The War in Ukraine
43 watchers
14 Feb
10:19am, 14 Feb 2024
10,153 posts
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Northern Exile
It was a really good answer, better than the one I was formulating  As I might have mentioned before, the Black Sea and its airspace is something in which I have a special interest and Mutts has this exactly correct. That bridge has many stories to tell. It's said that the Turkish workers used to defecate on Russian warships passing below, one (possibly apocryphal) such tale was that a well-aimed poo landed straight on the bridge of the Kuznetsov as it passed
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14 Feb
1:21pm, 14 Feb 2024
2,960 posts
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Muttley
Fun fact: Tsezar Kunikov, after whom the ship was named, died on .... this very day, 14 February, in 1943. Coincidence or top-tier trolling, not sure
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14 Feb
3:36pm, 14 Feb 2024
25,971 posts
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richmac
I suspect the latter
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14 Feb
6:39pm, 14 Feb 2024
10,156 posts
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Northern Exile
It's a reach, but you never know.
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15 Feb
9:43am, 15 Feb 2024
10,158 posts
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Northern Exile
Has life in Russia regressed since Ukraine invasion? ==================================================== "For our people to truly unite, they need a big war," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently said, quoting the satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky. Lavrov acknowledged that Zhvanetsky was joking, but added that "in every joke there is an element of truth". The conflict in Ukraine – despite the estimated 300,000 Russians killed or injured – has had a "positive impact" on life inside Russia, Lavrov told a press conference. What did the commentators say? It may sound "like something straight out of George Orwell's 1984", said The Spectator, but in many ways, Lavrov was correct in his assertion that Russia's "special military operation" had united the country. The invasion "enabled it to be cleansed of all those who felt no sense of belonging to Russian history or culture", after critics of the war moved abroad. And despite fears that Western sanctions would cripple Russia's economy, it has proved remarkably resilient. The latest World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that Russian GDP will grow by 2.6% in 2024, up from 1.1% in October. The UK, by comparison, is expected to grow by just 0.6% this year. Russia has successfully transitioned to a "war economy" that mirrors the economic model of the late Soviet Union, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, told CNBC. "If you look at Russia, today, production goes up [for the] military, [and] consumption goes down," she said. "And that is pretty much what the Soviet Union used to look like. High level of production, low level of consumption." What next? While it is hard to assess genuine levels of public support for the war or regime, three in four Russians (75%) polled said they were satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives, according to Gallup. Russians appear to be rallying behind the Kremlin, which "they believe to be fighting tooth and nail against a West that is seeking to destroy Russia", said the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank. This may be "at odds with reality", but a "great many" have "accepted it as the most logical explanation for this protracted nightmare". |
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15 Feb
9:52am, 15 Feb 2024
25,983 posts
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richmac
It's worrying that Putin has managed to change the economy and people's expectations within 2 years. The economic growth, well the west seems to be deliberately blind to a few loop holes. Think I've said this from the start, it's really down to the people of Russia to rid themselves of the regressive Putin. They've done it before and it seemed to work out well. It's important I think, to always differentiate between Putin and the Russian people |
15 Feb
7:16pm, 15 Feb 2024
64,368 posts
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Derby Tup
theguardian.com
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16 Feb
12:16pm, 16 Feb 2024
2,964 posts
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Muttley
So they've finally bumped off Navalnyy. I wonder if this reminder of the nature of the Kremlin regime will jolt Congress into passing that aid for Ukraine. Or whether the toadies and creeps in thrall to the orange man will care.
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16 Feb
12:24pm, 16 Feb 2024
617 posts
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George Smiley
Sadly I think they will feel it's a perfectly acceptable way of dealing with "enemies" I suspect they will be envious rather than horrified
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16 Feb
12:48pm, 16 Feb 2024
10,162 posts
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Northern Exile
I'm rather sad to see Navalnjy, he was brave. His demise was inevitable though.
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