"multi-cultural" ? : )

Wait another 30 years and you’ll get your tricolor there. But first you have to sit in a concentration camp with a mark in the form of a hammer and sickle and breathe some gas. And may be then the Chinese, or someone else, will tell the surprised Europeans about racism.

Berlin vehemently refuses to light up Brandenburg gate into Russian colours for some reason.

They didn’t do it in 2017, didn’t do it now.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1761YW/

Moscow is a partner city, while none of Israeli cities are partner. But that’s details and semantics I guess:

https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/en/international-relations/city-partnerships/

They did light it up on 25-06-2022 in response to Oslo shooting that took 2 lives (Oslo is not a partner city).

its accepted that german politic's is messed up. Thats the only thing that can explain their silence on Nord Stream, Israel etc.

Ukraine offers several advantages over the competition too: the common Russian language, chaos of war, unprofessionalism of local security services, and the low risk of extradition to countries such as Russia.

Mironova estimates “hundreds” of former Isis fighters have decamped to Ukraine. But it is not the numbers that should be of primary concern, she said. The cluster of terrorists in Ukraine were by their nature a “self-selecting” elite: “This isn’t a random selection. The slower guys stop as soon as they get to Turkey. After all, it is a multiple-step operation to get to Ukraine. The ones who get there are the dangerous ones.”

Once militants get to Ukraine, they rarely encounter problems with authorities, said Mironova.

Whenever I wrote on the subject, government officials have accused me of inventing the problem,” she said. “But the arrest of one of Islamic State’s top commanders here in Kiev, right under our noses, would surely suggest many of the world’s most dangerous men do think of Ukraine as a safehouse. Corruption in all state bodies – the police, courts, prosecutors – opens doors to abuse.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/isis-leaders-ukraine-tukey-syria-caliphate-al-bara-shishani-a9211676.html

I mean, the aftermath shows the main hydro plant had its turbine room obliterated. That's not just destroyed and burnt out, replacing it would involve tearing down the existing plant and extensive repairs to the dam before completely replacing it from the ground up.
The reports on the ground show Kharkiv completely lacks all power, water, cellular and heat utilities. Probably 200,000-300,000 residents, minus that gigantic line of cars fleeing the city. And they may be targets for Russia

Notably there's a dearth of direct reports from Kharkiv because its blacked out and lost internet access. We know the power plant was destroyed, the substations were destroyed, the heating and water disrupted at a minimum and more likely destroyed

It was widely reported in the last couple of days that Russia has declared war on Ukraine. i.e. no longer called a special military operation. It remains to be seen what that will actually mean, but it is undoubtedly the start of an escalation.

Declaring it a war would mean mass mobilization and has to be done in according to legal requirements. It hasn’t been done.

what has not been done ?

is this fake news ? its widely reported and I am taking it as fact.

https://www.ft.com/content/809f6341-d775-4457-a2e5-504a4269d427
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-22/putin-s-spokesman-says-russia-is-in-a-state-of-war-in-ukraine
https://tass.com/politics/1763755
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/22/russia-is-in-a-state-of-war-in-ukraine-kremlin-says-for-the-first-time

I also dont understand what you mean about legal requirements. at a certain point its semantics. harsh i know, but true. Putin can simply make it happen.

This post was edited by ferdia on Mar 25 2024 05:31am

What he said was translated by AlJazeera the best:




Russia “regards itself to be at “war” much like US regarded itself to be in a “war on terror”. Formal wars are rarely declared as they change legal status of many things within a country.

Funnily enough US never declared a war on eg Vietnam and instead had a “SEATO assistance operation by any means necessary” which combined mandatory draft (and many draft dodgers fleeing to Canada and Europe).

Remarkably a total loss for US in Vietnam War didn’t result in doom and gloom for humanity like warmongers of the time predicted, much like the loss of collective west in Ukraine will not embolden Putin to nuke Paris like our resident NAFO warmongers claim here.