"The 1980's are calling to ask for their foreign policy back."

Mods, please change @Jenee's username to oldfella with tits.

Thanks.

You can't run a dog like paladin off. he will always come back here. The only thing that will end his presence here would be death because he is not going to be banned for what he says. That is not a complaint about moderation.

Oh good, cause I was about to pull out a mirror...

Wow Russian Foxnews is lit

Somewhere there’s a Russian @Federal Farmer furiously scribbling notes to use in a debate

That's... honestly a bit fucking sick. I don't think stooping that low is going to have any effect, except to make the Ukrainians feel better. And if you feel better telling a mother her son was blown to bits, even if HE was a sonofabitch, what does that say about YOU?

Not exactly news, but it is now pentagon official.

Cannon fodder.

Okay, that's fucked up.

It's astonishing the Russians thought the "it accidentally caught fire and sank" explanation was better.

Is it consistent with the Geneva Conventions?

Fine, post it to blanket media accounts. Don't target individuals.

This is one step removed from Al-Qaeda posting beheading vids on YouTube, only lacking the actual moment of death and they put it right on Mom's timeline.

Perhaps the excuse was for Putin.

That... doesn't make sense.

Could Ukraine have buried victims of Russian war crimes THAT quickly?

Why wouldn't they preserve them as evidence?

I can understand burning bodies of folk you've just killed, but digging them up? The story seems to be trying to link two concepts that don't converge.

It's a face-saving move. Putin would never buy it.

Yes. There have been videos of Ukrainians showing off the shallow graves they dug to bury friends and family under Russian occupation. One guy had to strip his son’s body to show he had no Nazi tattoos before they would allow it. I believe I posted one from the BBC earlier.

One of his biggest problems is inaccurate information on his military's capabilities.

This… seems like a bad idea.

Frankly amazed that Paladin understands what saving face is, because it requires shame.

Depends. If Moskva was sunk due to incompetence (i.e. they didn't think Ukraine had the range to hit them) rather than poor maintenance of her multiple defences against missile attack, then new ships entering the arena may not be as easy prey for Ukraine.

Let's hope a few go down though.

I'd be willing to bet that it's a violation. Remember, when the war first started, Ukraine posted videos of captured Russian soldiers saying that they had no idea of what they were doing or where they were going until after they crossed into Ukraine. I know that a number of people then began pointing out that this was a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and I haven't seen any such posts by the Ukrainian government of captured Russian soldiers since then. One isn't supposed to post such things about POWs since it can be seen as exploiting them (not to mention that it is possible that POWs are forced to give false information for propaganda purposes).

Now, I will say that if the videos of the captured Russian soldiers were accurate (meaning that the Ukrainians didn't force the POWs to lie), then it does explain a few things. For example, remember the Russian soldiers who were captured after they showed up at a Ukrainian police station asking for fuel because they'd run out. Seems like a really stupid thing to do, but if you've not been told where you were going, or that you'd be greeted as liberators, then it makes a bunch of sense.

And parading POWs before the cameras can backfire on you, as the NVA found out when Jeremiah Denton blinked Morse Code for torture when he was presented to the press. Another POW bowed crazily, which indicated that something was wrong.

My understanding is that the Russian Navy (going back to the Czars) has always been a bit of a joke. I don't mean they're less capable than the US or British, I mean, practically sinking your own ship while trying to fire at the enemy, bad. And if the Russian Army is so poorly equipped that Ukrainian farmers are a viable threat to them, then the Russian Navy, which has gotten the short-end of the funding stick since the 1700s, is probably worse.

After all, Hitler really didn't know WTF to do with the German Navy, outside of u-boats and the Bismark, and we can all think of serious shit that Allied shipping had to face at German hands during the war. But can you name any naval engagements between the Germans and the USSR?

One of the biggest worries I see right now is that Putin uses the sinking of the Moskva to get the Russian public supporting more of a total war view towards Ukraine.