Octopus Overlords

Scraper wrote: Hell Putin has something crazy like a 75% approval rating in Russia. Explain that one to me, I know Putin destroyed their free press, but come on people can still get on the internet there and see that the stuff he is selling them is bullshit.

Russia tested a ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in 1987 during the Cold War, the US said.

A senior US official did not provide further details on the alleged breach, but described it as "very serious".

Defiant wrote:Not sure if this is quite the thread to put this in since it's about Russia and not Ukraine, but it shows some of the rising tensions and I didn't want to start a new thread.

Russia tested a ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in 1987 during the Cold War, the US said.

A senior US official did not provide further details on the alleged breach, but described it as "very serious".

link

Kraken wrote:Russia makes a good enemy of the old-school uniform-wearing, marching-up-and-down-the-square variety. I'm kind of glad to have them back.

GreenGoo wrote:

Kraken wrote:Russia makes a good enemy of the old-school uniform-wearing, marching-up-and-down-the-square variety. I'm kind of glad to have them back.

Fingers crossed we get some good video games out of it.

Almost 730,000 people have left Ukraine for Russia this year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, UNHCR's [High Commissioner for Refugees - Isg.] European director Vincent Cochetel said on Tuesday.

''That figure implies a far higher exodus than the 168,000 who have fled and applied to Russia's Migration Service. A further 117,000 people are displaced inside Ukraine, a number that is growing by about 1,200 per day,'' he said.

UNHCR stripped out the seasonal figures and numbers for people who would normally have crossed the border in the course of trade or tourism to arrive at the 730,000 figure, Cochetel told a UN news briefing.

Kurth wrote:I debated on whether this should be a separate thread, but I figured the discussion here about Ukraine is intertwined with the current state of popular opinion in Russia.

Anyway, I read this morning about a significant upswing of racially charged posters and demonstrations going on in Russia directed at President Obama. Apparently, the latest is that Russians Mock Obama With Racist Laser Projection On U.S. Embassy In Moscow.

As if the annexation of Crimea and their ongoing activity in Ukraine weren't bad enough, between their stupid embargo of western food imports (who's that really going to hurt?) and this, I'm left feeling that our relations with the Russians have maybe passed the tipping point.

Rip wrote:
No more Russian dressing for me.

Kraken wrote:

Rip wrote:
No more Russian dressing for me.

Those big furry hats don't suit you anyway.

Rip wrote:

Rip wrote: No more Russian dressing for me.

As long as I don't have to give up the Beluga Caviar.

Russian military vehicles crossed into Ukraine during the night, NATO and Ukraine said Friday, and the Ukrainian president said most of them were quickly destroyed by his troops.

The reported Russian incursion, which Moscow denied, came amid a week of drama over a Russian humanitarian aid mission for people in eastern Ukraine caught in the crossfire of fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists.

A statement on President Petro Poroshenko's website said he and British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke Friday by telephone about the reports from Western journalists that Russian APCs were seen crossing into Ukraine near the point where over 200 vehicles in the Russian aid convoy were parked.

"The president said that the given information was trustworthy and confirmed because the majority of the vehicles were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery at night," the presidential statement said.
...
Russia said Russian forces were patrolling the border but denied that any military vehicles had crossed into Ukraine. NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, confirmed that the alliance had observed a Russian "incursion" into Ukraine.

dbt1949 wrote:And nobody is going to do anything substantial. Why should Russia stop?

The Moscow Times wrote:The ongoing bloody conflict in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea have fundamentally changed the way the Russian public perceives the Kremlin's policies, according to Levada Center head Lev Gudkov.

"What has happened is that the state-run media, government institutions and even parts of civil society have adapted to this new situation, this "us-versus-them" anti-Western ideology, and have accepted it as the new norm," he said.

Unlike previous "mobilization spikes" when the government harnessed patriotic sentiment to consolidate its support among society, the Ukraine crisis is on a larger scale and is much more drawn-out.

***

At the same time, the patriotic hysteria cannot be maintained indefinitely, with political analysts predicting that the "Crimea factor" will fade away by the end of the year.

"Putin's rating has reached its ceiling and we can already sense that there are elements of emotional weariness among the public," said Alexander Konovalov, president of the Moscow-based Institute for Strategic Assessment think tank.

"People have not yet realized how steep the cost of annexing Crimea will eventually turn out to be," he said.

Gudkov said that Putin's ratings will return to the "slow erosion" trend, with the state propaganda machine protecting it from any sudden plunges.

Moscow officials say frozen fish prices in the capital's major supermarkets have risen by 6%, milk by 5.3% and an average cheese costs 4.4% more than it did before the 7 August ban took effect.
...
And it is not just Moscow. On the island of Sakhalin, in Russia's far east, officials say the price of chicken thighs has soared 60%. Before the sanctions these were among the cheapest and most popular meat products in Russia.

In the neighbouring Primorye region fish is now reportedly 40% more expensive than just a few weeks ago.

dbt1949 wrote:And nobody is going to do anything substantial. Why should Russia stop?

TiLT wrote:European officials have been very damning when talking about this situation.

El Guapo wrote:Ukraine Says Russian Forces Lead Major New Offensive

Russia's invading Ukraine, they're just not admitting it.

El Guapo wrote:Ukraine Says Russian Forces Lead Major New Offensive

Russia's invading Ukraine, they're just not admitting it.

A separatist leader in Eastern Ukraine has a secret he’d like to share. There are Russian troops inside Ukraine fighting alongside the rebels and against Ukrainian troops. But wait. They’re really just freelancing while on vacation, according to his comment in a Reuters report.

“Among us are fighting serving [Russian] soldiers, who would rather take their vacation not on a beach but with us, among brothers, who are fighting for their freedom,” Alexander Zakharchenko said in a reported interview with a Russian state television station.

El Guapo wrote:I like to think that Putin and his top advisers get drunk and debate what's the most craziest lie they can say with a straight face. "Oh! How about we need to intervene because the Ukrainian President is a mole person bent on conquering the world?"

dbt1949 wrote:Nato confirms Russians troops on Ukrainian soil. Sound like Putin needs another strong talking to.

Carpet_pissr wrote:

dbt1949 wrote:Nato confirms Russians troops on Ukrainian soil. Sound like Putin needs another strong talking to.

Have any world leaders actually spoken TO him about this, or simply talking around, and loudly/sternly condemning from their own country? I feel I should know the answer to that...

Defiant wrote:

Carpet_pissr wrote:

dbt1949 wrote:Nato confirms Russians troops on Ukrainian soil. Sound like Putin needs another strong talking to.

Have any world leaders actually spoken TO him about this, or simply talking around, and loudly/sternly condemning from their own country? I feel I should know the answer to that...

EU's Barroso condemns Russian incursion in call with Putin

Rip wrote:

Defiant wrote:

Carpet_pissr wrote:

dbt1949 wrote:Nato confirms Russians troops on Ukrainian soil. Sound like Putin needs another strong talking to.

Have any world leaders actually spoken TO him about this, or simply talking around, and loudly/sternly condemning from their own country? I feel I should know the answer to that...

EU's Barroso condemns Russian incursion in call with Putin

That'll learn him.