Ukraine

[Raid]

[Achtung Englander]

That is brilliant!

Speaking of apoplectic, Putin is arresting his fsb heads for being just as corrupt as he is—he might have quite a job on his hands. Apparently they convinced him that Ukraine would be quick and quite welcoming of a takeover because that is what he wanted to hear, as is the way with dictators....

They certainly made a laughing stock of the mighty Russian army. If it was not for the nukes, I bet NATO cannot stop pissing themselves from laughter

[Raid]

Part of me does think that Putin is shooting himself in the foot; Russia's conventional forces were still considered a major threat prior to this, but you can't help but think that NATO might be feeling less threatened by them now. Obviously there's still the nuclear arsenal to consider so maybe it's moot, but what happens when Putin gets ousted / murdered / dies, and you get someone less crazy in control of the button?

[eny]

So it looks like phosphor bombs then now...

[Solitaire]

I'm starting to think that there's multiple facets to these actions of putin. I believe he may be wanting to close Russia off to the world, rebuild the Iron Curtain, so to speak. It seems like it's happening, at a very fast pace, just in the last week: journalism being stomped upon, mass arrests for any sort of political protest, crazy state-billed propaganda using school children and youth advocating for the invasion (my ex-wife was a member of the Komsomol when she was in school in the 80s), mass exodus of foreign - and especially Western - businesses and of course the local assets will be seized by the State. Is there a method in his madness? I don't know about that, there's too many things that are out of his control, such as lack of oil refineries in the Republic itself, so having to depend on China, for example, to refine crude oil is a chore. Luckily for putin, however, is that China's a pseudo-communist state.

There's more, but I honestly can't get my head around it all anymore. I'm sickened to my core with the horrors of children, women, and families being massacred, of the gorgeous, ancient cities and villages being bombed into rubble and dirt... There's no turning back from this. We thought the pandemic was bad enough, but this is something else indeed. I don't see Ukraine being the last stop of this terrible train ride.

[arqueturus]

I'm going to get on my high horse for a moment and surface how pissed off at our country for how they're handling the ingress (or lack there of) of refugees from Ukraine.

Forgive me because I'm going to put the moralistic and humanitarian aspect to one side and just berate our government for ignoring the potential gains we could make from this. I feel this is an unprecedented opportunity to access such a broad pool of skills and expertise. I'm not talking about abusing these poor souls but giving them a home, giving them opportunity to excel in the UK.

How can we be so short sighted?!

I really hope this makes sense, the sheer ignorance of the Tories astounds me. We could gain access to so much while saving good people from disaster and it's just passing us by.

[Achtung Englander]

Russia has asked China for military aid. Now lets see exactly how far that "friendship without limits" really means

China is now in a real pickle. Side with Russia and irk the US or side with US and irk Russia. Time China got off the fence.

[eny]

There has been a sudden resurgence of pro-Russia troll activity, after a stem in the past days for obvious reasons—I mean sudden as in noticeable, like a connection was re-established and the floodgates opened. Ultimately, I think Russia is baiting the West to get involved, and the implications, well, don't bear thinking about really, but careful steps have to be made. I think inevitably escalation will come. He has already stoked the fires with mercenary units from Syria, and the Chechens are supposedly back in force...greed creates such a mess, sooner or later.

[Achtung Englander]

Yes the Russian trolls are hyper active at the moment but you know it's kind of fun just pointing out the facts to them on how Putin fucked up their economy, army and world standing. I keep reminding them that this is humiliating.

[Mantis]

NATO will never do it because to call his bluff is to risk nuclear war, which does pose interesting questions for exactly how safe any country is outside of NATO, but I just wish we could see it play out where we send in a few advanced strike units and utterly wipe out his ancient, fumbling military in Ukraine and just leave him with egg on his face.

Putin is a posturing bully. He has nothing else to play other than the threat of his nukes. He's pathetic and he's ground Russia into the ground for his own hubris and ego. To think that the chain of command on either side of the equation would ever let it come to full on nuclear blows is crazy, someone would step in and de-escalate, particularly if we stopped short of attacking Russia as that is not what NATO was created for anyway. But this is exactly what it was created for, and our combined strength of arms would put the bully back in his box and likely be the end of him politically as well, hopefully leading to a less nationalistic leader who would actually want to open Russia up again and cooperate with their neighbours.

One can only wish. I'd love to see us roll over them and actually do some good to help the poor people literally losing everything, the footage coming out of the warzone is truly heartbreaking. But it just isn't worth the risk of a full blown nuclear exchange.

The west has been sleepwalking towards this scenario for too long now, aided and abetted by many corrupt and greedy traitors willing to take Russian cash to spout their propaganda. This is a major pivot in geopolitics that will break down the single hegemony and could easily see a west vs Russia/Asia line develop. The idea of despotic autocratic superpowers having so much influence in the world again is so grim. And all while we find ourselves sliding further to the right too.

[Achtung Englander]

The world order is certainly changing but I feel this is 10 years too early for China's liking.

Putin did this now because I think he is dying from cancer.

[Achtung Englander]

I am going out on a limb but I feel the war is coming to an end as I feel Russia want to settle as they have reached an impass. They realise to occupy Kyiv will be a high cost in tanks and soldiers lost. When it leaked by the US that they intercepted messages to China requesting military help, the Russian narrative of having a powerful army is now dead.

Putin is looking for a way out. As to whether he will leave his bunker in the Urals - who knows?

[Alan]

I think it all hinges of China but I don’t think they’ll get involved. They love the massive piles of cash they get from the west and Russia is in no place to backstop that. It’s kept them out of Taiwan so far and if it’s done that it’ll surely keep them out of the Ukraine war.

I wonder what Russia would look like without trillions of its cash being syphoned by crooks over the last few decades, never mind the last hundred or so.

[Achtung Englander]

[Achtung Englander]