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Is Ukraine about to have a war?

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Is Ukraine about to have a war?

Old 12th Apr 2021, 18:18
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How long do you think the Turkish/Qatar funded Syrian mercenaries will stay in country if they manage to provoke a war ?
They have been trying for almost five years to get the party started . Maybe Someone will fund another private enterprise to exterminate the agent provocateurs before the instability spreads to the Capital.
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Old 12th Apr 2021, 18:33
  #82 (permalink)  
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Aegis8,

I realise you are supposed to try and plant false information - but you’ve got to do better than that. From the HRW site.....

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/02/...crimean-tatars

Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority indigenous to the peninsula, have been targets of persecution since Russia began occupying the region in 2014. The recent arrests were the largest number in a single week for the last few years.....

Since Russia seized and began occupying the peninsula in 2014, Crimean Tatars have been
disproportionately affected by law enforcement action. From January 2017 through August 2018, 90 out of a documented 102 property searches or raids in Crimea affected Crimean Tatars, according to the United Nations.

In 2016, a Russian Supreme Court order
forced the Mejlis, the elected self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars, to disband. Crimean Tatars have also been victims of enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests and prosecution.

Refat Chubarov, chairman of the now-disbanded Mejlis, said of the Russians: “With such mass arrests, they send a very clear signal to Crimean Tatars: if you don’t like it, leave.”
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Old 12th Apr 2021, 19:06
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Wrt to the question posed in the title of this thread... Doesn't Putin often send loads of military to the Ukraine border? Isn't he just having his usual flex?
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Old 12th Apr 2021, 19:14
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I realise you are supposed to try and plant false information
There you have it wrong. I post my own opinions and where I post info, I try to make sure it is true.

I missed a more recent article, my mistake, which does not really paint a worse picture, with the new number of arrests. it would bring the total of arrested Tatars up to what 50 - 60 in 5 years. Or did I miss yet another article/number somewhere? The law is clear: if you associate or identify as being part of that group, you can and will be investigated and arrested. Which part is wrong there?

As for the rest of the info there, it once again reads like the usual Russia bad - US good, China bad -US good. Hype the situation and control the story that gets to the western MSM consumers. Good example is Navalny, stated by the west to be the main opposition figure. He is not, the Communist party is and he had less than 2% support country wide.

So I do not believe that there is such a huge problem there with the Tatars, there is a problem with a certain segment and the rest of the Tatars and Crimeans are living without problems.
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Old 12th Apr 2021, 19:49
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@Aegis8 : am just a reader here, find the discussion fascinating as it has the point of view of both sides and in a civilized manner. Please continue even if you are in the minority here. One question I have however is when you state :
Good example is Navalny, stated by the west to be the main opposition figure. He is not, the Communist party is and he had less than 2% support country wide.
Do you have data to back this up.? what we see here in western media , especially BBC and CNN , is that Navalny has huge support, especially among young people and can organize large demonstrations in many different Russian cities etc.., is this all staged ?
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Old 12th Apr 2021, 22:54
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Never underestimate ethnic Ukrainians hatred for the Russians is all I can add.

Lived there for a number of years (Kiev and Odessa) and I've seen perfectly normal boys and girls turn into rabid maniacs almost frothing at the mouth when the subject turned to Russia, the transition would genuinely shock you. And this was just before the recent troubles.

Although I suspect many Russians can understand quite a bit of Ukrainian (I speak Russian and can understand without too much difficulty, and if I can as a non-native speaker of Russian, they can) it always amuses me when Russian TV always subtitles them, and my Russian colleagues swear they understand zilch.

Russia is successful much of the time I believe because they always play the long game, something seemingly absent in the West.

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Old 13th Apr 2021, 02:15
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I am led to believe that many ukrainians speak russian because it's easier than ukrainian and is or was widely taught in schools, so it's very common for people to have knowledge of it, regardless of your ethnicity/country of origin/religion/etc.

Regularly speaking russian does not necessarily mean a person wants to identify as a russian.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 06:11
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ATC Watcher I will get back to you with factual data.
In the mean time, I will say this: Moscow has a population of several million: google says 12,593,000. His protests gather several thousand only, even if you would say 50000* were present, it is a very small percentage, around 0.4%.

*Disclaimer exact figures may vary.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 07:11
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I believe the current President of the Ukraine is a native Russian speaker - and as for "threatening pogroms" his family are also jewish....................
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 07:25
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ATC Watcher Here is the data:
From google:
Currently represented in the State Duma
  • United Russia (340)
  • Communist Party (42)
  • Liberal Democratic Party (40)
  • A Just Russia (23)
  • Civic Platform (1)
No Navalny there.

The last regional elections were in 2020 and the opposition parties made some gains against the main party in Russia.

Of note is " Opposition leader Alexei Navalny called on opposition voters to use "Smart Voting" by voting for candidates most likely to win against United Russia." Which worked, as several seats were won by these independents. It is now difficult to asses his actual support percentage, based on the 2020 election results, 3 independents became governors. As far as I can tell, he was not running for anything in that election, I may be wrong, I did not see his name anywhere as a candidate.

What will be telling are the upcoming elections.

Numbers at protests:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Russian_protests

Try and figure out the actual numbers present after reading the wiki!

In Krasnodar, 5,000–7,000 Krasnodar out of a population: 932629 (wikipedia), so less than 1% This is in my region, that is why I mention it.

I will also mention that his labeling a World War 2 veteran, a traitor, has cost him support. No matter who they support politically, people respect the veterans here.


As to western MSM, it is hyped and inflated, but this is not a new tactic.
I hope I have managed to answer your question.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 08:39
  #91 (permalink)  
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I hope I have managed to answer your question.
Thanks for trying at least . You mentioned initially less than 2% support , that would be visible in votes, not necessarily in people taking up to the streets , especially when the demonstrations has been banned by the authorities and police repression seems to be not that soft if one can see the television images .. But as you said : What will be telling are the upcoming elections. So let's wait for those and see what his real percentage will be .
In any case thanks again for your input. and insight of the views in Russia. Much appreciated.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 09:23
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Originally Posted by ATC Watcher
Thanks for trying at least . You mentioned initially less than 2% support , that would be visible in votes, not necessarily in people taking up to the streets , especially when the demonstrations has been banned by the authorities and police repression seems to be not that soft if one can see the television images .. But as you said : What will be telling are the upcoming elections. So let's wait for those and see what his real percentage will be .
In any case thanks again for your input. and insight of the views in Russia. Much appreciated.
We'll have to wait a bit on that, he can't run in the election, as he is serving time for his fraud conviction. So the only telling fact would be support for the candidates that he/his group have said to support.
I have seen worse police repression in western countries, to be honest. There is a simple process to follow when you want to hold mass events. By law, authorities cannot deny you, without providing alternatives. There are prohibited locations, mentioned in this process. So you will be denied here, of course. Unfortunately, Navalny has almost never followed this procedure and thus always runs foul of the authorities. Makes for good TV! Same with the last round of protests.

Anyway thread drifting here. Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 10:24
  #93 (permalink)  
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The Duma? A Potemkin Parliament of yes men.

Any real opposition is arrested and convicted of an offence in order to prevent them running or disbarred from election by other means.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 10:27
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Aegis8: you really can't take any indication of ones popularity based on protest figures nor compare the protest figures directly with total population.

A: 23,2% of Russian population are under 19 years old. Also it is highly unlikely that minors would represent any significant volume in the protest, and it also means that this 23% must be deducted from the total population when looking at voters. eg Moscow with 12,5M inhabitants leaves you with 9,5M adults.

B: the median age of protesters were 31( SOURCE ). As Russias median age in total is 39 (and much higher when deducting the minors unlikely to take part in any protests), leaves you with heavy bias amongst young people in russia favoring Navalnyi.

C: 18-44 year olds represent 34% of total population (eg moscow then 4,25M). Navalnyis support is at its highest in this age group. So if you take that 50000, correct it by, say 10% to leave older and younger out, leaves you with 45000 people. Which in essence means that roughly 10% of the age group participated. I consider that pretty significant as this is the biggest age group in Russia, mobilizing 10% of the people on the streets.

D: there is never, ever a full 100% participation in rallies/protests/whatever. It is always the minority that participates. Even if we would be talking about 10% of the supporters pariticipating (which would be very high), there would be other 450000 silent supporters. That would make a very high percentage in votes amongst adults.

E: Demographics is one thing, but the leader(s) of Russia are tangling to power and somehow people not aligning with Putin seem to have accidents and/or end in jail. Not only the poisoning of Navalnyi, but remembering Litvinenko, the Skripalis, especially Viktor Yushchenko (suddenly got poisoned while running for Ukrainian presidency against Putins favorite), Politkovskaya, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Boris Nemtsov... all have met their fate in strange circumstances. This means that one would not participate in these types of rallies very easily, still enhancing the fact that the support for Navalnyi is greater than in your calculations.

F: If Navalnyi wouldn't be of any concern to Putin, why on earth would there be poisonings with a very rare poison by FSB staff? Fear of losing power has been the biggest driver for Putin during his entire leadership. Need to win election: go to Chechnya. Got someone you don't like in charge of ex-soviet countries: go to Georgia. Figures going down again: take Crimea. Someone challenging you: go Novichok (or any other military grade poison of your choice). Business world getting too much power? charge them with fraud/tax evasion/something else and send them to jail. Running out of presidential seasons? no problem, change positions with your muppet (Medvedev) for one season and run a constitutional change to start counting your seasons from zero. The more government denies it all, the more one can be assured that Navalnyi is concidered a threat by the authorities.

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Old 13th Apr 2021, 11:27
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Politico Brussels Playbook

Either U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken loves locked-down Brussels Town even more than Brad Pitt, or something’s up. America’s Francophone foreign minister touches down today in the European capital for the second time in just a few weeks, amid reports Russian forces are amassing along the Ukrainian border.....

With the U.S. government reporting that tens of thousands of Russian troops are pushing up on the Ukrainian border, Blinken will be joined in Brussels today by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Will he meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who will be in town for a meeting at NATO?

“The secretary should have an opportunity to see him perhaps later in Brussels,” said Department of State European and Eurasian Affairs Acting Assistant Secretary Philip Reeker in a press briefing ahead of the trip. The aim is de-escalation, but if Russia acts aggressively, “there will be consequences,” he said without elaborating further......

Some diplomats were surprised to see Blinken heading back into town after his visit last month, but Reeker stressed the reason for the visit was simply coordination..... “You cannot consult and coordinate enough in diplomacy,” Reeker insisted.

What could possibly go wrong? Oh, just about everything, as Sarah Lain, a Kyiv-based associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), lays out in this op-ed.

“There is a fine line between deterrence and what is interpreted as offensive action,” Lain writes. “Everyone is watching what Russia might do, without much of a plan as to what the response would be, should it escalate significantly. This also adds to the unpredictability.”...

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Old 13th Apr 2021, 12:39
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Beamr Good points a to c, well presented.
D is an assumption and the upcoming elections will give better view on this.

E and F are another story altogether. My first reactions are: years of hollywood indoctrination have worked: all soviets/Russians are stupid and fools. And common sense has left the planet!

I will touch on the ones I know.

Nemtsov: shot near the Kremlin, really stupid if it was FSB, but perfect for MSM/the West. Politically he had no more power and was much more valuable to the west dead than alive.

Skripals:
Why kill him, years after he went over to the west? He has no current sensitive knowledge. Why kill his daughter as well? She lived in Russia at that time.
Why use an intricate why to kill him when a simple knife in the ribs would do? There was/is a big surge in knife related attacks in UK during that time. A military grade poison, deadlier than VX, yet they survived. Again so stupid of the FSB, but perfect for MSM/the West.

Navalny: The darling of the west, with all eyes on him, yet they try to kill him. Again a military grade poison, deadlier than VX and he is still alive. Where was it in/on the bottle or in his underpants? Instead of just hiring some thugs to off him and dump his body somewhere. So stupid of the FSB. Nobody else became sick, from this deadly poison either. Then to add to the foolishness, they let him out of the country to be treated in Germany. Now that was dumb, hey? MSM/the West had a field day with this one.

People prefer not to attend unsanctioned protests/rallies, as they can get arrested. Russia is much freer than you make out.

F: Poisonings covered.
Chechnya: response to a large terror attack. The west portray it as a false flag event.
Georgia: if you are talking about 2008, then that was Medvedev and Georgia started the shooting war, Russia finished it. Check the EU commission findings.
Crimea: with the maidan happening so close to home, he would have won the election without a problem. Crimea was a direct response to the geopolitical upheaval of the time.

Over the past few years bribery and corruption have been steadily weeded out, not stopped yet. So if you are guilty you will pay.

Constitutional changes were aimed at enshrining laws regarding the people of Russia into the constitution. Secondly the powers of the president were reduced and handed to the Duma. These are all forgotten and the only one everyone mentions is the term changes. So Mr Putin has been the president for 16 years, Merkel has been chancellor for nearly 16 years, so where is the problem here?

The final question to ask is: who does this all benefit? Not Russia that is for sure. Remember most Russians are not stupid and this is not a hollywood movie! I have my doubts though, about the ones that try to kill me on the roads daily!

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Old 13th Apr 2021, 13:28
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How about the guy that got shot in the middle of Berlin by somebody who entered with some government issued fake name russian passport?
https://www.dw.com/en/georgians-deat...eve/a-53860911
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 13:40
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Originally Posted by Aegis8
Good points a to c, well presented.
D is an assumption and the upcoming elections will give better view on this.
Regarding D: no we will not, as Navalnyi is conveniently in jail.

Originally Posted by Aegis8
E and F are another story altogether. My first reactions are: years of hollywood indoctrination have worked: all soviets/Russians are stupid and fools. And common sense has left the planet!
No one said all the Russians are stupid nor fools. The same applies to former soviet citizens. It would be against common sense to claim otherwise. It would be as stupid as stating all the US citizens are cowboys. Or UK citizens are earls and duchesses.


Originally Posted by Aegis8
I will touch on the ones I know.

Nemtsov: ....
Skripals: ....
Navalny: ....

People prefer not to attend unsanctioned protests/rallies, as they can get arrested. Russia is much freer than you make out.
Using something that is obvious to all parties makes a statement, mess with us and you will have it. A random stabbing/shooting etc leaves questions but the abovementioned way gives a striking hint to anyone with the idea to oppose. It isn't about the west. Putin couldn't care less. It is about domestic politics he is worried about. No one is going to overthrow him from outside.

Regarding participation in rallies: you just confirmed what I stated earlier about comparing protesters numbers to real voters/total population. Hence 50k people in the streets of Moscow is a BIG thing. And Putin knows that. And wants to get rid of anyone capable of gathering these masses.

Originally Posted by Aegis8
F: Poisonings covered.
Chechnya: response to a large terror attack. The west portray it as a false flag event.
Georgia: if you are talking about 2008, then that was Medvedev and Georgia started the shooting war, Russia finished it. Check the EU commission findings.
Crimea: with the maidan happening so close to home, he would have won the election without a problem. Crimea was a direct response to the geopolitical upheaval of the time.
Chechnya: even the Moscow building bombers weren't all chechnyans, What if it was done by FSB to boost a war to make Putin look great? Supportive elements are, and the Sugar Sack incident doesn't really clear the image, either. And Litvinenko (ex FSB/KGB) was murdered for telling this story.
Georgia: come on, Medvedev was a mere puppet with Putin pulling the strings. They really wanted the world to think that Medvedev would've been a strong leader making independent decisions. What on earth was Russia doing there in the first place and why did Russia then begin an attack war towards Gor and Tbilisi if it was merely a peace keeping action in Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Putin wanted to get rid of Saakasvili.
Crimea: Maidan protests were in February 2014, and at that time Putins approval ratings had been between 60-69% for over a year (comparing the approval ratings earlier being above 70% until 2011). Crimean annexation was in the turn of March 2014, and 24th of March the approval rating had peaked to 80%. Annexation of a part of a sovereign foreign country was undoubtedly boosting nationalist feelings within Russia and boosting Putins approval rating.

Originally Posted by Aegis8
Over the past few years bribery and corruption have been steadily weeded out, not stopped yet. So if you are guilty you will pay.

Constitutional changes were aimed at enshrining laws regarding the people of Russia into the constitution. Secondly the powers of the president were reduced and handed to the Duma. These are all forgotten and the only one everyone mentions is the term changes. So Mr Putin has been the president for 16 years, Merkel has been chancellor for nearly 16 years, so where is the problem here?
The difference in between Merkel and Putin is, that Merkel has been the chancellor without changing the legislation for her benefit and through open elections. It is quite a difference.
Originally Posted by Aegis8
The final question to ask is: who does this all benefit? Not Russia that is for sure. Remember most Russians are not stupid and this is not a hollywood movie! I have my doubts though, about the ones that try to kill me on the roads daily!
As stated before, Russian are not stupid as US citizens are not cowboys. But it does benefit the ones wanting to build up a New Russian Empire for their ruling.

Last edited by Beamr; 13th Apr 2021 at 14:03.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 13:43
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I’d be amused if we could get 2 ‘disseminators’ debating with each other.
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Old 13th Apr 2021, 13:45
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It’s actually a pretty sad state of affairs that the Shenanigans of Stalin MkII and Mao MKII are killing and will continue to kill millions of their own, to protect their egos and their Chronies stolen wealth.

In all honesty, the Russian people are good people, the Chinese can be great fun, we all (generally) like beer, we all laugh. I propose a BBQ where each nation has to do a pantomime taking the Mickey out of their own leaders. Bring the buggers down to our level, then we can go back home with some great memories about how we laughed about how sociopathic, ignorant and egotistical our “elected” “leaders” and their chronies are.

It’s sad that the expansionist (disguised self protection from internal uprisings) focus of a couple of nutters is going to result in millions of deaths.
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