Russian invasion of Ukraine

arj1 wrote:

@MedEwok, I think it was always like that. The old joke from the Soviet times:
The USSR & USA leaders have a (kind of) friendly running competition. One comes first, the other one comes second. What newspapers print.
For the first one: “our leader came first, the other one came last”. For the second one: “our leader came second, the other one came penultimate
So, nothing new…

Very true, @arj1 . The old cold War jokes are of course on spot. In Germany, especially East Germany, the format of Radio Yerewan jokes fulfilled this role quite well. Example:

Radio Yerevan was asked: “Is it true that there is freedom of speech in the USSR (in some versions, Russia), just like in the USA?”
Radio Yerevan answered: “In principle, yes. In the USA, you can stand in front of the White House and yell, “Down with Reagan!”, and you will not be punished. Equally, you can also stand in the Red Square in Moscow and yell, “Down with Reagan!”, and you will not be punished.”

Of course, in addition to the fact that media sources should always be questioned for their ulterior motives, we are discussing war here and everybody knows that in war, the truth dies first.

Peter wrote:

This is interesting – I wonder if it is true

I wonder why Slovenia and Cyprus are so large? Slovene imports from Russia shows ‘Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products’ as the largest at 63% of the total, so it’s probably disproportionately affected by gas price increases as MedEwok says. Luxembourg’s Russian imports are tiny, so it’s not clear.

Capitaine wrote:

Cyprus

Cyprus is in general puzzling place… used to be member of Commonwealth, was one of the founders on Non-Alignment Movement (with Yugoslavia, Egypt and India), partially occupied country and yet accepted in EU like that, used to be nice resort for money laundering, used to have good economic connections with Russian oligarchs capital…

Cyprus I forgot to post but also has miniscule imports: biggest single one is aircraft at 39% (google shows ~109 on the 5B register). Gas and oil is number 2 at 14%.

Emir wrote:

Cyprus is in general puzzling place… used to be member of Commonwealth, was one of the founders on Non-Alignment Movement (with Yugoslavia, Egypt and India), partially occupied country and yet accepted in EU like that, used to be nice resort for money laundering, used to have good economic connections with Russian oligarchs capital…

It is indeed a curious place. It would be wholly part of Greece normally, but history had other ideas.

It’s probably one of the places in the world with the highest number of different occupiers in its history. Out of my head: Egypt, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Rome, Byzantine Empire, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottoman Empire, British Empire, Turkey. And I probly forgot several in-between.

And yes, it attracts Russian oligarchs. Afaik they also had one of these “Buy an EU citizenship for loads of cash” schemes officially running there for years…

Capitaine wrote:

miniscule

… minuscule 🤦

MedEwok wrote:

In Germany, especially East Germany, the format of Radio Yerewan jokes fulfilled this role quite well.

That was a classic indeed. And very funny too. I still use the term at times if I have to answer a question with “in principle…”

I was not really aware that they originated in the GDR or the east block, that is interesting. Also quite a lot of the jokes were apolitical. We certainly knew them.

Interesting article from Der Spiegel’s English edition:

Russians have little compassion for Ukrainians

In summary (my own):
The sole independent polling institute in Russia – as far as such an organisation can even exist – questioned ordinary Russians for their view of the Ukraine war.

The majority flat out believe the Russian state propaganda, especially elderly and rural people whose only source of information is state TV. Younger, more Internet affine people are most likely to question the propaganda. But even among those who do, the dispassionate view of Ukrainians is far in the majority. Only about 10% of those asked show any empathy towards the civilians being killed.

whose only source of information is state TV.

That’s exactly as expected. That’s how Putin manages to mobilise a few hundred k, even extracting criminals from prisons, have ~50% killed or crippled, and then do another mobilisation, and most Russians still think he is a hero. Most Russians are so far brainwashed they think Stalin is a hero, having killed tens of millions.

Only about 10% of those asked show any empathy towards the civilians being killed.

That’s also exactly as expected. Nastiness is a key trait down there. They just love it.

Mind you, the Ukrainians love Russians just as much

A very interesting article.