Ukraine cries. Everyone is lying. UN expresses 'deep concerns'

[Dr Sardonicus]

From the US military news publication Stars and Stripes,

Nikita Yuferev, a municipal lawmaker from St. Petersburg who fled the country for his antiwar views but can still perform the official duties of his mandate remotely, said on Thursday that he had written a complaint against Putin, asking Russia's prosecutor general to investigate the president's statement.

"There was no decree to end the special operation, and no war was declared," Yuferev tweeted. "Several thousand people have already been prosecuted for such words about the war, so I've sent a request to the authorities to charge Putin with spreading fakes about the army."

The move is symbolic and will not be acted upon by law enforcement. But it underscores how selective prosecution has become the norm in the Russian judicial system under Putin's rule, with different standards in place for citizens depending on their level of support for the president.

Hmm, "different standards in place for citizens depending on their level of support for the president" reminds me of the last Administration here in the good ol' USA. Unsurprisingly, personality cult followers of 45 are generally Putin toadies as well.

[kruoli]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

If my understanding is correct, laws passed in Russia in early March make publicly referring to his war as a war rather than as a "special military operation" a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

There are already people who try to bring Putin for court because of that: http://twitter.com/nikitayuferev/sta...72162468368385

[kriesel]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

"different standards in place for citizens depending on their level of support for the president" reminds me of the last Administration here in the good ol' USA. Unsurprisingly, personality cult followers of 45 are generally Putin toadies as well.

Reminds me of numerous well documented cases in both the Obama and Biden administrations (aka likely Obama's illegal third term). https://gohmert.house.gov/news/docum...umentID=399970
determined resistance to enforcing immigration law and determined efforts to prevent the states from stepping into the gap;
Fast and Furious government program to get guns to the Mexican crime cartels; granting or withholding of 501c3 status depending on politics, etc etc ad nauseum. The US Constitution is a wonderful design for a government. It's a shame the nation stopped following it several decades ago, and increasingly so with time, to the point that when the SCOTUS occasionally insists upon following it in some cases, it provokes leaks, riots, and displays of moral outrage.
And yes, Putin is a loathsome creature.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Both stories on Reuters...

Regarding Ukraine, Russia's nominal "foreign minister" Sergei Lavrov said

Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia's security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy.

The point is simple: Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.

Meanwhile Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, predicted that in the coming year France and Germany would go to war with each other, and that there would be a civil war in the United States that would result in Elon Musk becoming US President.

Unsurprisingly, Musk was thrilled at that prediction.

NOTE: In just about every picture of Elon Musk I've ever seen, his face looks like it's made of rough plaster or clay. Perhaps he is something like a Golem created by Putin or his henchmen. There can be no question of his serving as a helper to them. I propose the monicker "Stucco Man."

[Xyzzy]

Elongated Muskrat

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

Elongated Muskrat

Good one!

However, the International Muskrat Union is calling you on line two...

[Dr Sardonicus]

It seems that scores, possibly hundreds, of raw Russian recruits in Makiivka became "well-done" when Vocational Technical School No. 19, which was being used by the Russians as barracks, was destroyed while Vlad the Insane gave his New Year address.

Makiivka is a bit East of Donetsk, near the western border of the separatist-controlled part of the Donbas region.

Russia and other sources say it was a HIMARS rocket strike. "Officially," Ukraine drolly attributes the casualties to "careless handling of heating devices, neglect of safety measures, smoking in an unidentified place".

I imagine a number of the unfortunate conscripts wound up smoking in several unidentified places simultaneously...

[Dr Sardonicus]

More nuclear saber-rattling from Russia

This story seems to have originated from Rueters. It has been picked up by many other news services.

Dmitry Medvedev is at it again. Just ahead of a big powwow of Western military leaders at Ramstein Air Base Friday, he posted on Telegram (translated):

The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war.

This is the clearest indication I have seen to date that the Russians are seriously considering the prospect that Putin's Special Military Disaster will be a total failure.

[xilman]

About time too, IMAO.

[kriesel]

Originally Posted by xilman

About time too

About ten months late I'd say.
But German reluctance to send its tanks into other countries would have been a good thing back in the 30s and 40s.
They're said to have over 300 active and 200 in storage. Scroll down to vehicles here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...he_German_Army

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by xilman

About time too, IMAO.

Given the all-too-long dancing around about sending Ukraine this much-needed assistance - "We'll send tanks if somebody else commits first" etc - I'm still a bit skeptical it will actually happen. If training of Ukrainian crews in using these tanks begins immediately, that would help assuage my concerns.

This has taken much longer than I would have hoped, but I still have hope that this is a case of "better late than never."

When Germany declined to make the decision at the recent powwow at Ramstein Air Base, I was bitterly disappointed. From news accounts I read, I had nothing on the other participants in that regard.

I was somewhat bemused when I read that the Biden Administration had decided to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine. However, the story had an all-too-familiar ring - no clear indication of how many. And delivery could take months, or even years. I started to fume.

But then, it dawned on me: Those caveats weren't the important thing. What was important was that the US had made the decision to send our best tanks to Ukraine. And that just might prompt others to do likewise. I don't know how big a role the US decision made in persuading European nations to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but I'm quite sure it didn't hurt.