Michael Andersen

OpenStreetMapper

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

I often hear from Westerners that Russians are victims too, that they live in an authoritarian system and can do nothing about the war.

That is simply not true, but this post isn't about that.

This post is about timing, acting before your democracy turns into a pile of ash and a mad old dictator suddenly starts sending you to war.

Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there was the annexation of Crimea. Before that, the invasion of Georgia. And before that, political prosecutions, the dismantling of democratic institutions, the takeover of the press, and police violence ignored to the point of turning the country into a police state. The time to act was back then. Years ago.

Instead, we watched Russian society slowly degrade into a crowd of obedient little sheep.

I saw people horrified by police violence jump into their cars and trains to head to the capital to protest and demand change. I saw them stand their ground, refusing to budge even when snipers started shooting. Those people are my people, and that revolution started the beginning of our long, hard fight for our democracy and freedom.

And I saw people swallow police violence, repression, and the takeover of the press, until one day, their army started marching through the fields of Donbas, and all they could do was blink like idiots and ask, "What can I do?" Well, duh!

America is at the beginning of this road right now, but it is the exact same road. Today, they choose whether they want to fight for their democracy or let it die. Because their time to act is now, not when the police start shooting at peaceful protesters in the streets and their army starts bombing their neighbors.

[Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson]

Just posting this again for no reason.

[Liam Nissan™ @theliamnissan]

The internet (and more specifically smart phones) give hostile foreign nations a direct line of communication with the dumbest motherfuckers you went to high school with, and it will be the downfall of western civilization

[Claus Mathiesen @clausmat1]

Det kunne være at de, der helt forståeligt taler om behov for våbenhvile og forhandlinger, i stedet for at punke Ukraine for det skulle rette presset på Moskva.

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

"Putin will wage war. I don’t know when, but he will. And you, Europeans, will be surprised to discover that this war is aimed at you, too... You think that what is happening in Moscow has nothing to do with you—that it’s our problem.
Putin hates people like me, certainly. But through us—in Russia, or through the revolutionaries in Ukraine or Georgia—it is you he hates: your democracy, your society, your freedoms.
Do you think his regime is merely a threat to us? Your awakening will be brutal."

Anna Politkovskaya, in Paris, 2005.
She was assassinated in the lobby of her apartment building on October 7, 2006—Putin’s birthday.

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

I absolutely love this one: “Ukraine is the most corrupt country in the world” and “all Western aid gets stolen.”

And yet, somehow, Ukraine is about to enter the sixth year of its full-scale war against Russia, which not only has failed to defeat it all this time, but is now itself taking strikes on its own territory all the way to western Siberia.

Apparently, some people seriously believe that you can fight a years-long war of attrition against the entire military and economic might of Russia and its totalitarian allies, such as the Iranian regime and North Korea, in roughly the same way roads get built in the world's truly most corrupt places: you get, say, a million monies from the corrupt authorities' budget. You kick back 30% to the officials who gave you the contract, pocket another 50% yourself, and then use whatever crumbs are left to “build a road,” however the hell you feel like it, with the quality you'd expect.

Well, no, my dear friends.

Ukraine as a state is extraordinarily far from perfect, and not just when it comes to fighting corruption.

But I'm sorry, the “most corrupt countries in the world” would never have managed to stay on their feet, let alone put up a fight against a giant as overwhelmingly powerful as Russia, even if the entire West had handed over its entire GDP to them in one go.

[Charlotte Bagge Hansen @charlotte_bagge]

Sidder her på gode Møn og tænker på vores venner i Ukraine.

I går blev en togstation sprængt i luften og mange døde. I sidste uge var det en legeplads. Alle civile. Russerne er fuldstændig afstumpede.

Derfor synes jeg også, der kører en helt forskruet debat om Ukraine og krigen de her dage.

Den ene efter den anden dukker op i medierne og fortæller os, at nu må vi altså være realistiske. Klaus Riskær. Martin Henriksen. Og andre besynderlige typer. Taletid får de da masser af.
Ukraine kan ikke vinde. Krigen skal slutte. Vi må acceptere, at Rusland også har nogle interesser, og at fred kræver indrømmelser.

Undskyld mig. Men man sidder da tilbage med det indtryk, at det på en eller anden måde er ukrainerne, der er blevet problemet.

At det er dem, der er urimelige, fordi de ikke vil afgive deres land. Dem der er stædige, fordi de insisterer på at forsvare sig. Og os andre, der er naive, fordi vi bliver ved med at støtte dem.

Hvad i allervideste verden er det dog for en logik?

Har haft en fortid i militæret og bliver simpelthen så harm over det her med, at nu kan ukrainerne da bare sige ja tak til fred og så overgive sig!

Ikke fordi jeg er imod fred. Selvfølgelig er jeg ikke det. Det er der jo ingen, der er. Jeg ønsker ikke noget højere end, at den her forfærdelige krig slutter.
Men man skal da holde op med at lade som om enhver aftale, der får bomberne stoppet, automatisk er en god fred. For lad os nu lige se på, hvad Rusland kræver.
De vil have ukrainsk territorium. De vil forhindre Ukraine i at blive medlem af NATO. De vil begrænse størrelsen på Ukraines militær. Og de vil have indflydelse på, hvordan landet fremover skal indrette sin egen sikkerhed.

Putin har endda kaldt en storby som Odessa for en russisk by. Den russiske patriark har skrevet under på, at krigen skal afsluttes ved, at ukrainerne er blevet lavet om til ”lillerussere”.

Vi taler altså om et regime, der ikke bare ønsker en afslutning på krigen, men som fortsat gør krav på retten til at bestemme over et andet land. Og så er der mennesker herhjemme, der mener, at det er den slags krav, vi skal være realistiske omkring. Det synes jeg faktisk er ret utroligt.
Jeg synes også, vi skal være meget opmærksomme på, hvad vi lærer Rusland (og andre stormagter også), hvis vi accepterer den tankegang.
At man kan starte en angrebskrig, slå tusindvis af mennesker ihjel, ødelægge hele byer og til sidst få noget ud af det, hvis bare man bliver ved længe nok.
Det er ikke ligefrem en opskrift på en mere fredelig verden, hvis du spørger mig.

Og det mest groteske er vel næsten, at Putin faktisk har mulighed for at stoppe krigen. Rusland kan indstille sine angreb og trække sine styrker tilbage.
Men i stedet for at rette presset mod Rusland er vi nu begyndt at diskutere, hvor store indrømmelser Ukraine skal tvinges til at acceptere. Amen altså.

I de her dage synes jeg, at det er vigtigt at huske: der er forskel på fred og underkastelse! Og det der bliver talt om de her dage er i hvert fald ikke det første.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Unbelievably cool:

Ukrainian air defense has destroyed two Russian Kalibr missiles with one Hawk air defense missile!

After the first missile was hit, the explosion led to the second one detonating.

[Dmytro Lubinets @lubinetzs]

I am still on my way to Oleshky. Our humanitarian mission is ongoing.

ℹ️ I see that people on social media are already commenting that I am on the territory of the Russian Federation. Many questions and provocative messages are emerging.

I want to clarify: I am going there to be on the ground in person and see what is happening firsthand, and to keep you informed about the progress of the mission. I ask you to trust official sources and not draw conclusions based on unverified reports.

☝️ One cannot even imagine how difficult these negotiations have been, and how long they took to get me to where I am now. But we have only made it halfway toward our goal. That is why I ask you to please hold all questions until I return home.

Once again, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who helped make this mission possible, including citizens of the United States of America who contributed to this process. My thanks also go to all Ukrainians who took part in rallies abroad and made sure that the issue of Oleshky did not disappear from the public agenda. Thank you to everyone who made an effort to help.

❗️ And finally, let me answer one question: why am I going there in person? Because when it comes to saving people, it is important to be there with them. It is important to understand what is happening on the ground and to make every possible effort to ensure that the agreement reached is implemented. And if I had to go there to save just one person, I would do it again.

I believe this is my duty as Ombudsman. When there are people — our people — who need help, we must save them. Period.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Putin's Foreign Policy Aid Ushakov confirms that the Kremlin managed to con Trump into attempting to force Ukraine's surrender, but the rest of Europe stepped in to block the moron American President.

[Montrey @Montrey82631182]

20.12.2021: Putin demands NATO retreat to its pre-1997 positions. The next day, he laments the collapse of “historical Russia” and the loss of 40% of its territory.
Two months later, he launches his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. NATO must retreat. Russia must expand.

[Dimko Zhluktenko 🇺🇦⚔️ @dim0kq]

Full story in my video: https://t.co/jHijF9JGNA

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

🇷🇺 Oh, how the narrative has shifted.

“We underestimated them as a powerful state, a military power with a certain level of capability and training.”

— Major General Vladimir Popov on how the Russian army’s understanding of Ukraine has changed since 2022.

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

“Yes, with rifles, with assault rifles, with guns, tanks, but we were still on our knees.

We’re saying that they had the advantage in terms of training, combat experience, and adaptability.”

— Russian Major General Vladimir Popov on how the Russian army compared to Ukrainian forces at the beginning of the war.

Popov also talked about how the Russian army has improved over the years. Notice what he doesn’t say—or rather, what the interviewer, Anton Krasovsky, doesn’t let him say.

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

“They’ve been so thoroughly indoctrinated over the past 30 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, that they believe they’re basically in the right.”

— Russian Major General Vladimir Popov explaining why, in his view, Ukrainians are motivated to fight.

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

“If we launch another mobilization now, we’ll just inject negative energy into society.”

— Russian Major General Vladimir Popov discusses potential mobilization, in an interview with journalist Anton Krasovsky.

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

🇷🇺 A revealing clip in which Russian Major General Vladimir Popov says it’s shameful to call the war an “SMO,” discusses the Russian generals Ukraine has allegedly eliminated, and mentions Belarus in a particularly interesting context.

Notice how Anton Krasovsky deliberately interrupts Popov just as he starts naming the generals who were killed.

Also, pay attention to what Popov says about Belarus. Which conflict in Belarus is he referring to?

Could he mean the incident that took place on the Belarusian-Latvian border in early October? What else might he have in mind?

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

🇷🇺 Krasovsky: “So where is that line of [our] moral superiority?”

Major General Popov: “Probably, it lies in the fact that we still think about the other side, to some extent. Even now!”

They’re just such great humanitarians, as Witkoff would put it. 🙄

Reminder: Anton Krasovsky is the journalist who suggested that Ukrainian children should be drowned.

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

🇷🇺 An absolutely fascinating clip in which Major General Popov admits that the Russian military was unprepared for war.

Just don’t tell anyone!
It’s a secret! 🤐

‼️Popov’s description of the Russian mindset explains why Russia keeps waging wars instead of focusing on building prosperity.