this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
1132 points (98.0% liked)

World News

39199 readers
2175 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Almost 90 bombs were dropped in one region in just 24 hours.

Russia unleashed an unprecedented bombardment in southern Ukraine overnight in what local officials described as a “massive attack” in the conflict which has continued to rage even as the international community’s attention has moved to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry on Monday morning said Russia dropped at least “87 aerial bombs on populated areas of the Kherson region - the largest number for all time.” At least eight people were also injured in other Russian strikes carried out in the Odessa region further to the west on Sunday night.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MrFlamey 66 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Fuck Putin, the warmongering cunt. I hope Ukraine continues to get Western support and can kick Russia out of their country, however slim the chances might be looking right now. Russia extending its influence and things gradually going back to business as usual, only for them to do it again in another 10 years won't be good for any Western democracies.

Haven't really been following the Israel/Palestine thing much to be honest, but it would be nice if people would stop killing one another. Also really sucks that it benefits Putin.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I truly feel like if we let Russia get anything that might count as a positive for them from this war, there will definitely be a new war of at least similar scale, but probably significantly worse and significantly less contained.

[–] Squizzy 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We let Hitler take shit and it didn't end well, the repurcussions of that are at war today.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

it still blows me away on how similar this is to the taking of australia and the Sudetenlands.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I did but I will not edit it for the amusement of others.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Now that would be an interesting alternate history

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

At this level, I think you are just dumb.

[–] jarfil 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Russia wants to keep unobstructed access to the Black Sea, for its freight and military ships.

The EU and China want to keep a railroad from China to the EU, through Kazakhstan and Ukraine or Belarus, to cut in half the time freight ships take.

Both need control over the same piece(s) of land.

For reference:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Russia already has access to the Black Sea even without any Ukrainian land.

[–] jarfil 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Russia has access to the Black Sea through the Sea of Azov, which is controlled by whoever controls Crimea... and to maintain control over Crimea, Russia needs supply lines over a land access at least across the Donbass, not just through a bridge that can be bombed at any time, as it has been already.

Both the Donbass and Crimea, Ukraine considers to be Ukrainian land, even though the history of both areas is plagued by forced resettlements during the USSR times.

Additionally, there are natural resources, some ports, and a nuclear plant in the Donbass area, which Russia would happily take over.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Russia has a long stretch of Black Sea coast outside of the Sea of Azov. They don't need any more land to use that.

[–] jarfil 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Please look again at the map for the Unified Deep Water System.

This isn't about having a port on the Black Sea, it's about having ships from ports in inland Russia getting unobstructed waterway access to the Black Sea, from where they can go to the Mediterranean and beyond.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Then it looks like they need to change their strategy.

[–] jarfil 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

At this point, they don't have many options, since their economy is based around using the waterways as main transport routes.

Keep in mind Russia can have a container ship delivered from China right to Moscow, and viceversa.

Russia's best bet (around 2000-2010), was to befriend the EU, while getting rid of all their internal corruption, and start treating ex-USSR republics as proper states instead of relying on forcing puppet governments in them. Especially in Ukraine, they shouldn't have burned their puppet government in 2014 by making it accept a worse deal than what the EU was offering, definitely not before at least having the country split in half and Crimea+Donbass secured as separate puppet countries.

By uniting Ukraine, then making an enemy out of the EU, while still allowing a ton of internal corruption, Putin has screwed Russia royally.

Russia's only options right now are to either:

  • Roll over and ask the EU, Ukraine and NATO to pretty please forgive them... which Putin would not survive (best case scenario, he'd stand before the Hague tribunal, if he got to live that long)
  • Dig an even deeper hole for themselves until they go full nuclear... which Russia as a country would not survive (but maybe Putin could, in a good bunker)
  • Have a civil war... which Putin might be able to flee, while whoever ended up on top could roll over and ask the EU, Ukraine and NATO to forgive them pretty please.

Speculatively:

  • Spend some bucks on Iran to support Hamas going full berserk in Gaza in an attempt to shift US attention from Ukraine... (which already had Republicans ask to reduce military aid for Ukraine while increasing it for Israel)... and hope to secure some more of Donbass before those F16 make it basically impossible for Russia to do anything. Then push for an armistice with the new borders.

But it's kind of impossible for Ukraine to willingly agree to that, highly unlikely for the EU to lift its sanctions just because, and NATO would still rather have Russia disappear as a threat completely.

The EU might agree if it included guaranteeing a safe tax-free railway corridor to China, which would on one hand still hurt Russia, but on the other they could also benefit from a railway connection to China, even if it isn't that much better than having container ships go from China right to Moscow.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The chances aren't as slim as many people seem to imagine. Putin is basically in a holding pattern for now. He's holding out on the chance that Trump might win a second term, thus changing everything about the current dynamic. If Trump doesn't win, Putin is probably in pretty big trouble since he almost certainly won't survive a defeat in Ukraine and will be hard-pressed to find a good exit that doesn't look like one.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

How is trump remotely relevant to Putin?

[–] uis 6 points 1 year ago

It is sad to see Putin's oligarchs "honorable buisnessmen", while everyone else should cross border naked and without phones or laptops. If they were lucky enough to get visa in the first place.

in another 10 years won't be good for any Western democracies.

Another 10 years of Putin won't be good for any democracy. Fuck Putin.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Putin the war monger? Bro, Biden is literally funding genocide. The west calling Putin a warmonger is insanely hypocritical. It's not Russia that is responsible for most of the violence in the middle east in the 21st century, America is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

is this 'the west' in the room with us

does he have a blog perhaps, id love to read his takes

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"The West" means America's zone of influence. Otherwise known as Europe, NA, and parts of other continents. Why are you questioning the definition of a word? It's just what the term means.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i figured you mustve meant an actual specific person, since disagreeing with something doesnt suddenly make you a hypocrite if some guy you have nothing to do with in the same ~1 billion people group you were born into also does it

is it actually hypocrisy that youre using a wrong definition for, then?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Every American that gives a shit about Russias actions and is not very loudly against American imperialism, even though their own country regularly does far worse wars in the middle east, and is currently funding a genocide, is a hypocrite. Even if Russia were somehow worse than America, despite committing far fewer war crimes and crimes against humanity, Americans who care about Russia need to STFU. When you have a problem in your own home, you fix it, you don't go around criticizing others. Americans need to fix our imperialism problem.