Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
PAGE 44 of 1104
Quote:Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin put the recent invasion in historical context. According to Kotkin, “What we have today in Russia is not some kind of surprise. It’s not some kind of deviation from a historical pattern. Way before NATO existed — in the nineteenth century — Russia looked like this: it had an autocrat. It had repression. It had militarism. It had suspicion of foreigners and the West. This is a Russia that we know, and it’s not a Russia that arrived yesterday or in the nineteen-nineties. It’s not a response to the actions of the West. There are internal processes in Russia that account for where we are today.”
Originally posted by SignyM:
I don't see any of these actions by Kiev and western powers substantially changing the outcome of the war.
I think what Russia is aiming for now is splitting off eastern and coastal Ukraine, either as independent statelets or absorbed into Russia, and beating "rump" Ukraine until it is forced to surrender on Moscow's terms, leaving reconstruction of "rump' Ukraine to the west
And what are those 19th century parallels? To those who study Russia, the 19th century French aristocrat and writer Marquis Astolphe de Custine, is one of the best-known chroniclers of Russian political culture. A travel writer in the style of Alexis de Tocqueville who wrote Democracy in America, de Custine traveled to Russia in 1839, and penned his travelogue Empire of the Czar. De Custine visited Russia in expectation of finding material to support his criticism of France’s representative government, but instead became an advocate for constitutional government and a vocal critic of Russian despotism. He identified a number of 19th century Tsarist traits that can equally describe the Russia of Vladimir Putin, to include domestic repression, institutional incompetence and a culture of lies.
In the lead-up to the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin ramped up repression at home, poisoning his opponents and jailing anyone who criticized the government. In 1839, de Custine described Tsarist Russia as a prison, in which the emperor holds the key. As he commented, “under a despotism, all the laws are calculated to assist oppression; …every indiscretion of speech is equivalent to a crime of high treason [and] the only criminal is the man who goes unpunished.” De Custine concluded that, “other nations have supported oppression, the Russian nation has loved it: it loves it still.” In Russia, “despotic tyranny is permanent.”
While Putin’s use of lies can be attributed to his KGB background, there are also ample historical and cultural antecedents. In his book, de Custine claimed that the Tsarist court displayed a singular “dexterity in lying, a natural proneness to deceit, which is revolting.” He added that lying seemed to be part of a larger cultural instinct to not only hide the truth, but lead people astray. “Russian despotism not only pays little respect to ideas and sentiments, it will also deny facts; it will struggle against evidence, and triumph in the struggle!” wrote de Custine, who further noted that in Russia, “to lie is still to perform the part of a good citizen; to speak the truth, even in apparently unimportant matters, is to conspire.” And as we have seen in the 21st century, instinctual lying has a political cost. As de Custine outlined, “by continually endeavoring to hide truth from the eyes of others, people become at last unable to perceive it themselves.”
The recent invasion of Ukraine also displayed a surprising level of bureaucratic incompetence. It seems that the Russian Army suffered from a variety of problems, including poor planning, poor intelligence and an inability for mid and lower-level officers to make decisions without approval from above.
In Putin’s Russia, fealty to the Kremlin is valued far more than professionalism. Similar to Stalin in the lead-up to WWII, Putin’s intelligence chiefs reinforced his preconceived notions rather than challenging them. This behavior was also rampant in the 19th century Russian
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Colonizers see themselves as actors with purpose, and the colonized as instruments to realize the imperial vision. Putin took a pronounced colonial turn when returning to the Presidency a decade ago. In 2012, he described Russia as a “state-civilization,” which by its nature absorbed smaller cultures such as Ukraine’s. The next year, he claimed that Russians and Ukrainians were joined in “spiritual unity.” In a long essay on “historical unity,” published last July, he argued that Ukraine and Russia were a single country, bound by a shared origin. His vision is of a broken world that must be restored through violence. Russia becomes itself only by annihilating Ukraine.
Thus modern Russian imperialism includes memory laws that forbid serious discussion of Ukraine. When the invasion began, in February, Russian publishers were ordered to purge mentions of Ukraine from textbooks. It is illegal for Russians to apply the word “war” to the invasion of Ukraine. It is also illegal to say that Stalin began the Second World War as Hitler’s ally, and used much the same justification to attack Poland as Putin is using to attack Ukraine.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-colonial-
war
Article by Vladimir Putin ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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The Muscovites or goats as I like to call the Russians are getting their asses kicked. This war was supposed to take 48 to 72 hrs.’ oops. Poor comrade Signym has to feign ignorance so she can say they are winning.
The goats’ goal comrade Signym was to conquer Ukraine not to lose their army trying. As I’ve said already comrade, oops.
Fri, April 29, 2022
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - FRIDAY, 29 APRIL 2022, 10:17. Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russian army has lost 23,000 of its soldiers in Ukraine. Source: General Staff Details: The total combat losses of Russian military from 24.02 to 28.04 are approximately: (with fresh losses indicated in brackets) personnel - about 23,000 (+200) people, tanks - 986 (+16) units, armoured combat vehicles - 2418 (+29) units, artillery systems - 435 (+4) units, multiple rocket launchers - 151 (+0) units, air defence systems - 73 (+1) units, aircraft - 189 (+2) units, helicopters - 155 (+0) units, automotive equipment - 1695 (+7) units, ships / boats - 8 (+0) units, fuel tanks - 76 (+0), operational and tactical unmanned aerial vehicles - 229 (+14). special equipment - 31 (+0). short range ballistic missile launchers - 4 (+0). In the last 24 hours the greatest losses of the Russian army were observed on the Izyum front. The data is being updated continuously.
T
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--------------------------------------------------
Me: "Remember Covid?"
Useless Idiots: "What's Covid, durr? Russia, Ukraine, Putin, NATO *drool*. DURRRR!!!!"
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Quote:How do you "know" this, comrade THUGR? Do you have a direct link to Russia's Security Council?
Originally posted by THG:
The Muscovites or goats as I like to call the Russians are getting their asses kicked. This war was supposed to take 48 to 72 hrs.’ oops. Poor comrade Signym has to feign ignorance so she can say they are winning.
How very interesting!
Quote:
The goats’ goal comrade Signym was to conquer Ukraine not to lose their army trying. As I’ve said already comrade, oops.
De-militarize
De-Nazify
As I recall, (and you should, too) those were the stated goals.
HOW it gets there is according to plan, which was kept secret from the very beginning.
I think, initially, the Russian Security Council had decided to negotiate early on with the Kiev government, because they kept saying ... negotiate or Ukraine might become unrecognizable.
They also went in "soft" early on, with very few missile strikes and heavy bombardment. That much is clear.
But since Russia also kept its troop movements, active fronts, committed personnel, losses etc etc strictly secret from the very beginning, and the only "info" was from Ukrainian sources (ahem!) it was impossible to suss out what was happening on the battlefield. Murky.
The reason for sending forces to Kiev have been interpreted as
Blitz Kiev. Doubtful. Invading forces were far, far too few to take a city that size.
Scare the Kiev govt into negotiating. A more probable "Plan A" (Phase 1), but failed.
Pin troops down near Kiev, a "feint", to keep them from reinforcing Kiev troops in Donbas. This was probably "plan B" when "Plan A" failed.
Like all militaries, Russia doesn't have "a" plan, it has dozens of plans. Russia has clearly given up on negotiating with Zelensky. If there was a failure of intelligence, it was failure to gauge the strength of the USA's hold on the Zelensky regime, because the Russians still wanted to negotiate with Kiev.
Quote:Who is Valentyna Romanenko? That is a reporter for Ukryina Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper with a slanted POV.
Fri, April 29, 2022
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO
Virtually everything that Kiev says is an outright lie, and they've been doing that since before 2015, when they claimed over and over again that they were "winning", even as their army faced annihilation in Debaltseve and they had to sue for peace. Russia made the mistake of letting them off the hook by accepting the Minsk process, only to have Kiev refuse to implement the (signed, UN-approved, German-backed) agreement.
From the Russian POV, they should have just killed all of the fighters in the Debaltseve pocket then, and forced a surrender. In fact, the Russian mistake THIS time, some say, was to go in "soft" and attempt to negotiate with a regime that has never been "agreement capable". I think the Russian Security Council has finally learned that lesson, are committed to a military solution, no longer care what happens to certain parts of Ukraine, and are shelling and firing missiles accordingly.
Kiev brought this on itself. But whatever happens in Ukraine has nothing to do with American security. It is a faraway corrupt nation that most people STILL can't find on a map, much like Iraq, and whatever WE'RE doing there is more like pissing contest with Russia that isn't going to get us anything tangible. don't we have enough problems AT HOME to solve? Seems like doing necessary economic, border, financial, political, social, etc repairs would make us stronger than involving ourselves with Ukraine and Russia.
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:After WWII, Russia killed German civilians by the millions and the UK and USA shrugged it off as nothing. Remember, this is AFTER Russia has won. Russia will kill Ukrainians by the millions AFTER the Russia-Ukrainian War. This time I don't think the UK and USA will shrug it off as nothing.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Kiev brought this on itself. But whatever happens in Ukraine has nothing to do with American security. It is a faraway corrupt nation that most people STILL can't find on a map, much like Iraq, and whatever WE'RE doing there is more like pissing contest with Russia that isn't going to get us anything tangible. don't we have enough problems AT HOME to solve? Seems like doing necessary economic, border, financial, political, social, etc repairs would make us stronger than involving ourselves with Ukraine and Russia.
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germa
ns_(1944%E2%80%931950)#Soviet_political_considerations
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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SECOND posts more bullshit.
Whatever.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:Putin can give the dead Ukrainians' fertile soil to reward Russian loyalists cooperating with the new government installed on conquered Ukrainian territory. Russia has done it already.
Originally posted by SignyM:
SECOND posts more bullshit.
Whatever.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
Stalin killed Germans AFTER peace was declared. The assets left by the Germans in Poland and Czechoslovakia were successfully used to reward cooperation with the new governments, and support for the Communists was especially strong in areas that had seen significant expulsions of Germans. Settlers in these territories welcomed the opportunities presented by their fertile soils and vacated homes and enterprises, increasing their loyalty.
Signym, every Ukrainian who left, either dead or alive, from Crimea also left behind their real estate, which Russia then distributed to Russian loyalists. In the last couple months, millions of Ukrainians have left Ukraine, either dead or alive, and their real estate can be redistributed by Putin to Russian loyalists.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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So Putin = Stalin
More bullshit from SECOND.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:Putin bought loyalty in Crimea by giving real estate formerly owned by Ukrainian-speaking residents of Crimea to brand new Russian speakers who moved in when the Ukrainian speakers moved out because they were dead or forced to leave Crimea to save their own lives. Putin learned that trick from Stalin, who bought loyalty by giving to new owners the real estate formerly owned by German speakers who had been driven out (or killed) in Poland and Czechoslovakia months or years after WWII had been won.
Originally posted by SignyM:
So Putin = Stalin
More bullshit from SECOND.
If Putin wins real estate in Ukraine during the ongoing war, he will be giving out free land to Russian speakers who are loyal to Putin. There will be millions of acres for Putin give out as bribes/gifts because millions of Ukrainians have left the Ukraine and left their real estate behind. They won't come back for their land if Putin wins this war and Putin won't be paying the former owners for their land.
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germa
ns_(1944%E2%80%931950)#Soviet_political_considerations
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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