Russia Invades

[GodIsADeeJay81]

I give up with Hibs, someone else can take a crack at it.

[Lancasterclaret]

Civilians blocking a Russian tank and forcing it to turn around

The stones to stand in front of a tank though

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1497972204851634191

[Vegas Claret]

...

[Lancasterclaret]

The EU going to finance and supply military weapons to an non-EU country

Holy s**t

Russia has turned the world order on its head

https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/ ... 4634882048

[Vegas Claret]

RT banned in Europe
Belarus now targeted

well wort the watch
https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/ ... mWuoQHCIZw

[bobinho]

Yep. That’s HUGE!!!

[Lancasterclaret]

BP selling its 20% rosneft shares, BP director to step down from the Board of Rosneft

Oh, and Sweden (Sweden!?!) is going to step up its arms supplies to Ukraine

[BleedingClaret]

Only 1 more man needs to die

[NewClaret]

Civilians blocking a Russian tank and forcing it to turn around

The stones to stand in front of a tank though

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1497972204851634191

Absolute balls of steel those guys. Hero’s.

[Peter Loo]

The EU going to finance and supply military weapons to an non-EU country

Holy s**t

Russia has turned the world order on its head

https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/ ... 4634882048

Non-EU county but still part of Europe though.

[Vegas Claret]

you would say after this latest announcement that the only tool we have left would be to use our forces (Air)

[Bordeauxclaret]

Only 1 more man needs to die

Seems like it doesn’t it. I wonder how much of his close circle actually want this?

[TheFamilyCat]

Oh, and Sweden (Sweden!?!) is going to step up its arms supplies to Ukraine

Hope the Ukrainians are handy with an Allen key.

[Vegas Claret]

BP to offload 19.75% stake in Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft after Russia's "act of aggression in Ukraine"

[Winstonswhite]

Absolute balls of steel those guys. Hero’s.

Watching that makes me think that no average Russian troop is up for this. The Red Army of years ago would have ploughed straight through the town.

[Inchy]

I honestly think a large majority of Russian troops don’t want to be there. They’re kids in their teens and 20s. They don’t just listen to the state media. They have Facebook, twitter and tiktok. They know there is a better world out there and they know killing a neighbour who is offering them no real threat is wrong.

Russia won’t win this.

[Vegas Claret]

I honestly think a large majority of Russian troops don’t want to be there. They’re kids in their teens and 20s. They don’t just listen to the state media. They have Facebook, twitter and tiktok. They know there is a better world out there and they know killing a neighbour who is offering them no real threat is wrong.

Russia won’t win this.

That's been Putin's biggest underestimation, his own people aren't having it.

[Vegas Claret]

Numbers out of Sweden:
Sweden just announced it will deliver 5000 anti-armour rocket launchers, 5000 body armour kits, 5000 helmets, and 135,000 field rations to the Ukrainian armed forces

That's a lot of rocket launchers

[TheFamilyCat]

That's been Putin's biggest underestimation, his own people aren't having it.

Which is great. The worry is what he does when he gets desperate.

[Vegas Claret]

Which is great. The worry is what he does when he gets desperate.

he already is

[NewClaret]

Watching that makes me think that no average Russian troop is up for this. The Red Army of years ago would have ploughed straight through the town.

Likewise.

That or they’re under orders not to take civilian casualties. Even Putin must know that would reflect very badly on Russia and they’d quickly lose any allies they might have left.

But deep down I just think they’re not up for it. Society has moved on and I don’t think many armies would be enthusiastic about indiscriminately murdering people.

[RicardoMontalban]

For simplicity

I don’t believe our government should actively encourage civilians to do what we are unable to let our trained troops do. That was my original point today following the Foreign secretary’s comments earlier.

Think it’s safe to say that’s not the government line, official or otherwise. That was a FS so far out of their depth they soiled the bed live on tv. You could actually see the sparks and smoke as her brain misfired and she uttered the words.

[Lancasterclaret]

I'm still struggling here with the geo-political implications of the changes that the EU and Germany have made in the past 24 hours

Putin could win and take Ukraine, and still lose massively strategically if this results in EU/NATO rearmament

[Vegas Claret]

I'm still struggling here with the geo-political implications of the changes that the EU and Germany have made in the past 24 hours

Putin could win and take Ukraine, and still lose massively strategically if this results in EU/NATO rearmament

I honestly don't think Putin will take Ukraine, Russia will run out of inventory and supplies long before the supply from the rest of the world - all going to depend on if his people can bring back from the edge of the cliff he currently finds himself

[RVclaret]

Views of a macro economic / finance guy I follow which are quite interesting (of course looking at the economic side of things):

1) Sanctioning the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) would be a very aggressive move. Sanctioning a central bank is very unusual but has been done before (Iran, Syria, Venezuela, N.Korea). CBR would lose use of most of its FX reserves. Russian ruble could collapse

2) A SWIFT ban needs to viewed with bans on Russian and correspondent banks. They need to go together to truly prevent Russia from making international payments.

3) The biggest uncertainty here is whether the EU/US will keep carve-outs for energy trade. If energy trade is curtailed or frozen, then we could see a big oil shock. This could be a global risk off event.

4) Russia has been mixed on cryptocurrency but the above actions could see Russia embrace crypto to evade sanctions. This could accelerate western regulation of crypto in response to this possibility.

5) A huge risk now is that a cornered Putin may decide to induce a global oil shock like the ones we saw in the 1970s to tip the global economy into a recession

[Vegas Claret]

unconfirmed at this stage but.....

Russian President Vladimir Putin removed Valery Gerasimov from the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. This was announced on Twitter by MP Sofia Fedina.

[Vegas Claret]

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has told reporters that Denmark will donate 2,700 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine

[Vegas Claret]

...

[TsarBomba]

Not really seeing a great deal of news regarding Russian advances, at the moment.

An amphibious assault on Mariupol is reportedly underway as of two hours ago, but all I can see are tactical withdrawals from Russia after significant losses, particularly in Bucha to the North of Kiev and Kharkiv in the NE. Video footage of an armoured Russian column devastated in Bucha are testament to that.

There will be advances in some areas, of course, but nothing that brings them anywhere close to their strategic aims.

I imagine the situation in Mariupol will be one to keep an immediate eye on.

[burnleymik]

Ah, I misunderstood you a bit

Apologies

But I have answered your point though in a post about Russian disinformation v Ukrainian social media/tv information - one can be backed up (and of course some of it is incorrect) and one cannot

There is a lot of disinformation around, but in the era of camera phones and ridiculously good military tech, there is a lot more info that is both checkable and verifiable, and most of that is coming from the Ukrainian side

For example: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60528276

[GodIsADeeJay81]

unconfirmed at this stage but.....

Russian President Vladimir Putin removed Valery Gerasimov from the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. This was announced on Twitter by MP Sofia Fedina.

https://twitter.com/BillNeelyReport/sta ... hef2Q&s=19

[elwaclaret]

Putin now knows he has blown it, and that is dangerous itself.
There is no time limit on sanctions, some of these draconian measures are hurting now, and its going to increasingly cripple EVERYONE in Russia for years to come, not just until he call off the attack - its gone far beyond that now. Unless their is a stripping of his Cronies from the Kremlin it would be madness to lift sanctions, which will send Russia close to Maoist China in levels of hardship, and with no immediate prospect of things getting better.

On the potential plus side, China’s recent clamp down and lurch back to Communism means it has actually moved further away from modern Russia, not closer. So the West assumption China will help may be well off the mark.

However there is the Taiwan issue, which is not good.

However more concerning is India’s position - there is another despot looking to get in with a leader, and Pakistan playing with fire trying to take advantage of opening markets.

The world needs to have long memories of just what is going on here, and who is doing what…

[dermotdermot]

unconfirmed at this stage but.....

Russian President Vladimir Putin removed Valery Gerasimov from the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. This was announced on Twitter by MP Sofia Fedina.

And so is that a good thing or not? Someone gave this post a ‘like’. What am I supposed to read into this?

[Vegas Claret]

...

[Vegas Claret]

And so is that a good thing or not? Someone gave this post a ‘like’. What am I supposed to read into this?

not sure tbh, just reporting it - imho it shows that Putin is clutching at straws and playing the blame game

[Vegas Claret]

Belgium is sending another 3,000 machine guns and 200 anti-tank grenade launchers.

[elwaclaret]

And so is that a good thing or not? Someone gave this post a ‘like’. What am I supposed to read into this?

You don’t start a war if you are going to sack your Chief of Staff. Either incompetence or more likely first signs of wider breaking ranks in Moscow.

[Vegas Claret]

I imagine the situation in Mariupol will be one to keep an immediate eye on.

doesn't look good there, a few saying it's completely surrounded and under heavy bombardment

[TsarBomba]

Russian troops reportedly in control of Berdiansk tonight, on the Sea of Azov.

[Vegas Claret]

as if we didn't already know Putin was taking the ****

[turbo5]

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has told reporters that Denmark will donate 2,700 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine

Lego blocks are just as lethal , like land mines those things

[Vegas Claret]

well FIFA are *****
FIFA issue statement saying no games in Russia, no flag or anthem of Russia to be played

no ban

[Hipper]

Lego blocks are just as lethal , like land mines those things

You can build anything with Lego:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yRifXI7sYQ

The only problem I foresee is that you need square shells.

[elwaclaret]

well FIFA are *****
FIFA issue statement saying no games in Russia, no flag or anthem of Russia to be played

no ban

Hopefully the backlash from their sponsors will sort it quickly.

[TsarBomba]

Situation looking very urgent in Mariupol.

Correspondent with Al Jazeera has managed to leave Mariupol in the direction of Zaporizhia, and in every town along the route, Ukrainian troops and civilians were constructing ditches and defenses.

Situation in Zaporizhia increasingly frenetic, with Russian troops advancing on the nuclear power plant.

[HahaYeah]

You can build anything with Lego:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yRifXI7sYQ

The only problem I foresee is that you need square shells.

Perhaps that's what Russias mobile crematoriums are made out of.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... ps-battle/

[Hipper]

..and here it is in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rovaypdYhfc

[Vegas Claret]

keep on topic please lads

[ClaretLoup]

FA have just announced that matches vs Russian sides at any level are banned.

Well played the Blazers.

.

[JarrowClaret]

Think it’s safe to say that’s not the government line, official or otherwise. That was a FS so far out of their depth they soiled the bed live on tv. You could actually see the sparks and smoke as her brain misfired and she uttered the words.

Whilst she stopped away from the official line I’m not sure what she said encouraged it but it certainly didn’t discourage it either.