Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Yes, dear Chechen leader is a Putin puppet

What exactly is he meant to be controlling?!?

The US has a choice....they aren't even on the same continent...once again the be clear the country invaded isn't in NATO...the rest of Europe haven't provided any soldiers either in case you missed that...

I would say the US have provided more than their fair share of military and financial aid versus other countries so far.

serious news regarding swift and russian central bank assets ... if this is correct there could be chaos in russia as people try to get their money from banks as rouble plunges early next week...:

this is rapidly turning into an economic war....

Russia has become a “global economic and financial pariah”, a senior US administration official told the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Julian Borger.

Speaking after western allies announced new financial measures against Russia, including the removal of some Russian banks from the Swift global payments network, the official said the measures were designed to target the Kremlin and individuals tied to the Russian government.

They said that all 10 of Russia’s largest financial institutions had now been subjected to sanctions – “holding nearly 80% of the Russian banking sector’s total assets”.

Russia has been reported to have $630bn in financial reserves stored abroad, in gold and cash, but the new sanctions would render that fund useless, the official said.

“You heard about fortress Russia, the war chest of $630bn of foreign reserves,” they said.

“It’s impressive, but it’s only impressive if Russia can use those reserves. And that means Russia has to be able to sell those reserves and buy rubles to support its currency. And so what we’re committing to do here is to disarm the central bank. And the way we can do that, for example, is by banning US, EU UK, persons from selling rubles to the Central Bank of Russia. That means very simply, the Russian Central Bank can’t support the ruble, full stop, and that means our sanctions will have much greater force.”

The US official said the list of Russia banks to be removed from Swift will ultimately be decided by the EU, but said the US would “work very closely” with European countries “to finalize that list”.

Putin is playing his last hand.

What is he not controlling in his own borders?...is this a different topic you are on again?

Why should they be seen as having to "control" what is happening in Europe in a non NATO country? Team America World police isn't a documentary.

They have provided more than their fair share of military and financial aid...no other country has stepped in with soldiers why would the US.

This this conflict is also showing the changing face of war. Seems to be a real use of the ordinary soldier with a Jav or Stinger, etc. Tanks seem to be not very effective at all or just I'm only seeing a very limited footage from one side of a conflict. Which is also odd....

Russia does not seem to be showing much of its own footage, like it did in Syria. Odd behaviour.

One encouraging thing is that even though there are no NATO soldiers(at least none that we know of) in Ukraine there is a shed load of weaponry and munitions going in plus turkey and others ate closing off the black sea. And BTW if I haven't said it before fcuck putin!

You have seen the Russian Military in action in winter ( or summer time ) Donald, have you?? Even here, there are reports of vehs running out of fuel, and breaking down. And you can be damn sure that there has been "gelling or waxing" problems too. Well what ever about Napoleon, it was the Russian winter which played a massive part in the German defeat.....and they knew very well how to manage cold weather and vehicles too, even back then.

True and I would say they are providing a serious amount of intelligence, satellite imaging etc. Germany sending weapons is hugely significant imo

You're probably right. Those Russians who are well used to temperatures below -20 in their normal winter probably never came across those problems before. They should have used some fella from Athlone, or wherever you are, as a consultant to explain it to them beforehand.

Azerbaijan are a muslim country, and they hate Armenia who practically have a military alliance with Russia. So their main ally is Turkey.

1) seems the most likely. By all accounts, Putin thought he could launch a 'shock and awe' attack on Ukraine and topple their government in a few short days.

Quotes from a senior US official on turning Russia into a "global economic and financial pariah"

“We’ll go after their yachts, their luxury apartments their money and their ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the west. We will also engage other governments, so as to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains, and deny these individuals their ability to hide their assets in jurisdictions across the world,”

“Russia’s government borrowing costs have more than doubled to almost 17%. The S&P credit rating agency has downgraded Russia to junk status. Within 24 hours of our actions the demand for cash in Russia spiked 58 fold, according to reports, and the Russian government scrambled to deplete its own resources to try and shore up its banks and its currency. In short, Russia has become a global economic and financial pariah.”

“You heard about fortress Russia, the war chest of $630bn of foreign reserves,” they said.

“It’s impressive, but it’s only impressive if Russia can use those reserves. And that means Russia has to be able to sell those reserves and buy rubles to support its currency. And so what we’re committing to do here is to disarm the central bank. And the way we can do that, for example, is by banning US, EU UK, persons from selling rubles to the Central Bank of Russia. That means very simply, the Russian Central Bank can’t support the ruble, full stop, and that means our sanctions will have much greater force.”