Apple kicks 'Russian Facebook' off the App Store following new UK sanctions

[Axle Grease]

True, and that someone is you. Here we are only 3 days later.... And now this:

Putin Didn’t Think He Would Fool Anyone

The sham referendum in Ukraine was for domestic consumption.

www.theatlantic.com

"There’s something mysterious about the results. Not whether they were a sham; they clearly were. (The words referendum and election should never be used to describe a process in which men with guns knock on your door and then force you to fill out a ballot while they watch.) What’s mysterious is the scale of the sham victory. According to the official figures released by the Kremlin, the percentages of the four regions voting to join Russia were as follows: 99, 98, 93, and 87."

If you believe that was the proper way to run an "election". Not to mention the numbers Putin and Russia are claiming, you are even bigger Russian apologist and scammer than I thought.

True, and that someone is you. Here we are only 3 days later.... And now this:

Putin Didn’t Think He Would Fool Anyone

The sham referendum in Ukraine was for domestic consumption.

www.theatlantic.com

"There’s something mysterious about the results. Not whether they were a sham; they clearly were. (The words referendum and election should never be used to describe a process in which men with guns knock on your door and then force you to fill out a ballot while they watch.) What’s mysterious is the scale of the sham victory. According to the official figures released by the Kremlin, the percentages of the four regions voting to join Russia were as follows: 99, 98, 93, and 87."

If you believe that was the proper way to run an "election". Not to mention the numbers Putin and Russia are claiming, you are even bigger Russian apologist and scammer than I thought.

They're so much worse than that. Ukrainians are generally very patriotic about their country in the same way U.S. conservative are about the U.S. The sheer amount of death and destruction, and brutal oppression that would entail the successful annexation of the Ukraine that Putin's supporters were hoping for exposes a moral vacuum that stretches from one ear to the other. They're goblins.

 

[Endymio]

Had the U.S. drafted men to fight in those wars you might've come closer to having a reasonable but-what-about-ism.

The US drafted men to fight in Vietnam -- another sovereign democracy attacked by the US without provocation -- and criminally charged more than 200,000 men who attempted to flee conscription. Did you think you had a point in there somewhere?

The Ukraine is a sovereign democracy and its borders are clearly defined ( and includes Crimea ).

The "democracy" of Ukraine banned opposition political parties and all non state-run media, and is arresting anyone who criticizes Zelensky's policies. With a democracy like that, who needs dictatorship? And if Crimea still belongs to Ukraine, then Ukraine still belongs to Russia. Both regions voted to leave their parent nation under the same principle of self-determination that the US has long claimed to support. Not that Crimea should have even needed to vote -- after several hundred years of being part of Russia, it was illegally "given" to Ukraine by Khrushchev, himself a Ukrainian.

 

[Endymio]

True, and that someone is you.

Sorry, you don't get to skate away from your earlier remarks quite so easily. You made false claims; they were debunked. Admit it and we can move on.

The words referendum and election should never be used to describe a process in which men with guns knock on your door and then force you to fill out a ballot while they watch.

No one is forcing anyone to vote, or to vote a certain way, which even your own link admits. The "men with guns" are escorting ballot boxes for one simple reason -- Ukrainian nationalists have made repeated threats to kill any "collaborators" they see participating in these elections. There's even a government-supported website in Ukraine ("Mirotvorets" ) that maintains a "kill list" of such people, a list which contains the names of thousands of adults, and hundreds of young children, a list of which more than 100 individuals have already been murdered.

"As war rages on in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, Johnny Miller reports on a ‘kill list’ associated with the Ukrainian government promoting violence against pro-Russia children.

This is the notorious Ukrainian website Mirotvorets, meaning peacemaker. It publishes the names and addresses of those it deems to be “enemies of Ukraine.” The opening page shows pictures of dead Russian soldiers.

On the list are domestic and foreign journalists, politicians and citizens that are believed to have aided or worked with pro-Russia forces in the country in some way. Now, surprisingly enough, children are being added to the list.

This is Faina Savenkova. She is 13 years old. And she has been writing about her experiences here in Donbas. After her name appeared on the list, she started to receive threats of physical violence online.

Numerous journalists and public figures have been murdered after being put on the list. Like Oleg Buzina who was shot near his home in Kiev.

And Andrea Rocchelli, an Italian journalist. After he was killed on the front line, the website posted the word “Liquidated” over his photo.

The Committee to protect journalists has previously written to the Ukrainian government asking them to, “condemn the unfounded and damaging allegations published on Myrotvorets, and to clarify publicly that the Ukrainian Interior Ministry is dedicated to protecting journalists.”

The United Nations and Human Rights Watch have also condemned the site....

 

[scavengerspc]

Sorry, you don't get to skate away from your earlier remarks quite so easily. You made false claims; they were debunked.

I swear until you, I have never witnessed anyone filibuster themselves.

What was debunked?
Another fact is you didn't comment on my post but ranted on about people, places, and things I didn't even mention, that were completely unrelated.

The rest of your drivel, maybe we can talk about those things someday if the subjects ever come up. But right now, maybe you can address what's actually being discussed.

EDIT - And one more thing. Nobody had armed protection after the Russian thought police left and nobody was harmed.

 

[Axle Grease]

The US drafted men to fight in Vietnam -- another sovereign democracy attacked by the US without provocation -- and criminally charged more than 200,000 men who attempted to flee conscription. Did you think you had a point in there somewhere?

The "democracy" of Ukraine banned opposition political parties and all non state-run media, and is arresting anyone who criticizes Zelensky's policies. With a democracy like that, who needs dictatorship? And if Crimea still belongs to Ukraine, then Ukraine still belongs to Russia. Both regions voted to leave their parent nation under the same principle of self-determination that the US has long claimed to support. Not that Crimea should have even needed to vote -- after several hundred years of being part of Russia, it was illegally "given" to Ukraine by Khrushchev, himself a Ukrainian.

Vietnam a "sovereign democracy attacked by the U.S. without provocation"??? How disgracefully ignorant. Did you not know that there was a South Vietnam and a North Vietnam? Americans arrived at the behest of Saigon to fight against insurrectionists as well as invaders from the North trying to overthrow the government in the South. Not that the South was much better than the North in the treatment of dissidents. Both sides were ruthless. "Sovereign democracy"? BS on stilts. Neither qualified. In any case, it was morally reprehensible for the U.S. government to draft men to fight a war in another country. It was sure not for self-defence. So where is your condemnation of Putin drafting young men to fight Putin's war for him?

On the matter of Ukrainian democracy or "democracy" as you put it, well I've been reading about the 2019 election on the Wikipedia. Communist Parties and symbols were banned years before under an unconstitutional "decommunization law" which is wrong. However their leaders were still allowed to run in the 2019 election as independents. It is only in wartime that all democratic processes have been suspended with all resources being devoted to defending the Ukraine which is not surprising at all.

On the matter of Ukraine's borders let's listen to what Putin has to say.

 

[Endymio]

What was debunked?

Your absurd claim that Putin is "more popular in the US than his own nation". Still standing by that punchbowl-turd?

And one more thing. Nobody had armed protection after the Russian thought police left and nobody was harmed.

Why do you spout such easily-disprovable absurdities? I've been to Crimea more times than I can count, I talk to friends in Crimea on a near-daily basis. Crimea overwhelmingly does not wish to be part of Ukraine. It never did, in fact.

Educate yourself on the FIRST Crimean referendum for Indepenendence, which happened in 1991. 94% of the population voted in favor that time -- are you going to blame Putin's "thought police" for that one, a decade before he even rose to power?

"A referendum on sovereignty was held in the Crimean Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR on 20 January 1991...Voters were asked whether they wanted to re-establish the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The proposal was approved by 94% of voters...."

Then Ukraine voted to encompass Crimea within it's own borders -- but only as an "autonomous republic" ... autonomy which Ukraine quickly revoked. Then what happened?

May 5, 1992 Crimea's parliament declares total independence subject to approval in a referendum to be held in August 1992.

May 13, 1992 The Ukrainian parliament declares the Crimean parliament's independence declaration unconstitutional and gives them until May 20 to rescind it. They also give President Kravchuk the power to use all necessary means to halt Crimean independence.

Chronology from the UN Refugee Agency: https://www.refworld.org/docid/469f38ec2.html

 

[scavengerspc]

Your absurd claim that Putin is "more popular in the US than his own nation". Still standing by that punchbowl-turd?

Looks like your reading comprehension skills let you down again. I didn't "claim" that. I said "Putie probably has more support here in the US than he does from his own people." I'm not like you. I don't say things I can't back up.
In the meantime, I encourage you to look up the meaning of fact, and then conjecture.

Educate yourself on the FIRST Crimean referendum for Indepenendence, which happened in 1991. 94% of the population voted in favor that time -- are you going to blame Putin's "thought police" for that one, a decade before he even rose to power?

Ah, yes 94%. And 2014, unsurprisingly, produced a USSR type result: 97 percent allegedly voted to join Russia. And that referendum is still laughed at today.

"A referendum on sovereignty was held in the Crimean Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR on 20 January 1991...Voters were asked whether they wanted to re-establish the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The proposal was approved by 94% of voters...."

Then Ukraine voted to encompass Crimea within it's own borders -- but only as an "autonomous republic" ... autonomy which Ukraine quickly revoked. Then what happened?

May 5, 1992 Crimea's parliament declares total independence subject to approval in a referendum to be held in August 1992.

May 13, 1992 The Ukrainian parliament declares the Crimean parliament's independence declaration unconstitutional and gives them until May 20 to rescind it. They also give President Kravchuk the power to use all necessary means to halt Crimean independence.

And again since I didn't mention any of those things I will just repeat myself for you. "Maybe we can talk about those things someday if the subjects ever come up. But right now, maybe you can address what's actually being discussed."

Last, you are damn lucky you posted those pictures here at Techspot, because I can't think of another tech site that would have allowed them.
Maybe now @Axle Grease will post some pics of what your Russian buddies have done in Ukraine. Though he probably has too much class. And what Russia did was not an accident, or collateral damage. They did it on purpose. Those innocents were the target, which unfortunately are the rare times Russia actually hit their target.

 

[Endymio]

Looks like your reading comprehension skills let you down again. I didn't "claim" that. I said "Putie probably has more support here in the US than he does from his own people." I'm not like you. I don't say things I can't back up.

You're seriously attempting to hide behind the word "probably"? Probably is defined as "more likely than not". It does not mean "wildly preposterous" or "I wuz just kidding tee-hee".

If you say gravity "probably" doesn't exist or the earth "probably" is flat, don't pretend that single word means you're making sense.

Ah, yes 94%. And 2014, unsurprisingly, produced a USSR type result: 97 percent allegedly voted to join Russia. And that referendum is still laughed at today.

Don't dodge the issue. Long before Putin took power in Russia, Crimea was voting 90%+ to leave Ukraine. Every time it did so, Ukraine ruled their vote "invalid" or "unconstitutional".

I'll say it again. I've been to Crimea many times. I speak with people there on a regular basis. Long before the 2014 referendum, an overwhelming majoritywished to secede from Ukraine. Have you even been within 5,000 km of the region? Your absurd statement that Russian "thought police" enforced this vote is no different than claiming the earth is "probably" flat.

 

[scavengerspc]

You're seriously attempting to hide behind the word "probably"?

I said probably because I don't know for sure. I'm confident you are the only one that doesn't get that. You should look into it. It's very simple for most people.

I'll say it again. I've been to Crimea many times.

It's not unusual to want to go to one's adopted motherland.

But you better go back quick to help out because they just might soon be back in Ukraine territory. Russia's incompetence is becoming even more obvious, and Putin isn't capable of running a restaurant bathroom.

 

[Endymio]

I said probably because I don't know for sure.

But probably doesn't mean "I don't know". It connotes a certain degree of confidence in your statement. You do realize that, right?

It's not unusual to want to go to one's adopted motherland.

My adopted motherland is the US; I was naturalized decades ago. But, unlike yourself, I still regularly travel most of the globe, rather than spending a lifetime eating Cheetos in a Lay-Z-Boy in Pudunk , USA. When you visit an area personally, you can see firsthand how false certain narratives are.

 

[scavengerspc]

My adopted motherland is the US; I was naturalized decades ago. But, unlike yourself, I still regularly travel most of the globe, rather than spending a lifetime eating Cheetos in a Lay-Z-Boy in Pudunk , USA. When you visit an area personally, you can see firsthand how false certain narratives are.

My business has taken me to 11 different countries between 1990 and 2011! Including Rostov-on-Don in Russia 3 times. And I was a guest of their government to the World Cup held there because I consulted with them for athlete housing.
And I have had friends in Dnipro since 2010 and was last there in 2018.

Boy, you are great at reading people!

But probably doesn't mean "I don't know".

You're right. It actually insinuates "I don't know for sure."
Wait..... Where have I heard that before?

Definition of PROBABLY

insofar as seems reasonably true, factual, or to be expected : without much doubt… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

"insofar as seems reasonably true, factual, or to be expected : without much doubt"

EDIT - And by the way, it's Podunk.