It's a service that allows banks to communicate with each other securely. Technically a country could be cut off from it, by blocking any Swift addresses associated with that country. The Swift service is controlled by a basket of mainly European countries + US/Canada. It's doable but very much a final option.
Needs a swift response ..
Attention:
AN-124 leaving Moscow heading for Belarus, possibly.
And to the south, a Russian Airforce IL-76 on the move, again worth watching. Belarus seems to be getting a lot of attention from Russian aircraft at the moment.
That’s a fantastic breakdown.
Has efforts at diplomacy helped at all so far? I know the relied upon wisdom in this situation is to keep coming back to the negotiation table with Putin. But if the west hadn’t done anything to appease Putin would anything be different whatsoever. Putin actions seem to be only directed at rallying his own people rather than finding any accommodation with the west.
Wow that speech from Biden was pathetic.
Basically if putin sits still now in Ukraine nothing else will happen,
extra emphasis on The word NATO
and troop movements are purely defensive.
The response from the EU and the US to the invasion of Ukraine for all their talk has been useless.
maybe they know more than we do.
Interesting to see Gazprom plastered over all the champions league matches tonight. Sportswashing has been used by Russia too, hasn’t ever been much spoken out about it. Organisations like UEFA with Russian companies hands all over them, few clubs with them as sponsors too.
Even today, UEFA hesitant to pull the champions league final from St. Petersburg.
Would take bets on the champions league final’s current venue lasting less than 10 days.
I also wonder, in all seriousness, about how Russian army discipline will cope with occupation in a country with large supplies of vodka.
FIFA allowed them to keep the world cup despite the initial invasion and occupation of Ukraine and shooting down flight MH17.
Lets be honest, sanctions no matter how bad or severe wont deter him, stopping him wont happen through sanctions, Putin needs to be stood up to by a show of real force, military force.
Sending Nato troops into Ukraine is the only thing that would make him think twice.
Now it's a major step and not without sever risk and the fact Ukraine isn't a member state may make that too much of a leap, but if nations are really serious about halting him it's the only genuine shot they have.
Putin is a dictator who craves the revival of the old soviet union, only god knows if he'll stop at Ukraine or if he's really mad enough to attack Nato states, at this stage you couldn't put anything past him, he's a megalomaniac looking to solidify his place in history.
He's a man in the twilight of his life, he want's his place in history and I don't think he cares about what happens to Russia or the world after he's gone, he only cares about his legacy.
Probably, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see UEFA brazen it out. They’ve never really let human rights and crime get in their way of money. Gazprom are one of their main CL funders, it just shows you how many European enterprises are wholly reliant on Russian cash.
good point, the only bright hope was Lavrov, the fact that Putin seems to be pushing him away shows how out of touch Putin has become, really morphing into a true megalomaniac now. Lavrov was at least amenable
Boris said earlier it shouldn't go ahead. Not sure who he supports though.
With FIFA allowing World Cup to go ahead in Qatar, UEFA might be happy to stick with St. Petersburg.
Because there was no major agitation to change the venue after that. This will be different. Also fifa and uefa are not the same thing. UEFA are more respectable than fifa.
To be fair, that's not a high bar to clear...
Uefa are pretty much as bad as Fifa...Platini charged with fraud...match fixing...financial scandals...the list goes on and on.
Does it show that? UEFA have plenty of sponsors and close to the most successful product in world sport. UEFA could live off the tv rights money alone.
Man Utd are sponsored by Aeroflot, they cancelled their flight with that company and selected a different carrier today. Russia is going to be a pariah.
Approaching minsk as we speak
Why don't you go to the frontlines in Ukraine if you feel so strongly about military responses. Pick up a gun and fight.
Not till China makes a move. Ukraine is small potatoes.
This isn't about only Ukraine. It's about Europe's eastern flank and all ex soviet republics. This is a danger to Europe. Back to the Cold War.
...which is why a more rational, high-ranking member of the Russian military should perhaps think about doing something.
All I'm saying is he wont be stopped with diplomacy and it's wishful thinking to think sanctions are enough to deter him, I don't want soldiers or anyone to go into Ukraine and be put at risk, but unfortunately that's the only thing that would make him think twice.
That's the reality of the current situation.
if nato cant directly get involved long over due now arming ukraine to the teeth..
only problem is putin will start pulling puppet strings in latvia/estonia next ...
Exactly, it will go that way..
look at a map of Europe/Eu.
I think some of the above posters don’t realise that the Ukraine has one of if not the biggest army in Europe outside of Russia that is armed to the teeth
They can the US can just call Russia's nuke bluff easy and install a strong defense in Ukraine and say any attacks they will respond.
Putin at that point can either destroy his own nation including himself or stop attacking.
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