Russia/Ukraine

[underwaterrhymes]

Feb 26, 2022 7:01:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Is the US allowing Ukrainians to enter the US without going through the usual visa process?

I don’t think so (yet). It seems we are mostly encouraging them to seek spots in Europe to evacuate to, while also providing humanitarian assistance in furthering this goal. It sounds like steps are also being taken to prevent any deportation of Ukrainian nationals living in the United States.

At some point, though, I think we will likely ease visa restrictions. Things are already pretty grim and I think all avenues need to be available for refugees.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-plays-support-role-ukrainian-refugees-flee-europe-2022-02-25/

[Vespasia]

elleblue my post was supposed to say banned. What a typo!

[Bernadine]

I’m having trouble putting into words my feelings about regular civilians being given military grade weapons like, on the spot, to fight for their country. Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it.

[fernweh]

Feb 26, 2022 7:01:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Is the US allowing Ukrainians to enter the US without going through the usual visa process?

I have not heard anything so I doubt it. Canada is prioritizing visas for Ukraine citizens though.

[omglol]

Feb 26, 2022 9:28:52 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

I’m having trouble putting into words my feelings about regular civilians being given military grade weapons like, on the spot, to fight for their country. Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it.

I was reading this twitter thread about civilians learning to make Molotov cocktails and then American tank mechanics were chiming in telling them where to throw them to cause the most damage to the tank.
It is so surreal. I don’t think most Americans ever even consider this type of stuff, I know I haven’t. It’s heartbreaking but also I’m so in awe of the amazing strength these people have to put their everything on the line for their country. I just can’t picture it here.

I’m also in total awe of the women passing out sunflower seeds to the Russians to put in their pockets so that when they die, sunflowers will grow. That’s one of the bravest things I’ve ever heard.

[wildrice]

Feb 26, 2022 9:28:52 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

I’m having trouble putting into words my feelings about regular civilians being given military grade weapons like, on the spot, to fight for their country. Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it.

Yes, and horrifying! I was saying that last night - I have no idea what I would do in their shoes. I can't imagine myself picking up an automatic rifle or building a moltov cocktail and using it, but there are lots of people who are just like me who are now in that situation. It's crazy. I don't think I'm a stay and fight type of person, but also not everyone could actually evacuate so - what a terrible situation to be in. I feel so awful for the Ukrainian people. I am sure they never in their wildest dreams thought they'd be doing any of this.

[Bernadine]

Feb 26, 2022 10:18:01 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Feb 26, 2022 9:28:52 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

I’m having trouble putting into words my feelings about regular civilians being given military grade weapons like, on the spot, to fight for their country. Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it.

Yes, and horrifying! I was saying that last night - I have no idea what I would do in their shoes. I can't imagine myself picking up an automatic rifle or building a moltov cocktail and using it, but there are lots of people who are just like me who are now in that situation. It's crazy. I don't think I'm a stay and fight type of person, but also not everyone could actually evacuate so - what a terrible situation to be in. I feel so awful for the Ukrainian people. I am sure they never in their wildest dreams thought they'd be doing any of this.

Yes, exactly, I can’t imagine having to make that choice.

[isabel]

Feb 26, 2022 7:01:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Is the US allowing Ukrainians to enter the US without going through the usual visa process?

Colorado’s Governor has already talked about opening Colorado up to Ukrainian refugees. I don’t quite know how that works in the context of visas though. I’m hopeful we’ll see the US open up quite a bit.

[cattledogkisses]

Feb 25, 2022 22:39:29 GMT -5 mcppalmbeach said:

And I’m seriously terrified by Putin’s threats. I really don’t doubt that he has plans to start launching nuclear weapons at the US. I need to stop watching the news.

I have not read any concerns about Putin directly attacking the US except possibly through cyber warfare.

[underwaterrhymes]

The bravery that we are seeing continues to move me to tears.

Zelensky and the mayor of Kyiv fighting on the frontlines.

The old lady who handed sunflower seeds to the Russian soldier and told him to put them in his pocket so at least flowers will grow where his body falls.

The very brave civilians in Ukraine and in Russia who are sharing their words and their voices and their bodies to say this is wrong.

We have people here who can’t even wear a mask to protect others and in Ukraine people are putting their lives on the line to save their country. It’s so much.

[underwaterrhymes]

Feb 24, 2022 20:53:57 GMT -5 acuore said:

Feb 24, 2022 15:50:42 GMT -5 cous0226 said:

Trump would have told Putin I will nuke your entire country if you invade and Putin would have believed him.  They are both crazy.  Also Trump would have said that because he knows that oil prices and stock market would have affected his Presidency and that's all he cares about.

No way. Trump would have praised Putin’s “savvy” just like he’s doing now, said it was none of the US’s business anyway, and then gotten Putin on the phone to ask if he could build a Trump Tower in Kiev just as soon as the Russians have captured it. 

I agree with your post, but wanted to point out that Kiev is the Russian spelling. Ukrainians spell it Kyiv.

[Velar Fricative]

Aside from countries like Belarus and Venezuela, Putin has such little international support. Kazakhstan declined to send troops despite being a close Russian ally and received Russian military assistance to quell their own recent uprisings. Hungary is publicly criticizing Russia and that’s pretty surprising too. China abstained in the UN Security Council vote, which I took as a decent sign that they may be wavering too. The question is whether any of this will bother Putin enough for him to stop this.

[cattledogkisses]

Feb 26, 2022 12:23:20 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Aside from countries like Belarus and Venezuela, Putin has such little international support. Kazakhstan declined to send troops despite being a close Russian ally and received Russian military assistance to quell their own recent uprisings. Hungary is publicly criticizing Russia and that’s pretty surprising too. China abstained in the UN Security Council vote, which I took as a decent sign that they may be wavering too. The question is whether any of this will bother Putin enough for him to stop this.

Even the Taliban spoke out and said they should resolve this peacefully.  When you've gone too far for the Taliban that's quite something.

[imimahoney]

Feb 26, 2022 9:41:40 GMT -5 omglol said:

Feb 26, 2022 9:28:52 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

I’m having trouble putting into words my feelings about regular civilians being given military grade weapons like, on the spot, to fight for their country. Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it.

I was reading this twitter thread about civilians learning to make Molotov cocktails and then American tank mechanics were chiming in telling them where to throw them to cause the most damage to the tank.
It is so surreal. I don’t think most Americans ever even consider this type of stuff, I know I haven’t. It’s heartbreaking but also I’m so in awe of the amazing strength these people have to put their everything on the line for their country. I just can’t picture it here.

I’m also in total awe of the women passing out sunflower seeds to the Russians to put in their pockets so that when they die, sunflowers will grow. That’s one of the bravest things I’ve ever heard.

It's like the Warsaw Ghetto uprising but with twitter. It's terrifying to see it happen all over again.

[lemoncupcake]

Feb 26, 2022 12:23:20 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Aside from countries like Belarus and Venezuela, Putin has such little international support. Kazakhstan declined to send troops despite being a close Russian ally and received Russian military assistance to quell their own recent uprisings. Hungary is publicly criticizing Russia and that’s pretty surprising too. China abstained in the UN Security Council vote, which I took as a decent sign that they may be wavering too. The question is whether any of this will bother Putin enough for him to stop this.

My question is if it will bother him enough to go balls-to-the-wall nuts (more so than usual)? If he has no support whatsoever and this isn’t going to resolve in any sort of way that he has international standing, what is stopping him from going any further?

[Saudade]

Feb 26, 2022 12:23:20 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Aside from countries like Belarus and Venezuela, Putin has such little international support. Kazakhstan declined to send troops despite being a close Russian ally and received Russian military assistance to quell their own recent uprisings. Hungary is publicly criticizing Russia and that’s pretty surprising too. China abstained in the UN Security Council vote, which I took as a decent sign that they may be wavering too. The question is whether any of this will bother Putin enough for him to stop this.

I just don't see Putin tucking his tail and retreating, which I think is the scarier part. If gives up, eventually, he has no standing internationally with his small group of supporters; but he also has no standing at home.

[Velar Fricative]

Yeah, I realize Putin has nothing to lose. Even if he magically directs the Russian troops to stop, the damage with the international community (and even his own community based on Russian protests) is done. Until he dies, Russia will be a pariah. But, I don’t think he cares.

[underwaterrhymes]

It looks like there is consensus to disconnect select Russian banks from SWIFT.

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/02/26/politics/biden-ukraine-russia-swift/index.html

[wanderlustmom]

I don't know enough about all of this but is there a chance of a coup to get Putin out or does he have too much power?

[neverfstop]

Feb 26, 2022 17:56:41 GMT -5 wanderlustmom said:

I don't know enough about all of this but is there a chance of a coup to get Putin out or does he have too much power?

That's the only place my brain can go right now....who are all these people following his orders? I think the normal citizen of Russia are pretty against this.  I heard/saw that Anonymous hacking group was supposedly attacking Russian state media.   How long will the Russian military follow these orders? I also saw somewhere that the military was told this was a training exercise....I'm sure once the ball was rolling, they figured it was a full-scale invasion, but the lower level soldiers can't really just quit and walk away without being killed.

[icedcoffee]

These live shots from Kyiv. 😭. Why does one psychopath have so much power?!? How is this happening?

[cattledogkisses]

Feb 26, 2022 11:43:57 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Feb 24, 2022 20:53:57 GMT -5 acuore said:

No way. Trump would have praised Putin’s “savvy” just like he’s doing now, said it was none of the US’s business anyway, and then gotten Putin on the phone to ask if he could build a Trump Tower in Kiev just as soon as the Russians have captured it. 

I agree with your post, but wanted to point out that Kiev is the Russian spelling. Ukrainians spell it Kyiv.

I also learned recently that I've been pronouncing it incorrectly.  The emphasis is on the first syllable (KEE-ev), not the second syllable (key-EV is the Russian pronunciation). 

[dirtyred]

Feb 26, 2022 18:01:19 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Feb 26, 2022 17:56:41 GMT -5 wanderlustmom said:

I don't know enough about all of this but is there a chance of a coup to get Putin out or does he have too much power?

That's the only place my brain can go right now....who are all these people following his orders? I think the normal citizen of Russia are pretty against this.  I heard/saw that Anonymous hacking group was supposedly attacking Russian state media.   How long will the Russian military follow these orders? I also saw somewhere that the military was told this was a training exercise....I'm sure once the ball was rolling, they figured it was a full-scale invasion, but the lower level soldiers can't really just quit and walk away without being killed.

I read that there may have been a Russian battalion that surrendered when they realized that their mission was simply to kill Ukrainians. I hope this is true, and I hope others follow suit.

[Jalapeñomel]

Feb 26, 2022 18:30:13 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

Feb 26, 2022 11:43:57 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I agree with your post, but wanted to point out that Kiev is the Russian spelling. Ukrainians spell it Kyiv.

I also learned recently that I've been pronouncing it incorrectly.  The emphasis is on the first syllable (KEE-ev), not the second syllable (key-EV is the Russian pronunciation). 

globalnews.ca/news/8645877/ukraine-correct-pronunciation/

More info on that plus why it’s not called “the Ukraine.”

[goldengirlz]

In addition to the horrors facing civilians, an added heartbreak for me is knowing Zelenskyy is Jewish. Russia has a long history of trying to wipe out Jews; half of my family (the half that wasn’t Holocaust victims) came to North America to escape the Russian pogroms in the early 1900s.

There hasn’t been much talk about anti-Semtism, but maybe there should be — especially with Putin essentially trying to gaslight all of us by slinging the word “Nazi” at Zelenskyy. That was a deliberate word choice. The echoes of WWII are unsettlingly, especially thinking of what the future holds for the Ukrainian people if Putin succeeds.

[mbcdefg]

Ukraine agrees to hold talks with Russia at Belarus border, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine’s president says Kyiv has agreed to send a delegation for talks with Russian officials on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

“We have agreed that the Ukrainian delegation will meet with Russian [officials] without prior conditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, in the area of the Pripyat river,” Zelenskyy said in a statement.

***

Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military command to put Russia’s deterrence forces – a reference to units which include nuclear arms – on high alert, citing aggressive statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions against Moscow.

“As you can see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension – I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well – but also the top officials of leading NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regards to our country,” Putin said on state television.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/26/fighting-for-kyiv-ongoing-as-russia-vows-all-out-war-live-news

[erbear]

I was downtown yesterday on my way to a soccer game. Our team colors are blue and yellow. A woman came up to me on the street and hugged me and said thank you. I’m feeling so hard for the people caught up in all this and for the Ukrainian people here.

[muffin0]

Feb 26, 2022 9:41:40 GMT -5 omglol said:

Feb 26, 2022 9:28:52 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

I’m having trouble putting into words my feelings about regular civilians being given military grade weapons like, on the spot, to fight for their country. Heartbreaking doesn’t cover it.

I was reading this twitter thread about civilians learning to make Molotov cocktails and then American tank mechanics were chiming in telling them where to throw them to cause the most damage to the tank.
It is so surreal. I don’t think most Americans ever even consider this type of stuff, I know I haven’t. It’s heartbreaking but also I’m so in awe of the amazing strength these people have to put their everything on the line for their country. I just can’t picture it here.

I’m also in total awe of the women passing out sunflower seeds to the Russians to put in their pockets so that when they die, sunflowers will grow. That’s one of the bravest things I’ve ever heard.

I watched a video of a group of women making them, like they were having a knit and bitch girls night, but instead of a blanket or scarf they were making weapons.

[mbcdefg]

BRUSSELS (AP) -- Top EU official: Bloc will close its airspace to Russian airlines, fund arms supplies to Ukraine, ban pro-Kremlin media.

[Velar Fricative]

By the way, the GOP silence is deafening, and when they aren’t silent, they sure are hypocritical. They are relying on people’s short memories.