Ukraine having the second most powerful military force on the European continent is not debatable.The fact that you keep arguing that its debatable is why I'm over emphasizing it
Happy debating with you.
Good night.
Russia & Ukraine
- Thread starter UsualName
- Start date
Ukraine having the second most powerful military force on the European continent is not debatable.The fact that you keep arguing that its debatable is why I'm over emphasizing it
Happy debating with you.
Good night.
European countries close their skies to Russian planes
European nations and Canada moved to shut their airspace to Russian aircraft on Monday AEDT, an unprecedented step aimed at pressuring President Vladimir Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.
The ban on Russian jets comes as the airline industry continues to grapple with the effects of the global pandemic that is still straining demand for travel.
Germany and France joined Britain, the Nordics and Baltic states in announcing bans on Russian use of their airspace, a major escalation in a tactic by mostly NATO allies to wage economic war against Putin in retaliation for the invasion.
The West, led by the United States, also unveiled severe financial sanctions against Russia, which has called its assault on Ukraine a “special operation” to dismantle Kyiv “junta”, capture dangerous nationalists and destroy Ukraine’s military.
Russia is now widely expected to further retaliate against the air blockades and other sanctions. It has already responded to the earliest European airspace bans with its own edicts barring airlines from Britain, Bulgaria and Poland.
Russian airline Aeroflot said it would cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice after the decision by many countries to close their airspace.
Reuters
European nations and Canada moved to shut their airspace to Russian aircraft on Monday AEDT, an unprecedented step aimed at pressuring President Vladimir Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.
The ban on Russian jets comes as the airline industry continues to grapple with the effects of the global pandemic that is still straining demand for travel.
Germany and France joined Britain, the Nordics and Baltic states in announcing bans on Russian use of their airspace, a major escalation in a tactic by mostly NATO allies to wage economic war against Putin in retaliation for the invasion.
The West, led by the United States, also unveiled severe financial sanctions against Russia, which has called its assault on Ukraine a “special operation” to dismantle Kyiv “junta”, capture dangerous nationalists and destroy Ukraine’s military.
Russia is now widely expected to further retaliate against the air blockades and other sanctions. It has already responded to the earliest European airspace bans with its own edicts barring airlines from Britain, Bulgaria and Poland.
Russian airline Aeroflot said it would cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice after the decision by many countries to close their airspace.
Reuters
Fact checking nonsense created by the same people who promote Covid misinformation...
Claims: Russia is targeting U.S. biological weapons labs in Ukraine invasion.
There are no US-run biolabs in Ukraine, contrary to social media posts
https://www.politifact.com/factchec...are-no-us-run-biolabs-ukraine-contrary-socia/
False claims from Russia alleging bioweapon use by the U.S. aren’t new, and allegations of a network of such labs along Russia’s border were shared in state-run media in the weeks before the invasion.
A Twitter user by the handle @WarClandestine spread a story on Feb. 24 that Russia was targeting the sites of U.S.-run biolabs when it began invading Ukraine. That account was quickly suspended by Twitter, but others shared the post and began using the hashtag #USbiolabs to spread the false claim.
There are no U.S. military-run labs in Ukraine, said Andy Weber, a member of the Arms Control Association Board of Directors and a former assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs.
"Rather, the U.S. Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has provided technical support to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health since 2005 to improve public health laboratories, whose mission is analogous to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Weber told PolitiFact.
"These laboratories have recently played an important role in stopping the spread of COVID-19," he added.
The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program began after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 to reduce the threat of existing weapons of mass destruction. It is also known as the Nunn-Lugar Program (named after the senators who passed the Soviet Threat Reduction Act) and is housed within the Defense Department’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.
False allegations about biolabs, though, are so prevalent that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency released a video on Jan. 11 to counter them and explain what the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program does. In it, Chris Park, a State Department official, spoke at the United Nations to respond to allegations from China and Russia about "suspicious activity" at laboratories in the region. He called the claims "pure disinformation."
Park said the program "works to build capacity around the world to detect, prevent and mitigate infectious disease."
The Biological Threat Reduction Program, according to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, "works with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks (intentional, accidental or natural) of the world's most dangerous infectious diseases."
According to the Atlantic Council, a think tank, Russian propagandists have long spread propaganda in Ukraine, including claims that these labs are experimenting on unsuspecting citizens.
Snopes fact-checkers reported that this most recent claim is false.
Similar claims were made against Georgia’s Lugar Center for Public Health Research in 2018, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Last year, Russia and China began spreading the false claim that the U.S. has biolabs along each of their borders, insinuating that America is responsible for unleashing COVID-19, the Daily Beast reported.
"There has been a Soviet-style disinformation campaign promoting such lies for over a decade," Weber said. "It harkens back to the Soviet KGB ‘Operation Infection’ disinformation campaign to spread the total fabrication that HIV/AIDS originated in a U.S. military lab."
Our ruling
A social media user tweeted that Russia was targeting U.S.-run biolabs in its invasion of Ukraine. That account was soon suspended by Twitter.
There are no U.S.-run biolabs in Ukraine. The country is one of many former Soviet Union republics, and other countries, partnering with the Defense Department as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. It’s the latest claim in a series of disinformation efforts by the Russians, an expert told PolitiFact.
While the U.S. may provide funding to upgrade or build labs in other countries, the labs are run by the partnering nations and the program’s goal is to prevent biological threats, not create them. We rate this claim False.
Claims: Russia is targeting U.S. biological weapons labs in Ukraine invasion.
There are no US-run biolabs in Ukraine, contrary to social media posts
https://www.politifact.com/factchec...are-no-us-run-biolabs-ukraine-contrary-socia/
- There are no U.S.-run biological weapons labs operating in Ukraine.
- The U.S. Defense Department and the Ukraine Ministry of Health have had a partnership since 2005 to improve public health laboratories and prevent the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases.
- That effort is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which began in 1991 to reduce the threat of existing weapons of mass destruction programs in former Soviet Republics.
False claims from Russia alleging bioweapon use by the U.S. aren’t new, and allegations of a network of such labs along Russia’s border were shared in state-run media in the weeks before the invasion.
A Twitter user by the handle @WarClandestine spread a story on Feb. 24 that Russia was targeting the sites of U.S.-run biolabs when it began invading Ukraine. That account was quickly suspended by Twitter, but others shared the post and began using the hashtag #USbiolabs to spread the false claim.
There are no U.S. military-run labs in Ukraine, said Andy Weber, a member of the Arms Control Association Board of Directors and a former assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs.
"Rather, the U.S. Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has provided technical support to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health since 2005 to improve public health laboratories, whose mission is analogous to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Weber told PolitiFact.
"These laboratories have recently played an important role in stopping the spread of COVID-19," he added.
The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program began after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 to reduce the threat of existing weapons of mass destruction. It is also known as the Nunn-Lugar Program (named after the senators who passed the Soviet Threat Reduction Act) and is housed within the Defense Department’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.
False allegations about biolabs, though, are so prevalent that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency released a video on Jan. 11 to counter them and explain what the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program does. In it, Chris Park, a State Department official, spoke at the United Nations to respond to allegations from China and Russia about "suspicious activity" at laboratories in the region. He called the claims "pure disinformation."
Park said the program "works to build capacity around the world to detect, prevent and mitigate infectious disease."
The Biological Threat Reduction Program, according to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, "works with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks (intentional, accidental or natural) of the world's most dangerous infectious diseases."
According to the Atlantic Council, a think tank, Russian propagandists have long spread propaganda in Ukraine, including claims that these labs are experimenting on unsuspecting citizens.
Snopes fact-checkers reported that this most recent claim is false.
Similar claims were made against Georgia’s Lugar Center for Public Health Research in 2018, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Last year, Russia and China began spreading the false claim that the U.S. has biolabs along each of their borders, insinuating that America is responsible for unleashing COVID-19, the Daily Beast reported.
"There has been a Soviet-style disinformation campaign promoting such lies for over a decade," Weber said. "It harkens back to the Soviet KGB ‘Operation Infection’ disinformation campaign to spread the total fabrication that HIV/AIDS originated in a U.S. military lab."
Our ruling
A social media user tweeted that Russia was targeting U.S.-run biolabs in its invasion of Ukraine. That account was soon suspended by Twitter.
There are no U.S.-run biolabs in Ukraine. The country is one of many former Soviet Union republics, and other countries, partnering with the Defense Department as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. It’s the latest claim in a series of disinformation efforts by the Russians, an expert told PolitiFact.
While the U.S. may provide funding to upgrade or build labs in other countries, the labs are run by the partnering nations and the program’s goal is to prevent biological threats, not create them. We rate this claim False.
Hard to believe I'm the only person that would give a "like" to such a well written post.
The only part that might be arguable is the "masterpiece" part.
Russian police arrest 2,667 protesters during anti-war demonstrations according to a human rights group
Posted 1h ago https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02...-protesters-anti-war-demonstrations/100866734
Anti-war demonstrations have been staged in 67 cites across Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. (AP: Dmitri Lovetsky)
Police detained more than 2,000 people at anti-war demonstrations held in cities across Russia on Sunday a protest monitoring group said, as people defied the authorities to show their anger over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Key points:
On Sunday evening local time, OVD-Info said at least 2,667 people had been arrested in the day's protests in 67 cities.
In Moscow, riot police often outnumbered protesters, some of whom carried hand-written placards with peace signs and anti-war slogans in Russian and Ukrainian.
Some wore masks with the word "Enough" emblazoned in the front.
Protests have been staged across the country, with more than 5,800 demonstrators arrested since Thursday.(AP: Dmitri Lovetsky)
A reporter for the independent television channel Dozhd was arrested during the protests despite showing his accreditation to the police and wearing a press vest.
Outside the upmarket Gostiny Dvor department store in downtown St Petersburg, hundreds of anti-war protesters stood together, linking arms and chanting.
Posted 1h ago https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02...-protesters-anti-war-demonstrations/100866734
Anti-war demonstrations have been staged in 67 cites across Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. (AP: Dmitri Lovetsky)
Police detained more than 2,000 people at anti-war demonstrations held in cities across Russia on Sunday a protest monitoring group said, as people defied the authorities to show their anger over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Key points:
- Anti-war protests have been held in cities across the country since Thursday
- Australians in Russia have been warned to avoid demonstrations and to consider leaving the country
- Long queues have been forming at Russian ATMs amid reports non-Russian cards are being declined
On Sunday evening local time, OVD-Info said at least 2,667 people had been arrested in the day's protests in 67 cities.
In Moscow, riot police often outnumbered protesters, some of whom carried hand-written placards with peace signs and anti-war slogans in Russian and Ukrainian.
Some wore masks with the word "Enough" emblazoned in the front.
Protests have been staged across the country, with more than 5,800 demonstrators arrested since Thursday.(AP: Dmitri Lovetsky)
A reporter for the independent television channel Dozhd was arrested during the protests despite showing his accreditation to the police and wearing a press vest.
Outside the upmarket Gostiny Dvor department store in downtown St Petersburg, hundreds of anti-war protesters stood together, linking arms and chanting.
Moscow braces for rouble to crash at least 25% as new sanctions hit
Russian currency expected to plunge in first day’s trading since Swift ban and ECB says state-owned Sberbank subsidiaries are set to collapse
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...r-market-meltdown-monday-as-new-sanctions-hit
Russian currency expected to plunge in first day’s trading since Swift ban and ECB says state-owned Sberbank subsidiaries are set to collapse
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...r-market-meltdown-monday-as-new-sanctions-hit