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Post by mossie on Mar 30, 2022 18:20:35 GMT
The interesting thing about my Polish pilot was that his father was postmaster before, during and after the war. The fact that it became Russian explains why he, and many other Poles, did not go home after the war. he had some contact with them. He was paranoid about being identified when he was involved in a strange incident, but nothing appeared in the press.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 30, 2022 18:31:12 GMT
Good for you, whatagain. Anyone who might come to your house will probably be delighted by the number of cats you already have -- but I hope that the form you filled out did not imply that you don't like animals. You could end up with people who have a cat phobia.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 30, 2022 20:32:20 GMT
That is generous of you, Whatagain! It's entirely reasonable for you to specify no pets.
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Post by questa on Mar 30, 2022 22:35:26 GMT
Another friend, a Dutch girl who was placed with me at school (we were both 11) had survived the siege in her city in Holland by killing, cleaning and cooking stray cats and rats. She told me her house was shaking like it had shivers when the Bombers flew over her place every night. If a normal commercial aircraft flew overhead as we walked to school, she would crouch down and cry and I would wrap my arms around her until she "grew out" of it.
What must be happening to all the 11 year old girls in Ukraine. It is a special age for girls when they start getting old enough to know what is happening but too young to do anything about it, and the 'stupid' hormone has not kicked in yet ...like the way they have taken the lead in Environmental issues.
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Post by questa on Mar 30, 2022 22:56:28 GMT
mmm...sounds like that post office knew some secrets...? My exes father designed bridges for mobility of troops etc. So many had serious faults because the materials used were overloaded, The Army had to walk across the bridge which slowed them down, ditto having to lighten the trucks. "They" all thought a certain high officer was switching the building supplies and no-one realised it was the design itself that weakened the structure The family had to flee when another designer arrived on the scene.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 31, 2022 15:38:30 GMT
I saw that Russian troops are leaving Chernobyl because they have been contaminated by radioactivity. Did nobody tell them that you need to wear protective gear there?
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 31, 2022 15:56:59 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 1, 2022 7:04:11 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 1, 2022 16:16:21 GMT
That would be funny if the whole mess weren't so tragic.
The reports of Ukraine penetrating into Russia to blow up an oil depot are interesting, although they're as yet unconfirmed by completely reliable sources.
Why don't armies figure out ways to steal stuff, rather than destroying it?
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Post by onlyMark on Apr 1, 2022 16:19:04 GMT
And Russia is so "affronted" that the Ukraine attacked them on their own land. How hypocritical can you get.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 2, 2022 6:41:33 GMT
On the radio news this morning, there was a report about refugees leaving an occupied zone (not Mariupol), so they had to go through Russian checkpoints. They said that the Russian soldiers did not steal their telephones or laptops, contrary to what they expected, but instead asked them for fizzy water and tea. And one of them asked for the equivalent of 5 euros because he was broke.
It is becoming easier and easier to feel sorry for the Russian troops who didn't want to come to Ukraine and don't want to do what they are told to do. They will have some of the crummiest war stories ever to tell their children.
At the same time, there have also been reports of rapes and looting.
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Post by whatagain on Apr 2, 2022 8:49:59 GMT
I find the raid on fuel tanks by 2 ukrainian helicopters fantastic.
They broke through russian defense, remained undetected and left unscathed.
Kind of a copy of the Doolitle raid on Tokyo.
And the russian reaction is pathetic. But see, they destroyed fuel tanks on russian ground sir ! And it was a civilian target, this is so unfair !
If only it would have been a maternity, then Putin would have understood.
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Post by whatagain on Apr 3, 2022 8:58:08 GMT
I read somewhere but cannot find it that massgraves are being found on ground from which russian troops are retreating.
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Post by bjd on Apr 3, 2022 9:16:13 GMT
From the Guardian: Russian actions in Ukraine 'look exactly like war crimes'
"President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s spokesman has said authorities in Ukraine have found what “looks exactly like war crimes”, including the bodies of executed civilians and mass graves, as Russians retreated from war-torn areas of the country. Sergey Nikiforov told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show the scenes that have been discovered in de-occupied territories such as Bucha are “really hard to describe”. He said:
We found mass graves. We found people with their hands and with their legs tied up... and with shots, bullet holes, in the back of their head.
They were clearly civilians and they were executed.
We found half-burned bodies as if somebody tried to hide their crimes but they didn’t have enough time to do it properly.
He added that Ukrainian troops have begun clearing the areas and they appear to be free of Russian soldiers."
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 3, 2022 18:06:14 GMT
The massacre in Bucha is definitely making a sound heard around the world, except perhaps in Russia.
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Post by whatagain on Apr 3, 2022 18:36:29 GMT
Bucha will be remembered as the new Katyn...
The more the things change the more they stay the same.
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Post by onlyMark on Apr 3, 2022 19:06:34 GMT
And the Commanding Officer, when he is known, will subsequently be called The Butcher of Bucha.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 3, 2022 19:38:20 GMT
One of the best photos by Ukrainian photojournalist Maks Levin His body was found today.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 3, 2022 19:49:09 GMT
Bucha
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Post by huckle on Apr 3, 2022 23:36:43 GMT
As in most conflicts in Europe, the roots go deep. This is a cartoon summary of the beginnings of the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
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Post by casimira on Apr 4, 2022 17:48:07 GMT
Last evening during the Grammy Awards ceremony a prerecorded video of Ukrainian President Zelenskiy's was featured.
There was one particular line in his delivery that gave me goose bumps.
He said, "Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars".
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 4, 2022 20:35:59 GMT
It doen't take long to become a star, just being in the right place at the right time.
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Post by onlyMark on Apr 6, 2022 5:53:41 GMT
And the Commanding Officer, when he is known, will subsequently be called The Butcher of Bucha. "A Russian commander dubbed the 'Butcher of Bucha' after being accused of committing war crimes...." "Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov is commander of the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade" Now we know who he is.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 6, 2022 20:26:42 GMT
Zelinsky has aged so much in one month. As any of us would in such circumstances.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 7, 2022 1:02:25 GMT
I don't know how long this live link remains viable, but the headline is: Russia's withdrawal from Kyiv and Chernihiv complete - Pentagon (BBC) The final two paragraphs in the article state: Of the 130 Russian battalions that have been sent to Ukraine, more than 80 still remain in the country, the official said.
The Associated Press, citing a US defense official, reported that the number of withdrawing Russian troops amounts to at least 24,000 men.
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Post by questa on Apr 7, 2022 1:11:19 GMT
Somewhere I read he was getting about 3 hours of sleep each day during the first week or so. Add to that he has to be moving from one safe house to another during each day and the grief of seeing the death and destruction of his people...Anyone would look aged.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 7, 2022 16:54:17 GMT
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Post by monetsmum on Apr 7, 2022 18:18:59 GMT
UN Human Rights Council had to vote.
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Post by bjd on Apr 7, 2022 18:49:38 GMT
If infringing on human rights automatically disqualified countries from being on the Human Rights Council, neither China nor Saudi Arabia would be on it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 7, 2022 19:49:00 GMT
Of course I get that, but invading seems likes such a big chunk of violating human rights, all at one time. It's not as though they needed to prove that it happened.
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