Vladimir Putin has officially declared war on Ukraine

Just some thoughts, feel free to think I'm crazy. If NATO were to intervene in Ukraine, what would need to happen?

Forces have to be in position
Citizens have to support it, even knowing the risks of escalation
Russia has to believe up until the very last moment, NATO won't do it (like Europe believed about the Ukrainian invasion in the first place) or that they would find out in advance and be able to rain hell on Ukraine in the hours or days that they can.

I could presume the first is happening. How are we, or Putin, to know that the crap ton of stuff being sent to Ukraine's borders are all defensive and shoring up NATO's borders?

Thinking about the other two and this mornings nonsense, I'm not sure it's 100% as straight-forward as it appears. Possible NATO intervention needs to be kept secret up until the very last moment. It serves the plan if it looks like the US can't keep anything secret. Many people are royally pissed off, bolstering support to do whatever needs to be done to help Ukraine. Also, if Ukrainian special forces know exactly where Russian mercenaries are heading (in locating the site of the zoom meeting) that wouldn't be a bad thing, if they know President Zelensky is secure. Rubio's tweet was first? The others are all just piggy-backing? The others... 100% moron. It's Rubio's, given his committee position, that I have questions about. He should really, really, really know better unless he is being used as an intentional leak. Someone Putin would believe is tweeting out of self-interest, not US psy ops.

It's still 99% chance of moron, and the US can't keep a secret, but everyone is playing mind games. The tweet is still up, and that gives me a moment of pause.

Good God, I would so much rather believe that even the Marco Rubios of the world have a hidden agenda that’s actually on the right side, than that they are just self-serving, moronic treason weasels who will be re-elected all the same. IOKIYAR

🤣😂🤣

In Novopskov the Russians are shooting protesters!! At least three hit.

I think we also need to be concerned with why Putin is now claiming that sanctions are a sign of war. I think he may be trying to use that as a justification to using nuclear weapons—on Ukraine or others.

Russian best and brightest leaving Russia, some without even packing their stuff.

Moscow is losing its ‘best and brightest’ as young Russians flee Putin’s totalitarian state: reports
Bob Brigham
March 05, 2022

Russia is suffering a brain drain as some of its "best and brightest" flee the country after Vladimir Putin's totalitarian crackdown to prevent dissent over his invasion of Ukraine.

"The Russian middle class as we knew it took decades to grow. It fell apart in days. Then, the exodus began. Journalists, businessmen, artists, popular TV presenters, pop stars – some of Russia’s most talented professionals were fleeing the country," Rolling Stone reported on Saturday. "Outside the big, graceful windows Moscow put on display to the world, its House of Cards was falling apart."

Russian-born American jouranlist Julia Ioffe has also reported on the exodus from Russia.

"The choice to flee or stay was now a matter of survival. By Thursday, the exodus became so chaotic, there were hardly any good friends left in the city," Rolling Stone reported. "Many Russian journalists panicked. People evacuated without time to pack — or think of the future."

But as Russians try to flee, sanctions are making it more difficult to leave the country, CBC News reported.

www.rawstory.com/russia-brain-drain-exodus/

It is getting worse. There appears to be more gun fire.

Europe is facing a massive refugee crisis as Ukrainians flee Russian troops invading their country.

"More than 1.45 million people have left Ukraine since Russia invaded the country nine days ago, the International Organization for Migration said on Saturday, sparking what the United Nations agency described as the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II. Since Russia invaded Ukraine last week, large numbers of Ukrainians have fled, west not east..


www.rawstory.com/russia-ukraine-refugees/

State Dept: all Americans, exit Russia immediately!!

Putin has declared war on more then Ukraine. It’s just going to keep escalating. 😢

A long thread, but interesting. fSB is like our CIA.

No idea who the "current FSB analyst" is - if it's a real analyst, they wouldn't release the name. If it's not a real analyst, it's a masterful bit of mental disinfo calculated to cause everyone within the FSB to become paranoid.

As bad as this war is going, I have to say that it's honestly EXACTLY how I would expect a Russian war vs. better-prepared and better-armed resistance to go. Russia has always relied heavily on conscripts who don't really want to be there and aren't exactly the best and the brightest. Their military has been maintained about as well as expected - which is to say, not very well. There is a HUGE gap between officers and the enlisted, there is no NCO corps in the Russian system. And they are very much top-down oriented - which means that the guys following the orders may have no actual idea what the purpose of the mission really is.

The old joke about in the US, everything is built by the lowest bidder comes into mind. But we expect our military hardware to actually WORK, and we try to maintain it in working condition. I did see a joke on twitter last week about "Russia's about to find out why the US doesn't have universal healthcare" - because we spend all of our $$$ on our military. The thing is, Russia has a very small budget compared to most other countries, so even if they spend a high percentage on the military, they won't have nearly as much as western countries have to show for it. Their soldiers don't want to be there, and they are just looking for the day they can get out.

Compare that to Ukraine - their entire male civilian population (and many of the females) are now focused 100% on Ukraine surviving the war. They have thousands of combat-experienced soldiers from other countries CHOOSING to come fight on their behalf. And they are being armed with the best hardware the west can give them. Russia has a military run by a system of middle-management types.

Cease fire is a FAILURE

Especially gripping:

Is there a possibility of a localized nuclear strike (in Ukraine)? Yes. Not for any military objectives. Such a weapon won’t help with the breach of the defenses. But with a goal of scaring everyone else (The West).

We are plowing to create a scenario to blame everything on Ukraine. Naryshkin (Director of Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia) and his SVR is digging the ground to prove that Ukraine was secretly building nuclear weapons. F*&K.

They are hammering at what we’ve already analyzed and closed the book on: We can’t just make up any evidence or proof and existence of specialists and Uranium. Ukraine has a ton of depleted isotope 238 – this is nothing. The production cycle is such that you can’t do it in secret

A dirty bomb can’t be created in secret. Ukraine’s old nuclear power plants can only produce the material as a by-product in minimal amounts. The Americans have such monitoring at these plants with MAGATE that even talking about this is stupid.

Do you know what will start in a week? Let’s let it be even in 2 weeks. We are going to be so screwed we will start reminiscing about the good ol’ hungry days of the 90s.

Doesn't come as any surprise. He doesn't care one bit - he's deranged and so are his generals or whoever is in charge of the military!