Russia - threadbanned users in OP

We all know its not gonna happen quickly, ukraine will have to jump through the hoops, set the borders, referendums in crimea and donbass where they wanna go etc ukraine could join as a de facto divided nation like Cyprus. Turkey is not in eu because of invasion to Cyprus, they have to get it sorted first and then the talks will start.

All this ukraine in eu talk is just sending a message to mother russia.

I think you are confusing EU vs NATO membership.

It would also appear to be incorrect. American intelligence (iirc) suggests that the plan was air superiority in 24hrs, take the capital in 48hrs and a new puppet government in 72hrs. None of those objectives have, as yet, been achieved.

Modern armies do not send equipment and men out to be destroyed, even old stuff.

This mission looks to have been either badly planned or there was a large gap between what the superiors thought what their capabilities were and what they actually were. I suspect its bit of both, along with unexpected resistance that has slowed the Russian advance.

While the Ukrainian resistance has to be acknowledged, it needs to be noted that the Russians are holding and advancing and their appears a real risk of the Ukrainian forces being encircled in the east. Wanting success for the underdog shouldn't make us become detached from this reality.

Russia is isolated and the sanction have created a partially parallel economy. The ruble is practically krusty dollars, it doesn't matter outside of their country and most foreign transaction will now entirely be done in those foreign currencies. They can print what they like as the sanctions make the exchange rate irrelevant for actual people and foreign goods were already going to suffer from hyperinflation and scarcity. Russians with large cash reserves will suffer, but most of the extreme wealth is never just held in cash. A million euro yatch is still worth million euro regardless of the price in rubles, same for gas, oil, steel, neon, or any other large Russian export.

International trade isn't the same as getting a good deal off amazon when sterling falls.

If corruption is a reason for invasion watch out London, Putin is coming.

This brought a chuckle

That's largely my opinion too. I'd be open to starting the membership process but granting immediate membership would be quite a poor idea. I would think also we could focus on the invasion by Russia now and corruption later.

Russians have been stockpiling gold the past decade too, and while theyve had significant foreign currency reserves frozen, they have been moving most of their foreign reserve away from dollar for a while. Euro though is a big blow, back in June they had planned to move their wealth funds from 30% dollar to close to 0%

Cyprus is a member.

Although I do agree that fast-tracking membership in this way is a bad precedent to set. Especially for countries with as much institutional baggage as Ukraine but who've been candidates for years.

You are inspiring me to send more. I thought my opinion of you coudn't get much lower, but hey, I make mistakes.

Speaking of corruption; Bertie, brown enevelopes, mobile phone licences, etc, etc - pot, kettle, black.