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Russia - threadbanned users in OP

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  • Posts: 1,169 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    This guy is worth a follow on Twitter. He’s documenting all the weapons currently moving into Belarus and what they’re used for.




  • Registered Users Posts: 6,310 ✭✭✭positron


    I would love to know what was said. India in general is pro-Russia for historical reasons (thanks to vile racist Nixon trying to intimidate India and Russia coming to India's aid).



  • Registered Users Posts: 9,381 ✭✭✭Yurt2


    The Baltic States would mean a Europe wide-war with the Americans and Turks involved - unless Putin's on mushrooms, that's not going to happen.

    Moldova could be on the menu at some stage in the future, and realistically, an invasion of Ukraine will make them nervous.



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    The video of Schönbach shows him saying that Putin should be treated as an equal by the west, and referring to Russia as an “old . . . and important country” that the west needed “against China”.


    “What he [Putin] really wants is respect,” he said. “And by God, giving someone respect is low-cost, even no-cost . . . it is easy to give him the respect he really demands — and probably also deserves.”


    Schönbach also said that the “Crimean peninsula is gone, it will never come back, this is a fact”. That is in contradiction to the official western line that the annexation of Crimea was illegal and must be reversed.


    The German defence ministry said Schönbach’s comments “do not in any way correspond to the ministry’s position, either in terms of content or in choice of words”, adding that Schönbach would “have an opportunity to make a statement to the Inspector General” of the Bundeswehr.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,671 ✭✭✭Economics101


    You say: "What Cuba and the USSR was doing back then was seriously provocative (I don't agree with it) and now, the US has played a part in getting a pro NATO, pro EU head of state into the leavers of power in the Ukraine.

    I think the Ukrainian voters chose the head of state (Zelinski), very much against the then ruling establishment. How dare they!



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  • Registered Users Posts: 19,404 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    How many times bigger is the USA economy vs Russia’s these days? This carry in is ridiculous. I’m not for burying the Russians as that would make them even more bitter and resentful than they already are but this kind of carry on from a relatively weak low tech country simply shouldn’t be tolerated.



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    People need to ask what exactly is putin looking to achieve here,

    Nato aren't going to withdraw to pre fall of the Berlin wall lines ,so what's exactly is he playing for ukraine there doesn't seem to be a big push from Ukrainians to go back to the old days of being under Soviet jackboots ,

    Is he losing grip on power or is he actually losing his mind , widely believed to be already suffering from parkinson's disease , what is nato or Europe to get in return when it comes to his plan ,

    Remove nato completely from the Baltics and east Europe,then what ask the German military to move back behind an invisible Berlin wall,

    No mention of Russia decreasing it's nuclear weapons arsenal , which has increased year on year for the last decade at least ,his claim of he's planning to deploy huge unmanned submarines full of nuclear weapons to Oceans around the world that can automatically launch weapons if they lose contact with the Kremlin,

    If putin is serious about getting a deal why doesn't he withdraw forces from Ukraine and let Ukraine control its own Border,he could remove his forces from Georgia , Moldova and kalingrad ,

    But he's only interested in getting everything he wants upfront.

    Doesn't make sense that he thinks he's getting the old Soviet union back together



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,671 ✭✭✭Economics101


    Russia may be an economic pygmy, but it has armed forces (and especially nuclear ones) way out of line with its economic strength. It also has a frightening capability to use them and not nonsense about domestic peace-loving opposition.



  • Registered Users Posts: 23,607 ✭✭✭✭Kermit.de.frog




  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manic Moran


    10th Mountain isn't categorized as a mountain unit, they keep the name only for lineage purposes. They are, however, pretty reasonable at dealing with cold weather. As I'm typing, their base, Ft Drum is -5. Tomorrow the high is -8, overnight low of -23. It's warmer in Kharkov and Donetsk right now. With an average elevation in Eastern Ukraine of about 600ft, I don't think altitude sickness is going to be a problem.

    Not that this is particularly relevant since I don't think anyone expects the Americans to get involved, but to think that American troops cannot operate effectively in cold weather such as found in Ukraine is daft.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    @Manic Moran but to think that American troops cannot operate effectively in cold weather such as found in Ukraine is daft.

    No sure where that's coming from I never suggested that US troops couldn't operate in Cold weathers ...



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,982 ✭✭✭MeMen2_MoRi_


    Russia and the US (happy to see the experts agree here that this isn't a NATO situation, it is a plain as day the US vs Russia) war game, the Ukraine is as it always has been a pawn in this game..

    Russia used Ukraine to keep NATO from setting up shop on its door step

    The US, now that it has flipped the Ukraine is looking to set up its attack shop on the door step of its enemy..

    And want the public to accept that the Ukraine is an "independent" without influence nation? They've never had it, don't try and tell me now they're an independent nation.



  • Registered Users Posts: 459 ✭✭HerrKapitan


    We still haven't heard an opinion from our government on the military exercise?


    It was the Russians that first informed the Irish people that they were going to be performing these exercises?



  • Registered Users Posts: 23,607 ✭✭✭✭Kermit.de.frog


    What are we going to do about it?

    The politicians and the Irish people stand behind the cloak of "neutrality" to not spend money on any defensive measures whatsoever. Couldn't be bothered. The Russians know that we are the weakest of the weak links that can do feck all.

    This is the swing of that.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,982 ✭✭✭MeMen2_MoRi_


    @Kermit.de.frog not true mate, we are locked into an EU army, we have to spend a certain percentage of our GDP on defensive equipment..

    Pretty sure that is thanks to the Lisbon treaty we agreed too on the second run.



  • Registered Users Posts: 692 ✭✭✭cheezums


    He's a fringe nutter, but still nice to get a shout out:

    “Not all Europe should be destroyed - but London (yes).

    “Let the Scots, Irish, Welsh live.



  • Registered Users Posts: 23,949 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    As a national security matter, you won't hear much about it either.

    The Russian notification suggested maybe 5 ships and some long range aircraft to be used. I would guess there will be at least 3 or 4 times that many NATO ships on station to frustrate them, including aircraft carriers and also free-roaming attack submarines.

    Who knows, even little old us might send as many as 6 of our most modern patrol ships to have a nosey at Ivan

    © Naval Service



  • Registered Users Posts: 23,949 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    It's you that's not true mate.

    I don't know what tinfoiler you got that from, but it's utterly false. It's not in the Lisbon Treaty, we aren't obligated in any such way and our current defence spending is 0.17% of GDP

    NATO members do have a 2% GDP defence spending agreement, but its rarely met and of course we aren't in NATO so....



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,982 ✭✭✭MeMen2_MoRi_


    No tinfoiler, a miss understanding, I believe all EU nations have too increase their defense spending?



  • Registered Users Posts: 323 ✭✭arthursway


    The way the USA handled the Afghanistan withdrawal wouldn't be exactly filling anyone with confidence in the capabilities of its military prowess.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    They have been up until the withdrawal at war everyday for the last 20 years,they will still wipe the floor against any other country or countries combined .....



  • Registered Users Posts: 323 ✭✭arthursway




  • Registered Users Posts: 1,982 ✭✭✭MeMen2_MoRi_


    The US armed forces, the strategy in Afghanistan would fill you with confidence?

    Im lost in how many trillions of dollars it takes to have a view of success..

    Mountain guerrilla army defeated a multitude of trillions of dollars backed army..

    Let's face it, the world police we see, hasn't played a part in a successful war since WW2



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,033 ✭✭✭joseywhales


    The withdrawal from Afghanistan might be the most efficient withdrawal of an occupying force I've ever heard of. What did they lose, like 14 soldiers? I'd call that a success.



  • Registered Users Posts: 323 ✭✭arthursway


    You may call it a success but even CNN at the time were saying very different.

    The withdrawal was also the start of the decline in Bidens approval ratings.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,982 ✭✭✭MeMen2_MoRi_


    The escape from Afghanistan by the US being described as the most effient ever, those words, those words should be painted in history as the greatest propaganda words I've ever seen.

    The US friends in Afghanistan see that withdrawal as a **** show.. in my words.. a **** show of epic proportions.. the Taliban walked through the lines the US said would hold, the Taliban,held power about how many people escaped from the **** show..


    But yeah, the most effective withdrawal (defeat) yeah all good.

    I, we didn't see the live pictures of the withdrawal.. (Don't look Up)



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,033 ✭✭✭joseywhales


    I mean what CNN believe and Biden approval ratings seem irrelevant in terms of deciding whether it was a decent withdrawal or not. The opinions of the media or the general public are hardly meaningful or objective. I might as well ask a bunch of kids what their favourite cartoon character is as using some presidential polling numbers to decide whether or not the military operation was a success.



  • Registered Users Posts: 81,988 ✭✭✭✭Atlantic Dawn
    M


    If the Russians could be persuaded to move their missile testing exercise to Rockall and completely destroy the rock so it's not visible at low water it would favour Ireland greatly.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    This is an irish forum. We spent many of the last 800 years fighting to stop our nearest big neighbour from controlling us.

    There would be little sympathy for the idea that anyone should have a sphere of control. It's related to why we aren't in NATO and why we are neutral.



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  • Posts: 533 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    It’s a lot less than that on GDP basis … admittedly we’ve somewhat weirdly overinflated GDP, but even with that anomaly ironed out, just looking at say our tax take, we aren’t spending a reasonable amount of money on defence at all.

    It doesn’t have to be major scary stuff, but we should be able to at the very least see what’s going on. We’ve no primary radar which is just inexcusable, even for the sake of aviation safety when you’ve Russian military aircraft flying with their transponders off, which means civilian radar can’t see them.

    If you’re going to be neutral, and passive you still need to be able to defend that position and we really are not.

    Ireland is becoming a lot more significant - it’s a sizeable financial hub, it’s host to umpteen major IT companies, all the major global pharma players, we host and transit a lot of global internet traffic for all sorts of major players. We’re the worlds largest player in aircraft leasing and we are a small bit significant EU and Eurozone member.

    However, we imagine we’re still some 1950s backwater or that we can live rent free, relying on soft power, friendly connections and proximity to the US, U.K. and France, without any real formal military alliances and if the bluff were ever called, we would have no choice but to rely on those informal links and while it’s likely they would come to our rescue, it’s not down to any treaty commitments.

    If you’d a very hardline GOP presidency with little focus on Irish American links, maybe far worse than Trump and the UK had wandered off into some mega Brexit hardcore huff, we would be relying on far less proximate relations in France.

    The last few years have shown we probably can’t realistically just rely on many of those constants that were there since WWII.



This discussion has been closed.
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