The russians launch missiles and drones at civilians, like me.
Last October, I was sitting at my kitchen table, writing Haskell and working on my startup, when outside my kitchen window the local air defence successfully blasted a Shahed 136 out of the air. Both the missile trail and the cloud from the explosion hung in the air for several minutes. I have a good photo of it.
The air defence doesn’t always work. Sometimes it’s extremely loud, even when we’re sitting in the underground shelter during an air raid. Sometimes people die. So far it’s mostly been women and children.
I might have misinterpreted your comment, but “it made the sheep less safe” seems both wildly inaccurate and offensive. And to characterise it as the sponsoring of “Banderites”, well, I’d ask you which department of the kremlin you work for.
Because Ukraine refused to abide by the Minsk agreements and precipitated a war by shelling families in their homes for nearly a decade.
Why did you leave those people out of your story? — does their being bombed at home not matter?
> And to characterise it as the sponsoring of “Banderites”, well, I’d ask you which department of the kremlin you work for.
I could also say that only a Ukrainian spook would lie about an easily documented fact, like Stepan Bandera being worshipped as a hero in Ukraine.
https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/ukraine-designates-national-hol...
Was this before or after the Russian invasion in 2014?
The usual Russian propaganda is "Ukraine was bombing the Donbas", leaving out that Russia actually invaded Ukraine, shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and started a war where Ukraine was defending itself.
Get your facts straight Russian mouthpiece.
February 23rd, 2022.
The West told the world the russians were about to invade Ukraine.
The russians told the world that they were not about to invade Ukraine.
---
February 24th, 2022.
The West reported to the world that the russians have invaded Ukraine.
The russians told the world that they are not currently invading Ukraine.
Which facts were hidden from the public? Who lied? What was true? What happened?
The facts are pretty clear here: NATO didn't invade Ukraine, Ukraine didn't invade Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and full scale invasion in 2022. Are you denying that? So what facts am I missing??? Or is your defence just "nobody knows". Russia constantly invades neighbouring countries. Are you denying that too? "The facts are always hidden", what kind of bullshit is that? It's just that you've run out of factual arguments that you try the old "nobody knows" trick.
So about the fact that I presented about "Ukraine was bombing the Donbas", who's better to explain it that Putin himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WguLRyWPo4
- (2008) "Crimea is not a disputed territory. Russia long ago recognised the borders of today's Ukraine."
- "It was the local self defence forces"
- "Behind the back of the self-defence forces of Crimea of course, stood our servicemen"
- "It's a fact and we never concealed it: our armed forces blockaded the Ukrainian army in Crimea"
- "Do not believe those who scare you about Russia that Crimea will be followed by other regions. We do not want the division of Ukraine. We do not need it"
So in the end even Putin admitted that they were invading Ukraine, and it was not "local self defence forces". But some people still seem to be stuck on the old narrative that Ukraine was bombing itself.
So can you still present any "alternative" facts or is your story only "nobody knows"?
I'm going to post the same reply to the users breaking the site guidelines on the opposite side of this fight. We don't want this kind of battle here, and we ban accounts that do it repeatedly.
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules from now on, we'd appreciate it.
But to be fair, maybe you should include a topic about spreading Russian propaganda there, because it's a huge problem in EU: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/li...
A discussion about the involvement of NATO is fair game, but "Ukraine bombing the Donbas" is a 100% Russian propaganda lie. I own my own platform, and such a statement would be an instant ban of that account.
I'm all for free speech, but like I showed, Russian propaganda poses a real threat for us here in the EU.
So in my defense, "Russian mouthpiece" was a factual statement ;), but I understand it's also a personal attack.
The idea that Ukraine decided to kill civilians in the Donbas for eight years is quite plainly russian misinformation. It’s bullshit. And here you are to spread it.
People died in Donbas because the russian military invaded. Unfortunately for people like you, you can no longer claim that it was a pro-russian Ukrainian separatist movement that wished to secede, and that the evil Ukrainian government decided to shell them for it. You can’t do that anymore, because despite first denying it for several years, the russians eventually admitted that it was their military who invaded.
As for “Ukrainian spook” — I’m flattered, but you can take your tin-foil hat off now. I’m a programmer from England.
Why did Russia start the war in the first place? How can someone be so dense?
> does their being bombed at home not matter?
So the solution to that is to bomb a 100x more people? Did you ever try actually reading what you write down?
I'm going to post the same reply to the users breaking the site guidelines on the opposite side of this fight. We don't want this kind of battle here, and we ban accounts that do it repeatedly.
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules from now on, we'd appreciate it.
I'm going to post the same reply to the users breaking the site guidelines on the opposite side of this fight. We don't want this kind of battle here, and we ban accounts that do it repeatedly.
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules from now on, we'd appreciate it.
https://mwkworks.com/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html
It is not meant as a disparaging remark in this context to call people sheep.
ChatGPT's summary: Dave Grossman explores the concept of three distinct types of people in society: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. He characterizes "sheep" as the general populace, who are peaceful and vulnerable; "wolves" as those who prey on the sheep, representing criminals and threats to society; and "sheepdogs" as individuals who protect the sheep, often law enforcement and military personnel. Grossman emphasizes the importance of recognizing and supporting the sheepdogs who keep society safe, and he encourages readers to understand the roles these groups play in maintaining a secure and orderly society.
My own note: to the sheep the wolves and the sheepdogs can often seem the same. They both have scary fangs, make growling noises, chase and bite, etc. It is common for the sheep to fear both wolves and the sheepdogs. Some sheep fail to distinguish the two, and if sheep wrote political essays they might call for defunding the sheepdogs as they are a menace to society. But wolves and sheepdogs are not the same, and it is a mistake to equate defensive investment in military capabilities to keep the peace (even if that sometimes involves military interventions and/or small-scale preemptive wars) with hostile, aggressive conquest of the sort we see carried out by actors like Russia, or the genocide conducted by Hamas.
The reason why Ukraine still exists today is because Ukrainian soldiers managed to kill so many russian invaders and destroy so much russian armour in the first couple of months of the war. This is largely thanks to Western ordnance.
Curious framing, given the circumstances.
I'm going to post the same reply to the users breaking the site guidelines on the opposite side of this fight. We don't want this kind of battle here, and we ban accounts that do it repeatedly.
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules from now on, we'd appreciate it.
That doesn't prove anything other than humans remain human. I'm no blind supporter of Uncle Sam but things are just a little bit more complicated than your comment seems to suggest.
You know, those people with Nazi insignia that are celebrated as heroes in Ukraine.
And feature in NATO photos.
https://www.newsweek.com/nato-says-it-didnt-notice-ukraine-s...
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/02/pro-kremlin-ne...
That doesn’t change that the US trained and armed Banderites in Ukraine.
Besides, NATO is already at their doorstep with Finland. Did it change anything?
And how can you negotiate with a country like Russia? Peace deal now is an invasion in 5 years.
My previous assessment hasn’t changed. You are either blissfully ignorant of the reality of the war in Ukraine and russia’s aims, or you are deliberately spreading misinformation here.
Russia, obviously, is not one of them. It's their problem, not NATO's.
The waste of the US military in Iraq, the defeat in Afghanistan, the failures of domestic spying and PSYOPs dividing the nation, and the failed war in Ukraine has precipitated a state of weakness where rival countries are jockeying for position in both the Middle East and SE Asia. China is openly waging irregular warfare against the US, killing 100,000+ Americans per year in the Second Opium War. Our borders are regularly not only breached by Mexican paramilitaries, but the invasion assisted by DOD flights.
The failure of the “sheepdog” to keep the herd safe is happening right now.
Edit:
If you disagree with my conclusion —
I explained why I thought that in my post, so please explain either where you thought I was wrong or what you know that I don’t.
Rather than trot out the very tired “muh conspiracy theories!”
Not only is "NATO vs BRICS" not escalating, there is no "NATO vs BRICS". What are you even on about.
And yet before the end of December you'll likely see the USAF working with Brazilian armed forces in Guyana against Maduro's invasion, and now the B of BRICS is out of the equation.
You should stop reading Russian propaganda as if it was news…
Ukraine is a sovereign democratic state. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, and a full scale invasion in 2022.
Is it surprising to you that Ukraine wants closer ties with Western Europe the same way Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, etc has done? All these countries were able to prosper. Russia is a shit non-democratic country that wants to go back to the soviet days where everyone under their rule lived in shit.
How you could say this was a "US army sponsored Banderites" with a straight face is just plain retarded. At least US didn't kill millions of Ukrainians, unlike Russia.
The US army invaded Iraq, though it made the sheep less safe; the US army sponsored Banderites in Ukraine, though it made the sheep less safe; the US army waged psychological warfare against the public, subverted their rights with domestic spying, and assisted illegal entry into the US; etc.
The “sheepdog” narrative is what people tell themselves to soothe their souls as they sell their countrymen out to foreign powers and oligarchs.
…and people know that, which is why recruiting is in the gutter.