the article is about how full of rage people are:

    For the past several months, since Russian forces launched their latest invasion of Ukraine, we have tried to stay humane, to be better than our enemy. All of us at Mykhailivska Square that day knew that it was wrong to wish for an entire country to burn. But Natalya’s words spoke for us. We cannot stay the perfect victim—liberal, forgiving, kind. Secretly, we yearn for revenge. Well, perhaps not so secretly now.

    They are tired of hearing “not all Russians.” Weary of hearing Russians who resist Putin being praised. Fed up with Ukraine being pressured to make concessions to end the war, etc. She just hates all those motherfuckers, even though she acknowledges it’s eating her up inside.

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    @pat: Oh, I get it now. In Yiddish, a person who is a glutton is a fresser. Now I see the derivation.

  15. 15.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Andrya: “Quit smoking [or] you will die and will not [live to] see putin die.”

    The first word there literally means “to throw” or “to throw away,” but in context means to throw away the habit. The second word literally means “to burn” but colloquially means “to smoke.” Led to some confusion a long time ago when I was in a cab and the driver asked “may I burn?” I didn’t want him to set fire to the cab, and only then realized he wanted to light up a smoke.

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    @FlyingToaster: @Mallard Filmore:

    I was thinking of the thing about them applying only a fraction of the force they have available.  Maybe they have more troops out there- though it sounds as if there are limits on sending conscripts to Ukraine- but they’re still limited by logistics.  They could have 10 million troops in reserve, but they’d still be limited by the number they can get the bullets, beans, and gas to fight.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    I take it that “the conflict has only just begun” is the new reality, and the original claim “we will win in 5 days” has been memory-holed.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    @Ken: he just lies and spouts bullshit all the time. Why anyone tries to “analyze” it is beyond me.

  23. 23.

    Joy in FL

    @Jay: Thanks, Jay. I’m going to donate to that. (see comment #10 for link to the Awareness Cards)

  24. 24.

    ColoradoGuy

    Any translations of the Russian recruiting poster? Presumably, it is a sort of “Rake’s Progress” showing the fecund and radiantly healthy soldier at age 39, while the 39-year-old University educated man falls into idleness, drunkenness, with a nagging wife.

    The implied message is that Russia losing (white) population thanks to people being over-educated. Definite parallel to Tucker Carlson’s “replacement theory” American Nazi Party propaganda line.

  26. 26.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jerzy Russian: Three words, actually. Over 50 years ago Herr Peter Armbrust, my second-year German instructor at Johns Hopkins, explained the distinction between essen, fressen and speisen to us thusly:

    • Man speist in einem Restaurant
    • Man ißt** zu Hause (** third person singular of essen)
    • Man frißt in Levering Hall***

    i.e., “One dines in a restaurant; one eats at home; one slurps grub from the pig trough at ***the commuting students’ cafeteria.”

    It was a good joke at the time; as with all good jokes, there was more than a touch of truth within it…

  28. 28.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Sergio Olmos was one of the must follow reporters during the 2020 summer protests in Portland.  His (and other local reporters) videoing what actually happened was an antidote to national media cutting and pasting Portland Police Bureau press releases.  I think OPB had him on staff (or contract) after that.

    Seems he’s got that “bear witness to the horrors” mindset many intrepid reporters have.

  31. 31.

    Jay

    @germy shoemangler:

    Law enforcement officers have arrested the former head of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Oleh Kulinich, reported Ukrainian news outlet Babel, citing the SBU, on July 16. He was fired from his post in March.
    Read also:
    Russian agent working as Kyiv school principal detained by SBU
    The specific reasons for Kulinich’s arrest have not been given, but the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, citing sources in the security service, writes that Kulinich was served with a notice of suspicion under Art. 111 of the Criminal Code (high treason). He now faces up to 15 years in prison. The SBU noted that countering the special services of the Russian Federation and their attempts to expand their network of agents inside Ukrainian governmental structures is one of the main activities of the law enforcement body.

    https://english.nv.ua/amp/ukraine-arrests-former-sbu-department-head-for-treason-ukraine-news-50256965.html

    So, an arrest “behind Enemy lines” and an extraction.

    Reports are that 60 some Ukrainian Security Forces are Russian agents and assets.
    So a house cleaning is in order.

  33. 33.

    zhena gogolia

    @ColoradoGuy: Basically, it says if you go through the civilian educational system, you have to pay for it, and there aren’t any good-paying jobs when you get out, plus you have to pay for your housing and food. If you go into the military, you get paid, you get an education, you get a government mortgage, and you’re all set. Assuming you’re not assigned to the warship Moskva. (I added that part.)

  37. 37.

    Jay

    An Alberta man accused of conspiring with three others to murder RCMP officers during blockades and protests at the Coutts border has been denied bail.

    The other three were denied bail earlier this year.

    Jerry Morin appeared over closed-circuit television, apologizing for his unshaven appearance, explaining he’d been “in the hole the last week.”

    Morin cried several times throughout his court appearance Monday, including when lawyers discussed a potential no-contact order with his girlfriend after the judge refused to release him.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coutts-protests-conspiract-murder-police-jerry-morin-bail-denied-1.6523970

    Even ours are not “rugged haulers of wood and water”, but instead crying snowflakes.

  40. 40.

    Ken

    @Jay: Jerry Morin appeared over closed-circuit television, apologizing for his unshaven appearance, explaining he’d been “in the hole the last week.”

    Does “in the hole” mean what I think it means? That is, did this guy just basically say,

    “Hi, judge, sorry I look this way but the guards here at the prison keep putting me in the special cells for disobeying the prison rules. So how about setting bail?”

  43. 43.

    Andrya

    @Gin & Tonic:  I take it you mean “yes, they can survive, but it dire poverty”.  Correct?  Although given the proclivity of the russian army in Ukraine to steal toilets, indoor plumbing might be scarce overall.

    I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the tireless work you have done informing the jackals about the Ukraine situation.  You have made me a much better informed advocate for Ukraine, and since I share what I learn on BJ with friends/family, you have created other more effective advocates as well.  Thanks!

  44. 44.

    Alison Rose

    @Ken: If he keeps saying it has only just begun, then he can convince themselves that when* they win, it will have been within the first few days.

    *They will not. This is me channeling his bullshit thinking.

  47. 47.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Gin & Tonic:

    In the 50s 60s and 70s when smoking was much more common and accepted in the states, US students of German would find this line in lists of possible phrases for conversations when one needed a light/a match for a cigarette: “Haben Sie Feuer?” (ie.”Do you have fire?”)

    It could come as a bit of a shock!

  48. 48.

    divF

    @Ohio Mom: Also, Possibly the origin of this dialog from The Producers:

    Leo: Actors aren’t animals, they are human beings!

    Max: Have you ever eaten with one?

  49. 49.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @ColoradoGuy: “In this production, Russia is playing the role of Germany; and Vladimir Putin takes on the role of “Adolf Hitler.”

    It’s amazing to me how parallel they are; right down to supporting Klansmen and other white supremacists here in America.

    “Same as it ever was.”

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