Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
- Start date
There's mentaly gymnastics and there's shit this guy is spouting.
Kazakhstan ends unlimited stay for Russians.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kazakhstan-ends-unlimited-stay-russians-2023-01-17/
Bulgaria to the rescue: How the EU’s poorest country secretly saved Ukraine.
https://www.politico.eu/article/bul...skyy-kiril-petkov-poorest-country-eu-ukraine/
In the same speech he praised Croatian president Milanović who said its just a proxy war between Russia and US, sanctions are stupid and we shouldn't be American slaves.
He's a bit of an idiot, maybe he's even on a Russian payroll, wouldn't be at all surprised.
Shit. No rules against them all travelling together?
"The Sanctions on Russia Are Working. Slowly But Surely, They Are Weakening Putin."
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/sanctions-russia-are-working
I would imagine those rules are for multiple ministers traveling together, not so much for one minister and his deputies.
An unusual, but smart move. Not entirely bad for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict either.
They’ll be getting something even deadlier they can use to murder them in exchange down the road.
He has been against helping Ukraine since the start, and has also been against Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
An idiot who still has nostalgia for Soviet Union (like many left-wing people in ex-Yugoslavia have), or being in Russian's payroll, this is the question.
Another major US package incoming.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/18/politics/us-ukraine-tanks/index.html
Kin ell. If anyone can tell me where they are I’ll be down there protesting tomorrow
I don't know if it's just me that is being overly optimistic but I got a feeling that there will be some very good news after the Ramstein meeting on Friday, and not just from the US.
Good article.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/18/germany-history-defend-ukraine-zelenskiy
If Germany has truly learned from its history, it will send tanks to defend Ukraine
Timothy Garton Ash
Wed 18 Jan 2023
While many have pledged support, Germany has a unique historical responsibility toward Zelenskiy and his people. It cannot shirk it
[...]
Germany’s historical responsibility comes in three unequal stages. Eighty years ago, Nazi Germany was itself fighting a war of terror on this very same Ukrainian soil: the same cities, towns and villages were its victims as are now Russia’s, and sometimes even the same people.
[...]
The second stage of historical responsibility comes from what the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has honestly described as the “bitter failure” of German policy towards Russia after the annexation of Crimea and the start of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
[...]
This historic mistake led to the third and most recent stage. A month after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year, a group of leading German figures formulated an appeal for an immediate boycott of fossil fuels from Russia. “Looking back on its history,” they wrote, “Germany has repeatedly vowed that there must ‘never again’ be wars of conquest and crimes against humanity. Today the hour has come to honour that vow.” (Full disclosure: I co-signed this appeal.)
Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided against this radical course, arguing that it would endanger “hundreds of thousands of jobs” and plunge both Germany and Europe into recession.
[...]
According to a careful analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, in the first six months of the full-scale war, Germany paid Russia some €19bn for oil, gas and coal. For comparison: Russia’s entire military budget for six months in 2021 was around €30bn. (No reliable figures are available for 2022.) Since a large part of Russia’s budget revenues comes from energy, the unavoidable conclusion is that Germany was contributing to Putin’s military budget, even as he prosecuted a war of terror on the very soil where Nazi Germany had prosecuted a war of terror 80 years before. Yes, other European countries also went on paying Russia for energy, but none had Germany’s unique historical responsibility towards Ukraine.
[...]
This has also become a litmus test of Germany’s courage to resist Putin’s nuclear blackmail, overcome its own domestic cocktail of fears and doubts, and defend a free and sovereign Ukraine. Scholz’s speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday gave no hint of such boldness. But in stepping to the front of a European Leopard plan for Ukraine, Scholz would be showing German leadership that the entire west would welcome. He would also be learning the right lessons from Germany’s recent and very recent history.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/18/germany-history-defend-ukraine-zelenskiy
If Germany has truly learned from its history, it will send tanks to defend Ukraine
Timothy Garton Ash
Wed 18 Jan 2023
While many have pledged support, Germany has a unique historical responsibility toward Zelenskiy and his people. It cannot shirk it
[...]
Germany’s historical responsibility comes in three unequal stages. Eighty years ago, Nazi Germany was itself fighting a war of terror on this very same Ukrainian soil: the same cities, towns and villages were its victims as are now Russia’s, and sometimes even the same people.
[...]
The second stage of historical responsibility comes from what the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has honestly described as the “bitter failure” of German policy towards Russia after the annexation of Crimea and the start of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
[...]
This historic mistake led to the third and most recent stage. A month after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year, a group of leading German figures formulated an appeal for an immediate boycott of fossil fuels from Russia. “Looking back on its history,” they wrote, “Germany has repeatedly vowed that there must ‘never again’ be wars of conquest and crimes against humanity. Today the hour has come to honour that vow.” (Full disclosure: I co-signed this appeal.)
Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided against this radical course, arguing that it would endanger “hundreds of thousands of jobs” and plunge both Germany and Europe into recession.
[...]
According to a careful analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, in the first six months of the full-scale war, Germany paid Russia some €19bn for oil, gas and coal. For comparison: Russia’s entire military budget for six months in 2021 was around €30bn. (No reliable figures are available for 2022.) Since a large part of Russia’s budget revenues comes from energy, the unavoidable conclusion is that Germany was contributing to Putin’s military budget, even as he prosecuted a war of terror on the very soil where Nazi Germany had prosecuted a war of terror 80 years before. Yes, other European countries also went on paying Russia for energy, but none had Germany’s unique historical responsibility towards Ukraine.
[...]
This has also become a litmus test of Germany’s courage to resist Putin’s nuclear blackmail, overcome its own domestic cocktail of fears and doubts, and defend a free and sovereign Ukraine. Scholz’s speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday gave no hint of such boldness. But in stepping to the front of a European Leopard plan for Ukraine, Scholz would be showing German leadership that the entire west would welcome. He would also be learning the right lessons from Germany’s recent and very recent history.
Miracles do happen, I agree with you on something, this is a good article
A bit oversimplifying the events of WW2 and completely ignoring the events of WW1 (which lead some Russian propaganda outlets to claim that Ukraine is just an artificial construct created by the Germans and not a real nation), but I guess this is more important if you want to analyze Russian reasoning and not really for the Germans now.
However I fear it's not going to happen. The selection of the new Defence Secretary (Boris Pistorius) doesn't indicate a policy change by Scholz, as Pistorius never was a vocal critic of Russia but instead for example advocated some years ago for reducing the sanctions put into place after 2014. So the typical russophile SPD member in a sense. However he definitely is more competent at organising stuff than Lambrecht was, so if decisions are made I have a little bit more hope that they are actually fulfilled in a useful and timely manner.
Spot on of course.
If only more European leaders would've realized this reality earlier, they wouldn't be burdened by scrambling to divest from reliance on Russia in the present.
Maybe both. His mandate will be all about him spouting crap after crap for 5 years. Hopefully he'll lose the election on Ukraine theme cause as you said he's been prorussian from the start.
Finally some mid-to-long range capabilities will be provided, long hecking overdue…Ideally, should be given 300km though. Hope these can be delivered in the shortest possible timeframes not allowing Russia to adjust their logistics.
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Makes my blood boil, Germany simply can’t be relied upon in future defense conversations.
The US has an absolutely stupid amount of tanks, they really could send some to Ukraine and not notice they were gone.
Slightly related, I guess.
Germany’s been such an ongoing disappointment
The problem with the M1 Abrams is not the amount of available tanks, it's the engine that is the main issue.
Western tanks like Leopard, Challenger and Leclerc all use diesel engines very similar to a normal truck engine and can be repaired by any half decent truck mechanic.
The M1 Abrams on the other hand uses a turbine engine that requires specially trained mechanics and special spare parts. It's fuel consumption is also quite a bit higher.
Did Ukraine actually think west is helping them win and not prolonging this until eternity?
Dumb analysis.
Did you expect anything better from me?
I have great hopes for you. 2023 is your year.