Russian capture of Chernobyl could be deemed a ‘war crime,’ says Adi Roche
They have families - wives ,girlfriends ,kids - big houses in Moscow , fancy dachas for summer- they still have the trappings of wealth and influence - and a chance at carrying on ...
@Yurt! How do you reckon the Chinese are taking this whole situation in?
Do you seriously think Putin is bluffing about using nuclear weapons?
Even Macron stated that there was something off about Putin compared to when they met 3 years ago; a different Putin.
I agree to an extent. As you said, the Ghost of Kyiv and the Snake Island lads is amazingly rousing.
But it's also why I don't want RT banned. It's equally dangerous to have propaganda from only one side.
I am far from a fan of the bullshit they peddle, but it is important to have a counter balance.
Lies are lies. But only allowing lies from the side you agree with is a scary prospect.
Yeah sure he could do that. And the less well the Ukraine invasion goes the more likely thst becomes. Does thst change anything about our approach though? We can't let him take over Ukraine without sending support and we can't let him invade a nato country without actually fighting back. So what else can we do?
I think reasons are overestimated. If you want to invade, you make up your reasons and the historians can debate their validity in the future. They made up their reasons to invade Ukraine and now its happening. The West made up its reasons for the 2003 Iraq invasion and that happened too. The validity of reasons is pretty unimportant at the time.
Sky say the peace talks have already ended. No details though.
Is there an international arrest warrant out for Putin, and if not why not.
You can't go around killing civilians and expect to get away with it.
Has to be done. Having diplomatic channels open is important in the longer term
It would take a brave man to take a drink from one of those bottles of water...
Propaganda is the language of power and behaviour control. Power and control, abused, in this case by Russia, is what got us into this mess. Long term, the less cozying up to power we do, the better -- as this war has shown, having a lot of power in the hands of a few is a danger to us all.
Also on a personal level we have to take responsibility for our actions, saying we got swept up in a narrative isn't good enough for the conscience. Abdicating responsibility diminishes your ethical agency. Making decisions based on propaganda is not ideal. Decisions should be data-driven.
Happy to be corrected, but I conclude from the above that propaganda of all types has ammoral and unempirical qualities that can damage one's ability as an individual to stay ethical. It's important to stay ethical because when we stop, or enough people stop being ethical, we end up with clusterf*cks like this war. The tribes of the world disagree on every topic under the sun, but agree that are ethically-driven rules and conventions that have to be maintained, even amid the ugliness and emotion of war.
Normally I would agree with this, but the Russians have been such bad actors throughout this and lied to everyone repeatedly about their true intentions, that virtually nobody wants to listen to their lies, their propaganda and their BS any longer. The "Russian point of view" has become utterly irrelevant - they invaded a peaceful and democratic country for absolutely no reason and with no justification.
are all planes travelling from Russia banned from EU airspace or just Russian Airlines?
With nervousness I'd say. If you think Kremlinology is the art of reading the tea leaves, then trying to get inside the skulls of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist party is doubly so. They're in a very lonely space politically as well. They've kind of hitched their wagon to Putin out of expediency rather than any degree of trust, but not closely enough that they can't silently peel away if this goes badly wrong for Vladimir. They may earn significant political capital with the west if they do so if they can set aside the goings-on of the last few years. The scale and power of the sanctions will give them pause for thought, and they won't be willing to be brought down with Putin.
thats a big one
Re: calling people 'Putinbots' It is just the mandatory boards talking-down-to from people with zero flex who think they can steamroll any discussion.
All Russian airlines and Russian private jets.
And given the retaliatory bans of Western airlines, pretty much no-one will be flying in or out of Moscow soon
The russian government are appalling and their actions are indefensible. But I still wouldn't call for their propaganda to be banned.
The best disinfectant is sunlight. I'd like to see their lies and be able to prove it wrong.
Can't imagine the peace talks yielded much. Russia don't want Ukraine in NATO and they have given Ukraine every reason why they need to be.
right, just asking because i see a Turkish Airways flying over Latvia after taking off from St Petersburg.
Absolutely everything that is connected to Russia, even planes that are simply registered there.
Not a major issue. They still make the a large part of modern air force stockpiles for a conventional war. If they're using artillery, rockets or bombs, it's all the same to the people on the receiving end. I said before this kicked off that a lot of people were going to die, and this is the nature of a full scale war.
The advertising widget tends to base itself on what you're looking at. If your web pages say "Russia" a lot, you'll likely get adverts about Russian stuff.
I'm not sure I follow. What point of view is there for defense expenditure if not from the defense point of view? If there were no perceived need for (quick check of current inventory) 196 combat aircraft, six subs, twelve major naval combatants, and 260 tanks, amongst other things, then why did Germany spend the money buying them in the first place? Failing to maintain them does not deny the initial reason they were acquired. Defense is an insurance policy, money spent is 'wasted' unless it is needed. These new circumstances have changed the external world, Germany's (or any other European nation's) practical requirements for the defense forces are greater now than they have ever been. However, by the time the funding has taken effect, this crisis will be over, one way or the other. To quote Rumsfield, you fight with the army you have.
That they died seems to have been false (But understandable given what Ukraine knew at the time). That they told the Russian warship to F- themselves whilst believing they would die, however, is not false. Doing so still takes balls and is the gesture of defiance which has proven to be a rallying cry which does not depend upon the survival or otherwise of the soldiers. (One brief livestream did indicate shelling occurred, by the way. I'm sure after the conflict, we may be able to find photos of evidence.). RT being banned isn't just a freedom of speech issue, it's also part of the general economic and geo-political exiling of Russia and its agencies from the world at large.
You must have good eyesight
Cheers! Always enjoy reading your opinion on the Chinese perspective
A bunch of soldiers were shelled on an island, before that happened in the communications intercept they told the Russian warship to go "**** itself". The ship then shelled the island, and they weren't heard from afterward, so the assumption was that they died. New information has come to light that they didn't all die. That new information doesn't make the whole thing a "fairy story". Not sure why you've singled me out? It's a war, I take everything with a pinch of salt from this
Telling graph
Plus they'll be able to pick up Russia's natural resources for a song.
It could turn out to be a win-win situation for China (as opposed to the lose-lose Mad Vlad has engineered for Russia).
Im considering joining the war effort in Ukraine, is it possible to join the foreign legion of the Ukrainian army in Dublin?
Possible Belarus military joining the fight, the "kick them when they're down" partner in the new Axis
I wonder does China see Russia as a buffer and what that means in terms of predicting what they would do in various scenarios.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/df05300f57fe28ddd3330602c0adbfdb.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://www.boards.ie/applications/dashboard/design/images/banned.png)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wa.vanillicon.com/v2/a08d55691d6f78a042612a7aa18ff3ab.svg)
