Russia to Invade Ukraine

[ZoWie]

Oh and...

Live from New York, it's Saturday night!

[marindem01]

Be ok with me if a few oligarchs got together and ended Putin.

And replaced by who?

Replacing one tyrant with another accomplishes nothing.

[ProfX]

I'd like to see him replaced by democracy.

Russia had some good leaders. Mikhail Gorbachov comes to mind. And I know quite well he was the one who ended the Soviet Union, giving Ukraine its independence.

I have faith they might find some more ones, eventually.

Gorbachov, I think, understood that there were bigger thing in the world that "the West" and Russia needed to cooperate on, like climate change.

[marindem01]

Poland To Send Air-Defense Missles To Poland.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ge ... 022-02-26/

WARSAW, Poland — Poland has joined a growing group of countries declaring they will supply weapons to Ukraine amid the country’s tensions with Russia.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced the country’s government approved on Feb. 1 the delivery of Piorun (Thunderbolt) short-range, man-portable air defense (MANPAD) systems and munition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

[bradman]

You make really good points in these Ukraine threads. This is another one.

Most people here make good points if given a chance.

Thank you.

[ZoWie]

The Berlin Wall up the middle of Duffy Square appears to enclose some kind of TV shoot. There's a tripod camera and two large camera cranes to either side of a very small stage at one end. The Ukraine group is now much smaller, but it is still chanting away on their (north, bottom of camera frame) side of The Wall. To the south we now have a very small contingent of Russian sympathizers who are similarly vocal and who brought some very expensive looking banners.

I can find no mention of such a shoot or special performance in this square on this 27 degree wind chill night in February. Perhaps some commercial Thing just set up a shoot for this night a few months back, and things went rather terribly wrong in the meantime. Glad I'm not a production manager this year.

The PA system inside the Berlin Wall just came on for a brief test. It's loud. The music sounds rather odd.

Live from New York......


https://www.earthcam.com/cams/newyork/t ... am=tsrobo1
https://www.earthcam.com/cams/newyork/t ... m=tstwo_hd

[ZoWie]

Father Duffy Square now resembles the Berlin death strip on either side of The Wall. Someone's chanting off-camera. The occasional loud music on the PA sounds like some kind of tacky Middle Eastern dance tune.

This is surreal.

[ProfX]

Google tells me what you're watching.

SEE IT: New York stands united with Ukraine at latest rally in Times Square
https://www.amny.com/new-york/see-it-ne ... es-square/


A girl at Saturday’s “Stand with Ukraine” rally in Times Square holds up a sign bearing the final words of a group of Ukrainian soldiers killed by Russian forces as they seized an island in the Black Sea.

[carmenjonze]

Google tells me what you're watching.

SEE IT: New York stands united with Ukraine at latest rally in Times Square
https://www.amny.com/new-york/see-it-ne ... es-square/


A girl at Saturday’s “Stand with Ukraine” rally in Times Square holds up a sign bearing the final words of a group of Ukrainian soldiers killed by Russian forces as they seized an island in the Black Sea.

Haha this is so excellent
__________

Joseph Zeballos-Roig
@josephzeballos

Russians: “This is a Russian warship. I suggest you surrender your weapons and capitulate. Otherwise, I’ll open fire. Do you copy?”

Ukrainians: “This is it... Should I tell him to go fuck himself?"

"Just in case."

“Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”

[VIDEO]

https://twitter.com/josephzeballos/stat ... 2447818752

[Libertas]

Tucker CArlson and Trmp and GOP support Putin, so they wont like this.

When trump says it would not have happened if he was prez, I believe him. Oh Russia would have invaded Ukraine but the US would have had nothing to say about it.

GOP voters are voting for Russia to destroy Europe and USA. Fuck you.

[ZoWie]

Close but no cigar.

It's Chabad World Teen Night. There are 2000 ultra-orthodox teens from all the world around bopping to that lousy PA system in what's supposed to be our square (I pay taxes in NYC, yes).

https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video ... e-2022.htm

Damn right they put up a Berlin Wall. They need one. Watching that bunch get down is almost as funky as dueling demonstrations.

[ProfX]

Yeah, they put on some kind of massive "Chanukah Fest" in Gulfstream Park in Hallandale every year.

My Mom and I used to go. They had very interesting "entertainment" indeed. All I will say. (Let's put it this way, I don't think it would draw in a lot of non-Orthodox teens. Not exactly Taylor Swift.)

I've had my run-ins with Chabadniks. I like them, as long as they leave me alone. They used to bring by sufganiyot, those I won't turn down.

[carmenjonze]

Close but no cigar.

It's Chabad World Teen Night. There are 2000 ultra-orthodox teens from all the world around bopping to that lousy PA system in what's supposed to be our square (I pay taxes in NYC, yes).

https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video ... e-2022.htm

Damn right they put up a Berlin Wall. They need one. Watching that bunch get down is almost as funky as dueling demonstrations.

Wow, Chabad EDM hiphop, ok.

Well, Black music goes everywhere and is taken up by everyone. So this is one result.

[carmenjonze]

They used to bring by sufganiyot, those I won't turn down.

Me neither! I bet Chabad does have some bussin food!

[Libertas]

Me neither! I bet Chabad does have some bussin food!

My trump supporting idiot friend in the City says the City is all boarded up and there is garbage everywhere. This is his way of attacking liberals, I assume that is total bullshit?

(Great boots and threads by the way )

[ZoWie]

There's a Chabad a few blocks from our place in NYC, and it occasionally closes off a side street for happy parties. They also have been known to drive a Succot Mobile around Manhattan. It adds to the fun in that eclectic city to have them doing their thing along with all the other groups.

This, though, is unsettling. Like two giant orthodox Jewish mosh pits, absolutely jammed with hopping sweating squealing boppers. I'll never unsee that.

Seems over now. Pretty short event considering the setup/wrap costs and city fees and guarantees and IA Local One contracts and all that. I guess Chabad can afford it.

I see nothing boarded up in Times Square. Let me check again. Nope, nothing. Not even the Disney store, and they'll board up for anything.

[carmenjonze]

My trump supporting idiot friend in the City says the City is all boarded up and there is garbage everywhere. This is his way of attacking liberals, I assume that is total bullshit?

(Great boots and threads by the way )

Why in the heck do you have Trump-supporting friends?

Anyway. These white cons were saying that about San Francisco before the pandemic because of something they saw on Fox News in like 2018 or something.

They're really just mad because our politicians end up as A-listers either nationally or in this state.

There is no more garbage here than in any other major metropolitan area, and it's far less boarded up than it was in March 2020. The mask mandate was lifted 10 days ago with the rest of the state, though AFAICT everybody is still masking and social distancing. Outdoor seating all over the city is still thriving and because of city grants, a lot of restaurants have been able to really trick out their outdoor seating. I don't go, because I get cold really easy, and everywhere in this city is cold AF after 4:30!

Mayor Breed released a statement of support of Ukraine yesterday https://www.facebook.com/mayorlondonbre ... 4208153386

These are from today's pro-Ukraine protest (which I could not make, so these are not mine.)


Hongkongers know, given their epic protests against another totalitarian government (PRC), from right before the pandemic. So do Taiwanese. Taiwanese people have had it with all the colonization. I wish my Taiwanese friends would get together with my Puerto Rican independence friends but that is for a different thread.)


I can relate. This is how I felt about every stupid, pointless war conservative whites have railroaded this country into from the outset of my adulthood


I do not doubt actual Belorussians stand with Ukraine, since they've been in the same boat as Ukraine. And now Putin is using that country as a launching pad for his dirty, dirty war.




From yesterday.

[Libertas]

Why in the heck do you have Trump-supporting friends?

Anyway. These white cons were saying that about San Francisco before the pandemic because of something they saw on Fox News in like 2018 or something.

They're really just mad because our politicians end up as A-listers either nationally or in this state.

There is no more garbage here than in any other major metropolitan area, and it's far less boarded up than it was in March 2020. The mask mandate was lifted 10 days ago with the rest of the state, though AFAICT everybody is still masking and social distancing. Outdoor seating all over the city is still thriving.

Mayor Breed released a statement of support of Ukraine yesterday https://www.facebook.com/mayorlondonbre ... 4208153386

These are from today's pro-Ukraine protest (which I could not make, so these are not mine.)




I can relate. This is how I felt about every stupid, pointless war conservative whites have railroaded this country into from the outset of my adulthood


I do not doubt actual Belorussians stand with Ukraine, since they've been in the same boat as Ukraine. And now Putin is using that country as a launching pad for his dirty, dirty war.




From yesterday.

My lawyer friend George I have told you about before. He is addicted to crack cocaine and has no friends other than his drug friends, so I have remained his friend but he is the ONLY one.

He is the one who worked on police abuse cases in Oakland and SF representing citizens who were abused, very anti police as in bad police. But he has changed and mostly due to the crack I think.

My closest friend growing up, or one of 2 anyway, went wrong and is a trump supporter. A racist also, so I wrote him a letter few years ago and said unless he changes I dont want to see or speak to him ever again. So far I havent. Amazing how someone like him could have changed but he did.

[Libertas]

JD VAnce, disgusting and vile

By John Wright- Commentary
Published February 26, 2022

?id=29435552&width=800&height=450

Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance came under fire Saturday after saying he's "sick" of being told to care about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"I've gotten a lot of flak in the last week because I had the audacity to suggest that before our leaders obsess over a Ukrainian and Russian border 6,000 miles away, maybe they ought to guarantee the sovereignty of their own country and their own border first," Vance said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando. "I’m sick of being told that we have to care more about people 6,000 miles away than we do people like my mom."

Vance's mother, Bev, was a central character in his Hillbilly Elegy book, which documented her struggles with drug addiction.

https://www.rawstory.com/j/

Hey Vance you standing on a stage and speaking to a bunch of people that have no principles makes this event more ridiculous than ever....6,000 miles a way this is what happened ......do you understand what happened ....

[carmenjonze]

From yesterday.

Fog of war alert/retraction: this image is from a story I read about yesterday, but it is not from yesterday.

[carmenjonze]

JD VAnce, disgusting and vile

Ha, these people definitely have principles. The princples are munny is god, jobsandtheeconomy, the Blacks and the Mexicans are coming for your stuff, and whites-rule über Alles.

Me and people I know said this literally for years about Joe Rogan, J.D. Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Kanye West, and latecomers like Bari Weiss and Dave Chappelle. They are not cool, they are not down with the people, they are rich WASP-aspirant cultural propagandists. Same for Alex Jones -- had his number 20 years ago.

[carmenjonze]

F. this guy and all his clapping sycophants.

Bill Maher’s ‘Real Time’ Says Russia Is Like Kanye West, Ukraine Is Kim Kardashian, NATO Is Pete Davidson - Deadline.com

I can't stand him.

[carmenjonze]

The Azov Battalion had a minor presence at EuroMaidan, I don't think they ever elected more than a handful of candidates to Ukraine's parliament, and, thankfully, they are not in control of the country. Do they suck? Yeah. But no, I don't support anybody invading the U.S. to "purge" us of the Proud Boys or Groyper Army, either. We do have an FBI that should keep an eye on them, though.

Meanwhile, as I just posted, Russia is using its own neo-Nazi battalions in the Donbass, members of the ultra-white-nat Russian Imperial Movement and Rusich Group. Also, Russia continues to support ultra-right quasi-Nazi groups like Five Star in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France, and others.

Bannon as I've posted is a big fan of Aleksandr Dugin, "Putin's Rasputin". Richard Spencer's wife, as Carmen posted, translated many of his works from Russian. Dugin is an open fascist and ethnonationalist, essentially he is an enemy of Western liberal democracy, he has said so. When Putin said "Ukraine never really existed as a country," he basically was repeating Dugin's nonsense.

Wasn't aware of the Rusich group. Thanks!

[carmenjonze]

As of this post, #AfricansInUkraine is trending in my Twitter feed. The story is that there are all these people of African descent from various countries trapped in Ukraine, typically as students, and that all the Ukranian neonazis won't let them out. Or something.

A lot of us who are of African descent in this country are skeptical, at least people in my circles.

Put it this way: I do not doubt for one millisecond that Ukraine has an anti-Black problem along with its antisemitism problem. What European country doesn't? I also do not trust Russian bots. Looks to me like the IRA/GRU just repurposed all those ADOS bots that have been largely silent since November 2020, hoping somebody will fall for it.

:problem: what's your bet that USian conservative whites will try and use this hashtag to smear any Black person who is pro-Ukraine in this situation. :problem:

[carmenjonze]

People used to joke about all those Nigerian prince spam emails in the 90s. But that scam has morphed. I posted about this to RFL 1.0.

Russia opens troll farms in Ghana and Nigeria to influence US elections - Face 2 Face Africa

Russian cyber disinformation efforts identified by US intelligence agencies during the 2016 election cycle have resurfaced, this time with Russia-backed troll farms in Ghana and Nigeria.

A CNN investigation published on Thursday evening pointed out that Russia has outsourced some of the coordinated misleading campaigns to individuals in the West African countries.

This time the efforts are more targeted although it would seem trolls are focused on the same fault lines they did in 2016: racial issues.