The Two Blunders That Caused the Ukraine War - WSJ - "The first came on Nov. 10, when the U.S. and Ukraine signed a Charter on Strategic Partnership, which asserted America’s support for Kyiv’s right to pursue membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization... The second strategic error was Mr. Putin’s underestimation of his rivals. “He despises the West and what he sees as Western decadence,” Mr. Service says. “He had come to believe that the West was a shambles, both politically and culturally.” He also thought that the leaders of the West were “of poor quality, and inexperienced, in comparison with himself. After all, he’s been in power 20 years.” In Mr. Putin’s cocksure reckoning, the invasion was going to be “a pushover—not just in regard to Ukraine, but in regard to the West.” He’d spent four years “running rings around Donald Trump, ” and he thought the retirement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel left the West rudderless. That set the scene for the “surprise he got when he invaded Ukraine, when he found that he’d inadvertently united the West—that what he’d done was the very opposite of what he wanted.” Mr. Service calls Mr. Putin “reckless and mediocre” and scoffs at the notion that he is “some sort of genius.” What kind of Russian leader, he asks, “makes it impossible for a German leader not to build up Germany’s armaments”? Mr. Putin evidently “hoped there wouldn’t have to be a war” because the massing of troops on the border would lead to the collapse of the Ukrainian government. He underestimated Volodymyr Zelensky... Mr. Service says the key to understanding Mr. Putin is his adamant belief that Russia is “a great global power” and that the Russian sphere of influence should extend to as many of the former Soviet republics as possible: “There’s no state that’s more important to him than Ukraine.” The historian describes the Russian ruler as “not a communist but an anticommunist.” In Mr. Service’s telling, Mr. Putin regards the Soviet period as “a rupture” with the path to greatness that Russia should have taken. “Putin believes in Eternal Russia” and regards Lenin with “ridicule and detestation” for stunting Russia’s expansion. While Mr. Putin may say “occasionally pleasant things about Stalin, he has never said anything positive about Lenin.” In Mr. Putin’s view, according to Mr. Service, Lenin committed a primordial sin in 1922 when the Soviet Constitution set up a federation of republics with their own boundaries within the Soviet Union. “This made possible the breakup of the U.S.S.R. into separate independent states in 1991,” Mr. Service says. Mr. Putin, like Stalin—who fell out with Lenin over these constitutional arrangements—would have liked all these republics to have been merged into a Greater Russia, ruled from Moscow. “Putin despises democracy,” Mr. Service says. “He believes in the right of the leadership to impose the authority of the state on society.” In the Russian president’s view, this is good for citizens because it brings stability and predictability into their lives. He also believes in the importance of the secret police as an adjunct of government. In this, Mr. Service points out, many of his methods are “reminiscent of the Soviet period,” even if his ideology isn’t. Mr. Putin “sees himself messianically,” Mr. Service says—as a leader come to deliver Russia to its destiny. He runs his government like “a court, though the czars were much more polite to their ministers.” Unless they go into political opposition, he doesn’t get rid of people who don’t share his vision. Instead, he “bats them down, and overawes them, treating them like schoolboys.” He “peppers them with questions” to keep them on their toes. He was a senior officer in the KGB, and the KGB is still in his soul. Rebranded as the FSB, “it’s the one agency from the old Soviet Union that has survived.”... "When the Soviets suppressed the Hungarian Revolution, they had to pay for it economically,” Mr. Service says. “They had to subsidize Hungary with oil and gas.” Moscow bore a huge economic burden for “the retention of Hungary within its political orbit, and that would be the case with Ukraine. And they’d be hated at the same time—hated.” Not to mention taking on the weight of appeasing a conquered people at a time of impoverishment in Russia itself. “Putin’s got to be removed from power,” Mr. Service says. That is the only way to end Ukraine’s torment. But how? It could happen in two ways. The first is “a palace coup,” which at the moment “looks very, very unlikely” but could become plausible. The second is a mass uprising, “a tremendous surge in street demonstrations as a result of the economic hardship” imposed by the war and Western sanctions."
Meme - "Feb 2021 4% Inflation is transitory
Oct 2021 6% Inflation is good
Jan 2022 7.5% It's just corporate greed
Mar 2022 10% Putin did it!"
Biden suggests Putin and Russia's war in Ukraine responsible for soaring inflation in new report - CNNPolitics - "While Biden put the blame on the war in Ukraine for February's inflation numbers, rising prices have been a primary political issue for the President and his administration for months. The Covid-19 pandemic and a host of other issues have driven prices on everyday goods higher and higher over the last several months despite Biden's attempts to lessen the impact on Americans' wallets... Biden announced his administration was banning Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports to the US in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a step he warned could lead to a spike in gas prices at home. Biden said during a trip to Texas later that day that the price of gas is "going to go up." "Can't do much right now. Russia's responsible""
Thread by @TrentTelenko on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "This is a thread that will explain the implied poor Russian Army truck maintenance practices based on this photo of a Pantsir-S1 wheeled gun-missile system's right rear pair of tires below & the operational implications during the Ukrainian mud season."
More "psy ops"! These photos must be fake
Ukraine: Why has Russia's 64km convoy near Kyiv stopped moving? - "the column had made "little discernible progress in over three days" and remains more than 30km from Kyiv. Several reasons could explain why the huge column, which includes armoured vehicles, tanks, and towed artillery, has stopped its advance on the capital. They include logistical problems, unexpected Ukrainian resistance, and low morale among Russian troops. Mechanical breakdown and congestion are causing problems, according to the UK government. Food and fuel are said to be in short supply, and there are reports that poor quality and badly maintained tyres may also be an issue."
More Western psy ops. The real reason, we know, is that Putin is magnanimous and wants to show grace
Meme - Emma Salisbury @salisbot: "BREAKING: every woman in your life now has at least a small crush on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it"
The Guillotine Implier @implied...: "I am begging liberals to stop treating an actual war like a tv show with fun characters"
Matt Walsh on Twitter - "There was so much concern about potential "Islamophobia" after 9/11, and "anti-Asian" backlash after China unleashed covid on the world, and yet it seems to be open season on Russians right now. It's almost like bigotry is okay as long as the targets are perceived to be white."
Russian businesses in U.S. face threats, vandalism over invasion
Meme - "NARRATIVE VS REALITY"
*Bear (Russia) roaring at man (Ukraine)* "PRAY FOR UKRAINE"
*Man (Ukraine) with spear facing bear (Russia) with two cubs, with 3 men (the US, NATO and Britain) watching on*
There're actually people who believe this
Presumably the cubs are Donetsk and Luhansk. Ironic, since Russia was the one which took them from Ukraine
Ukrainian Jews push back against Putin's 'neo-Nazi' claim as they gear up for battle - "Konstantyn Batozsky believes he is on a list of so-called “neo-Nazis” to be rounded up “Gestapo-style” and “exterminated” by Russian forces seeking to enter Kyiv. Batozsky, a Jew from eastern Ukraine, said he was informed about the “bounty on his head” by Ukrainian intelligence sources. But as a longtime and avowed Ukrainian nationalist who has collaborated with a paramilitary group that has a reputation for including extremists, he knows that it’s people like him that Russian President Vladimir Putin was talking about when he cited a need for “denazification” as a pretext for invading his country... some of the initial paramilitary fighters against the Russian-backed takeover in Ukraine’s east, such as the Azov Battalion, were extremists and ultranationalists who displayed Nazi symbols. “I know it’s hard for Jews abroad to understand, but these actions were intended as anti-Russian, not anti-Jewish,” Petukov said. “And when it comes to those supporting Ukrainian sovereignty and culture, this is really a tiny element.” Now part of the national guard, the battalion of 900 to 1,500 members publicly claims to eschew all Nazi ideology. Batozsky said he worked closely with the Azov Battalion during the 2014-15 conflict behind the scenes as a political consultant in Donetsk. It is this work, and his outspoken defense of Ukrainian efforts to defeat the separatists, that he says put him on the Russian hit list — and also that makes him confident that Russian charges of neo-Nazis in Ukraine are inaccurate. “They were soccer hooligans and wanted attention, so yeah, I was shocked when I saw guys with swastika tattoos,” he said about the Azov members he got to know. “But I talked with them all the time about being Jewish and they had nothing negative to say. They had no anti-Jewish ideology.” He insists that the image of Ukraine as a hotbed of antisemitism is absurd. “I don’t practice, but still everyone knows I am Jewish — I have such a Jewish face! And I never experienced antisemitism from Ukrainians,” he insisted. “The military guys I am working with now really don’t care that I am a Jew.” He does not have similar feelings toward his Russian neighbors. “I did have a Jew-hating Russian first-grade teacher who mockingly called my long hair payos,” recalled Batozky, using the Hebrew term for the long side curls kept by many Hasidic men. And he said he heard more slurs against Jews from Russians Moscow State University, which he attended in the 1990s, then he ever heard back home. Daniel Kovzhun, a Jew from Kyiv who ran logistics during the war in Donetsk for paramilitary units, described a similar experience. “There were Orthodox Jews in Azov,” he said. “I know because I was there on the battle lines. No one cared who was Jewish, we cared about keeping our country together.”"
Polish nationalists march against “LGBT totalitarianism” on anniversary of WWII uprising - "Polish nationalists marched through Warsaw yesterday to mark the anniversary of the city’s uprising against German occupation in World War Two. A banner at the head of their procession declared opposition to LGBT “totalitarianism” alongside Nazism and communism... At the front of the procession was a banner declaring “Stop Totalitarianism” alongside images of three crossed-out symbols: a communist hammer and sickle, a Nazi swastika, and an LGBT rainbow flag. At the end of the march, the banner was displayed in front of the Warsaw Uprising monument... Bฤ kiewicz took down two EU flags that were flying alongside the Polish and Varsovian ones. “This is Poland, not Brussels,” he chanted, while they were thrown to the ground. The PiS speaker of parliament recently made a similar declaration. During the nationalist march, participants chanted “hang the communists”, “death to enemies of the fatherland”, and “one bullet, one German”"
Symbols have different meanings in different contexts. Someone (elsewhere) said that in Poland, "no swastika" and "no hammer and sickle" signs don't mean "no Nazism" and "no Communism" (as people were praising the protest for), but are anti-German and anti-Russian symbols. This also applies to the Azov Battalion's use of Nazi symbols
The far right just got humiliated in Ukraine’s election — but don’t write it off just yet - "The Azov movement’s National Corps (which was called a “nationalist hate group” in a U.S. Department of State report published in March), Freedom (Svoboda), Right Sector and others had formed a “united nationalist bloc” the month before the election, running with a combined slate of candidates in an attempt to push past the 5 percent electoral threshold to get into parliament. Yet even combined, with half of the vote counted Monday morning, the far-right bloc had won only 2.3 percent of the vote."
Damn country which is full of and which is run by Nazis!
Russian National Unity Party - "The Russian National Unity Party (Russkoe nationalnoe edinstvo) emerged iy psn the fall of 1990 and subsequently became one of the most active of the small fascist-style parties that sprang up in Russia in the first post-Soviet decade. Founded by disaffected members of Pamyat, the party was led by Alexander Barkashov, a former electrical worker and Pamyat activist. The party espoused an ultranationalist, anti-semitic ideology. Its program, as set forth in Barkashov's Azbuka russkogo nationalista (ABC of Russian Nationalism ), advocated the establishment of a "Greater Russia" encompassing Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The rule of ethnic Russians would be assured... Non-slavic peoples would be confined to their "historic homelands" and the state would protect the genetic purity of the Russian nation through the prohibition of mixed marriages. The party advocated a foreign policy that would confront the United States, which was depicted as controlled by Jewish capital, and would be dedicated to ensuring Russia's world supremacy."
Since the Azov Battalion proves that Ukraine is a Nazi state and it's right to invade it, when are the "anti-fascists" going to invade Russia?
Wagner’s Rusich Neo-Nazi Attack Unit Hints Its Going Back Into Ukraine Undercover - "One of the most feared and radical Russian paramilitary groups may have slipped up on social media and revealed its plans to return undercover to Ukraine, where it was accused of committing war crimes during a previous incursion. Task Force Rusich, a Russian mercenary unit which glories in its neo-Nazi reputation, became known for its brutality when it was first deployed to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine during peak fighting between Russian separatist forces and the Ukrainian military in the summer of 2014. Now it seems Rusich has set its sights on the strategically important north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. That could mean the Wagner Group—which counts Rusich among its network of off-the-books fighting cadres posted all over the world—will be well-positioned for the opening salvo"
Croatia on Russian sanction list – “we can be proud” states Prime Minister - "This list was created after Russian President, Vladimir Putin, ordered his government to compile a breakdown of all the countries that have introduced sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine."
TikTok Ukraine War Videos Raise Questions About Spread of Misinformation - The New York Times - "“What I see on TikTok is more real, more authentic than other social media,” said Ms. Hernandez, a student in Los Angeles. “I feel like I see what people there are seeing.” But what Ms. Hernandez was actually viewing and hearing in the TikTok videos was footage of Ukrainian tanks taken from video games, as well as a soundtrack that was first uploaded to the app more than a year ago... Many popular TikTok videos of the invasion — including of Ukrainians livestreaming from their bunkers — offer real accounts of the action, according to researchers who study the platform. But other videos have been impossible to authenticate and substantiate. Some simply appear to be exploiting the interest in the invasion for views, the researchers said. In one example, Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper, posted an audio clip featuring 13 Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island, an outpost of the Black Sea, facing a Russian military unit that asked them to surrender. The clip was then used in many TikTok videos, some of which included a note stating that all 13 soldiers had died. Ukrainian officials later said in a Facebook post that the men were alive and had been taken prisoner, but the TikTok videos have not been corrected... Removing such content is not easy, partly because of TikTok’s global nature. Once a video is uploaded, it is often recorded over and translated into dozens of languages. If the videos are not reported by users, they need to be independently found by content moderators proficient in those languages before they can be taken down."
Evacuations in 2 Ukraine cities are halted after Russia announces cease-fire - "Ukrainian officials said shelling had halted the work to remove civilians hours after Russia announced the deal."
Thousands of Chinese nationals stranded in Ukraine amid warnings over online jokes - "The renewed attacks on Ukrainian cities came as Chinese nationals stranded in the country called on Chinese social media commentators to stop joking about getting Ukrainian women as a result of the war, as the popular joke was making them a target of suspicion and hostility among Ukrainians... "Some of us are asking us where we're from, and we say we're Japanese," the student said. "Thanks to you guys, we daren't even say we're Chinese." "You lack morality and a sense of truth; you aren't even human. So many people have died, and you say that's a good thing because you can get their women?"... The Chinese embassy issued a statement in the early hours of Saturday morning, calling on Chinese nationals to conceal their identities, and not to display the Chinese flag. The official China News Service also called on social media users to "learn to put themselves in others' shoes, be considerate of the suffering of others during a war, stay moral, and speak rationally about the war, and don’t be a jeering spectator.""
Putin tells EU to step up pressure on Kiev - "Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the EU to put pressure on Ukrainian authorities to “respect humanitarian law” following three failed attempts to evacuate civilians from the country... Ukraine has accused Russian forces of continuous shelling, which, according to Kiev, makes safe evacuation of people impossible."
Amazing
Evacuation Route Offered to Fleeing Ukrainians Was Mined—Red Cross - "An evacuation route out of the besieged port city of Mariupol in Ukraine was mined, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)."
I saw one Russia shill (unsurprisingly, also a China shill) blaming the Azov Battalion for mining it. The Azov Battalion must be brilliant to know what route Russia would offer
Revealed: ‘anti-oligarch’ Ukrainian president’s offshore connections | Volodymyr Zelenskiy | The Guardian - "On the campaign trail, Zelenskiy pledged to clean up Ukraine’s oligarch-dominated ruling system. And he railed against politicians such as the wealthy incumbent Petro Poroshenko who hid their assets offshore. The message worked. Zelenskiy won 73% of the vote and now sits in a cavernous office in the capital, Kyiv, decorated with gilded stucco ceilings. Last month, he held talks with Joe Biden in the Oval Office. The Pandora papers, leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with the Guardian as part of a global investigation however, suggest Zelenskiy is rather similar to his predecessors... Zelenskiy has not commented on the claim despite extensive attempts by the Guardian and its media partners to reach him. His spokesperson Sergiy Nikiforov messaged: “Won’t be an answer.”"
So much for biased western media and psy ops
Ukraine–NATO relations - Wikipedia - "According to polls conducted between 2005 and 2013, Ukrainian public support of NATO membership remained low. However, since the Russo-Ukrainian War and Annexation of Crimea, public support for Ukrainian membership in NATO has risen greatly. Since June 2014, polls showed that about 50% of those asked supported Ukrainian NATO membership.Some 69% of Ukrainians want to join NATO, according to a June 2017 poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, compared to 28% support in 2012 when Yanukovych was in power."
Russia shills will just blame the West for seducing Ukraine after Russia's invasion
Facebook - "Look, I’m not a shill for Putin. I just think all Ukrainians are Nazis, blame Biden for the invasion of #Ukraine, oppose the fictional draft of US troops, enjoy fear-mongering about WWIII, and am against any economic sanctions against Russia."
Marc. on Twitter - "They're asking Elon Musk to remotely turn off all Russian Teslas now This has become a looking glass into the leftist future
Meme - "Netflix waiting for the war to end so they can make a movie about a black Ukrainian guy that falls in love with a transgender Russian soldier"
Meme - "Leftists not even a month ago: "Free healthcare! Free college! Kill land lords!!! Abolish the state!"
"The left now: What, you REALLY can't afford $5 a gallon?"
UK says Russia blaming Ukraine of developing biological weapons 'to justify its invasion' - Mar 8
Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter - "U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland says Washington is working with Ukraine to prevent biological research facilities from falling into Russian hands. She just confirmed every conspiracy theory about the existence of those labs." - Mar 8
"Well that went from conspiracy theory to senate testimony in about 6 days… It used to take six months to go from conspiracy theory to fact."
Was this 6 hours?
Dr. Benjamin Braddock on Twitter - "Putin could unleash biological weapon from seized Ukraine lab, experts fear"
"I was told by fact-checkers that there were no biological weapons in those labs"
Meme - "Looking for eco-friendly way to give to Ukraine. I would like to ensure that no more than 50% of the donation I give goes toward munitions. Yes, I know that war is necessary, but it should not be the main focus. The other main component of this must be a vegan or vegetarian-centric option for feeding the people. Like most of the world, Ukrainians eat too much meat, and this is a great chance to feed them with organic produce and get them used to being more healthy overall. Defeating Russia is pointless if we do not encourage them to scale back meat consumption at the same time. Thanks in advance."
Biden's snub of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a 'warning' (Feb 2021)
Analysis: Is this the beginning of a Joe Biden comeback? (Mar 4)
Saudi, Emirati Leaders Decline Calls With Biden During Ukraine Crisis - WSJ - "Both Prince Mohammed and Sheikh Mohammed took phone calls from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, after declining to speak with Mr. Biden" (Mar 8)
Facebook - "How do u negotiate with Putin? First he told the whole world he will not invade Ukraine and was just holding a military exercise nearby. Then he invaded Ukraine. Then he said he was only going to occupy the Donbas region in Ukraine, controlled by Russian backed separatists. But his troops went far beyond the region. Next he said publicly that conscripts “are not participating and will not participate” in the war. But the Russian Defense Ministry later acknowledged that conscripts were sent into battle in Ukraine, and that some had been taken prisoner. How do u cut a deal with someone who would lie at his own convenience? In psychology profiling, this is the trait of a psychopath. Psychopaths repeatedly attempt to deceive their partners and will lie about anything under any circumstances to conceal their behaviour and achieve their goals – whatever they may be. That’s why everyone is wary of Putin. Don’t ever date a psychopath, k? ๐"
Michael Shellenberger on Twitter - "People think Europe depends on Russia for energy because it lacks its own, but 15 years ago Europe exported more natural gas than Russia does today. Now, Russia exports 3x more gas than Europe produces. Why? Because climate activists, partly funded by Russia, blocked fracking."
Mike Berg on Twitter - "Psaki sounding very smug and dismissive on drilling permits: "What additional permits do they need? I don't think they need an embroidered invitation to drill.""
Facebook - "People don't seem to realise that the same "๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ?" doubt and "๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด!" uncertainty that now paralyses western governments trying to deal with Putin, holding them back from declaring a no fly zone is the ๐จ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ก๐ค๐ค๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ that caused North Korea, Russia and China to not push their luck when the Orange Man was in office. Just flip the mental telescope. Just like you might think that provoking regular joe at the bar is reasonable risk while provoking a crazy looking hobo at the same bar is a bad thing. The first one is likely to at most escalate to a shove, giving you opportunity to de-escalate... but the latter might go nuts and try to eat your face right off the bat. Most I'll give is that it might have delayed the war by 4 years. But Orange Man Mad was actually a legit thing."
Video shows climate protest in Austria, not war report in Ukraine - "CLAIM: Footage of a person moving under a “body bag” shows misleading news coverage of the war in Ukraine.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video shows protesters participating in a climate change-related demonstration in Austria in early February, and has no connection to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some iterations of the video spreading online are edited to add audio from real NBC News coverage of the conflict and a fake news chyron to the unrelated visuals from Austria... The video has been misrepresented online in the past, as the AP has previously reported. In February, some social media users falsely claimed that it showed crisis actors posing as people who died due to COVID-19."
Damn Western psy ops!
McDonald’s closure marks ending of Russian era - "It was Jan. 31, 1990. Russian journalists, foreign correspondents like me, and even a few diplomats had joined the impatient crowd, not wanting to miss the opening of the first ever McDonald’s restaurant in what was still the Soviet Union. A few dozen policemen had been dispatched in case the crowd got out of control. Reporters gathered around George Cohon, the 52-year-old Canadian who had taken the initiative to bring American fast food to Russia. The rumour was that McDonald’s had avoided the country for political reasons, preferring to let the operator of its franchises north of the U.S. border take the first step. Cohon explained how he had toured Soviet farms – which were still mostly inefficient, and all under state ownership – to find suitable cows to turn into beefburgers. He also imported a special variety of potato, to be grown in Russian fields, which would make the right kind of French fries... The golden arches signalled that democratisation and liberalisation were irreversible. The proof was in the eating of a Big Mac. More than three decades later, history has gone into reverse. McDonald’s said this week it would close its 850 restaurants in Russia, arguing it could not ignore the “needless human suffering” caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Chicago-based company said the closure was temporary, though this seems more of an expression of hope than a plan. McDonald’s said it would still pay its 62,000 Russian employees but acknowledged that it was “impossible to predict when (the restaurants) might be able to reopen.” McDonald’s no longer has the same scarcity value. Russian diners could until recently get their fast food from a range of outlets including KFC, pizza purveyor Papa John’s , and Burger King, among others. Several of those have now halted their operations or stopped investing in Russia, while coffee chain Starbucks (SBUX.O) has also shut its doors. Yet for those with longer memories McDonald’s still has symbolic relevance. It was the first major international brand to set up shop in Moscow. Pizza Hut followed a few months later... In 1990, most Russians were forbidden from holding foreign currencies, so McDonald’s priced its burgers in the non-convertible rouble. The downside was that a Big Mac cost between 2% and 3% of the average Russian’s monthly salary. The equivalent bill in the United States today would be $60. The price wasn’t a deterrent, though, and McDonald’s served more than 30,000 meals that first day. The Big Mac was not just an exotic food but a taste of the United States, whose brands had been a subject of fascination and envy, and of active black-market trading, in the grim years of the Soviet Union. The fast-food chain signalled that Russia was joining the globalising world economy, where Russians were at last allowed to travel. A few months before the opening, citizens had congregated in Pushkin Square to use their new-found freedom to demonstrate and express their impatience at the slow pace of reform. Opening a McDonald’s could almost be seen as Gorbachev’s reply to the protesters: See how real all this is. Today the rapid departure from Russia of Western brands from Apple (AAPL.O) to Zara, combined with the domestic clampdown on citizens’ remaining liberties, shows that none of it was irreversible"
Russian McDonald’s fan chains himself to restaurant to stop it closing - "In response to the announced closures, customers turned to Avito, a Russian auction site similar to eBay. One meal, consisting of two burgers, two drinks and a cherry pie was listed, with the seller asking for 7,500 Russian rubles, equivalent to £47 (as of 3pm on last Wednesday). Other companies to pull out of Russia include Cadbury and British tea brand, Yorkshire Tea, as well as Starbucks, Kelloggs, Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo. Heineken, the Dutch beer company, also announced it would halt the production, advertising and sale of its beer in Russia."
Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Don’t Believe It’s a War - The New York Times - "“He started to tell me how the things in my country are going,” said Mr. Katsurin, who converted his restaurants into volunteer centers and is temporarily staying near the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. “He started to yell at me and told me, ‘Look, everything is going like this. They are Nazis.’” As Ukrainians deal with the devastation of the Russian attacks in their homeland, many are also encountering a confounding and almost surreal backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all. These relatives have essentially bought into the official Kremlin position: that President Vladimir V. Putin’s army is conducting a limited “special military operation” with the honorable mission of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine. Mr. Putin has referred to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a native Russian speaker with a Jewish background, as a “drug-addled Nazi” in his attempts to justify the invasion. Those narratives are emerging amid a wave of disinformation emanating from the Russian state as the Kremlin moves to clamp down on independent news reporting while shaping the messages most Russians are receiving. An estimated 11 million people in Russia have Ukrainian relatives. Many Ukrainian citizens are ethnic Russians, and those living in the southern and eastern parts of the country largely speak Russian as their native language. Russian television channels do not show the bombardment of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and its suburbs, or the devastating attacks on Kharkiv, Mariupol, Chernihiv and other Ukrainian cities. They also do not show the peaceful resistance evident in places like Kherson, a major city in the south that Russian troops captured several days ago, and certainly not the protests against the war that have cropped up across Russia. Instead they focus on the Russian military’s successes, without discussing the casualties among Russian soldiers... “No one is bombing Kyiv, and you should actually be afraid of the Nazis, whom your father fought against. Your children will be alive and healthy. We love the Ukrainian people, but you need to think hard about who you elected as president.” Ms. Kremyr said she sent photos from trusted media sites of mangled tanks and a destroyed building in Bucha to her brother, in Krasnoyarsk, but was met with a jarring response. “He said that this site is fake news,” she said, and that essentially the Ukrainian Army was doing the damage being blamed on Russians."
Damn Western psy ops. Clearly we must listen to the unbiased Russian media
Russian journalist protest: Fears for 'missing' Marina Ovsyannikova after on-air demonstration against Ukraine war - "Fears are growing for a Russian journalist who is said to be missing after interrupting the main news programme on the country's most popular TV channel, holding a sign which told viewers: "They are lying to you." During the live broadcast on Channel One on Monday evening, Marina Ovsyannikova, who is thought to have worked for the company for years, walked on to the set behind the presenter with a placard denouncing the country's invasion of Ukraine - a move the Kremlin has described as "hooliganism"... She said that "unfortunately" she had been working for Channel One in recent years, working for the "Kremlin's propaganda and I'm very ashamed of it - that I was letting them tell those lies from the TV screen... and allowed the Russian people to be zombified". She added: "We kept silent in 2014 when all of this was just in the beginning (annexation of Crimea). We didn't go to rallies when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this inhumane regime. Now the whole world has turned away from us, and even 10 generations of our descendants will not be enough to wash away the shame of this fratricidal war."
Clearly a CIA asset!