The Russians have gone in

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...I saw an interview with a young Ukrainian woman. She was with a group of a half dozen or so women holding rifles....
I saw a similar interview last night (can't find it now) with a young Ukranian broadcaster. At the beginning of the live clip she said, "There may be explosions and so the feed may be cut off while we are talking." She had just received a Kalashnikov on Friday and was training to use it.
 
Putin's officer corps are a variable. They think and have families too. Would they go nuke?
I'm hoping that the top brass on both sides of the nuclear equation are talking and doing what they can to reassure one another of their own rationality.

That includes the Brits and the French, by the way. A few days ago the French defense minister commented that Putin should remember that NATO is nuclear armed as well.
 
I think when people see their own country, their own city, their own neighborhood, under attack by foreign enemies, it is human nature, for even the most mild mannered, anti-war types, to defend themselves with the most effective means available to them.

I saw an interview with a young Ukrainian woman. She was with a group of a half dozen or so women holding rifles. It looked like they were in a cellar. She was in tears while she spoke.

The interviewer asked of she knew how to use the gun. She said not really, she'd only received it a day ago and had minimal instruction.

But, she said, she would use it.

The interviewer asked her, stupidly, if she was afraid. She said of course she was, but that she would defend her country. The women with her all nodded.

It's like if you drive, trap, a mouse in a corner. Even a mouse will fight. We humans, on the whole, are no different.

Speaking of the young woman you saw interviewed, I notice that many of the players in Ukraine are young. These people were not born yet or are too young to remember life under the soviet yoke...yet they know they are faced with a life or death struggle and are quite prepared for death over the alternative. That speaks volumes for the young for understanding their past, and for their elders for teaching them the past.
 
I saw a similar interview last night (can't find it now) with a young Ukranian broadcaster. At the beginning of the live clip she said, "There may be explosions and so the feed may be cut off while we are talking." She had just received a Kalashnikov on Friday and was training to use it.
Here's the video clip, from CTV News. It was with Kira Rudik, Ukranian MP and leader of the Holos Party.

Ukrainian MP explains why she took up arms to protect Kyiv
"I will be ready to protect my family"
 
...These people were not born yet or are too young to remember life under the soviet yoke...yet they know they are faced with a life or death struggle and are quite prepared for death over the alternative. That speaks volumes for the young for understanding their past, and for their elders for teaching them the past.
Indeed. This is from a Guardian article today by Sergey Faldin, a writer and podcaster based in Tbilisi.

(Mods- I'm aware I'm maybe skating close to "politics" here...)

The solace for young Russians like me is that Putin is also digging his own grave in Ukraine


...There's a huge divide of opinions between the "New Russians" – my generation, people born in the 1990s, who never lived in Soviet times – and the older generation....

...Putin, who is so keen on history, is unknowingly digging his own grave. With Russia cut off from Swift and facing sanctions from the EU, the US, and the UK, it'll take only a few years before it runs into extremely hard times. And when it does, people will not be afraid any more. If history teaches us anything, it's that people – even ones as stubborn and patient as the Russians – will not tolerate a lack of food. When the money runs out, so will Putin's clock.

And we – the new generation of Russians – will be waiting
 
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I'm hoping that the top brass on both sides of the nuclear equation are talking and doing what they can to reassure one another of their own rationality.

OK, OK, excellent point. I'm sure
some here will remember how
General Milley was castigated when
it was revealed he regularly has
spoken with Chinese counterparts
about sensitive flashpoints. IIRC
he was dang near called a traitor.

But that's what rational people do,
espcially those who hold such power
of life or death. Glad Onomea
brought this point up.

What always kept the Colt War cold
was that neither the "horrible"
Capitalists nor the "horrible"
Communists wanted to destroy
the world. Like to think folks
were pretty sane back then.

During the Cold War a movie was
made starring Burt Lancaster and
Paul Schofield, Burt an American
operative and Schofield a Russian
operative. They didn't agree on
the economics but they were
friends because of their hatred
of fascism.

And now Putin, "saving" Ukraine
from fascism. Absurd twerp.
 
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From WAPO

Not so fast with the jets.

Of course this is WAPO so take that into consideration. :)

01:21 PM: E.U. unlikely to send fighter jets to Ukraine, despite earlier vow
E.U. nations are probably not about to send fighter jets to Ukraine, despite a senior E.U. official's vow that aircraft would be among the military aid the bloc planned to send to Kyiv, officials said Tuesday.

The rowed-back promise echoed a sense that the bloc was not able to help Ukraine at the speed its leaders are demanding, as Russian forces encircle some of the country's biggest cities. Zelensky issued an emotional plea to the European Parliament on Tuesday for E.U. membership — also a step that the bloc is entertaining but that is far from resolved.

Inside a closed-door meeting on Sunday of E.U. foreign ministers, E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had put forward Bulgaria, Slovakia and Poland as countries that might send fighter jets to Ukraine, since all three countries have the Russian-made MiG-29s that are more compatible with the Ukrainian military than Western planes, according to officials familiar with the discussion.


But Bulgarian and Slovak leaders have now said that they do not plan to send fighter jets to Ukraine, despite Borrell's declaration after the meeting that military aircraft would be among the lethal aid paid for by a new $555 million E.U. military fund that was approved by foreign ministers that day. Borrell did not identify the countries publicly.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday that his country also did not intend to send jets to Ukraine, though he appeared to leave a touch of ambiguity about the possibility.
"We are not sending any jets to Ukraine because that would open a military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. We are not joining that conflict," Duda told reporters. "We are not going to send any jets to the Ukrainian airspace."

It was not clear if he was intentionally leaving open the possibility that the Ukrainians could pick jets up in Poland or that aircraft could be transported over land to the Ukrainian border. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Borrell on Sunday said at a news conference that the European Union planned "to supply arms and even fighter jets. We are not talking just about ammunition. We are providing the most important arms to go to war."

The idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine had been discussed in meetings earlier that day, but nothing was finalized, according to an E.U. diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private meetings.

But Borrell's announcement — which came in response to a question about how the aid was going to get into Ukraine, not in his prepared remarks — came as a surprise.
 
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From WAPO
Not so fast with the jets....

Yes, I read that a while ago, too. It looks like "push" is really coming to "shove" now :( I think the West is caught in a delicate situation- desperately wanting to help but equally not wanting to engage in a full-scale war. Someow that huge convoy has to be stopped.

I fear this may end up like "being slightly pregnant" if diplomacy can't resolve it.

And China is still the great unknown quantity. If they side with the west on sanctions they could do real damage to Russia. It has been suggested they may be playing a waiting game and might make a deal to side with the West on the condition that their ambitions re Taiwan will go unchallenged.
 
Damn. Sorry to see the backtracking on the planes.

Above article has this piece of news:

"And on Tuesday, Finland's parliament launched a debate on whether the country should now consider joining NATO. Although it is a longtime close partner of the alliance, Finland has historically been reluctant to formally join the alliance.

But public opinion has shifted in the country, which has Europe's longest border with Russia, and more Finns now favor coming into NATO's fold."
 
Let's hope so, although the pic in that link suggests that fuel wasn't the problem for that tank's predicament:

621e4abb96929400196c1163
 
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