Holy shít he punched an armoured truck and actually made it swerve off the road.
What an absolute hero.
"Exploited it" suggests this is beneficial for Russia as opposed to likely causing severe, years long harm.
The EU is preparing to freeze the assets of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as part of a third round of sanctions against Russia, the Financial Times reports.
Foreign ministers are planning to approve the sanctions package this afternoon, along with a number of measures against Russian banks and industry, the paper quotes three people familiar with the matter.
Putin and Lavrov will not be subject to a ban on travelling under the measures, the FT writes, underlining the EU’s willingness to keep symbolic diplomatic possibilities open.
An EU official, speaking under condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “We are moving as quickly as we can,” adding the bloc could also target “many more” oligarchs.
They're not bound to respond militarily at all. Article 5 of NATO leaves it up to each member to respond as they "deem necessary". Absolutely nothing in it binds them to respond militarily. They can but don't have to.
Putin is part of a faction, with his supporters in key positions... so unless you think these greed centric supporters are interested in suiciding, and giving up their wealth, it doesn't matter if Putin lost his mind.
Russia is not an ideologically driven nation anymore. Those in power, are there to protect their own interests, not sacrifice their powerbase for some bizarre desire for a last stand.
To someone in their right mind this makes sense.
Do you think the actions that Putin that he has unleashed on innocent people is that of someone in their right mind.
Putin's goals might well have retracted depending on how likely they saw these losses. To go further will need troops left in Ukraine but also troops fighting at the next stop. Hard to see what his goal is. We know it has nothing to do with NATO as all he has done is ensure that NATO is seen as safety from Russian attacks and likely increased funding for NATO from all its members as well as having more troops stationed in Europe. So if it was anything to do with NATO it is safe to say he has failed pretty spectacularly.
Putin hasn't lost his mind, nor is he insane.
He has simply perceived a weakness (and rightly so) in the West, and has exploited it.
The problem is Putin himself, if he believes HIS fate is sealed, he will try and take the whole world with him. Not the most stable man on the planet at this time I'd say. Did you see how he was behaving with the Dima?
Putin isn't going to launch Nukes to destroy Europe, his own fate and country will be sealed if so and he knows it.
But what if he's actually lost his mind?
Unless they had a time machine handy they didn't know about Putin going nuts in 2022.
Yes it was a (very) bad idea, especially with benefit of hindsight (can see now the Crimea annexation effort is analagous to Hitler's testing of the waters with things that did not appear so unreasonable pre WW2, but people are always comparing current events to WW2 for some reason...).
Way you are painting those decisions (that Germany/Merkel caused Putin to do this or green lit this war somehow?) is a bit disgusting + unfair IMO.
If he uses nuclear weapons it will be more than russia he wipes off the map. There could be no need for maps.
Not by choice..they're in hospital after ingesting a bad batch of Putler Smegma
You skipped over the aspect of NATO membership. Ukraine was not part of NATO. The Baltic nations and Poland are. Both the US and Europe are bound by treaty to respond militarily to such an invasion.
They weren't bound /obliged to do anything over Ukraine.
I wonder what sort of formations Ukraine has and where - and what's actually in Kiev. They say they're engaged in fighting everywhere but it's hard to know who's lost what and what Ukraine even has intact in terms of hardware or defensive capability more generally.
There seems to have been quite a lot of Russian vehicles destroyed so far, it does appear that they're genuinely behind where they expected to be. Some pretty grisly videos online of dead Russian's/destroyed tanks and equipment as well.
What is Putin's actual end-game. Is the aim just a show of strength to show he's not joking around, force Ukraine to the table and get guarantees that it will not join NATO. I wonder what'll happen East Ukraine.
Which is precisely why it won't happen.
Putin won't want to go down in history as the man that wiped Russia off the map.
Let's hope your right.
Nonsense is people thinking this is going to be like WW11. Very different and far more dangerous situation when two nuclear superpowers clash.
What happens if Russia start invading Baltic countries and Poland? Are NATO going to still sit on their arse and do nothing because Russia has Nukes? If Russia sends Nukes to Europe to destroy it, then their own country will not exist on a map of the world with the retaliation the US/NATO will inflict on them. Putin isn't going to launch Nukes to destroy Europe, his own fate and country will be sealed if so and he knows it.
The vicar of Christ on Earth has just walked into the Russian Embassy to express his disapproval of the conflict.
Ukrainian citizen trying to block Russian military vehicles
Kiev has been used by English-speakers for a long time and is a much more natural fit into English. Personally I prefer it.
We don't insist foreigners must say Baile Átha Cliath.
The Baltic states were very eager to join NATO, for the exact reasons that have played out over the past few days and weeks
I fear food is going to get very expensive.
The IFA link from that thread is a good one and worth reading in full, but in essence:
Russia and Ukraine are an integral part of the global agricultural and food commodity trade.
Conflict realised this morning is deeply regrettable and, coupled with introduction of strong retaliatory economic sanctions, both directly and indirectly, could seriously affect agri-food trade; cost of production (in particular energy; fertiliser), and ultimately global food availability & price.
From an Irish perspective, the key concern/threat is further input commodity price rises on top of already elevated levels, which are depressing on-farm margins to unsustainable levels across a number of farm systems.
I'd be surprised if they allowed the West to do as they please since that will be a Nato country quite quickly. It'll be demilitarisation and a puppet government.
A tank of slurry dumped in the driveway would be no harm. Surely authorities could turn a blind eye....
Countries are free to join NATO, look at those who have joined since 1997 and see if you can spot the pattern. What's happening today? Exactly the reason they joined, Soviet expansionism, it's real and very alive. And no I didn't make a typo there.
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