According to one person ,
According to the same person Russia was planning to invade ...
Darn it !
Lol hello2dpersonbelow
But...but...but...invasion!
Could our Russian experts on boards be really wrong??
More bad news for all the warhawks in here...
Chance of diplomatic solution 'higher' than invasion, says Ukraine
Ukraine's presidency has insisted the chance of resolving soaring tensions with Russia through diplomacy remains greater than that of an attack, as the US warned Moscow was stepping up preparations for an invasion.
"An honest assessment of the situation suggests that the chance of finding a diplomatic solution for de-escalation is still substantially higher than the threat of further escalation," said presidency advisor Mykhailo Podolyak in a statement.
What on earth possessed you to put 'U.S.' and 'lie' in the same sentence?
I see now that if one raises questions about the likelihood of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia; correctly places the Ukraine issue in a broader global context about the weakening status of US imperialism and the rise of other powers to varying degrees; points out accurate critique of the role of US imperialism and their faux concern about human rights and democracy illustrated by current (and historic) actions then apparently one is a 'pawn' and allegedly a climate change doubter and some kind of covid denier. Lazy sweeping generalisations and no evidence to back it up, just another day at boards as the 'experts' with their insight and knowledge gained from Twitter and for some a bit of travel to the East seek to ridicule any opposing view of their narrative!
Well of course if US intelligence says it, it must be true, I mean they're never wrong and never lie!
From 60 to 80 battalions now. But sure its all for the crack....
The long and short of it is. You won't stop these people. When this current news moves forward to the next legitimate concern they will downplay that too. They have been conditioned by constant daily barrage of nonsense to their phones. But they feel they have the 'inside scoop' it's actually quite communal I suppose if you look at it. Makes them feel they have the upper hand on other people. Smarter if you will, 'because everyone else is just sheep'. If it's Russia, Covid or climate change they don't seem to realise they are playing the part of handy pawn. Disseminating the stuff that comes to them for free. Always...
At some point they might, and i say might realise what's going on. And find an outside hobby.
More Russian propaganda PLEASE BF !!!
Yeah so you've been saying that gor a while..we'll see if the 'expert' insights from you and others are correct...
I can't wait for the invasion
Look, people,
Russia are going to take us over. We will be eating borstch and drinking vodka with red bull. Just accept it.
Are we all ready for the "imminent" Russian invasion?
Remember this heat last year when it got said Russia was about to invade. In the end, nothing happened. Russia asked the west for assurances, not a big ask and the west refused. Russia is fully entitled to take defensive measures if Western allies prefer to arm Ukraine. Ukraine had a coup, an the established government was kicked out by force, and not all the people in country liked that and lead to border disputes in regions. Ukraine coup government went to war against its own people. easily forgotten now, and Russia moved in then to prevent further bloodshed in Crimea.
Only the dumbest of the dumb fall for this laughable claim I'm afraid.
You aren't occupying a country if it's fully assimilated.
Just because you don't agree with a country's borders, even if you believe they were created in an invalid way, does not mean you just say they're being "occupied".
If that were the case you would have to say the uk are "occupying" Northern Ireland, that Spain is "occupying" Catalonia, that East Germany is being "occupied" by West Germany. It's ridiculous.
I have no doubt whatsoever you could put your finger on Ukraine on a map but could struggle to find Uranus with two hands.
You must have copied over that draft from the old version of Boards?
Because Russia invaded in 2014 and are occupying ever since. Wise up, would ya?
When the Winter Olympics are over.
A few more sleeps, grasshopper
I presume that's Timothy Snyder. He is superb. "The Road To Unfreedom" is required reading on this subject.
they were desperate for any assistance, not just American. You're making out they shouldn't be allowed to after having an invasion take place and starting a war they were not ready for.
I've never said America haven't been involved? It's well known they've provided training for Ukrainian forces a number of years now. imo if the west hadn't sat back in 2014, we wouldn't be in this mess now.
Removing of technology would mean shutdown of reactors, which isn't going to happen and doesn't contravene the Budapest agreement, it only mentions possession and placement of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Even though Russia say they don't recognise the agreement, they were still inspecting for compliance to it. All part of the one rule for me, but not for thee facade.
Had a good laugh at the last paragraph of your reply :-D
There's a rather excellent podcast released by the New Yorker in the last few days, it's an interview with a Yale historian who specializes in Eastern Europe.
One of the standout points he makes (and I'm paraphrasing a lot here) is that unlike the EU on its doorstep, Russia under Putin is institutionally feeble, hasn't made the effort to strengthen political or civic institutions since the collapse of the USSR, and the state overwhelmingly relies on Putin's personality and his inner-circle who are old security hands drawn exclusively from from the FSB /GRU/SVU. The economy is commanded by Kremlin filtered oligarchs who they feel won't go off the reservation. And that's the grand bargain, probably less than 50 men who matter in the whole country.
These men, as well as Putin, are instinctively paranoid, are acutely aware of Russia's institutional weakness, but their background doesn't allow for liberalization or flowering of an open society with free press, civil society engagement with politics etc.
This is sustainable only until Russians or countries broadly in the Russosphere come into contact with different political systems and economies that offer social mobility. The closer the proximity of these counterexamples to the Russian model (if it can be called a model, because the dispensation is cobbled together with kickbacks, political intimidation, censorship and violence against the opposition and the media), the more acute the embarrassment and existential threat to Putin.
Putin knows that if jig is up, the consequences for him and his circle are severe, probably best-case scenario prison, exile to another country, and maybe even death.
The game they run is a zero-sum one. They know that deep down Russians don't trust the system, so they spend their time taking political options off the table for them internally by whatever means necessary. Externally, they can't do this, so they focus their attention minimizing neighbouring countries' engagement with Western institutions by coercion, kickback or intimidation in whatever elite or ruling class they are targetting. If these options don't work, Putin is well capable of rolling in the tanks, because he simply doesn't have the economic inducements to win them back.
They know full well they aren't offering a suite of palatable options to either their own citizens or former Soviet states, so instead of talking up the merits of how they do things, they try to drag the West down to their level.
Essentially the message is this: "Yeah we know we're not a democracy, but Western democracy is a joke anyway. Yeah we know we've stacked the media with mouthpieces and murder proper journalists, but the BBC lie. Yeah, we took parts of Ukraine illegally; so what? What about Iraq?"
Of course, the broad masses of the West, including former Eastern bloc countries wouldn't trade in their liberties, security and economic opportunities in a million years to be under the Russian yoke or too exposed to the vicissitudes of paranoid old men in the Kremlin, but it's good enough for them if that message sinks-in on the extreme left and extreme right where it can. And it has to a certain extent.
The message isn't hearts and minds of the masses of the West or their near abroad - it's to get a critical mass of people peddling conspiracies, sowing misinformation, obfuscating on behalf of Russian nationalists' interests so give enough breathing room to maximize their autocratic agenda.
He also makes the point that underneath it all, NATO isn't the real gripe, Putin doesn't seriously countenance a conflict with NATO, it's that NATO severely limits the backstop of the threat of military coercion or actual military force when the near-abroad strays too far from his political and economic script. It's near-abroad's (Ukraine, Georgia etc) economic and political engagement with the West, and particularly engagement with the EU that truly threatens Putin and the system he has built around him.
Poroshenko and Zelensky have been desperate for military assistance from the US ever since Crimea. Warranted or not, to deny that this exists is very silly.
Ukraine still holding onto the technology to build nuclear weapons is surely in direct contravention to the agreement. All of the know-how should have been destroyed as part of the deal.
Decent neighbours? Ukraine is a chaotic mess and has been bringing us to the brink of world war 3 for years.
He's a common gangster, respect doesn't come into it.
It's mostly all on Twitter from people following what's happening. You can search with some of the words in the previous post.
Now there's a surprising response, not! So many of you lads lack the courage of your convictions....I'll leave you to indulge your illusions.
Just look at the demands from Putin
Ukraine can never join nato , no foreign troops allowed in Ukraine (obviously doesn't include Russian ).
No further countries allowed to join nato.
The removal of Nato troops and equipment from former occupied Soviet states ,
The removal of Nato from Europe ..
And what is putin offering in return a discussion on weapons limits .
Now where any of that there is mutual respect of security its all Russia nothing else
Not doubting, but could you provide your sources for this.
I've no interest in your thread spoiling so don't waste your time, seeya.
The 'good guys' ? Who are they now?
I think Sleepy Putina would have been happy if he could have toppled the Govt in Ukraine by pressure alone. But, it appears the resolve on the side of the good guys is stronger than he though. Faced with climb down or escalation he'll escalate. There's not much escalation room left before the shooting starts imo.
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