2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine (Part 2)

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Why do you think Snowden would be given a choice?

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Finnish travel agency plans Russia trips

Finnish tabloid Iltalehti carried a story on a renegade travel agency based in Turku which continues to arrange tours to Russia.

As Finland prepares to clamp down on Russian tourist visas, there are still a few in Finland attempting to visit the country that is increasingly cut off from the rest of the Western world.

Neva Tours Oy started organising tours to Russia again in August, after Russia lifted Covid restrictions in mid-July.

Raimo Kaisanlahti, managing director of the tour firm, told IL that its current trips to Russia are a small-scale operation.

“I have two trips planned for this autumn. The first one had only eight people. Maybe the same number will come on the second,” Kaisanlahti said.

Kaisanlahti has organised trips to Russia for 31 years. Before Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his travel agency took between 3,000 and 5,000 tourists across the border every year, but now business has dried up.

“For two-and-a-half years we didn’t make a single trip. Of course it makes you question the organisation of trips. But I have to make a living,” Kaisanlahti said.

Kaisanlahti noted that his travel firm is miniscule compared to Estonian tour operators offering trips to Russia.

“For example, the Estonian company Lux Express and Ecolines organise many trips to Russia. I would say that the bus companies sell close to 500 bus tickets a day. I am talking about one or two trips,” Kaisanlahti explained to IL.

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Ukrainian men are leaving the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast to avoid being conscripted into the Russian army after the “referendum”.

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Thread:

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That video had the sense of his final words to the world. Chilling.

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So who is in greater danger, him or his lieutenant? :thinking:

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Russian conscripts are told what they need to bring to the war. Basically everything. “All the army provides you with is uniforms* and armor.” No mention of food, and I’m skeptical about the armor.

*(summer)

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It sounds as if he has got out or will get out. See the thread by Mark Krutov.

https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1574707962496499712

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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/watching-russia/sharetoken/WIUejyqVhSjp

One Russian political analyst recently said that there are three groups in Russia today. There are the nationalist radicals, who unequivocally support the war and want it to be prosecuted more aggressively. There are the dissidents who oppose the war but have been neutralized with state repression. Then there are the indifferent. This is the largest group, most of whom at least nominally support the war but are in a tacit deal with the regime which relies on them to be tuned out or not more than passively obedient as long as they are allowed to live their lives undisturbed by the war across the border.

This is the danger Putin courted when he decided to order his mobilization.

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I haven’t seen much speculation on what entity would have both the means and motive to sabotage the pipeline. Doesn’t seem like something Russia would bother to do because they own the pipeline and easily can (and have) already shut off the flow whenever they want. And the European governments that buy the gas don’t want to have a shortage. So someone who wants to financially hurt Russia and doesn’t mind also creating an energy shortage in several European countries, I guess?

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I’m not sure who this narrows it down to; but the only plausible motive I can think of would be the desire to see to it that the pipeline would require nontrivial repair work, rather than just a change in motivation, to have back up and running.

That still doesn’t provide much insight in terms of suspects; since both the people who believe that Europe will come crawling back for gas once it gets a bit nippy; but want to be sure that they freeze even if they try to butter up Gazprom; and the people who fear that Europe will come crawling back for gas once it gets a bit nippy and want to ensure that even offering a fat pile of cash and concessions won’t restore the flow at least until some nontrivial repair is undertaking would have the same interest in the pipes being knocked out.

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So who hates russia and would benefit from europe getting gas from someone other than russia?

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