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Russia has begun a full-scale invasion in Ukraine [READ STAFF POSTS]

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KastuśKalinoŭski

KastuśKalinoŭski

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asia.nikkei.com

How China's ad-hoc tech pipeline fuels Russia's Ukraine war efforts

Civilian electronics, sourced from Chinese e-commerce sellers, find their way to the battlefield
asia.nikkei.com asia.nikkei.com
What Bilousova and her team found shows how quickly Russia has been able to reorganize its supply chains and tap into the black market for tech, using front companies, middlemen and criminal networks to evade sanctions. Using trade databases, the researchers were able to track some of the components back to shell companies, many of them in Hong Kong. "We'd check the address, and find that at the same address, there would be a consultancy which has a Russian side, whose service is to help Russian companies establish their business in Hong Kong," Bilousova said.
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Companies, or groups of companies, would suddenly start buying large volumes of components, then would stop abruptly, most likely so that they could stay ahead of sanctions investigators. "We would see companies A, B and C in the top of the suppliers by month ... and then they weren't trading anymore. But new X, Y and Z companies gained a lot of volume," Bilousova said. Often the shell companies weren't brand new, but had been established four or five years previously. "Maybe Russia purchases some companies which already exist and repurposes them for these supply chains," Bilosouva said. "Or maybe it was some long strategy since 2017 to establish such links. We don't know."
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When selling expensive computer hardware and systems that are worth millions of yuan, Russian buyers travel to China to make the purchases and ship items across the border. "The transportation is smooth, under the newly implemented Russian government's parallel imports law," Hank said, referring to a 2022 law permitting gray market imports of branded goods bought overseas without the permission of the intellectual property holder.

On average, Hank said, he's making 1 million to 2 million yuan ($139,000 to $278,000) a month in Russia. There is little that would convince him or others to stop trading. Even if sanctions were tightened, he said, Chinese merchants would find ways to sell to Russia. "When Russia is sanctioned by Western countries, it will be short of things. If there is a shortage, it will find ways to import them from other countries," he said matter-of-factly. "Because China is close, naturally Russia would import a lot of products from China."
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archive.ph

How China's ad-hoc tech pipeline fuels Russia's Ukraine war efforts -…

archived 30 Apr 2024 21:05:02 UTC
archive.ph archive.ph
 
Mivey

Mivey

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Oct 25, 2017
17,970
poklane said:
There should be more focus in western history classes on the Soviets and Nazis basically being allies up until Operation Barbarossa.
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Isn't there? Nazis and Soviets being buddy buddy to get Poland up until Hitler decided to open up a second front is a pretty huge part of how WW2 is taught in Austria.
Of course, the more complex and true to history version is how Hitler really was planning to betray the Soviets from day one, he just needed to take Poland first, and since Poland wasn't playing nice, he had to play some 4D chess to get where he wanted to be
 
Pankratous

Pankratous

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Oct 26, 2017
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Вранці ворог завдав авіаудару по цивільній інфраструктурі селища Золочів Богодухівського району, що на Харківщині.
Були пошкоджені житлові та інші будівлі, легкові автівки - загорілося 8 авто. Рятувальники оперативно ліквідували пожежу.
Дві особи загинуло, є постраждалі.

In the morning, the enemy carried out an airstrike on the civilian infrastructure of the village of Zolochiv, Bohodukhiv district, Kharkiv region.
Residential and other buildings, cars were damaged - 8 cars caught fire. Firefighters promptly extinguished the fire.
Two people died, there are injured.
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Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

NSFWish image so not embedded the tweet.

 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,497
It sounds like F-16s will be in Ukraine sooner than later, hopefully as "after Easter" is what's given and that's less than a week away.

www.kyivpost.com

First Batch of F-16s to Arrive in Ukraine After Easter, Says Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson

However, the spokesperson provided no further details on the long-awaited deliveries and said the supplies of F-16s “is a question for the highest military-political leadership.”
www.kyivpost.com www.kyivpost.com

Mivey said:
Isn't there? Nazis and Soviets being buddy buddy to get Poland up until Hitler decided to open up a second front is a pretty huge part of how WW2 is taught in Austria.
Of course, the more complex and true to history version is how Hitler really was planning to betray the Soviets from day one, he just needed to take Poland first, and since Poland wasn't playing nice, he had to play some 4D chess to get where he wanted to be
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It's something that was widely known when I was growing up, but I feel like the narrative of "let's give the majority of credit for the defeat of the Nazis to the Russians" deserves pushback given that the Russians were all too happy to be allied with the Nazis. Russia is awful and has been awful for a long time. We don't need to give it credit for a single damn thing, IMO.
 
Greenpaint

Greenpaint

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Oct 30, 2017
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kmfdmpig said:
It's something that was widely known when I was growing up, but I feel like the narrative of "let's give the majority of credit for the defeat of the Nazis to the Russians" deserves pushback given that the Russians were all too happy to be allied with the Nazis. Russia is awful and has been awful for a long time. We don't need to give it credit for a single damn thing, IMO.
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This is the first time I hear of such a narrative. I have no idea where this narrative is coming from, but it smells like something born out of the anti-US/anti-West camp. Which usually means it's source is likely to be Russian propaganda bots. As a Finn I'm aware of complexities of WW2 and believe me there is no "giving credit" to Russia here in our corner of the world.

My suggestion is that we teach history as it happened and leave the notion of "giving credit" out of it.
 
hom3land

hom3land

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Oct 27, 2017
2,619
Greenpaint said:
This is the first time I hear of such a narrative. I have no idea where this narrative is coming from, but it smells like something born out of the anti-US/anti-West camp. Which usually means it's source is likely to be Russian propaganda bots. As a Finn I'm aware of complexities of WW2 and believe me there is no "giving credit" to Russia here in our corner of the world.

My suggestion is that we teach history as it happened and leave the notion of "giving credit" out of it.
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Its definitely a narrative. Growing up I was never taught the brutality of the Eastern Front and the #'s of casualties. We mostly learned how hard D-Day was and how the West pushed the Germans across Europe all the way back to Berlin... oh and there was a battle in St. Petersburg between the Germans and Russians. Then the Russians met with the Allies in Berlin. The recent trend of giving Russians credit for their part in WW2 seems like push back on the mostly western view of the war thats been taught for the past few decades.
 
Vena

Vena

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Oct 25, 2017
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While my growing up in Bulgaria was limited to very early in my life, the pro-Russian slant of history on WW2 is something I've seen first hand and know from my mom and others in her generation.

There's a lot of old "Russia the glorious heroes" from Bulgaria being turned into a satellite for the USSR before the ultra pro-Russian party fully evaporated with Todorov.

This proliferating into the US now is because the ultra left and right are both drinking the same Russian propaganda kool-aid. Same has been happening in Bulgaria, a lot of Russian propaganda again that would have caused my grandfather to probably start beating people with a cane if he was still alive to hear it.
 
Sidewinder

Sidewinder

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Oct 25, 2017
7,327
Russia always brags about their win over Nazi Germany and how many of their soldiers died, well 40% of those soldiers were Ukrainian, right?
 
Arilian

Arilian

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Oct 29, 2020
2,377
poklane said:
There should be more focus in western history classes on the Soviets and Nazis basically being allies up until Operation Barbarossa.
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I learned about it a couple of decades ago and as far as I know, it's still taught.
hom3land said:
Growing up I was never taught the brutality of the Eastern Front and the #'s of casualties.
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As far as I remember, I was taught the numbers of deaths, which alone painted how harsh the fight on the Eastern Front was.

Regarding how harsh it was for civlians, I think I learned more about that more recently.
 
EagleClaw

EagleClaw

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Dec 31, 2018
10,942
I believe people fall for Russian propaganda if they name the Soviet Army that fought against Nazi Germany a Russian army.

Undermining the victory of the Red Army against Nazi Germany could also give someone problems in Poland and Ukraine.
 
CitizenVectron

CitizenVectron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,458
Greenpaint said:
This is the first time I hear of such a narrative. I have no idea where this narrative is coming from, but it smells like something born out of the anti-US/anti-West camp. Which usually means it's source is likely to be Russian propaganda bots. As a Finn I'm aware of complexities of WW2 and believe me there is no "giving credit" to Russia here in our corner of the world.
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So, this is a really interesting area of discussion. The reality is that the USSR does deserve the most credit for defeating the Nazis. After WWII, the global view (until at least the mid-1950s) was that the Soviet Union was the true victor of the war, and did the most to defeat Hitler. However, as the Cold War settled in, global views shifted and the first world started believing it was the USA who won the war. The second world of course believed the USSR was the hero.

It's complicated because while the USSR undeniably did the most (and sacrificed the most) to defeat Germany (there really is no question about this from historians), they were also allied with Germany before this. However...the US was also fairly neutral towards Germany at the start of the war, with major US players going so far as to almost support Hitler. As the war went on and Germany took more and more of Europe (and fought the UK) things shifted, and the US began helping both the UK and USSR more and more behind the scenes. But there is a very real and not-unlikely alternate history where the US was allied with Hitler—all Hitler would have had to do was fight the USSR and leave the UK alone, possibly.

So...overall it's very complicated. the USSR deserves (and initially got) most of the credit for defeating Germany, and then that shifted, and now tankies and others are shifting it back. They are idiots (the tankies), but not specifically on this thing.
 
maabus1999

maabus1999

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,174
CitizenVectron said:
So, this is a really interesting area of discussion. The reality is that the USSR does deserve the most credit for defeating the Nazis. After WWII, the global view (until at least the mid-1950s) was that the Soviet Union was the true victor of the war, and did the most to defeat Hitler. However, as the Cold War settled in, global views shifted and the first world started believing it was the USA who won the war. The second world of course believed the USSR was the hero.

It's complicated because while the USSR undeniably did the most (and sacrificed the most) to defeat Germany (there really is no question about this from historians), they were also allied with Germany before this. However...the US was also fairly neutral towards Germany at the start of the war, with major US players going so far as to almost support Hitler. As the war went on and Germany took more and more of Europe (and fought the UK) things shifted, and the US began helping both the UK and USSR more and more behind the scenes. But there is a very real and not-unlikely alternate history where the US was allied with Hitler—all Hitler would have had to do was fight the USSR and leave the UK alone, possibly.

So...overall it's very complicated. the USSR deserves (and initially got) most of the credit for defeating Germany, and then that shifted, and now tankies and others are shifting it back. They are idiots (the tankies), but not specifically on this thing.
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Eh? This has a ton more nuance here still. For example, the USSR would've not been able to turn around without significant lend-lease and machinery aid for the Soviets to stand up to the German onslaught. Compounded by the allies destroying German industrial cities that ended up giving the Soviets a leg up finally through mass.

Did the Soviets sacrifice a lot? For sure. Would've they succeeded without outside assistance? No. The REAL reason the allies won comes down to geography and that the US was basically untouched by the war, and just outproduced the rest of the Axis.

Edit: Also Japan deciding not to attack the eastern Soviet Union was key as well. And if the Soviet Union fell or did not enter WW2, it would've been a lot different of course, with a lot more deaths for the Western powers and most likely would've been settled by more atomic warfare.
 
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Greenpaint

Greenpaint

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,924
hom3land said:
Its definitely a narrative. Growing up I was never taught the brutality of the Eastern Front and the #'s of casualties. We mostly learned how hard D-Day was and how the West pushed the Germans across Europe all the way back to Berlin... oh and there was a battle in St. Petersburg between the Germans and Russians. Then the Russians met with the Allies in Berlin. The recent trend of giving Russians credit for their part in WW2 seems like push back on the mostly western view of the war thats been taught for the past few decades.
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CitizenVectron said:
So, this is a really interesting area of discussion. The reality is that the USSR does deserve the most credit for defeating the Nazis. After WWII, the global view (until at least the mid-1950s) was that the Soviet Union was the true victor of the war, and did the most to defeat Hitler. However, as the Cold War settled in, global views shifted and the first world started believing it was the USA who won the war. The second world of course believed the USSR was the hero.

It's complicated because while the USSR undeniably did the most (and sacrificed the most) to defeat Germany (there really is no question about this from historians), they were also allied with Germany before this. However...the US was also fairly neutral towards Germany at the start of the war, with major US players going so far as to almost support Hitler. As the war went on and Germany took more and more of Europe (and fought the UK) things shifted, and the US began helping both the UK and USSR more and more behind the scenes. But there is a very real and not-unlikely alternate history where the US was allied with Hitler—all Hitler would have had to do was fight the USSR and leave the UK alone, possibly.

So...overall it's very complicated. the USSR deserves (and initially got) most of the credit for defeating Germany, and then that shifted, and now tankies and others are shifting it back. They are idiots (the tankies), but not specifically on this thing.
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Right, I'm not suggesting we hide facts or contributions. What I wanted to say is that I find it distasteful to try and build a ranking system of those contributions, and rank countries & leaders based on that, as the language used in statements like "giving most credit" seems to suggest to me. Focusing on "who contributed the most" is missing the point of history IMO.

On school level, obviously our school system has more focus on events relating to our country and I'm sure there are curriculums somewhere where "WW2 in Europe starts at D-DAY". That's a harder thing to improve and I have no suggestions here.

I feel like this thread is going off the rails now though so I'm stopping my contribution to that derail now.
 
Sarek

Sarek

Member
Oct 27, 2017
475
Not really seeing what is distateful about ranking countries based on the aid given. The Baltic countries have even been trying to suggest Ukraine's allies commit to giving at least 0.25% of GDP worth of aid annually. Which doesn't seem much considering the ramifications of Ukraine losing.
 
KastuśKalinoŭski

KastuśKalinoŭski

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poklane said:
There should be more focus in western history classes on the Soviets and Nazis basically being allies up until Operation Barbarossa.
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also this
en.wikipedia.org

Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

which was saved Moscow in 1941, btw
Later in 1941, Japan, as a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, considered denouncing the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, especially after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, but it made the crucial decision to keep the pact and to expand southwards by instead invading the European colonies in Southeast Asia. That had a direct bearing on the Battle of Moscow since the absence of a Japanese threat allowed the Soviets to move large forces from Siberia and to send them to the front against the Germans.
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Soviet Western Front was basically destroyed after a few months months of war. Their western front reserve in October 1941 was only 90k people.
 
KastuśKalinoŭski

KastuśKalinoŭski

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KastuśKalinoŭski

KastuśKalinoŭski

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www.theguardian.com

Red Cross decides against suspending Russian branch despite links to Kremlin war machine

RRC appears to defy neutrality principle, as Ukrainian officials criticise ‘weak response’ and accuse Red Cross of being advocate for Russian aggression
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com


View: https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1785565145021714573

he International Red Cross movement has decided not to suspend membership of the Russian Red Cross (RRC), despite potential breaches of neutrality regulations brought to light by an investigation by a group of international media outlets, including the Guardian.

Research showed what appeared to be numerous violations of the Red Cross charter by the Russian organisation since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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The investigation, published last month by a group of outlets including the Guardian, was partly based on a series of leaked Kremlin documents, which appeared to show plans to fund offshoot branches of the RRC on occupied Ukrainian territory.

It also found that senior figures in RRC regional branches spoke of the need for war with "Ukrainian Nazis", and that uniformed Red Cross workers were frequently present at military training events for children. Earlier this year, the Russian Red Cross signed a memorandum of cooperation with Artek, a youth camp in annexed Crimea where some children deported from Ukraine have been sent. The head of Artek, Konstantin Fedorenko, has been hit with sanctions by the US and the EU.
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and it's not just russian branch

the whole org is rotted, like some members of belarusian branch of red cross were participating in torturing belarusian activists during 2020 protest
 
KastuśKalinoŭski

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View: https://twitter.com/PopovaProf/status/1785690924669874460

www.wilsoncenter.org

The West Should Brace for Long-Term Deterrence of Russia

www.wilsoncenter.org www.wilsoncenter.org
Priebe and Charap seem to underestimate Russia's willingness and ability to continue waging war in Eastern Europe and overestimate the beneficial effects of U.S. peacemaking. They also assume that a soft U.S. policy will help avoid a Russian conflict with NATO members. However, the likelihood of such a conflict depends much more on events and attitudes in Moscow than on events and attitudes in Washington. If the Kremlin's appetite for risk continues to grow, a soft U.S. policy will only encourage an attack.

The real consequence of the softer U.S. policy could be what we have seen online in recent months: Ukraine's weapons deficit, the accelerated pace of Russia's offensive, and direct signals that the offensive will not be limited to Kharkiv or even the whole of Ukraine. What provokes Russia most is not the West's strength and toughness but its weakness, its fragmented and delayed efforts, its indecision and half-heartedness, and the many holes in European and transatlantic unity.
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The authors of the CEPA report, edited by Sam Greene and SaraJane Rzegocki, have a much more realistic view of Russian politics. They take seriously the claims of Putin and his associates that from 2022 on, Russia has been at war not with Ukraine but with the West. Even the end of the Russia-Ukraine war will not stop Russia's war with the West. Russia's challenge to the West is not limited to Ukraine and will not disappear in the coming years.

This is exactly what Putin and his associates are warning the West about. The chances are very high that Russia will continue its war with the West after Putin leaves office.
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The strategy of deterrence involves supplying Ukraine with weapons not "as long as it takes" but "as quickly as possible." This requires a significant strengthening of transatlantic and European solidarity to overcome the strategic weakness of the West. It requires a significant increase in U.S. and European engagement in Moldova, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia, including, curiously, assistance to China in building alternative trade routes between Southeast Asia and Europe.
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KastuśKalinoŭski

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US Senate approves bill to ban Russian uranium imports
The legislation would ban the imports 90 days after enactment. It contains waivers in case there were supply concerns for domestic reactors. The bill also frees up $2.7 billion passed in previous legislation to build out the domestic uranium processing industry.
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U.S. nuclear power plants imported around 12% of their uranium from Russia in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"Wyoming has the uranium to replace Russian imports, and we're ready to use it," said U.S. Senator John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, in a statement. Barrasso is from the state of Wyoming.
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www.energy.senate.gov

Senate Passes Bipartisan Bill to Ban Russian Uranium Imports

www.energy.senate.gov



US issues hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia, takes aim at Chinese companies
The United States on Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow's circumvention of Western measures, including through China.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200 targets, while the State Department designated more than 80.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China's support for Russia's military, including during recent trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the country.
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Treasury's action on Wednesday sanctioned nearly 60 targets located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Slovakia it accused of enabling Russia to "acquire desperately-needed technology and equipment from abroad."
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Washington also imposed sanctions on Russian air carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian airline Aeroflot.
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Russia relies on external suppliers for cotton cellulose and its highly flammable byproduct, nitrocellulose, which are key explosives precursors that Russia needs to keep producing gunpowder, rocket propellants, and other explosives. Today's action targets major Russian importers of cotton cellulose, nitrocellulose, and key inputs to nitrocellulose such as cotton pulp, as well as two PRC-based suppliers sending these substances to Russia.
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Russia breached global chemical weapons ban in Ukraine war, US says
The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine.

"The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department said in a statement.
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they did this already in Syria
 
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KastuśKalinoŭski

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Former NSA Employee Sentenced to Over 21 Years in Prison for Attempted Espionage
www.justice.gov

Former NSA Employee Sentenced to Over 21 Years in Prison for Attempted Espionage

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 32, of Colorado Springs, was sentenced today to 262 months in prison for attempted espionage in connections with his efforts to transmit classified National Defense Information (NDI) to an agent of the Russian Federation.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 32, of Colorado Springs, was sentenced today to 262 months in prison for attempted espionage in connections with his efforts to transmit classified National Defense Information (NDI) to an agent of the Russian Federation.
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Brooklyn Resident Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Unlawfully Export Dual-Use Electronics Used in Russian Military Drones
www.justice.gov

Brooklyn Resident Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Unlawfully Export Dual-Use Electronics Used in Russian Military Drones

BROOKLYN, NY - Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Nikolay Grigorev pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States for his role in an illicit export control scheme to ship electronic components from the United States to companies affiliated with the Russian military.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Nikolay Grigorev pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States for his role in an illicit export control scheme to ship electronic components from the United States to companies affiliated with the Russian military. The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis. When sentenced, Grigorev faces up to five years in prison. Co-defendants Nikita Arkhipov and Artem Oloviannikov remain at large.
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Tovarisc

Tovarisc

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Oct 25, 2017
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Russia showing off captured and/or destroyed Western vehicles in Moscow, as replacement for annual parade.

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Tovarisc

Tovarisc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,520
FIN
Jibbajabbawockky said:
Pretty sad that your society has to puff their chest out by displaying literal broken down scrap as a sign of pride. Surprised they're not parading around POWs too while they're at it.
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Ukraine has done very same thing with captured Russian vehicles and other weapons. It has propaganda function and value, for Russia it's age old "West is true enemy of peace and stability" chestnut.
 
Jibbajabbawockky

Jibbajabbawockky

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Oct 27, 2017
1,317
Tovarisc said:
Ukraine has done very same thing with captured Russian vehicles and other weapons. It has propaganda function and value, for Russia it's age old "West is true enemy of peace and stability" chestnut.
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Sure... its very much in Russia's thinking to angle this whole thing with them being the victims of big bad NATO/West, so showing a bunch of burnt up US/German/ European hardware sells that notion to their public that they're not fighting Ukraine but the more nebulous West, I suppose.
 
EagleClaw

EagleClaw

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Dec 31, 2018
10,942
It was pretty clear that western weapons would get destroyed and capture during a war.
It is kinda a good sign that they show off some captured weapons instead of their yearly victory parade with own produced "high tech" weapons.
 
Midee

Midee

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Oct 27, 2017
1,486
CA, USA
Tovarisc said:
Ukraine has done very same thing with captured Russian vehicles and other weapons. It has propaganda function and value, for Russia it's age old "West is true enemy of peace and stability" chestnut.
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Yeah, difference is Russia is supposed to be a world leader, and Ukraine is a much smaller country in a desperate fight for it's survival.
 
Pocky4Th3Win

Pocky4Th3Win

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,175
Minnesota
Tovarisc said:
Ukraine has done very same thing with captured Russian vehicles and other weapons. It has propaganda function and value, for Russia it's age old "West is true enemy of peace and stability" chestnut.
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Yeah but also look at the difference in condition of the equipment on display. Manny of the stuff Russia is showing off where abandoned and look to be in almost functioning condition, Ukraine is showing burnt husks. Not really a show of power and victory when you couldn't destroy the weapons your fighting against.
 
Ventrue

Ventrue

Member
Oct 27, 2017
268
Pocky4Th3Win said:
Yeah but also look at the difference in condition of the equipment on display. Manny of the stuff Russia is showing off where abandoned and look to be in almost functioning condition, Ukraine is showing burnt husks. Not really a show of power and victory when you couldn't destroy the weapons your fighting against.
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I'm not sure that quite makes sense. I mean, they could just blow them up now. Capturing equipment intact is, on average, more difficult.
 
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