Russia/Ukraine conflict

[X Fan]

Out of the 271 Republican Senators and Congresspeople 19 signed a letter calling on the Biden Administration to stop sending aid to Ukraine.

GOP lawmakers call on Biden to stop sending aid to Ukraine in new letter: report

GOP House and Senate lawmakers sent a letter to President Biden Thursday urging the administration to stop sending aid to Ukraine, stating it has only increased tensions with Russia.

www.foxnews.com

Glad to see but important to recognize that there are always naysayers in legislation.

ie, the Lend-Lease 1941 House vote was 260-165 and the Senate 60 to 31.

 

[navguy12]

Russia scrubs Kyiv and Ukraine from school textbooks, reports

If you can't read it it never and doesn't exist, right?

Back in the 70’s, the publisher of Hustler, Larry Flynt, would take out a full page ad and it went something like this:

”The experts agree, censorship works”.

The ad contained IIRC pencil sketches of the busts of Stalin, Hitler and Mao.

Anytime I read about books being changed, banned, burned or whatever, I always think back to that ad.

 

[petit_bateau]

Bic (French) pens took over the marketplace due to their superior ball bearing points. Nobody else could make them at a competitive price.

Hmmm ...........

Really that is a Hungarian-Argentine ball bearing in those 'biros'

László Bíró - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

László Bíró - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[petit_bateau]

I don't think China has thought this one through

https://twitter.com/x/status/1649587830371373058

 

[UncaNed]

Out of the 271 Republican Senators and Congresspeople 19 signed a letter calling on the Biden Administration to stop sending aid to Ukraine.

GOP lawmakers call on Biden to stop sending aid to Ukraine in new letter: report

GOP House and Senate lawmakers sent a letter to President Biden Thursday urging the administration to stop sending aid to Ukraine, stating it has only increased tensions with Russia.

www.foxnews.com

@ItsNotAboutTheMoney

I'd like a link to the actual list of these Pro-Russian Republicans.

Edit-
@jabloomf1230 , thank you for the list of Russian Republicans whose competitors I need to support.

It's in the 7th paragraph down:

"On the House side, 16 Republican members signed the letter, following the lead of freshman Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona. They include Reps. Mary Miller of Illinois, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Barry Moore of Alabama, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Tim Burchett and Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Mike Collins of Georgia and Josh Brecheen of Texas."

 

[jabloomf1230]

@ItsNotAboutTheMoney

I'd like a link to the actual list of these Republican Pro-Russians.

Republican lawmakers to Biden: no more 'unrestrained aid' to Ukraine - Responsible Statecraft

Sens. Lee, Paul, and Vance lead the charge, saying they'll oppose aid until there's a clear diplomatic plan for ending the war.

responsiblestatecraft.org

 

[JRP3]

Ukraine wants F-16's

 

[iPlug]

Seeing this from multiple credible news sites. Unclear if probing and/or start of some thing more:

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has stated that Ukrainian forces took up positions on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast.​

Ukrainian forces land on left bank of Kherson Oblast

 

[bkp_duke]

Seeing this from multiple news sites, appears credible. Unclear if probing and/or start of some thing more:

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has stated that Ukrainian forces took up positions on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast.

Ukrainian forces land on left bank of Kherson Oblast

If true, this is a big problem for the Russians. It was pretty much the one place they didn't think the Ukrainians would push into in force because of the river, so they were beefing up defense in pretty much every other area.

Now, is it a ruse to get them to divert from elsewhere? Only time will tell.

 

[madodel]

Russia expels at least 20 German diplomats
The foreign ministry apparently took the action in response to German ejections.

From what I've read this was in response to Germany expelling about 40 Russian spies from Germany a year ago. It's taken Russia a year to come up with this?

 

[Dreadnought]

Russia expels at least 20 German diplomats
The foreign ministry apparently took the action in response to German ejections.

From what I've read this was in response to Germany expelling about 40 Russian spies from Germany a year ago. It's taken Russia a year to come up with this?

No. An unknown number of russian diplomats have recently (yesterday?) been expelled “with the aim of reducing the Russian intelligence presence in Germany”.

Rätselhafter Flug nach Berlin: Deutschland weist laut Moskau „massenhaft“ russische Diplomaten aus - WELT

Deutschland soll laut Moskau „massenhaft“ russische Diplomaten ausgewiesen haben. Als Gegenmaßnahme werden offenbar mehr als 20 deutsche Vertreter aus Russland geworfen. Das Auswärtige Amt hält sich bedeckt. Bestätigt ist aber ein ungewöhnlicher Flug einer Iljuschin nach Berlin.

www-welt-de.translate.goog

Edit: Apparently, the first paragraph didn't get translated. This is what deepL came up with:

According to Moscow, Germany has expelled Russian diplomats "en masse." As a countermeasure, more than 20 German representatives are apparently being thrown out of Russia. The Foreign Office is keeping a low profile. Confirmed, however, is an unusual flight of an Ilyushin to Berlin

 

[madodel]

No. An unknown number of russian diplomats have recently (yesterday?) been expelled “with the aim of reducing the Russian intelligence presence in Germany”.

Rätselhafter Flug nach Berlin: Deutschland weist laut Moskau „massenhaft“ russische Diplomaten aus - WELT

Deutschland soll laut Moskau „massenhaft“ russische Diplomaten ausgewiesen haben. Als Gegenmaßnahme werden offenbar mehr als 20 deutsche Vertreter aus Russland geworfen. Das Auswärtige Amt hält sich bedeckt. Bestätigt ist aber ein ungewöhnlicher Flug einer Iljuschin nach Berlin.

www-welt-de.translate.goog

Edit: Apparently, the first paragraph didn't get translated. This is what deepL came up with:

Yes, the original article I posted wasn't clear. Seems Germany did just expel more Russians and Russia responded. Thanks for the clarification.
Russia announces 'reciprocal' expulsion of more than 20 German diplomats, RIA reports

 

[nativewolf]

If true, this is a big problem for the Russians. It was pretty much the one place they didn't think the Ukrainians would push into in force because of the river, so they were beefing up defense in pretty much every other area.

Now, is it a ruse to get them to divert from elsewhere? Only time will tell.

At first Ukraine was reacting to continuing Russia artillery bombardment of Kherson. Not sure if this is a continuation of that exercise or if it is something else but since it is widely reported maybe something to watch. They received several dozen River warfare boats from the USA. They could move 200 soldiers an hour but how to supply? Rebuild the crossing over the hydroelectric facility would be the fastest I guess.

 

[adiggs]

At first Ukraine was reacting to continuing Russia artillery bombardment of Kherson. Not sure if this is a continuation of that exercise or if it is something else but since it is widely reported maybe something to watch. They received several dozen River warfare boats from the USA. They could move 200 soldiers an hour but how to supply? Rebuild the crossing over the hydroelectric facility would be the fastest I guess.

Telegraphing a river crossing / amphibious operation - sure does sound like a feint to me. The alternative being stupid, and I've not seen much evidence of Ukraine being stupid.

If nobody shows up to resist, then might as well cross. Better yet - a bunch of stuff shows up to defend, and you can just hang out and wave and look tough, while the main show is playing somewhere else.

 

[nativewolf]

Likely the later it is what they did before.

 

[nativewolf]

Likely the later it is what they did before.

Well not wave but use asymmetric artillery advantages to punish those showing up. But in this conflict maybe they call that waving so yeah…waving works

 

[iPlug]

Reportedly, Russian troops are forcibly relocating people from the occupied areas on the left (east) bank of the Dnipro at Kherson.

This may suggest Russian forces will withdraw a bit further there as they anticipate the Ukrainian counteroffensive. My guess is the Russians currently doubt Ukraine would try to push the main counteroffensive directly across the Dnipro there as moving so many tanks and APCs over amphibiously and keeping up logistic chains would be risky.

Anyway, battlefield movements starting to get interesting again.

 

[SageBrush]

Reportedly, Russian troops are forcibly relocating people from the occupied areas on the left (east) bank of the Dnipro at Kherson.

Civilian shield ?

 

[iPlug]

Civilian shield ?

Wouldn't that mean keeping civilians there?

My guess is Russians calculate since the majority of the population in that occupied region is adamantly pro- or at least sympathetic to Ukraine it is better to engage in human trafficking.

 

[SageBrush]

Wouldn't that mean keeping civilians there?

I took the 'eastern side' to mean to the area that Russia "annexed."