Ukraine and the Russian invasion, Feb 2022 - tangentially related crap

[TopCat]

Poland’s top policeman said that an explosion in his office was caused by a grenade launcher, telling private broadcaster RMF FM that he had received two of the weapons as a gift from Ukraine.

 

[tim]

Poland’s top policeman said that an explosion in his office was caused by a grenade launcher, telling private broadcaster RMF FM that he had received two of the weapons as a gift from Ukraine.

So fucking stupid, yet still the top cop.

 

[DaveCinzano]

So fucking stupid, yet still the top cop.

'Yet'?

 

[Dystopiary]

(Wasn't sure where to post this.)

Two Russian businessmen have in two days died in "mysterious" circumstances.

9/12/22: Dmitry Zelenov, aged 50 or 51, was the former owner of one of Russian largest developers, Don-Stroi. There seem to be slightly different versions doing the rounds of what happened, but apparently he fell down stairs or over a railing in Antibes in the Côte d’Azur.

Just 2 days earlier...

7/12/2022: Grigory Kochenov, 41, was the creative director of IT company Agima. Another supposed self-defenestration. He allegedly fell from a balcony during a police search.

There's even a wikipedia page of 2022 deaths of Russian or Russia-connected tycoons.

2022 Russian businessmen mystery deaths - Wikipedia

 

[not-bono-ever]

Bored with defenestration now. This is a nice bit of shit stirring craft from Dimitry M

 

[The39thStep]

Bored with defenestration now. This is a nice bit of shit stirring craft from Dimitry M

United Ireland

 

[Nylock]

I see that musk got in the first reply with a fawning "epic thread!" comment....

 

[Yossarian]

I see that musk got in the first reply with a fawning "epic thread!" comment....

I can see why:



Though Medvedev appears to have included something for everybody:

 

[nogojones]

I can see why:

View attachment 357668

Though Medvedev appears to have included something for everybody:

View attachment 357669

Mystic Med is a full on cunt, but his twitter can be entertaining

 

[JimW]

Least Nostradamus made his rhyme

 

[DaveCinzano]

Least Nostradamus made his rhyme

Just the sort of boldness you'd expect from someone so Leonine

 

[HAL9000]

Message to Russian's who might get drafted in 2023 from Ukraine's defence minister

 

[HAL9000]

 

[keybored]

Mobilising firefighters to Ukraine when there are all these "smoking accidents" happening back home? That would be some 5D chess move.

 

[HAL9000]

History of winter warfare

Russia’s New Winter War

Could Putin go the way of Napoleon and Hitler?

www.foreignaffairs.com

 

[TopCat]

Why am I learning Ukrainian? Because language is politics in the country I’ve grown to love | Charlotte Higgins

I’m not alone in wanting to show solidarity, and taking this step has become a global symbol of unity, says the Guardian’s chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins

www.theguardian.com

 

[The39thStep]

Why am I learning Ukrainian? Because language is politics in the country I’ve grown to love | Charlotte Higgins

I’m not alone in wanting to show solidarity, and taking this step has become a global symbol of unity, says the Guardian’s chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins

www.theguardian.com

Decolonisation= the right of Guardian journalists to holiday drinking red wine on a beach

 

[Pickman's model]

Decolonisation= the right of Guardian journalists to holiday drinking red wine on a beach

decolonisation. n. 1) the right of guardian journalists to holiday drinking red wine on a beach; 2) guardian journalists' right to a fashionable enema

 

[tim]

decolonisation. n. 1) the right of guardian journalists to holiday drinking red wine on a beach; 2) guardian journalists' right to a fashionable enema

Have you been possessed by the spirit of Barry Cryer?

 

[Yossarian]

Why am I learning Ukrainian? Because language is politics in the country I’ve grown to love | Charlotte Higgins

I’m not alone in wanting to show solidarity, and taking this step has become a global symbol of unity, says the Guardian’s chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins

www.theguardian.com

Ha, look at the loser learning a new language

 

[strung out]

Why am I learning Ukrainian? Because language is politics in the country I’ve grown to love | Charlotte Higgins

I’m not alone in wanting to show solidarity, and taking this step has become a global symbol of unity, says the Guardian’s chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins

www.theguardian.com

Good article - thanks for sharing. Nice to know there are so many people wanting to learn Ukrainian to assist refugees fleeing from war, or simply to show some solidarity to a people under attack

 

[The39thStep]

"Comment is free, but facts are sacred"

Forget French, Russian is the language of love

After meeting her French fiance during her degree year abroad, Anna Parkin decided to learn Russian for their honeymoon in St Petersburg

www.theguardian.com

 

[Dogsauce]

Mobilising firefighters to Ukraine when there are all these "smoking accidents" happening back home? That would be some 5D chess move.

Is there any mechanism that would allow them to mobilise members of the London Met Police?

 

[Dystopiary]

Good article - thanks for sharing. Nice to know there are so many people wanting to learn Ukrainian to assist refugees fleeing from war, or simply to show some solidarity to a people under attack

Yep, there are literally dozens of languages that're endangered due to Russian colonialism. Had this invasion gone according to plan, Ukrainian would be about to join them. Many Ukrainians learnt to feel embarassed or inferior about speaking their own language growing up; the Russian language was seen as proper or more sophisticated. Linguicide is an important part of colonialist ambition.

 

[The39thStep]

Amazingly the fastest growing language learnt on Duolingo in the UK last year was Japanese and in 2020 Welsh

 

[RD2003]

Yep, there are literally dozens of languages that're endangered due to Russian colonialism. Had this invasion gone according to plan, Ukrainian would be about to join them. Many Ukrainians learnt to feel embarassed or inferior about speaking their own language growing up; the Russian language was seen as proper or more sophisticated. Linguicide is an important part of colonialist ambition.

No Ukrainian I ever met until quite recently was the slightest bit interested in the Ukrainian language. It was regarded as the tongue of country bumpkins.

 

[Aladdin]

So fucking stupid, yet still the top cop.

It's straight out of the KeyStone cops manual...

 

[RD2003]

Good article - thanks for sharing. Nice to know there are so many people wanting to learn Ukrainian to assist refugees fleeing from war, or simply to show some solidarity to a people under attack

Showing solidarity is one thing, but to assist refugees it isn't necessary, at least to anybody with some knowledge of Russian, as all Ukrainians understand Russian, the vast majority of them, in all parts of Ukraine, having grown up speaking Russian.

Russian is the more useful language in this instance, as it enables you to speak to people on both sides.

 

[two sheds]

Yes well you can talk to Dutch people in German and they'll understand you but they're going to prefer it if you talk to them in Dutch.

 

[RD2003]

Yes well you can talk to Dutch people in German and they'll understand you but they're going to prefer it if you talk to them in Dutch.

I'm not sure how it is for native Germans and Dutch, but Mrs RD, who is English, speaks fluent German and has done for 40 years, and whenever we've been in Holland she can't understand them at all.

As far as I understand it, the Slav languages are far closer to each other than is the case most other language groups, with a high number of words in common, and similar grammatical structures. They can understand each other to a far greater extent than we can understand German, Swedish, Danish, Dutch etc, and the people of those countries each other.

Having said that, it's highly debatable how many Ukrainians would prefer to be addressed in Ukrainian. As I said, I'm unsure about the current situation, but most Ukrainians I knew between the late 1980s and recent years did not speak Ukrainian at all, and had no interest in it. Some, even as they increasingly leaned towards Ukrainian nationalism, had a slight contempt for the language, which seemed to stem from the way Ukrainians (and Russians) tend to look down on rural people. Therefore, trying to speak with them in Ukrainian as opposed to Russian would in many cases, especially people over a certain age and/or from the big cities and towns, be like addressing them in a second language. They might now prefer it out of principle, but it could, in many cases, slow things down.