Russian invasion of Ukraine

[David]

[pietillidie]

^Except the thought experiment on soft power would purposely compare, say, China, Japan and Korea because they share racial heritage, controlling for racism.

[David]

[stui magpie]

Unconscious racism may play a part but there's other things at play.

For the majority of people Europe has been mostly peaceful in their lifetime so this is a shock. Ukraine was a stable European democracy which people of European descent can relate to.

The middle east is just one fight after another, African conflicts seem mainly civil wars between different ethnic or tribal groups. There's minimal shock value anymore.

Western media focus on what will attract views which translates to advertising dollars. There's still coverage of other areas, you just have to go further than the landing page.

[pietillidie]

On racism, the usual far right loons were abusing African/Middle Eastern/Indian visitors/students fleeing Ukraine across the Polish border, apparently. One hopes there are good folks offsetting the usual racist tools.

A reckoning on race for the regression during the Afghanistan/Iraq/terrorism/refugee/Brexit period is overdue, but that discussion will have to be put on hold until Putin is dealt with. Some strides were made here through BLM at the start of the pandemic, but it has since faded, although many businesses are still fighting the good fight through diversity policies.

[#26]

Who were the thirty five countries, that abstained from the vote on Russia, at the UN General Assembly?

[Pies4shaw]

^Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, Equitorial Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the other stan that begins with K, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

[Jezza]

Russia has taken full control of Kherson.

[David]

[Jezza]

[#26]

^Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, Equitorial Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the other stan that begins with K, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

Thanks. That's an interesting group of countries there.

I heard Ukraine aren't getting the 28 jets they were going to get from Poland now, because they have nowhere to land. Plus having them launch attacks from Poland isn't an option either, because there's a fear that Poland will get dragged into the conflict if they do.

[David]

[David]

[pietillidie]

Any thoughts on next moves? You can tell the psychopath is hoping NATO gets directly involved to justify his propaganda. It looks like oil and gas are next on the sanctions agenda; take sanctions to the next level while continuing to arm Ukrainians?

[David]

Some alarm over the fact that the giant Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is apparently on fire after being attacked by Russian forces, with some warning that it could cause a Chernobyl-like disaster if it explodes. This Twitter thread from a nuclear energy consultant suggests that the worst fears may be overstated, but it's still worrying:

https://twitter.com/jrmygrdn/status/1499564645048369153

Edit: reading reports now that it's under control.