• Denys Davydov - does fairly regular updates on the war and does not hesitate to tell the good, the bad, and the ugly
  
• Reporting from Ukraine - succinct military updates with an emphasis on tactics, terrain, and weather
  
• Anna from Ukraine - Anna does a good job filling in cultural and historical background information unfamiliar to most westerners
  
• Insights from Ukraine and Russia - phone intercepts of Russian soldiers gives a window into the state of Russian morale (caution: some of the conversations are disturbing)
  
• Ryan McBeth - retired US Army NCO who is quite an authority on military hardware and tactics
  
• Task and Purpose - "average infantryman" Chris Cappy does good analyses of military hardware and geopolitics
  
• Lieutenant General Ben Hodges - wherever he's interviewed, he has an excellent big picture perspective
  
• Deutsche Welle - a German news source which typically holds good interviews with informed people about the war
  
• France 24 - like Deutsche Welle, but French
  
• Times Radio - a British source that often holds good interviews with informed individuals
  
• America Supports Ukraine - where your favorite Cubist (other than His Equalness) posts about Ukraine so you don't have to
  
• America Supports Ukraine Facebook Page - which is the Facebook version of the famous YouTube channel
  

Thanks! Will check them out. Although I've been using mostly Ukrainian-language and Russian-language sources (often interchangeable), published by Ukrainian and Russian observers who are opposed to Putin's aggression. The Russian ones, of course, are all from outside of Russia, because anyone of them left in Russia and speaking against the war (or even calling it a war) are already serving long prison sentences.

The pro-Putin crowd should stop and think why so many of the top Russian intellectual and cultural elites have fled Russia and support Ukraine all the way.

Just as they should stop and think why all Russia's neighboring nations who know Russia first-hand are choosing to side with Ukraine and help it to defeat Russia militarily. The only exception is Belarus because it's held hostage to Russia. Even them its strongman Lukashenko has displayed imaginative ingenuity for the entire year to keep his own troops from fighting against Ukraine. His power hinges on Putin's power, and yet he keeps finding ways to limit any aid to Russia to the bare minimum.

Red Square wrote: ↑

3/4/2023, 10:02 pm

Thanks! Will check them out. Although I've been using mostly Ukrainian-language and Russian-language sources (often interchangeable), published by Ukrainian and Russian observers who are opposed to Putin's aggression. The Russian ones, of course, are all from outside of Russia, because anyone of them left in Russia and speaking against the war (or even calling it a war) are already serving long prison sentences.

The pro-Putin crowd should stop and think why so many of the top Russian intellectual and cultural elites have fled Russia and support Ukraine all the way.

Just as they should stop and think why all Russia's neighboring nations who know Russia first-hand are choosing to side with Ukraine and help it to defeat Russia militarily. The only exception is Belarus because it's held hostage to Russia. Even them its strongman Lukashenko has displayed imaginative ingenuity for the entire year to keep his own troops from fighting against Ukraine. His power hinges on Putin's power, and yet he keeps finding ways to limit any aid to Russia to the bare minimum.

All good sources, Comrade. I would also suggest https://tvpworld.com/ (a Polish source) as worthy of a look.

I also look at Combat Veteran Reacts. He uses pretty much the same map as Davydov but he gives some helpful tactical and strategic appraisals of the frontline situation. He also has a Patreon channel for the footage that YouTube refuses to allow on it's platform.

Personally, I'm surprised that hasn't happened already but Prigozhin probably has a very good, well trained and loyal security detail with him at all times. If Putin was to do something to him, It would probably be in the form of some kind of suicide drone strike that could be blamed on Ukraine.

I just responded to somebody's question via email, and I thought I should also share it with my comrades here.



Indeed, this war is not so much about land, or the language. Many in Israel speak Russian as well, so Russia should invade Israel as well? Franz Kafka lived in Prague and wrote in German, but he was neither German, nor Czech. He was a German-speaking Jew living in Austro-Hungary, where German was a prerequisite to having a meaningful career. Most of the Russian speakers in Ukraine are actually Ukrainians with Ukrainian names, whose families had switched to speaking Russian when that was a prerequisite to getting ahead and having a meaningful career. My family was one of them, and I grew up speaking Russian first and Ukrainian second, but that doesn't make me Russian. And most of the people Russia has killed so far are actually Russian speakers, whom Putin claims he wants to protect. And many of the Ukrainian soldiers in the trenches speak Russian among themselves, while they are shooting at Russians.

So if it's not the land or the language, what are the real reasons for the invasion? Let's stay with your analogy of Texas. Only instead of Mexico, the aggressor here would be California, where the ruling elites are threatened by the conservative Texas's resistance to "progressivism," and as long as such conservative states as Texas or Florida exist, the totalitarian control of the "progressive" elites over the population can never be complete. Their hatred towards conservatives is palpable. Likewise, Putin and his elite circle realize that their totalitarian control over Russia can never be complete as long as Ukraine with all its Russian speakers remains free and thriving. Putin has done everything he could to keep it from thriving, and to keep average Russians from asking Putin, "Hey, Ukrainians are much like us and many speak the same language, so how come they are free and prosperous, and we live here without the indoor plumbing, drink vodka, and only watch you and your cronies amass your palaces, yachts, and billion-dollar accounts in foreign offshore accounts?"

I think that is the main reason for the war. It may not be the only reason, but it makes all the other reasons look more like side effects.

Komissar al-Blogunov wrote: ↑

3/14/2023, 11:29 am

I just added Insights from Ukraine and Russia to the list. This guy does translations of intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers. Sometimes it's disturbing. One euphoric Russian soldier called his mom explaining how much fun it is to assist the FSB in torturing Ukrainian civilians while mom was wishing she could be there to participate.

See my post above. Putin can't make his subjects happy by raising their living standard, so he's making them happy by letting them make their neighbors miserable. As long as all the others are suffering, their own lives in Russia don't seem as bad.

Interesting that you're using Texas as an analogy. The Donbas is very rich in coal and oil, as is the Azov Sea and other areas of the Ukrainian coast. That is certainly a factor.

And a little historical note.

You know the quote: "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."

Which indicates that to the author, the Scythians stood apart from barbarians. At the time, the Scythians lived in the steppes north of the Black Sea, and later they got mixed with the Sarmatians, and then with the Slavs who settled that area, and with all the other subsequent newcomers, all that wild mix became Ukrainians.

I know the quote is to be understood figuratively, but in a way, they do get an honorable mention. :}

Red Square wrote: ↑

3/20/2023, 10:01 pm

And a little historical note.

You know the quote: "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."

Which indicates that to the author, the Scythians stood apart from barbarians. At the time, the Scythians lived in the steppes north of the Black Sea, and later they got mixed with the Sarmatians, and then with the Slavs who settled that area, and with all the other subsequent newcomers, all that wild mix became Ukrainians.

I know the quote is to be understood figuratively, but in a way, they do get an honorable mention. :}

Red Square wrote: ↑

3/20/2023, 10:01 pm

tAnd a little historical note.

You know the quote: "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."

Which indicates that to the author, the Scythians stood apart from barbarians. At the time, the Scythians lived in the steppes north of the Black Sea, and later they got mixed with the Sarmatians, and then with the Slavs who settled that area, and with all the other subsequent newcomers, all that wild mix became Ukrainians.

I know the quote is to be understood figuratively, but in a way, they do get an honorable mention. :}

Celts were also in that mix. The Celts are descended from the Tartars, of the "Russian" steppes, who were the Galatians Paul wrote to, who became the Gauls that Julius Caesar massacred in north east France and became the Celts of northern France, Ireland, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.
 

I found another useful source about Ukraine - a Ukrainian military guy still on active duty near Kyiv, named Starsky. He speaks decent English.

https://www.youtube.com/@StarskyUA

Natan Sharansky on Today’s ‘Evil Empires,’ the War in Ukraine, Soviet Communism, and the New Antisemitism

They start discussing the situation with Ukraine around 31:00 - and it's very good. The rest is good, too. Unlike the many detractors, Sharansky has actually lived there and earned a right to his views.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/natan-sha ... =3-30-2023