[Igor Antunov]

Emergency situation declared in Oryol region of Russia
https://t.me/rian_ru/146854

Putin Calls full meeting of Security Council of Russia
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/puti ... ?r=US&IR=T

Stream:

Sputnik: LPR is evacuating its citizens, as well ongoing Ukrainian army shelling near Donetsk Airport
Link

Moscow claims it killed five Ukrainian troops who crossed into Russia
https://www.ft.com/content/b4bf6296-eb4 ... 52b92b9837

A vloger films the corpses of civilians after a ukrainian artillery attack on donetsk
Link

I think a general thread to cover the broader situation and provide a place for a birds eye view discussion is warranted.

[Igor Antunov]

What I'm getting from the security meeting thus far: Russia will recognize the lugansk and donetsk republics. This means the entire provincial territories , not just what they control. Also, Russia has lost all belief in the diplomatic process after 7 years of the minsk agreement failing, and it will not tolerate a hostile ukraine on its border any longer.

Therefore a major military operation against Kiev will commence.

[late]

and it will not tolerate a hostile ukraine on its border any longer.

You don't see humor like that every day.

Poor weak, wimpy Russia afraid of big, bad Ukraine (what's left of it)...

[Igor Antunov]

Donbass republics call on Putin to recognize their independence
https://www.rt.com/russia/550128-donbas ... ependence/

Putin to make decision TODAY 22/02/22 Moscow time.

You don't see humor like that every day.

Poor weak, wimpy Russia afraid of big, bad Ukraine (what's left of it)...

Cough Cuba, Panama, Granada, Venezuela, Chile, Iraq Cough

[Otis Mayfield]

Putin can't have a successful Ukraine next to a declining Russia. Putin will invade Ukraine with the aim of regime change. Putin will install a government that's aligned with Putin. Putin must make Ukraine as bad as Russia is. Russian citizens must not look at neighboring Ukraine and realize that there's a better way. They'd kick out the kleptocracy if they did.

[Igor Antunov]

minister Kolokoltsev. Donbas “republics”, he says, should be recognized within the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, together with Mariupol and other areas controlled by Ukraine.

[Rancid]

Apparently Russia has a kill list for when they take over.

I guess they don't have to plutonium people, just good old fasions lining up against a wall and committing crimes against humanity. Why would any Ukrainian want to live under such a shit regime.

[Otis Mayfield]

It's going to be interesting to see what the Ukrainian insurgency looks like and how willing Putin is to brutally suppress the insurgency. We might be getting video of mass graves on the nightly news every night.

[Rancid]

It's going to be interesting to see what the Ukrainian insurgency looks like and how willing Putin is to brutally suppress the insurgency. We might be getting video of mass graves on the nightly news every night.

I think Russia is already started pushing the lie that they have found mass graves of Russians in eastern Ukraine. Obviously a fake excuse to get more aggressive. It's unclear if an insurgency would last or be strong enough.

I don't think Putin is going to invade, he's basically going to do a slow motion invasion so that sanctions are never placed on Russia. I think the west is stupid enough to allow it happen.

[late]

[quote="Igor Antunov"

www.rt.com

[/quote]

More Russian propaganda.

I accept the implicit admission, in your failure to respond on point, that what you were shoveling was BS.

[Otis Mayfield]

I think Russia is already started pushing the lie that they have found mass graves of Russians in eastern Ukraine. Obviously a fake excuse to get more aggressive. It's unclear if an insurgency would last or be strong enough.

I don't think Putin is going to invade, he's basically going to do a slow motion invasion so that sanctions are never placed on Russia. I think the west is stupid enough to allow it happen.

I mean, Russia will have to brutally suppress an insurgency, and to do so they'll have to punish the Ukrainians with mass executions. The mass graves we'll see on the evening news will be Ukrainian graves.

It's one of the reasons we lost Vietnam. We weren't willing to what it would take to suppress the insurgency.

Will the Russians be willing to do what it takes to suppress a Ukrainian insurgency?

[ThirdTerm]

Vladimir Putin is set to recognise the independence of two rebel-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, which only threatens to add fuel to the fire. This provocative move is a prelude to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, if Ukraine attempts to control the renegade regions by force. Since Russian athletes are safely back in Moscow from Beijing, it is time to act. To prevent an all-out war with Russia, the Ukrainian president should be patient enough to avoid firing the first shot. President Biden could make a deal with Putin in upcoming talks.

[Fasces]

Pathetic excuse, same as in Georgia. I wonder why former CIS countries don't form a mutual defense pact on their own and instead wait to be picked off one by one. Any bets on the next one, in 2035? Belarus or Kazakhstan?

[Saeko]

It looks like Putin has just effectively ordered an invasion of Ukraine.

[Beren]

Pathetic excuse, same as in Georgia. I wonder why former CIS countries don't form a mutual defense pact on their own and instead wait to be picked off one by one. Any bets on the next one, in 2035? Belarus or Kazakhstan?

Belarus was de facto annexed, it's funny how nobody has noticed that.

[Igor Antunov]

[quote="Igor Antunov"

http://www.rt.com

More Russian propaganda.

I accept the implicit admission, in your failure to respond on point, that what you were shoveling was BS.

No better or worse than any western source.

Summary: Putin outlines the reason why Ukraine is about to be deleted. Lenin (and to lesser extent Stalin) fucked up Russian territory just to appease outside nationalist so bolsheviks could stay in power. He says it is time to fix this mistake because Ukraine is rightful Russian Clay.

[Politics_Observer]

@Igor Antunov

That's propaganda and a lie. Putin really wants to crush Ukrainian democracy and independence and do it in a brutal way. Putin fears a successful and prosperous Ukraine because then it poses a threat to his power at home. It's the threat of a good example that Putin is afraid of in regards to Ukraine.

[Igor Antunov]

Are we really doing this after 20 years of utter American silliness? Democracy? Really? After a coup that deposed Ukraine's largest party and put in power a regime who's first act was to ban the Russian language in the country and that launched military attacks on Ukraine's Ethnic Russian population? If that's democracy (and it clearly is according to the usual suspects) count me out.

[Politics_Observer]

@Igor Antunov

It sounds like you drank the Kool Aid of authoritarian propaganda and Russians wonder why their wages are low in comparison to the rest of Europe and the United States. Russians, you need to stop drinking authoritarian Kool Aid and actually have real elections where you elect leaders who crack down on corruption and focus on developing your economy instead of spending your under-developed economy on a massive military that you can't afford and taking risks that could get you into a very expensive and costly war. And you can't afford that either! Putin is really doing this because he is afraid of a successful and prosperous Ukraine and the example it would set to his people. And he can't have that, because then that would mean he would lose his grip on power.

[Crantag]

It's not my intent to sound flippant in this case, but I will have the crow.

This just in as well.

I guess by recognizing Lugansk and Donbetsk, it can be a cover for Russia to station troops there.

I wasn't one cheerleading this escalation. I was just sceptical. I don't like to see war and escalation, and this is a very volatile situation.

I'll probably not have much more to say, but I am not celebrating these developments.