Russia's main strength here is the weight of numbers. They can just grind down opposition - at great cost in manpower and equipment yes, but Putin doesn't care about that.
'The headline in Reuters (usually considered a fairly balanced news source) read "War in Europe" which hasn't been really the case since WW2'
Is it worse than the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, which it sort of resembles, or the war in the Balkans in the 1990s?
There was also the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and the Greek civil war.
It doesn't seem to me that wars in Europe are as rare as they're made out to be.
Personally i believe the moral course of action in our world would be to protect Ukraine and send in the European and US fighter jets and blow the f**king Russians out of it.
I suppose that's my emotional reaction given i trained with some Ukraine's a few years ago and the guys i knew were some of the funniest and warn people i have ever met.
My more logical side has at least expectations that ALL POSSIBLE SANCTIONS regardless of our own cost are IMMEDIATELY placed on Russia, and all possible support immediately given to Ukraine.
If we fail the Ukraine, we fail to uphold the rule of law and we open up the opportunity for more terror.
Pressure needs to be placed on governments by its people, and maybe #standwithukraine means little but that hashtag and the protests together mean a lot.
Lay off the playstation I would say. Call of duty scenario won't solve this
Not to take sides with Putin but some of the groups defending Ukraine indeed are neo-nazis. CIA have been training and funding insurgent leaders in Ukraine since 2015. The language of the congressional aid bill for this program originally barred them from training or funding neo-nazi groups such as Centuria or the Azov Battalion (a right-wing group who are officially part of Ukraines national guard). The language prohibiting the funding of neo-nazis was subsequently removed from the bill under pressure from the Pentagon.
I suspect he is just there for motivation and speeches so it isn't like his command will be missed and he can be used as a matyr pretty easily by the rest of the Ukrainian leadership. This isn't a knock, I just suspect most decisions are being made by the military at this point or those with military experience.
As for the practicals of rolling over or keep fighting. It is not ideal that it is that way but the best way to convince Russia not to keep invading places is to make them suffer. Already, even if the Ukranian figures are doubling the losses, the losses on the Russian side seem pretty high. The have masses of manpower but it will encourage other countries that they can bring out a large butcher's price on Russia if they invade.
Looks like they arent as professional as they are consistently made out to be. Packed to the brim with young poor conscripts. Sat around in the cold for months in the run up to this.
They have special units obviously but I think people are over stating their wider prowess.
Delta Air Lines is ending its partnership with Russian airline Aeroflot
18,000 AKs will shred the Russian invaders for years to come, interloping is wrong!
I am very impressed with the Ukrainians fighting back, but have to be careful not to get too carried away with reports of Ukrainians destroying Russian armor/etc, unfortunately the Ukrainians need to keep up morale, so a bit of propaganda is expected. They are also up against a superpower with an exponentially stronger military who have been training for this for years, Russian equipment, tactics, etc are tailor-made for this kind of conflict - and there's an endless flow of them coming from all sides.
I see Richmond jumping on the bandwagon. Must sense the way the wind is blowing
https://twitter.com/nealerichmond/status/1497247559114530871?s=21
Obviously the invasion itself is more important don't be disingenuous.
It is worth €16bn a year to them and rising but Russia are at a little over 5% of what the US buys. I'd say it's the gas supply at 40% more than anything.
They are literally handing out trucks full of AKs and other weaponry to people on the streets of Kyiv, even if their C&C and Government falls theres gonna be a fairly large insurgency force left to attack from anywhere and everywhere which will make just taking and holding Kyiv a nightmare.
Theres a lot of talk about Trump ties to Russia in this thread getting lots of thanks that seem to forget that there was never any true ties to Russia despite an impeachment and a special prosecutors looking seriously into the matter. Not all misinformation gets treated equally around here. Members of Biden’s administration have previously lied about Russia and their links to trump also. Proven lies.
https://news.yahoo.com/jake-sullivan-repeatedly-promoted-alfa-110000992.html
Maybe you should be more upset by the invasion than by the small gestures people make because of it? If you don't want to put up something yourself then don't.
At this stage, even if they take Zelensky out, it's not going to stop anything, he'll just be a martyr. Hopefully the Ukrainians have pre-planned for the loss of leadership and can organise independently
Pointing out shallow narcissism is shallow and narcissistic? Am I allowed express an opinion on anything?
You might think Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are making a difference. I would argue that within 5 minutes of issuing their statement that they "stand with Ukraine" they were already thinking about lunch in their mega-mansion in California. These types don't give a damn, they just want to boost their brand and be seen to be socially conscious. Their motives are completely false. That's what annoys me.
I get the pragmatism of your point, but if everyone did this, then the entire world would have been taken over by one - or at most two - ultrapowers long ago.
It's just not in human nature to capitulate to unjust aggressors.
That's pretty pathetic thinking,you just going to roll over to whoever wants your country??
The Conti Ransomware gang (lads who hit the HSE) have pledged support for Russia
He should be ashamed of himself an utter disgrace.
That one I'd actually agree with. Can we get rid of twitter too?
Although these platforms have their uses at times like this in getting the real picture out, overall I think they do far more harm than good.
I think you are correct that most of us are ignorant of how to objectively compare now with Nazi occupied Germany, even writing this post (that is not tongue in cheek) I admit to have a very limited knowledge on this.
However, from a layman's perspective, you see a country, that effectively collapsed (and suffered harsh sanctions) which turned to a dictator who eroded whatever democracy existed in the country, used fear to rule and now is invading a sovereign country on its borders with nonsensical reasoning that just about expanding an empire. When Hitler wasn't challenged initially, it emboldened him to take things further, why would this an unreasonable thing to be concerned about with Putin?
The headline in Reuters (usually considered a fairly balanced news source) read "War in Europe" which hasn't been really the case since WW2, again, which brings back memories of how events played out.
Didnt Putin say something along the lines of Ukraine is not a real country and its really Russian , being used by the allies as a pawn and theres loads of russians being killed?
https://www.vox.com/2014/9/1/6084029/hitlers-invasion-of-poland-explained
"Hitler was contemptuous of these new nations, which he regarded as artificial creations of the Allies. There were significant German populations in both countries, and Hitler used trumped-up concern for their welfare as a pretext to demand territorial concessions."
How different is that opinion of Hitler to that of Putin and the former Russian areas? I dont really get it ?!
Also seems like Putin may not stop at Ukraine, that's certainly what the Americans think.
I suppose you can argue different circumstances exists, but sort of feels like nuanced differences that don't really amount to much of a difference . .
I know the "oh hear comes the Hitler hyperbole" comments are quite often fair, but I do not see much explanation as to why he deserves to be exempt from this comparison. Is it because he only arrests/disappears his foes or poisons the odd one that we hear about?
I am not suggesting he is a new Hitler, I am just saying I dont know what his motives and ambitions are, but I see him doing alot of things that Hitler did and it unsettles me.
Those tanks would be necessary to support the troops in the beach landings. With out them this could be another disaster for Russia.
Well, it's not all about you!
Russia looking to shut down Facebook
Germany open to cutting Russia off from Swift, it will be mind bogglingly complex, but hopefully it goes ahead
Almost a parody at this point.
Is fighting really the best option for Ukraine here? I know it's not ideal.. obviously, but wouldn't you rather hand over the keys of the city to Putin instead of fighting? At least the hospitals would run, the schools would open, the airports would work. Does Ukraine stand a chance? If so then I've read the situation wrongly. But if Ukraine doesn't stand a chance, would they not be better off just letting them in? Hope this doesn't come across like I don't think it's a big deal. But when you strip out basic instincts, emotion, patriotism, I just mean isn't it better to be robbed, than to be beaten up and robbed?
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