# Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Tags:** ukraine-invasion, breaking-news
**Created:** [February 24, 2022, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037 "2022-02-24T08:30:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 211
### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4264 "2022-04-08T11:07:55Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> “ONE MAN WITH A SLINGSHOT AND A SLIDE WHISTLE DESTROYS ENTIRE RUSSIA BRIGADE” is your basic clickbait.
Now I want to be teaching a writing class and giving as an assignment “write the story that goes with this headline”.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4265 "2022-04-08T11:15:50Z")
People are returning to Kyiv. Linked is a brief audio clip and transcript.
I realize it’s still dangerous but Ukraine needs a functioning Capital. It’s good for morale and the economy.
> **[What the city of Kyiv looks like as people return](https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1091109410/what-the-city-of-kyiv-looks-like-as-people-return)**
>
> Though the city still feels empty, people are slowly starting to return to Kyiv. Signs of war are everywhere in the form of sandbags and big steel and concrete barricades in the streets.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4266 "2022-04-08T13:23:11Z")
Some interesting political analysis.
> **[A coup against Putin: Wishful thinking or a real possibility?](https://kyivindependent.com/a-coup-against-putin-wishful-thinking-or-a-real-possibility/)**
>
> Ukrainian intelligence has claimed that a coup is being prepared against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
>
> Although such intelligence claims may be dubious, analysts can assess the possibility of a coup d’etat by taking into account the economic and...
> [@](#):
>
> However, the likelihood of a coup may increase if the war against Ukraine becomes unpopular in Russia and if the Kremlin suffers major defeats in Ukraine. Further deterioration in the economic situation may also contribute to this scenario.
>
> “Putin has become a symbol,” Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told the Kyiv Independent. “As soon as people are disappointed with the symbol, the whole system will collapse. The whole system is focused on him.”
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4267 "2022-04-08T13:37:26Z")
What’s that screen about “checking your browser”? when you click on that link?
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4268 "2022-04-08T13:40:17Z")
Putin thinks a coup is a real possibility, as shown by his actions. New measures against public dissent. Restricting access of soldiers to their families. Elimination of potential threats within the security services. I’m sure there’s more. These are not actions of someone confident in their authority.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4269 "2022-04-08T13:46:35Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> What’s that screen about “checking your browser”? when you click on that link?
I see that message on a lot of web sites. Page formatting works slightly different on various browsers. I have wondered why the message is needed. Checking the browser is pretty standard.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4270 "2022-04-08T13:52:47Z")
Is he still holed up in the bunker?
(Not asking you specifically. Just taking off from your comment.)
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4271 "2022-04-08T13:52:47Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> So?
I mentioned WW-1 and WW-II because the consequences were substantial. Europe is a considerable chunk of the functioning free-world planet.
Since there is no logic to Putin’s conquest of Ukraine it’s reasonable to consider all of Europe at risk.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4272 "2022-04-08T13:54:40Z")
Imho A Russian coup is the West’s best hope to end the war. The next leader will still be a dictator but it’s in Russia’s best interests to have sanctions lifted. I think a new leader would negotiate with Ukraine.
I agree with the Kyiv Independent article. It’s going to be awhile before conditions are right for a coup.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4273 "2022-04-08T14:01:56Z")
Do we have any idea who the successor is likely to be at this point, given Putin’s deliberate hobbling of anyone smart and competent enough to be a threat? And should we be starting to plan for them?
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4274 "2022-04-08T14:07:14Z")
There were a few reports about a plan by Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of the FSB, to overthrow Putin but I’ve not seen many heavyweight serious news sources talking about it
[https://dailyangle.com/articles/report-putin-s-overthrow-being-planned-fsb-head-identified-as-possible-successor](https://dailyangle.com/articles/report-putin-s-overthrow-being-planned-fsb-head-identified-as-possible-successor)
However the FSB is hardly a democracy-loving organisation. They do all of Putin’s _really_ dirty work.
EDIT: I’m unfamiliar with the site I just posted a link to, but just found the story being reported there.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4275 "2022-04-08T16:16:56Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> Since there is no logic to Putin’s conquest of Ukraine it’s reasonable to consider all of Europe at risk.
Eh, what? There is a considerable amount of logic to Putin’s attack on Ukraine. A lot of very bad assumptions as well, but in a vacuum it is a perfectly sane bit of ruthless realpolitik. Especially if you’re an authoritarian strongman who is paranoid about being encircled and who also happens to be a nationalist eager to leave a legacy of rebuilding the Russian empire from the ashes of the old USSR.
I don’t really get this ‘Putin is nuts’ meme. There is as yet no reliable indication he is. Living in an over-optimistic, low-information bubble surrounded by nervous yes man? Sure looks like it. But has he degenerated into a frothing madman? Possible, but I doubt it.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4276 "2022-04-08T16:18:37Z")
This.
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### Author:  [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4277 "2022-04-08T16:47:14Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> “ONE MAN WITH A SLINGSHOT AND A SLIDE WHISTLE DESTROYS ENTIRE RUSSIA BRIGADE”
This one I would read, especially once I looked up what a slide whistle was. We could give Ukraine billions of those if they retail for $1. Cost is probably .25 and you could fit a bunch of those in a C-17. Ukrainians would have to make their own slingshots, those are well over a dollar.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4278 "2022-04-08T17:33:28Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> I don’t really get this ‘Putin is nuts’ meme.
Nuts, psychopath, Satan incarnate. Whatever word fits. He’s a mass murdering piece of shit who is responsible for many thousands of deaths including his own people.
I don’t buy the low-information bubble one tiny bit. he has access to the internet just like everybody else. He knows EXACTLY what is going on and is responsible for a scorched Earth policy.
IMO he was always a frothing madman. Just look at the assassinations he’s ordered. He couldn’t be any more of a frothing madman.
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### Author:  [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4279 "2022-04-08T17:48:36Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> I don’t really get this ‘Putin is nuts’ meme. There is as yet no reliable indication he is.
IANA psychiatrist or psychologist, and maybe Putin’s behaviour isn’t described in the DSM but, at the very least, his behaviour (in terms of foreign relations at this specific point) is wildly and bizarrely out of touch with the norms of the post-1945 first world.
This would be like living next door to someone in some banal, reasonably well-off suburb and some leaves fall from your tree into the neighbour’s pool and he then challenges you to a duel - maybe okay in the 17th or 18th century, but not now. Or if you’re in a movie theatre and, as a result of your sneezing a couple of times, the guy in front whips around and stabs you to death for making too much noise.
Maybe, technically, it’s not psychologically unusual behaviour, but it’s certain nowhere near normal.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4280 "2022-04-08T18:06:04Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> Well, a lot of these are Western websites running with the whole plucky underdog story. “ONE MAN WITH A SLINGSHOT AND A SLIDE WHISTLE DESTROYS ENTIRE RUSSIA BRIGADE” is your basic clickbait. It’s not always Ukraine itself doing it.
The most ridiculous example I saw was last week, an article that claimed that even Ukrainian **honeybees** were fed up with the Russian invaders and attacked them, stinging 3 to death while wounding 25.
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### Author:  [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4281 "2022-04-08T18:14:09Z")
Yes, all of this sort of thing belies the fact that there is an appalling tragedy taking place. Even if, by everybody’s standards, Ukraine wins, there’s going to be an entire country’s worth of destroyed buildings and millions of PTSD cases.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4282 "2022-04-08T18:24:09Z")
Yeah, where’s the tractor? 🤪
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4283 "2022-04-08T18:42:01Z")
I guess we didn’t mean it when we said never again. The bombing of the train station(s) trapping the survivors in the area and then starve them to death or shoot them after they’ve raped them and pulled their tongues out.
This is barbaric. So many thousands of lives lost. I can’t stand it. Seriously, I’m having a really hard time today. I had to go to Home Depot and almost lost it when a sad song came on.
Fucking hell, so much evil.
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