Crunchy Frog
Crunchy Frog's Journal'They were trying to escape': Ukrainian man says he saw Russian forces shooting civilians
They were trying to escape. Men, women and children. And the Russian vehicles came up behind them and started to shoot, he said.
~snip~
People were running away, and they were being shot at. I saw an old man get shot. I fled to my house. Then slowly I came back and saw the bodies, Patsan said.
He could also see a woman bent over a toddler trying to protect it in the backseat, and an older woman and a teenager in the car, he said. They were all dead.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-attack-civilian-convoy-havronschchyna-war-crime-rcna25628
So basically they let a bunch of civilians flee in their cars, and then opened fire on them. I guess these are acceptable wartime practices now.
Russia says it has deported nearly one million Ukrainians to its territory
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Interfax, with reference to Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia's National Defense Management Center.
According to him, "over the past 24 hours, without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities, 16,838 people were evacuated to Russia from dangerous regions of Ukraine, certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, including 1,402 children, in total, since the start of the war, there have already been 951,329 people, including 174,689 children."
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3466328-russia-says-it-has-deported-nearly-one-million-ukrainians-to-its-territory.html
Even if the Russians are kicked out of Ukraine, how do they get all these hostages out?
Kherson grain storage facility emptied by #Russia soldiers.
https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1517844021699305475?s=20&t=-vW8AwO7NMoJj10kOMrRgAEveryday it's a new war crime.
Russian soldiers celebrate birthday of 'comrade and friend' Hitler
In a post yesterday on Govorit TopaZ, a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel with almost 70,000 subscribers, the soldiers talked about how they had been inspired by Nazi ethno-nationalist ideology.
~snip~
Even though he has not been with us for a long time, his work and his words live on in our hearts and inspire us to kill Ukro-Bolshevik dirt and magnify the glory of great Russia.
Hitler was born on April 20, 1889.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-soldiers-celebrate-birthday-of-comrade-and-friend-hitler-lpvm56xz0#
Harvard Law professor says US should liquidate Russia's foreign reserves and use the money to fund
military aid to UkraineRussia's central bank may have up to $100 billion in foreign exchange reserves sitting in the US and liquidating the funds may be an "obvious solution" to punishing Russia for its unprovoked war against Ukraine, constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe and Harvard Law student Jeremy Lewin wrote in a New York Times op-ed published on Friday.
Liquidating the funds could be a quick way to unlock money to provide military aid for Ukraine, while also saving American taxpayers from feeling "burdened," Tribe and Lewin wrote.
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-should-liquidate-russias-foreign-reserves-ukraine-war-harvard-professor-2022-4
It seems like that would solve a lot of problems. Would also be a good source of funds for humanitarian aid, and to get a start on rebuilding.
Bound, beaten, killed: Ukrainian civilians reveal horrors of Russian torture chamber
Blindfolded, arms and legs bound, and lying in the corner of the torture room, Dima could only hear his fellow prisoner scream and his ribs crack, as the man was beaten to death next to him.
The soldiers had grunted with exertion as they bound the prisoner Kolya into the lastochka or swallow position, an infamous torture method long favoured by Russian forces.
Dima remembers how Kolya, who had apparently denounced Moscow publicly, was subjected to particularly savage violence. Even after Kolya was dragged to the blood-stained room, he refused to stop cursing Russias invasion of Ukraine, fuelling the relentless blows that rained down on him.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-torture-chamber-killing-murder-b2059421.html
Anyway, interesting article.
Should the West take steps to unblock ports in Ukraine to prevent global famine?
Ukrainian repositories are overflowing with grain, which helps feed 400 million people worldwide in a typical year. But the supply chain has been disrupted by the war, and ports cannot function properly in the center of the war zone.
The director of the UN World Food Program, David Beasley, said that global food supplies were under threat because the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chernomorsk and Mykolayiv were blocked.
"We have not made any progress. This is where the international community must come in and make very serious decisions about protecting ports for humanitarian purposes and opening ports to the world. Because the whole world will pay the price if we do not open ports," he said. UN programs.
The UN spokesman warned that there was a shortage in the world food market and a further sharp rise in food prices would be a disaster for poor countries.
David Beasley explained that Ukrainian farmers can still reap a harvest that will help feed the world's hungry. But this requires that the war cease immediately and the southern ports and Black Sea routes be open.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/u5cbzr/the_world_is_threatened_by_famine_if_russia_does/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/u5cbzr/comment/i512ya3/
Does the prospect of mass starvation in the developing world alter the calculus for anyone?
Alternate take.
I think it has more to do with it being a clear act of unprovoked aggression by a military superpower against a smaller and weaker country.
There is a clarity with the Ukraine situation that is lacking in these other ones which tend to be civil wars or insurgencies, or involve non-state militia groups. It's often far less easy to distinguish "good guys" from "bad guys". Oftentimes both, or all sides, appear to be equally, or similarly bad. They also tend to be more complex, with no easy solutions.
There's also the fact that these types of conflict are relatively common, and often very long lasting, and people kind of get used to them, almost as a status quo, while a conflict at this level has not happened in Europe since the end of WWII.
That said, there is just as much civilian suffering, and we should pay more attention than we do.
I believe that if/when China launches a similar attack against Taiwan, that we will see similar sorts of reactions, as it will be a similar type of conflict, despite the fact that the victims will not be white. I hope that my hypothesis on this won't get tested.
Soldier and wife who encouraged him to rape id'd, info and pictures released.
https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1514964537690177541?s=20&t=zrILr58GhJqet6b4DNhbBghttps://twitter.com/kromark/status/1514964574197489664?s=20&t=zrILr58GhJqet6b4DNhbBg
https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1514964592019005442?s=20&t=zrILr58GhJqet6b4DNhbBg
Profile Information
Name: Debbie DownerGender: Female
Home country: Under Russian occupation
Member since: Sun Oct 26, 2003, 05:06 AM
Number of posts: 27,539