Cogitation in the Time of War #23 - About the latest round of talks in Turkey

Before I write my long dissertation about the (more than) 1 month of Putin's Invasion of Ukraine (I will do it today, that is a promise that I won't break... Maybe... I hope I won't...) let me write a few paragraphs about the recent peace talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia. This is mostly an expanded version of what I wrote yesterday on Twitter and based on a thread from Anastasiia Lapatina (an ukrainian journalists currently in Lviv, if I'm not mistaken) highlighting the main points from the Ukrainian perspective.

As a disclaimer I haven't seen any further news today, so take that into consideration if you see me saying something that doesn't match latest reports.

Cogitation in the Time of War #22 - In war people do bad things

Will Smith decided to hijack the "controversy of the moment" diaspora but now it's time to talk about real crimes that cause real damage.

I'm quoting myself from my Tweet from yesterday (itself a retweet of another retweet) but you can go and have a look because the original one shows a video of what appears to be Ukrainian troops shooting the legs of Russian prisoners: 

This needs to be investigated. If there are more reports and POW testimony that Ukrainian forces are shooting prisoners after capture this is a war crime and needs the proper punishment.

Cogitation in the Time of War #21 - It began 1 month ago

Just throwing a curve ball here to let you guys know there's (at least) one video on YouTube "showing evidences" that the aliens 👽 are helping Ukraine because they are attacking Russian equipment and troops.

And if you decide to engage in that discussion, please notice that the term UFO is no longer used by officials nor the scientific community, now it's UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).

As made famous by that TV show from the 90s with a pair of FBI agents: I want to believe...

Cogitation in the Time of War #20 - In regards to the West sending "newer" weapons

I wrote this the other day on Twitter, and wrote it there because it's on Twitter that I have seen several personalities, from annalists and politicians to public figures, all over the so-called West, "demanding" that the US stop with trying to find weapons in other countries to send to Ukraine and just send their owen advanced weapons systems, such as Patriot SAM systems or F-16 fighter jets, and even demanding Israel as well to send their own Iron Dome air defense system.

But I must admit that I can't really understand why so many people, some of who shoudl really know better, continue to think that the West (or any other country) can simply send an advanced weapons system (fighter jets, air defense, coastal defense) to Ukraine and that its military can simply pick them up and just start to use it, like they have been using the systems they currently have! These systems are not like a more advanced vacuum cleaner, or a better armed and better armored military jeep, that ukrainians just set it up, turn it on and start using. 

Cogitation in the Time of War #19 - A controversial, yet justified, strike

At least twice I used Russian sources to make/pass an argument; one time in the cogitation #7 and another in a Facebook comment about an interview to a retired Portuguese major-general that should be a military expert but (yet again) made completely wrong statements about the military situation in Ukraine. But most of times I point out the flaws of the Russian sources' statements and claims. I don't use the Russian sources when it suits my agenda. I don't have an agenda per se; I have no issues in saying I want Putin to lose and see Russia (because Putin ordered it) as the aggressor. What I really want is try to share my view on the war, including facts that are of course clouded by the "fog of war" (I have to write about this and other concepts that exist during a conflict that are important for us, normal citizens, to know about).

Cogitation in the Time of War #18 - Still on the topic of Nazism in Ukraine

It's a feeling that I have, from stuff I've seen and read way before Putin's Invasion began (almost 1 month ago), but I think that this sentiment the russians have that Ukraine has a problem with fascism and nazism is an old one; meaning that there are many russians that for a long time are suspicious of ukrainians and thus they fully believe the current narrative that the ukrainian government is controlled by neo-nazis and neo-fascists. And I believe this stems from events of World War II, in the Eastern Front.

Cogitation in the Time of War #17 - The Azov Regiment & Co.

After all this time, since the first days of the invasion and the first reactions from the "opposition (the so-called contrarians) and after I promised in the Cogitation #12 to write in more detail, Let's finally talk, and dissert, about the Azov Regiment and other extremists in the region.

Cogitation in the Time of War #16 - The mysterious case of the crashed drone in Zagreb

My wife Carolina watches the Portuguese news online. Because of that she is usually a couple of days behind the events as the news usually report what has happened in the previous 24 hours or so and then we add the 1~2 days delay when she actually sees them. So I guess she is starting to get annoyed of hearing me saying "oh that is old news, it happened a while already" when I overhear something or when she comes to talk about a development in the Putin's Invasion of Ukraine.