I wonder if we will get any of chaps who have been vehemently defending Russia and Putin on here to comment on that Security Congress. Be some craic reading their attempts to twist it into having a pop at Biden and the USA.
In all seriousness, that was surreal.
A bunch of apparatchiks who will spout whatever they're told to.
What struck me was how terrified some of the officials looked. I think it's likely Putin is on a bit of a solo run here, which makes the whole thing even more terrifying.
The clear divergence between Putin and Sergeĭ Lavrov in particular is extremely ominous. He has traditionally been Putin's closest confidant on foreign affairs. I wouldn't be surprised if he is purged in short order after their fairly public divergence of opinion.
we can now rule out the paranoia of a despot as a reason for this war as the whole of the Kremlin is implicated
That was the most extraordinary thing I have ever witnessed in my life when it comes to international relations.
What just happened will be recorded in the annals of time. Absolutely astonishing stuff. Putin has essentially handed Ukraine an ultimatum and broadcast it around the world on television.
He has ensured that all of the top brass are implicated in the decision for better or for worse. If they hang for their crimes, they will all hang together.
We are on the verge of war, unless Putin capitulates in a stunning manner.
😂
Putin is having a "security congress" at the moment, the outcome of which seems to be the inevitable recognition of the DNR and LNR as independent states.
By all accounts it's completely bonkers.
Live feed below. I say "live", but it has been pointed out by a few eagle eyed observers that the watch of the defence minister Shoigu is five hours behind. 😀
It's a different world to you and I they live in. They are also probably so used to Putin posturing etc that it's a bit of boy who cried wolf.
We were in the final countdown last week, sure Wednesday morning at 4am was to be the invasion
What I find incredible is when I hear interviews from citizens of The Ukraine is how calm they seem about the whole thing. I know if it was me I'd be terrified but the people of The Ukraine seem to be getting on with daily life. Hopefully they know something we don't.
I agree. They really, really, really have a bee in their bonnet about Ukraine. Are they just jealous of them making new friends or what?
“NATO has added new members eight times since its foundation, in 1949, with a current total of 30 members. Twelve countries took part in the founding of NATO: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey became members of the Alliance, joined later by West Germany (in 1955) and Spain (in 1982). In 1990, with the reunification of Germany, NATO grew to include the former country of East Germany. Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbours were set up, including the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In 1997, three former Warsaw Pact countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join NATO. After this fourth enlargement in 1999, the Vilnius group of the Baltics and seven East European countries formed in May 2000 to cooperate and lobby for further NATO membership. Seven of these countries joined in the fifth enlargement in 2004. The AdriaticStates Albania and Croatia joined in the sixth enlargement in 2009, Montenegro in 2017 and North Macedonia in 2020.”
A few journalists are reporting that their sources are saying the picture is grim and it's only a matter of time.
It would seem that it is Europe that should be furiously demanding security guarantees from Russia, not the the way around. Kaliningrad is at the heart of Europe.
All the choreographed nonsense out of Russia today seems to indicate that the final stages of the pre-war checklist are being ticked off, one by one. The Americans likewise seem quite adamant that Putin has decided on war.
Obviously I hope I'm wrong...I think we're now in the final countdown though.
They haven't made any credible case as to why they would have a legitimate problem with NATO.
dont post this on any Russian sites, they will have too much inside information
There certainly can be elements of just what you described alright, down to the quackery. And these would be bright and educated(there and here) people. Though they know quite the number of people back home who have done well, in some cases very well and above board with it. From what I can gather there are at least two Russias. Moscow and outside Moscow(and other big cities) being one example. It's such a huge nation with so many sub cultures it's far too complex to put in boxes. Like the US of A. In the latter you have bright lights, big cities, Hometown Square State, the American Dream(TM) and in other places levels of poverty that wouldn't be out of place in the third world and the American Nightmare(TM).
Suppose Putin doesn't want to read Americans new stealth bombers went into production today
Im not sure. What’s their problem with nato again? 😂
So that would seem to render null and void any so called Russian "concerns" about NATO?
the majority of nukes are on submarines. Where in the world those submarines are is anybody’s guess.
Ukraine really has to stop all these continuous provocative attacks and incursions into Russian controlled Ukraine, it's almost like they want to be invaded by a nuclear-armed superpower that also happens to be surrounding them by land, sea and air, with a massive invasion ready force ;)
Yes, emigration is destroying them too. Hard to get accurate statistics on the levels though.
I'd agree with some commentators that what we are seeing now is partially due to a closing window of opportunity in terms of a viable young healthy demographic being available for war.
The only one who didn't drink of course was Hitler.
Not sure what conclusions we can draw here!
It’s simply not true that Stalin was catatonic or drinking himself to death for the first two weeks of the German invasion. He retreated to his dacha for 2 days following the fall of Minsk. Likely as a ruse to determine if he maintained the support of the party.
The Soviet leadership did certainly drink excessively during the war but Stalin was in the hapenny place compared to Churchill’s drinking.
it would be interesting to see the emigration statistics on top of those - as that would paint an even bleaker picture
Could somebody who knows about the following sort of stuff please clarify.
What nuclear weapons are in Europe, where exactly are they, and how are they delivered?
From a quick internet search, it would seem that the US has six sites in five countries in Europe where nuclear weapons are stored - in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the southern part of Turkey. All these locations are over 2,000 kilometres from Moscow.
What about other European countries, what nukes do they have?
How many nukes are in the Baltic countries, Poland, Hungary, Romania etc? Is it a correct assumption that it is 0?
What about Russia? What nukes are in Kaliningrad? Where are the rest of them stored and what is the delivery method?
I see Belarus is staging a "referendum" (deliberate use of inverted commas) next Sunday. From what I can see, the main upshot of this will be that Belarus will be used to host Russian nuclear weapons.
Latest Ukrainian population statistics are now out. Both themselves and Russia are in a complete demographic collapse:
Ukraine
2020:
Births 293,457
Deaths 616,835
Natural increase -323,378
2021
Births 271,984 (-7.32%)
Deaths 714,263 (+15.79%)
Natural increase -442,279
And apartment blocks in Moscow.
A few years later Putin was Leveling cities , towns and villages in Chechnya
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