The Russia-Ukraine War has begun

[Sid]

True, but information from TASS, being the Russian state news agency, the seasoned professionals should know not to take at face value.

No it shouldn't, but that is what happens in wartime. The truth is very hard to find and dies first very often.
People make mistakes and all sides, including the west, try to color it more or less for their own use and "higher" purposes.

 

[Free]

Textbook example of Orwellian Doublethink.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Shell is already backtracking on its boycott of Russian oil

Shell began buying Russian oil again just four days after it cut ties with the Russian oil industry.

qz.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Thread

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Thread

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Sid]

Shell is already backtracking on its boycott of Russian oil

Shell began buying Russian oil again just four days after it cut ties with the Russian oil industry.

qz.com

Yes, it seems they could buy a large batch real cheap.
They have announced in the Dutch papers, that they will donate the profit they make on this to the Ukraine.
I hope that turns out to be true. To be honest I don't trust Shell very much.

 

[bubblesort]

In weird sanctions today:

Stolichnaya vodka rebrands to Stoli vodka, even though everybody I know always calls it Stoli anyway, to the point where I didn't recognize the full name of Stolichnaya. They say this is to make the vodka sound less Russian. I don't think you can just cut a few syllables off a name to make a vodka less Russian, but I'm sure the marketers they hired to tell them to do this know what they're talking about! LOL

Levi's jeans stopped all exports to Russia, which isn't a surprise. It's just another box on the cold war bingo card that just got filled in. You can't have a cold war without Russians coveting American Levi jeans.

I think the harshest sanction I've heard proposed so far came out today in a small local editorial: We need to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. I can actually get behind this. I don't think it should be done for war crimes, but I do think they should be designated as state sponsors of terrorism for their use of chemical weapons in Syria, and for their poisonings of heads of state and political rivals. I know this will never actually happen, because I proposed something similar when I advocated for the Catholic Church to be prosecuted under RICO for their support of child molesters... but this is still something I can get behind.

 

[Chin Rey]

"Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death."

(Otto Von Bismarck)

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Well Israel's six day war was a successful preventive war.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Time for an update by the ISW, today: the battle of Kyiv probably will start in the next 1-4 days.

Institute for the Study of War

Russian forces are concentrating in the eastern, northwestern, and western outskirts of Kyiv for an assault on the capital in the coming 24-96 hours. The Russians are bringing up supplies and reinforcements as well as conducting artillery, air, and

www.understandingwar.org

 

[Sid]

The independent Russian news site Moscow Times moves temporary to Amsterdam.

The Moscow Times van Derk Sauer vindt voorlopig onderdak bij DPG Media

De redactie van The Moscow Times neemt voorlopig haar intrek op het hoofdkantoor van uitgever DPG Media in Amsterdam, zo meldt Het Parool. Het onafhankelijke Russische nieuwsmedium van Derk Sauer ziet zich genoodzaakt Rusland te verlaten.

www.nu.nl

For those who aren't fluid in the Dutch language Google translated:

The editors of The Moscow Times are temporarily moving into the head office of publisher DPG Media in Amsterdam, Het Parool reports. Derk Sauer's independent Russian news medium is forced to leave Russia. The Moscow Times will continue the editing process with ten journalists from the Netherlands for the time being. The editorial offices of Het Parool, de Volkskrant and Trouw are also located in Amsterdam.

New media rules have been in effect in Russia since Friday. Newspapers and other news media are no longer allowed to use the words 'invasion' and 'war'. The country also carries heavy penalties and hefty fines for spreading what the authorities call fake news.

In his column in Het Parool, Sauer already wrote on Friday that it is "just too much" to continue working from Russia. "That is why we are trying to evacuate the editors to the Netherlands." On Monday, the owner of The Moscow Times wrote that he was on his way to the Netherlands. He wondered if he would ever see his home and possessions in Moscow again. "My timeline is full of offers to help set up an emergency editor for The Moscow Times in the Netherlands. Heartwarming," Sauer said on Monday.

Erik Roddenhof, CEO of DPG Media, calls it terrible in a reaction that the editors had to leave Russia. "I am happy to help the team in this way. We do this in the interest of independent and free journalism, wherever in the world," says Roddenhof.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Ukraine invasion: False claims the war is a hoax go viral

False claims have been spreading that the Ukraine war is a hoax and that actors have been involved in staging events.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Now that Russia is busy in the Ukraine, around comes Japan and is escalating the debate about the Kuril islands. These have been Japanese until WWII, when the USSR occupied them without Japanese resistance.

Since then Japan always told they want them back, but today Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida declared that they are Japanese soveign territory.

 

[Sid]

それは賢明ですか？

 

[bubblesort]

PEACEFUL?!?!?! LOL, this makes my cold warrior father turn in his grave...

Russia calls for return to 'peaceful co-existence' with U.S. like during Cold War -Interfax

Russia and the United States should return to the principle of "peaceful co-existence" like during the Cold War, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Now would be an excellent time for everyone in the world to put in their claim for disputed, or even not-so-disputed, Russian territory. Let's see just how many balls Putin can juggle at one time.

 

[Sid]

Nah, escalation of the conflict isn't the solution at the moment IMHO.

And of course China could start to think out loud about Taiwan and North Korea about South Korea, Belgium about dividing their country, Catalonia about getting independent from Spain, Ireland might want annexation of Northern Ireland, the Basks separation from Spain and France, Trump might still want to buy Greenland, and, and, and .....

 

[Romana]

 

[Free]

More boycott deniers.

For McDonald's, Starbucks, Pepsi and Others, Business as Usual in Russia

Update: 3:20 p.m., Tuesday, March 8 Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks all said Tuesday that they are suspending business in Russia after Putin's invasion of Ukraine. “Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine,” Coke said in a...

gvwire.com