New war in Europe, courtesy of Putin

[runa]

I saw this picture, too, very moving:

PHOTO GLEB GARANICH, REUTERS

Volodymyr and his son Yaroslav shed tears as their loved ones left Kyiv for Lviv on March 11.

[MadFan]

Absolutely heart-wrenching, all any of us can think about over the past weeks. I swear, this century started with 9/11 and hasn't let up since.

[ULIZOS]

An article about a good friend of mine and her family still in the Ukraine 

She Left Ukraine Years Ago — but Her Sister's Family Faces the Invasion: 'I Cannot Believe This Is Their Life'

Half a world away, Liz Tursi waits for updates from her loved ones: "[My niece] says when she wakes up in the morning, sometimes she's not sure for the first few seconds if she's alive or not"

By Virginia Chamlee and Amy Eskind
March 03, 2022 09:39 AM

Liz Tursi has lived in the U.S. for almost her whole life, but she still feels her heart pulled almost halfway around the world to Ukraine — where her sister, brother-in-law, her niece and her nephew are now stuck in their small village as Russian invasion unfolds.

Tursi was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, near the Russian border, immigrating to the U.S. with her parents when she was 7. Her sister, Oksana, 13 years older and a new bride, stayed behind.

"Ever since I was old enough to help her, I've been encouraging her to come here with her family," Tursi, 36, said in a recent interview with PEOPLE. "She's never shown any interest, never agreed to come visit."

Tursi now lives in South Orange, New Jersey, where she oversees sales operations for an academic publishing company. Oksana lives in a rural area in Ukraine with her husband, Gena, her son Ruslan, 29, and her 19-year-old daughter Elizabeth.

With Russian forces advancing around Oksana's family's country, they have had to take shelter and are sometimes "trapped in their house" with no indoor plumbing and dwindling food reserves, Tursi says. But they remain deeply tied to their homeland, even with the dangers.

"[Oksana] tends to be stubborn, and even now she categorically refuses to listen about going anywhere, leaving, trying to get to Poland," Tursi says of her sister. "I have friends in Poland who would be willing to help. I also have friends who have family in France who would be willing to help, but they are so insistent on just staying where they are."

Tursi says Ruslan has considered volunteering for the Ukrainian military but Oksana, who works as part of a janitorial staff in an elementary school, has been trying to talk him out of it. Oksana's daughter, Elizabeth, stayed at her boyfriend's home, a few blocks away.

None of them have left their homes since the fighting began late last week, Tursi said Tuesday.

She says her sister's family is located "very close to the blasts" they can see explosions and hear gunfire from inside their home.

From left: Liz Tursi; Tursi's niece, Elizabeth; and Tursi's sister, Oksana, in 2010 in Kharkiv, Ukraine | CREDIT: COURTESY ELIZABETH TURSI

"My niece said that she doesn't sleep at night," Tursi says. "She naps during the day but is way too afraid to go to sleep at night. She says when she wakes up in the morning, sometimes she's not sure for the first few seconds if she's alive or not."

Meanwhile, Tursi says she's scared for her family but finds herself without many options all these thousands of miles away.

She says she was able to successfully wire her sister money one day prior to the invasion on Feb. 24, but now that the fighting has begun in earnest there's little else she can do.

"They have nowhere to really go," Tursi says. "There aren't any relatives or friends or anyone outside of Ukraine that they know that can take them in, so that prospect of leaving your home is scary. To go where? And also the solidarity that they have with their neighbors, and their country — they don't feel right just trying to escape, I think. In their particular neighborhood, no one has left."

While not leaving might keep them safe from the conflict, it's been a challenge in terms of procuring necessities, Tursi says.

"My sister told me that she had tried to step out and get food and was turned around by [Ukrainian] military ... so they are basically living on whatever reserves of food that they have. Right now the only people who are allowed outside are military and police, anyone who's volunteering to be in the military," Tursi says. "Random citizens are advised to stay home."

Stuck in their home, the family is communicating to Tursi via Instagram direct message and watching the news when they can. (The internet, she adds, "is on and off.")

"I don't see [Oksana] emotionally falling apart, but I don't see her as super resourceful," Tursi admits. Even if her sister's family decided to leave, she says, it would be a challenge to get out, as moving around is potentially dangerous and the waits at border crossings are hours long.

Tursi says she hasn't visited Ukraine since 2010 — yet found herself deeply affected by the images of the invasion.

"I considered myself disconnected from the country and really felt American, but when this happened my heart just broke," she says. "I'm very proud of the people and the way they are handling it — how strong they are and how resilient they've been. I'm so proud of the president who hasn't given up and who continues to stay and is trying to keep up the morale among all the citizens."

[runa]

No matter on what side you are, no matter what you think about it, Ukrenian, Russian, it’s absolutely tragic  

[air1975]

52 minutes ago, runa said:

No matter on what side you are, no matter what you think about is, Ukrenian, Russian, it’s absolutely tragic  

So true. It is so very sad for all the humans involved in this tragedy. I think of the Ukrainians who all of a sudden are losing their homes and country and lives; Ukranian families' separation from the sons/fathers/brothers who are forced to fight; to the young Russian men (really boys) who are being told to fight for a war they probably do not understand; to the Ukranian and Russian mothers and fathers worried sick for their kids in the army; to the Russian people losing their jobs/savings. Its still almost surreal that in 2022 this could happen. 

[elijah]

3 hours ago, air1975 said:

So true. It is so very sad for all the humans involved in this tragedy. I think of the Ukrainians who all of a sudden are losing their homes and country and lives; Ukranian families' separation from the sons/fathers/brothers who are forced to fight; to the young Russian men (really boys) who are being told to fight for a war they probably do not understand; to the Ukranian and Russian mothers and fathers worried sick for their kids in the army; to the Russian people losing their jobs/savings. Its still almost surreal that in 2022 this could happen. 

In reality there is only one person to blame for all this: PutLER. All this was his choosing.

[Kilt]

19 hours ago, runa said:

No matter on what side you are, no matter what you think about it, Ukrenian, Russian, it’s absolutely tragic  

The brainwashed Russians don't think so. They still think Ukraine needs to be cleansed of Nazis. They're telling Ukrainians it's for their own good

[Narendra Sen]

On 3/11/2022 at 5:50 AM, CzarnaWisnia said:

Russia is not asking for control over the whole country, not even much of the land, only the territories that have themselves proclaimed independence. But yes, I would rather leaders negotiate than getting the citizens to fight to the death and to see everything around them destroyed and end up with nothing. Yep. Take the damn land.

Yeah, right. As if Pootin will stop at that. 

[Kilt]

[Kilt]

There are videos of tens of dead civilians in cities of Mariupol and Buchi being buried in black plastic bags in common burial ground. Very devastating 

[Guest CzarnaWisnia]

Besieged Ukraine city of Mariupol buries dead in mass grave

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/besieged-ukraine-city-of-mariupol-buries-dead-in-mass-grave-1.5812603

[Kilt]

“The next country that Putin would want to take over if he wins the war with Ukraine will be Lithuania. After that, other Baltic countries and Poland," said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

[Guest CzarnaWisnia]

7 minutes ago, Kilt said:

“The next country that Putin would want to take over if he wins the war with Ukraine will be Lithuania. After that, other Baltic countries and Poland," said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

I don't believe that for a second. That's inflammatory speech to push the West to intervene militarily with more intensity than it now does.

[elijah]

3 hours ago, CzarnaWisnia said:

I don't believe that for a second. That's inflammatory speech to push the West to intervene militarily with more intensity than it now does.

Well you didn’t believe he would “liberate” Ukraine. Still he did. He would be emboldened if he “wins” ( I put it in quotes, because he has only won the resentment of the vast majority of the world, but I mean if he takes over the country). He would definitely move to Moldova and/or Georgia.

[LSD]

1 hour ago, Kilt said:

“The next country that Putin would want to take over if he wins the war with Ukraine will be Lithuania. After that, other Baltic countries and Poland," said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Financially impossible at this point.

Even continuing this current war of imperialist aggression on a day-to-day basis is pure fever dream delusion in terms of the economics of it, Putin and his circle of sociopathic sycophants are off living in la la land with Aleksandr Dugin as their Willy Wonka giving them golden tickets to an endless realm of hallucinatory fantasies, and this period in which the MOEX re-opening gets pushed back every few days unto eternity and Russia is currently delinquent on its national debt payments and in a grace period preceding a USSR-style default is the calm before the storm. Not to mention the maintenance and IP-heavy segments of the Russian economy that won't fully experience their decay for a couple of months now...at which point the Russian aviation industry will be competing with North Korea's Air Koryo or Congo Airways in terms of their presence in the skies for example.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Kilt said:

“The next country that Putin would want to take over if he wins the war with Ukraine will be Lithuania. After that, other Baltic countries and Poland," said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

I don´t think so.First, this is not the moment to continue to the west.And, if he continues, that would be a country which is not in the NATO.Moldavia ? is it in the NATO?

 Danilov is trying to scare the NATO to make them intervine.I understand the idea, but I don´t think will happen

[Gaudet]

Yeah, sure, and why not Sweden and Finland too at this point? Heck, even Ireland as well! 

Oh but of course it's all double standards of the West, it's all the West fault.

Hypocrites.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Gaudet said:

Yeah, sure, and why not Sweden and Finland too at this point? Heck, even Ireland as well! 

Oh but of course it's all double standards of the West, it's all the West fault.

Hypocrites.

I´m sure that putin has on his mind sweeden and finland too. the west´s fault is not seing this a few years ago

[Guest CzarnaWisnia]

I don't believe Russia would want to conquer any non-Russian speaking territory. Eastern Ukraine is largely Russian-speaking and ethnically Russian. That's not the case at all of Moldavia, for instance. And as mentioned above, this kind of invasion takes a lot of resources.

[karbatal]

The way to prevent situations like this is very complicated. We can maybe not trade with dictators, but in the end it is the population who suffer. The thing is that crazy madmen are unnatural in nowadays global world. And once they appear it is difficult to know what to do.

[Guest CzarnaWisnia]

 

https://www.cnbctv18.com/auto/red-flags-for-auto-sector-russia-ukraine-war-to-elongate-semiconductor-shortage-metal-crude-oil-prices-worrying-12732592.htm

The war and semi-conductors

 

How is the war hurting the semi-conductor supply? Well, Palladium and Neon are used to manufacture semiconductors and Russia supplies 40 percent of the world's Palladium and Ukraine produces 70 percent of the world's Neon.

 

In fact, that 70 to 80 percent of the Neon demand globally comes from semiconductor related companies.

[elijah]

5 hours ago, CzarnaWisnia said:

I don't believe Russia would want to conquer any non-Russian speaking territory. Eastern Ukraine is largely Russian-speaking and ethnically Russian. That's not the case at all of Moldavia, for instance. And as mentioned above, this kind of invasion takes a lot of resources.

However those Russian speaking Ukrainians neither feel Russian nor want to be ruled by a mad zar. So the people in Ukraine simply wanna be left alone. But I guess no one told this to Putler

[Gaudet]

7 hours ago, promise to try said:

I´m sure that putin has on his mind sweeden and finland too. the west´s fault is not seing this a few years ago

The "West fault" is to have ungrateful hypocrites pointing the fingers at the West every time an international crisis unfolds, yet the very people who point their judgemental fingers at the West often those people live in Western countries, whereby they enjoy all the freedoms and democracies living in those Western countries allow them to benefit from.

While NATO perhaps shouldn't have indicated that Ukraine may have one day joined the alliance therefore unsettle a deceitful russian scumbag over his already vast territory, half as much as the EU perhaps shouldn't have promised a fast-track membership only to back track on that, the first punch - figuratively speaking - was thrown by the russian midget's army in this stupid bloody war.

The warmongering aggression started by Putin, whom is such a brave man is hiding safely in a bunker allegedly in Siberia, plus he got to hide all of his numerous kids, mistress, ex wife, safely in various locations across Switzerland, Holland. Yeah, such a brave man while he murders babies, kids, women, in a territory he wishes to claim back... with violence.

 

[elijah]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/13/russian-orthodox-church-in-amsterdam-announces-split-with-moscow

A Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam has announced it is to split with the Moscow patriarchate, in the first known instance of a western-based church cutting ties over the invasion of Ukraine.

“The clergy unanimously announced that it is no longer possible for them to function within the Moscow patriarchate and provide a spiritually safe environment for our faithful,” the clergy said in a statement posted on its website. “This decision is extremely painful and difficult for all concerned.”

 

The head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, a trusted ally of Vladimir Putin, has declined to condemn the Kremlin’s decision to invade its neighbour, referring to Russia’s opponents in Ukraine as “evil forces”. In a Sunday sermon last week he also said gay pride parades organised in the west were part of the reason for the war in Ukraine.

The statement said the Russian Orthodox parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra had asked the Russian archbishop of the diocese of the Netherlands, who is based in The Hague, to grant the church “canonical dismissal”.

The clergy of the parish said they had requested to join the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Istanbul-based Orthodox branch, seen as a rival to the Russian Orthodox church.

Kirill’s position on the war has led to unease among some Russian Orthodox priests who object to the invasion of a country often referred to as a “brotherly nation” in religious circles.

More than 280 Russian Orthodox priests and church officials from around the world signed an open letter expressing their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It said “eternal torment” awaited those who gave “murderous orders”.

The Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam, which consists of four priests and a deacon – one of the biggest Russian Orthodox congregations in the Netherlands – has been critical of Russia’s role in the war since the start of the invasion on 24 February.

It said last week it would no longer mention the name of Patriarch Kirill in its liturgy because of his backing for the invasion of Ukraine. “We as the clergy of St Nicholas parish in Amsterdam have expressed our shock at the invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation … We distance ourselves from Patriarch Kirill’s narrative,” it wrote on its Facebook page.

The statement went against the official policy of the Russian Orthodox church not to use the word “war” and “invasion” to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The Russian priests in Amsterdam told the Dutch outlet ND that Archbishop Elisey of the Netherlands visited their church afterwards, warning that “Moscow was watching their actions closely”. 

The Amsterdam church held a closed session on Sunday in which the head of the parish reiterated the decision to break with Moscow. “We asked our former Patriarch Kirill to stop the war. Unfortunately, this did not happen,” he said in a video address posted on the church’s YouTube page.

A Russian member of the church’s choir who was standing outside the church told the Guardian she supported the decision to separate from Moscow. “Once the war started, there was only one way out of this,” she said, asking not to give her name.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also been criticised by other Christian religious leaders, including the head of Patriarchate of Constantinople, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, and Pope Francis, who on Sunday issued his toughest condemnation yet of the invasion, saying the “unacceptable armed aggression” must stop.

Bartholomew, considered to be the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians, earlier said Putin had committed “a great injustice” by going to war against his “coreligionists” and had “earned the hatred of the whole world”.

In 2018 the Russian Orthodox church cut ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, seen as the spiritual authority of the world’s Orthodox Christians, after Bartholomew granted independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox church, which was previously under Moscow’s control.

[Kilt]

 

 

 

[Camacho]

7 hours ago, Kilt said:

 

 

 

 

[Gaudet]

Zele' continues to demand NATO warfare interventions, it doesn't seem he fully cares about his own citizens, because if he did he would try to find peace rather than invoking an all out military intervention, publishing a deep fake video of a hypothetical attack to Paris in order to scare enough EU countries and NATO members into military action.

May one day soon enough something or someone get rid of the russian dictatorial midget and all of his minions. 

Insidious ones are also the ones pretending to be against this war, against Putin when in reality they fully support Putin and his actions - even in this forum they are present.

[Camacho]

 

[Kilt]

 

"Dear Ukrainians, you have no chance of changing the conscience of Russians"

For people around the world - A very very good and straightforward insight on the Russian mentality and culture in the current context. 

Turn on captions for English translation.

https://fb.watch/bLT1VfnKc7/

 

 

[Gaudet]

Putin's enabler and major supporter while officially pretending not to, should be sanctioned as well: China.

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/russian-banks-rush-switch-chinese-card-system-2022-03-06/

Disturbing what that vile communist dictatorship is doing, brainwashing its people into blindly supporting Russia by feeding them stratospheric lies about Ukraine in order to justify Russia's attack. Dangerous. Pretty scary.

https://twitter.com/RazvenHK/status/1500400321654247431?t=kDOYhS21fsc39ZYYO3UKkg&s=19

 

Oh but it's "the West fault", it's all about "calling out the West double standards", all about excusing Putin's reasons for this war.