Yeah, just like that. Though this time they wouldn’t be able to blame it on untrained rebel forces or whatever they called it in their handwave. And right now particularly it would be bad for them from a PR perspective. Not that anything they are doing is going to make the PR better except to those who are swallowing the BS.
The rocket attacks on Kyiv are probably going to make them look bad enough to be going on with…
Maybe they should put leeks in their hats or something.
They have spray painted "Z"s and "0"s on their own vehicles. But those aren’t easy to spot in a combat situation.
S&P just down checked Russian bonds to “junk.” Makes sense. If Putin did not want to pay on a debt, do you think he would feel obliged by a rule?
This invasion has elements that might have been planned by Trump. I wonder if the Ukrainians are having an easier time telling their forces apart.
I found this thread on Twitter that is giving advice to Ukrainians on how to disable tanks and armored vehicles. I found it very interesting reading.
EU right now announcing a SWIFT ban from selected Russian banks and a freeze on the assets of the Russian Central Bank (plus some more stuff).
Not sure about the Trump part, but I’d guess that Ukrainians probably are having an easier time, since they are on the defensive. But even the models of tank or APC or other equipment that are more modern and Ukraine doesn’t have are still hard to tell apart at a quick glance from the older stuff, especially with the RPG side skirts on the turrets. At a quick glance, A T-90 variant (which I don’t think Ukraine has any, or at least many of) looks like like a T-84…or a T-72 or T-64 variant of the heavily modified type Ukraine has several hundred of. Looking for some sort of marking painted on would be fine…if there wasn’t the potential of it shooting you while you were checking to see who’s it was. Soldiers are going to be similar, though their BDUs (or whatever the Russians or Ukrainians call their field dress) is slightly different in coloration and pattern. But, again, taking the time to check it out means you aren’t shooting at them…and they might be shooting at you.
This will really be an issue if they get into a battle of maneuver, which this hasn’t really been so far, so it’s probably not an overwhelming issue as yet. Ukrainians are dug in or fighting from fixed or defensive positions by and large, while Russians are attacking or moving their troops down roads and such to position for attacks.
Wow…really? I’m a bit surprised, to be honest. Is this confirmed??
ETA: This would be huge if they actually do it.
Disclaimer: Trump comment was strictly in jest and meant to illustrate the seeming incompetence of the invasion. Now back to my usual mild commentary and bad jokes
Yes, in a press conference. Then repeated in a tweet:
I agree. The most significant counter action taken so far, I think.
Like I said, wow…I bet Putin et al didn’t expect this! I certainly didn’t expect the Europeans to do this, especially not this quickly.
It remains to be seen what “selected Russian banks” really equates to. And plenty of sanctions experts have said this doesn’t really mean as much as people thing it does.
The head of a large Russian bank, VTB, said recently he could use other channels for payments, such as phones, messaging apps or email. Russian banks could also route payments via countries that have not imposed sanctions, such as China, which has set up its own payments system to rival Swift.
I somewhere ran into this great meme
In Ukraine, patriots defend their capital
In the US, patriots attack their capital …
so much wisdom in so few words
(This belongs in Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share.)
Ukraine is asking for foreign volunteers. But I am old and fat and far away.
Sorry for the long quote but this is in the Guardian’s live feed and not in a story I can link to. But I find it very interesting:
Russia has become a “global economic and financial pariah”, a senior US administration official told the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Julian Borger.
Speaking after western allies announced new financial measures against Russia, including the removal of some Russian banks from the Swift global payments network, the official said the measures were designed to target the Kremlin and individuals tied to the Russian government.
“We’ll go after their yachts, their luxury apartments their money and their ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the west. We will also engage other governments, so as to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains, and deny these individuals their ability to hide their assets in jurisdictions across the world,” the official said.
They said that all 10 of Russia’s largest financial institutions had now been subjected to sanctions – “holding nearly 80% of the Russian banking sector’s total assets”.
As a result, the official said: “Russia’s government borrowing costs have more than doubled to almost 17%. The S&P credit rating agency has downgraded Russia to junk status. Within 24 hours of our actions the demand for cash in Russia spiked 58 fold, according to reports, and the Russian government scrambled to deplete its own resources to try and shore up its banks and its currency. In short, Russia has become a global economic and financial pariah.”
Russia has been reported to have $630bn in financial reserves stored abroad, in gold and cash, but the new sanctions would render that fund useless, the official said.
“You heard about fortress Russia, the war chest of $630bn of foreign reserves,” they said.
“It’s impressive, but it’s only impressive if Russia can use those reserves. And that means Russia has to be able to sell those reserves and buy rubles to support its currency. And so what we’re committing to do here is to disarm the central bank. And the way we can do that, for example, is by banning US, EU UK, persons from selling rubles to the Central Bank of Russia. That means very simply, the Russian Central Bank can’t support the ruble, full stop, and that means our sanctions will have much greater force.”
The US official said the list of Russia banks to be removed from Swift will ultimately be decided by the EU, but said the US would “work very closely” with European countries “to finalize that list”.
Anonymous claims they have taken down Kremlin websites. Although apparently not for long.
I don’t think the length of time the sites are down matter as much as the fact they’re down at all.
Russia may not be physically attacked, but it is been attacked financially and via cyber attack, and well as in social media world wide. War is no longer confined to just the physical battlefield.
I am concerned that as the Russian government loses control over their economy, their electronic systems, and their people things could get extremely ugly. However, much of the rest of the world seem determined to draw a line in the sand at this point, and most of the rest are sitting back to see what happens rather than aiding Russia.
More breaking from Anonymous:
BREAKING: #Anonymous hacks Russian state TV channels to broadcast the reality of what is happening in #Ukraine.
#OpRussia #StandWithUkriane
I wonder if any or all of those attacks by “Anonymous” are actually being carried out by Western intelligence agencies, operating, um, anonymously.