It Started... Russian attacks on Ukraine

[Melbosa]

https://globalnews.ca/news/8641948/ukraine-russia-putin-war/

The Russian leader warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to "consequences they have never seen."

According to some sites I've seen it reads like (not typical trusted NEWS sites, so take it as you will - and why I'm not linking them directly):

Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted to intervene in the ongoing events. Whoever tries to hinder us, or threaten our country or our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to consequences that you have never faced in your history. We are ready for any turn of events. All necessary decisions in this regard have been made. I hope that I will be heard.

[Mr. Analog]

This whole affair is disgusting. I'm interested in hearing what the G7 countries response will be. I know they met this morning but I've been too busy with work to tune in

[Thorin]

That quote is what I saw in the English translation to his speech, as well.  He is hinting at using nuclear weapons to attack anyone who tries to interfere with Russia's attack on Ukraine.

I have been glued to live feeds on reddit all day, fully aware that there are full-scale disinformation campaigns going on both sides to try and paint the other side as terrible.  However, it cannot be argued that Russia is in any way not terrible in this action, they are clearly, _clearly_, the aggressors.  I cannot believe that Trump came out and praised Putin and then also claimed this wouldn't have happened if he had been in power (okay, I can believe that he said that, I can't believe that other people believe that).  Tucker Carlson, one of the most-watched TV personalities in the US, is busy shilling for Russia and Putin, it's unfathomable that _anyone_ in the US would support Russia over Ukraine, but then anyone who's exposed to his JAQing seems to get pulled into the conspiracy rabbit holes.

The G7 have come out and placed some serious sanctions on various rich people and government officials in Russia, but they're not all united and they're still waffling on some of the most-serious sanctions (one of which would be removing all Russian banks' access to international markets via SWIFT).

Interesting to note that both Czechia's president Zeman and Hungary's prime minister Orban, who have both been moving their countries closer to Russia and seem to have a friendly relationship, denounced Russia's attack and essentially said Putin has lost his marbles.

Putin and Russia's official mouthpieces will try to name this various other things, but this is clearly an invasion, a war started by Russia, and Russia is clearly the aggressor.  I hope that the G7 will bring even further sanctions, that Russian nationals' assets (yachts, apartments, houses, boats, cars, bank accounts, companies, stocks, and anything else we can think of) will be seized, that Russia's banks are kicked off SWIFT, and that they're fully embargoed (no goods in or out) until Russia withdraws all its troops from Ukraine.

Unfortunately China sees an opportunity here to get the upper hand over the western nations, and has already offered to buy all the grain that the west is no longer buying from Russia (the #1 supplier of grain to the world).

[Mr. Analog]

Apparently we're at DEFCON 3 as of today.

Belarus had a referendum and are allowing Russian precision nuclear arms to be mobilized in their border.

Scary times...

[Thorin]

Yeah, of course we'll never actually be told what DEFCON the US is actually at, we can still talk about what defconlevel.com posts as their estimate.

I've been soaking all the news around the Russian invasion of Ukraine up like a sponge, to the detriment of my sleeping pattern.  I'm amazed at how quickly decisions move these days, and how quickly new weaponry is brought to the front in Ukraine.  Poland and Slovenia and another EU member is giving/selling Ukraine their MiG-29s, because Ukraine has more pilots than planes now and it's what they fly.  Meanwhile, Russia is floundering due to lack of proper military planning.  It seems like they thought they were going to steamroll Ukraine, and are now being ordered to take Kyiv whatever the cost.

Lots of propaganda abounds, it's hard to tell what's true and what's not, but Russia does appear to be taking heavy losses and the world seems to either be backing Ukraine or choosing to remain neutral - China is distancing themselves from Russia, saying they have a partnership not a friendship, and Brazil (as part of BRICS) has made a point of saying they're not interested in commenting.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Bayraktar drones seem to be doing an excellent job picking off targets in the open, and they're too small for normal Russian anti-aircraft radar to pick up so they appear to be able to just swoop in whenever.

All eyes are on Putin to see if he's going to go even crazier, and the world is wondering if his subordinates will refuse an order to launch nuclear missiles.  If Ukraine withstands Russia's invasion and Belarus's soon-to-happen invasion, and does so on their own without other countries putting boots on the ground, I don't think his subordinates will be able to justify going nuclear just because their forces are forced to retreat back to Russia.

[Lazybones]

Hard to tell what fact is these days when you are getting it via various unreliable sources. If the info about the Russian troops is to be believe it sounds bad, everything from they have been told they are coming in to free the people and will be welcomed to this is just a training exercise. However, some of this matches up with what Putin has said publicly about his justifications.

What happens if his troops stop following orders? Will he escalate?

[Mr. Analog]

The world truly is a ball of confusion right now.

I'm trying to stay plugged in but trying to cut through the bollocks is very difficult.

And yes I follow the DEFCON level twitter (run by the same folks as the website) because I'm not stressed out enough...