He kinda boxed himself into a corner where he had to invade to some degree otherwise he would lose credibility in future if it turned out he was just bluffing
The only question we here in Europe need to ask is how much of an impact on our lifestyle s are we prepared to accept tosupport the ukraine.i wouldn't hold my breath if I was in the Ukraine
I think you might be right unfortunately.
81 million people voting for a doting old man has consequences. So much for the adults being back in charge.
Also it's probably best not to listen to bratty teenagers anymore and put energy and food security near the top of your priorities.
This is utterly depressing
Anyone continuing to make excuses for Russia are as bad as their soldiers in Ukraine in my book
If russia and the other eastern countries were fully democratic. They would resemble Argentina.
Loaded with foreign debt, unstable currency and best case scenario no better off than they are now. America would see to it, no different to how it made a mess of south America
What he has done is totally unacceptable. It is to anyone that utterly abhors dictators.
Putin, a dictator achieving a personal goal like this should not be tolerated.
If Russia wants to be accepted as a normal country again, it needs to go the path that Japan followed after WW2.
What separate states. All the Baltic States are in NATO lucky for them. Belarus is only pro Russian because it is ruled by a virtual dictator who intends to change laws to let him I. Power to 2025. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine were left stranded in no man's land by the EU and NATO.
Russia hierarchy fears democratic successful countries on it border.
The Great game, as it was known historically. He is correct though, this was the only option for Putin to achieve his goal.
War is politics from the barrel of a gun.
That meeting was the point I knew the game was lost, the best way to hit putin is to destroy the Russian oligarchs financially and remove all their rights to access western society, if they get pissed of enough they might turn on Putin and we could see him being removed, whatever takes place the EU needs to abandon any notions of co-operation with Russia going forward, you could even add China to that list, self suffiency be it power/food/ manufacturing is going to come to the fore and their green new deal aspirations need to be shelved
What a frightening post. What do you mean by this is the only card he had to play? You make it sound like a game.
I know very little about the area and its politics but I do know some Eastern Europeans here that have allegiance towards Russia.
I am wondering how much support is there for Russia/Soviet Union on the ground in the Ukraine?
I believe very little in the media at the moment they all seem to have motives.
It all stems from the 2014 uprising and the Russian leaning government been ousted, had this not occurred and the status quo remained in place as a semi-quashi Russia puppet Putin would of had no reason to lose his sh*t.....
Zelenskyy betted on the EU/America coming good and defusing the situation but it didn't play out that way
Russia economy depends on the exports of commodities. Basically Gas, oil, lumber, grains and coal. It produces virtually nothing except military armaments and some fertlizer. It cannot survive a long-term embargo if the west is willing to go the whole hog against it.
These are still industries. Capable of being upscaled very fast. It's all down to political will and what the Western democracies are willing to do. Are we willingly to ostracize Russian. Squeeze the life out of it. Freeze the wealth of Russian oligarchs, send them from.thete Chelsea and Mediterranean home back to Moscow.
Any type of war economic or physical is won by those will to endure the most to an extent. The cold war was won by the inability of the USSR to continue spending on military output and it was way less than 50% of US spend.
Not being critical but nobody should assume that a dictator is anything but a dictator. We have never had a do called benevolovelent dictator. As they are longer in power there paranoid and ego's get to them. You only had to watch Putin humiliate one of his senior aids.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/english.elpais.com/opinion/2022-02-23/the-russian-spy-boss-humiliated-by-putin.html%3foutputType=amp
This happened at one of his staged television cabinets meeting
Remember when Russia took Crimea in 14. The west put massive sanctions on them. At the time dairy products were exported there but stopped. Am I right in saying Russia imported a lot of Agri products, even grain, at the time, and Russia went from a net importer to a net exporter? So all the sanctions really done was make Russia look in house and develop it. In the intervening years they exported a lot of Angus heifers there, no doubt building up there herds.
They are one robust nation
I think this is the only card he had to play. Is he going in to take over Ukraine or is he going in to undermine the whole western economy who would not concede anything re Ukraine joining nato.
He has to give a bit of a performance to draw out sanctions from the west that will damage our economies far more than his
Hands up never thought putin actually going to go off the deep end, his address this morning, showed he's truly gone psychotic....
Russia has an absolutely tiny economy for it's size but what it does sell it tends to be globally dominant and it tends to be vital so they have us by the bollox.
Putin is sore at Lenin for how he laid out the Ukraine in 1917. NATO is a smaller part in this and a recent addition to the problem.
The ECB doesn't give much reason to hope that they will be able to manage or understand.
Add Mick putin Wallace along with her.
So anti American became pro Russian. Not an ounce of middle ground looked for.
All these should have full audits done on themselves and family members.
Even the most apologist for Russia admitted they've fingers in pies everywhere and how millions were spent disrupting US elections, etc. It wouldn't be beyond the Pale now that a few shekels was being moved this way. Almost guaranteed with what we see now.
Edit: Maybe they were pro Russian all along first and the anti American was the play all along to show sovereignty and be part of it. ...(getting like the 60's again. Reds under the bed.)
There's going to be millions of people heading west in a short time. Hard to blame them for the amount of help they received from Europe.
Unconfirmed reports of strikes in two Moldovan cities.
https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1496667918490382343?s=20&t=16BWH234dgrBIEbC2SNQdw
It's started
https://twitter.com/NewsWire_US/status/1496668348138074112?s=20&t=16BWH234dgrBIEbC2SNQdw
Going from bad to worse. Airspace now being closed Eastern/ North Eastern border Ukraine. Zelensky tried to call Putin, no reply. Rumour has it 2am our time fighting will commence.
Yes, Russia also doesn't have precision munitions like western military's so you can imagine what happens if fighting goes into urban areas.
Second airport closed, Dnepropetrovsk.
Catherine Connolly went on a rant about NATO in the Dail, the fúcking left in Ireland is unhinged when it comes to NATO. Glad I never threw her a preference.
Bad stuff for sure There will be a serious loss of life if they want to take the cities.
Bad stuff happening. Taliban muppet "republics" formally appealed to Russia for military assistance. Russian aircraft allegedly penetrated Ukranian airspace. Kharkiv airport closed. At least 4 large Russian columns (never know if I'm spelling that right) on the move. Radio intercepts from muppets claiming plan starting tomorrow (which could be post midnight there, 2+ hours ahead of us).
Have followed lots of seemingly in the know folks of late, all saying bad omens. Confirmation bias, maybe, but the pressure has to come off at some stage. Troops can't live out of vehicles *at the border* forever.
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