No update today or tomorrow :deeper-sadness:

Courtesy of @TacoGyrosKebabShwama, I have added some Russian and Ukrainian telegram channels to the Links and Stuff, to scratch the itch of propaganda from the Russian people, rather than propaganda from overpaid media ghouls in the west. Note that while they sometimes have good anti-imperialist and anti-West takes, they are also typically socially reactionary in regards to LGBT, and also can show combat footage, so, CW.

Links and Stuff

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Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Add to the above list if you can, thank you.

Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins

Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map, who is an independent youtuber with a mostly neutral viewpoint.

Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)

Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources.

Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict and, unlike most western analysts, has some degree of understanding on how war works. He is a reactionary, however.

On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Telegram Channels

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

Pro-Russian

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ Gleb Bazov, banned from Twitter, referenced pretty heavily in what remains of pro-Russian Twitter.

https://t.me/asbmil ~ ASB Military News, banned from Twitter.

https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.

https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday Patrick Lancaster - crowd-funded U.S journalist, mostly pro-Russian, works on the ground near warzones to report news and talk to locals.

https://t.me/riafan_everywhere ~ Think it's a government news org or Federal News Agency? Russian language.

https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ Front news coverage. Russian langauge.

https://t.me/rybar ~ Russian language.

https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.

https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense.

https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine

With the entire western media sphere being overwhelming pro-Ukraine already, you shouldn't really need more, but:

https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.

https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.

Yesterday's discussion post.

  • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    A rapid-fire Dipshittery and Cope:

    • Psychology Has a Label for Putin’s KGB-Made Mind Bloomberg

    One way to think yourself into the warped mind of a despot like Russian President Vladimir Putin is to first probe into the dark recesses of your own psyche, then figure out what’s different in his. The list is long, but one cognitive snafu that’s both common and relevant is called deformation professionally.

    We use the French term not only because that language often captures things better, but also because the phrase has an embedded pun that doesn’t translate into the English “professional deformation.” Formation professionelle means vocational training. Deformation professionelle therefore refers to the tunnel vision, biases and distortions we imbibe as we become expert at whatever we do.

    • The E.U.’s embargo will bruise Russia’s oil industry, but for now it is doing fine. NYT

    The European Union’s embargo on Russian oil will bite into the country’s export of crude — a cornerstone of the nation’s economy — but it may not do much damage until the restrictions actually kick in.

    For now, analysts say, Russian oil production is proving resilient as European buyers and others snap up the opportunity to buy crude at a discount of around $30 a barrel to Brent crude, the international standard.

    • Ukraine Battle Expands as Kyiv Launches Counteroffensive NYT

    Ukrainian soldiers, seeking to spread Russian forces thin, launched a counteroffensive on Sunday in Kherson, the key southern city that Moscow considered so securely under its thumb that it had introduced the ruble.

    Ukraine’s push in Kherson came as its forces were desperately battling to hold off Russia’s efforts to conquer and cut off a strategic strip of Eastern Ukraine that is central to Moscow’s struggling war effort, and it had the effect of expanding the battlefield.

    Check the MoA article I posted in the other comment if you wanna know how that's going. Hint: not good, folks.

    • Russia or China? The U.S. Has a Choice to Make. NYT

    In a speech on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed the long-awaited outlines of the Biden administration’s official posture toward China. Rather than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Mr. Blinken said, it is China that represents the most potent and determined threat to the American-championed world order. Only China, he continued, has “both the intent to reshape the international order” and the power to do so, he said. The United States will seek to rally coalitions of other nations to meet Beijing’s challenge.

    But the intensifying fixation on China’s potential to disrupt the world order shrinks space for cooperation with Beijing and distracts from the real threat in the world: Russia.

    • For NATO, Turkey Is a Disruptive Ally NYT

    That's certainly one word for it.

    Latvian PM: ‘Russia has to lose’ Politico

    “It’s the challenge of Europe and actually the challenge of the world to persevere, and to keep the eye on the ball,” Kariņš said. “The main goal of ours has to be that Russia loses — and the other side of the coin is that Ukraine wins the war. Anything short of that means we have a very bad security situation in Europe.”

    He continued: “The only way to get a lasting peace and security is by Russia losing, because anything else that Russia does not perceive as a loss means that it’s just a way-station. So maybe the conflict slows down now … it’s frozen, as many conflicts had been in the past … and then Russia would understand, ‘hey, this worked, land grab worked, nothing really happened,’ continue to rebuild its military and move forward, whether it’s in Ukraine, or Moldova, or Georgia or Kazakhstan or elsewhere. That is what will lead to long-term instability.”

    • CTHlurker [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Fucking wild to see a Bloomberg columnist describe Putin as having tunnelvision / being in an echo chamber. At some level I think they are doing this on purpose to fuck with me, but I digress.

    • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Many prosecutors, for example, will walk down a random street and, looking left and right, see people who are guilty of something, just not yet caught. Defense attorneys strolling on the same sidewalk will look around and behold human beings who are unjustly accused of something or other, and probably harassed by an overbearing inquisition.

      I know they are writing for an audience, but this is still an insultingly childish version of whatever condition they are trying to describe, "Oh prosecutors walk around seeing devil horns above everyones head because they are mean and want to put people in jail, while defense attorneys walk around seeing perfectly innocent angels because they want to help everyone".

      Viewed thus, many of Putin’s hallucinations become fathomable. The Soviet Union didn’t fall; it was pushed (by a hostile West). The “color revolutions” in former Soviet Republics weren’t primal yells for freedom by people who felt oppressed; those protesters were hired or manipulated by the CIA and other Western secret services. Ukrainians don’t want to join the European Union for its promise of prosperity, progress and liberty; they’re doing it because they’re run by Nazis whose real objective is to encircle and betray Russia and Putin.

      I remember someone in one of these threads said that these people write about russia in the format of "Putin/Russia believes (objectively true statement), (objectively true statement), [insane made up bullshit]". This seems to fit the bill, although even the last statement is broadly correct if you just adjust that the EU/Western hegemony wishes to encircle and ravage Russia, while the government of Ukraine wishes to align with this for various reasons.

      If you are an enemy of the western hegemony then assuming that everything is organized rather than spontaneous is a vastly more correct point of view than to assume that shit just happens on its own independent of your enemies and their interests.

      In Putin’s system, lying isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.

      Applies to literally every bourgeoise democracy, objectively projection to imply that any single countrys political system is uniquely built on lying.

      And while we're talking about guys with "deformation professionelle" having dangerously powerful positions, Id be way more worried about the tv actor and comedian having power with his acting-poisoned brain than someone with cold war brain being in a position of power while dealing with a new cold war.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Viewed thus, many of Putin’s hallucinations become fathomable. The Soviet Union didn’t fall; it was pushed (by a hostile West). The “color revolutions” in former Soviet Republics weren’t primal yells for freedom by people who felt oppressed; those protesters were hired or manipulated by the CIA and other Western secret services. Ukrainians don’t want to join the European Union for its promise of prosperity, progress and liberty; they’re doing it because they’re run by Nazis whose real objective is to encircle and betray Russia and Putin.

        I mean... Uh... I hate to tell you, but... Wow this is awkward so a cursory study of history will reveal that...

    • ClathrateG [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      the main goal of ours has to be that Russia loses — and the other side of the coin is that Ukraine wins the war.

      :very-smart:

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I love the "Designated enemy who manages a large, populous country actually suffers from debilitating mental illnesses up to and including malign hypercognition disorder".

      Like yes, clearly the guy who stabilized Russia and managed to keep a lid on things for the last twenty or thirty years actually has a diagnosable mental illness, which we have diagnosed from great distance using our dousing rods and oracle bones. It's so fucking malicious, because the Designated Enemies actions are always couched in bogus mental health terms, while when the US or EU does it the worst they ever get accused of is "making difficult choices".

      Only China, he continued, has “both the intent to reshape the international order” and the power to do so

      This is so fucking bad. Just straight up saying "We will not tolerate another successful country and we're willing to go to war over it.

      For NATO, Turkey Is a Disruptive Ally

      It's almost like NATO accomplished it's objective but refused to disband and is now at odds with itself in a post-Soviet world.