You can claim anything you like, whether it follows international law or accepted treaties is another thing, but in reality if you do claim territory then, short of authorising an armed assault to remove the invaders, what in reality could the UN do, remembering that in this case the offending state has a veto, and if China was on board then a double veto and not forgetting all those countries where China has invested money, lots of influence there.
But back home, if Putin starts to call up the police then I bet they won't be as keen to break up the demonstrations. The key phrase that the Russians are "googling" is "how to break an arm" apparantly - a disability like that means you don't get called up I suppose. What price an arm and a leg??
'How to Break Arm' Becomes Top Google Trend as Russians Face Conscription
Google searches for 'how to break arm' explode in Russia after Putin announces a partial mobilization to fight his war in Ukraine.www.newsweek.com
I've not seen that, but if confirmed it doesn't surprise me. The last thing Putin needs to do is scorn the mothers (or even wives - especially if they have children) of those called up. Presumably a huge number will be 18-21 (younger??), still living "at home" under the care of their mother/father...and they will defend/protect their youngsters to the n'th degree - they won't wnat them going to war to face death/wounding.
If they arrived at the border without a Schengen Visa, could reservists they claim asylum with just cause? Would be very difficult - after all when joining up they would assume that they could be called up full-time even though at the time war was almost unheard of?
Rajavartiolaitos is the Finnish Border Guard account. It tweeted this yesterday:
Interestingly, I was just watching a video that said that Russia claims that 90% of injured soldiers are back on the front already. Not sure how that's possible though.
It was on the Sky News website today, pictures sort of deceiving or something like that.
I wouldn't trust any 'information' Moscow - or for that matter Beijing - officially puts out.
Putting the credibility of the official 'information' out of Moscow aside for just a moment, Russia has a track record during times of conflict for throwing thousands of personnel at the enemy to overwhelm them through sheer force of numbers but with utterly no regard for the carnage that results among their ranks. Quantity over quality in the most horrendous way possible.
I don't believe it either, just wanted to share their claim, if only to show how ridiculous it is.
The difference today is that they don't have the right military hardware or other supplies and so the marginal impact of another x,000 soldiers could be pretty limited....
Oh but of course. Doesn't stop the propganda machine in the Kremlin from throwing that kind of utter BS out there though, if for no other reason than to try and scare, mislead & manipulate the Russian populace.
Gotcha. And yes, it should be taken for what it is: utter nonsense.
amp.theguardian.com
I think this on/off Cold War nonsense is totally preventable, idiotic madness. The article below is about how it nearly went to all out WW3 before. If at first you don't succeed keep trying!
Soviet submarine officer who averted nuclear war honoured with prize
Vasili Arkhipov, who prevented escalation of the cold war by refusing to launch a nuclear torpedo against US forces, is to be awarded new ‘Future of Life’ prize
Quote:
"Had it been launched, the fate of the world would have been very different: the attack would probably have started a nuclear war which would have caused global devastation, with unimaginable numbers of civilian deaths."
There was a film about it.
In my view not to be so cozy with the 'deranged' in the first place and listen more to voices that say you shouldn't be so friendly with them (before it became fashionable). Another solution is to not be so friendly with other deranged heads of state, I don't think it's a good idea in the long run. But I realise we need resources. And finally to push for war crimes trials for any war criminals regardless of where they're from.
Putin arrives in Britain for historic state visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Britain today for a historic state visit aimed at repairing diplomatic damage from…www.irishtimes.com
Quote:
““Human rights groups are urging Mr Blair to turn up the heat on Mr Putin over his war against Chechen rebels.“
Cheers will look this movie up.
No, I'd rather live in a world with nuclear de-escalation as a city is a city and I don't want anyone to “burn" despite the kleptocrat currently in charge or no matter which piece of land a civilian happens to live on.
Well yes. But the boat sailed on that twenty years ago so we are where we are...
I disagree. Look closely you'll see the boat returns again and again. In short the powers that be tell us who to be mad at, at any given time. We really haven't moved on a lot from the WW1 when the main countries riled their populations into an utter war frenzy to hate the 'enemy'. Well in my view, there is no enemy, just ordinary people in different parts of the world manipulated by their government's through a propaganda prism.
These are really lovely thoughts. But we have to live in the world that exists not the one we wish exists, and we can't make what we wish existed happen by pretending it already has.
