It's actually still being produced. It may be old, but it's not much older of a design than the F-16 and with proper maintenance, these things can still be a potent weapon. What's more, they're designed to work from austere environments, which is what you want in a situation like in Ukraine. Hell, that thing can take off from grass or gravel runways if needed!
They seem to be very adept at controlling the narrative so I'd imagine they are quite cocky about controlling what information the ordinary people get, insofar that they give a sh1t about the ordinary people.
They’re a disgusting shower of bastards. Exclude them from everything -send them back to the Stone Age
Yes they are brainwashed, their elections are not a true representation because their electorate is not properly informed. There have been protests I saw in Moscow from some that can get access to proper information. I wouldn’t blame their population but the murderous dictator in charge.
MIG 29s? Really? I am surprised any NATO countries still had any operational. I saw one in a Museum in Prague.
Have to say I'm getting more and more pissed off with the Russian population. Are they ALL brainwashed? Watching images of clearly civilian areas being bombed and children dying en route to hospital. It's sickening because this "war" is totally unjustified. Where are the large Russian protests? Are they that badly downtrodden that the don't have the guts to protest in large numbers? Or is there a majority that actually support Putin? A disgrace of a nation.....
Make that a thousand euros, and its a deal.
ICC looking for approval to investigate war crimes
That video earlier pretty much seals that
No, I'll blame Russia and it's war criminal dictator. Like any normal person would.
So here we are nearly 500 pages and several days into this invasion. The stark reality is putins forces are probably going to kill thousands of Ukrainians over the next few days! Think about it, putins forces are going to kill thousands in a European city in 2022. I for one and the millions around the world will not forgive our governments if they stand back and let this happen. PUTIN ,AND HIS ACOLYTES, HAVE TO BE STOPPED NOW BY HOOK OR BY CROOK.
A vital component of incendiary munitions. An inconsequential sacrifice.
The contrarian opinion during the Iraq invasion was that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Not sure exactly what contrarian opinion you’re referring to but it’s important not to dismiss everything ‘that goes against the narrative’ as misinformation/disinformation. Sometimes it’s just a misinformed opinion although sometimes it is just like you say it also sometimes turns out to be true. How can you tell for sure? I struggle. Wouldn’t it have been better to identify the post you’re talking about and dissect that than to speak in general terms which creates this ‘us’ vs ‘them’ atmosphere.
Typical that you blame other boardsies for your anxieties about geopolitics instead of just discussing what's happening.
Are you going to blame 'contrarians' if Kiev falls?
The Ignore button is a game changer lads.
Just look at all those Russians getting killed and leaving all those weapons and tanks lying around, highly irresponsible. Someone could lose an eye if Ukraine continues with this reckless aggression.
No.
Norway have been in NATO for 73 years. Its seems Finland a country that has resisted NATO membership for 7 decades will join.
They are giving Mig-29's, Hips and Hinds ( helicopters), not Western aircraft. Many Ukrainian pilots would already by type-rated on these as they are all types used in Ukraine.
If he thought about that for even 1 second, he'd realise that he is clearly wrong. What nation decides to shell and kill on its own soil such that a neighbour has to come in? Then suddenly all the fury towards killing their own is directed at their saviours?
Apologies, I wasn't picking at you specifically, just the general trend this thread has taken towards a hyper sensitive me me me zone
Putin’s worst nightmare may be happening in real time. Is this a self fulfilling prophecy? Over 100K Germans protested the Putin War before their parliament. The Germans are now talking rearmament, with a significant increase of money towards self defense yearly. This reluctant NATO member, and most powerful EU economy appears to be making a complete flip in policy because of Putin’s military aggression against Ukraine.
There’s talk about Finland, Norway and Sweden joining NATO, which Putin said would mean war.
Putin’s scare tactics have begun to unify the sloppy West. All the failed diplomacy by many nations in an attempt to avoid the current Russia Ukraine War have showed how disingenuous Putin was, while he stalled attacking Ukraine in preparation to do so. All Putin’s lies have come back to haunt him.
Isn't there a football forum somewhere that the kids could go play in?
Kick them out ffs.
Case in point
You can go to any city in Ukraine and freely converse in Russian and no one will bat an eyelid. Russian is the language of the street in Kyiv by a healthy margin.
There was an ill-advised language law that was poorly implemented, but notions of discrimination is more Kremlin nonsense. And if you're asking if it's an appropriate pretext for national dismemberment and a devastating war I'd say you're insane.
People have short memories, but Putin tried to stir sh*t in Estonia and Latvia as well over language laws as well. Would we be all wringing our hands and prevaricating if Russia invaded Estonia or Latvia over their language laws? Would we f*ck.
There is no excuse for what Putin is doing. Don't give oxygen to fascism.
A lot of Ukrainians were forced to leave Luhansk and Donetsk.
There were incidents after 2014 when Pro-Russian protesters were killed by Ukrainians. One incident in Odessa was widely reported.
It would be wrong to say that there have not been localised incidents of Ukrainian-Russians being told to clear off out of communities. But it has been totally overblown and not government sanctioned.
I have been pure Pro-Ukrainian since this kicked off last week but it has to be acknowledged that it wasn't free and easy before it. There was stuff going on that the Ukrainian government should not have done. Giving the Azov Battalion military accreditation was one of them.
None of it. Not one jot justifies what has been happening this last week.
This thread is 'contrarian' out of sync with the mainstream.
BBC, CNN just says Russia faces "stiffer than expected resistance" in taking Kiev.
Posters here say Putin will commit suicide/be assassinated/Russia will collapse
I didn't say anything about Russian bots in my comment. I'll continue to comment unless a mod says otherwise.
This is a very real concern. Conflict weapons feeding the black market has been happening for years, Ukraine has the largest arms trafficking market in Europe. A lot of the volunteer battalions get bored and slip off home and bury their weapons or sell them to the highest bidders.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2022/01/21/why-sending-anti-tank-weapons-to-ukraine-may-end-badly/
The weapons pouring into that region lately however are far more sophisticated than have been previously seen. The thought of Stingers and Javelins floating around the black market doesn't bear thinking about.
There have also been concerns voiced in the intelligence community that the Azov battalion provided training for American right wing groups. There are even suggestions Brent Tarrant (who shot up the NZ mosques) had some contact with Azov Battalion.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/fbi-neo-nazi-militia-trained-by-us-military-in-ukraine-now-training-us-white-supremacists/251687/
I think genocide might be a strong word but the Russians definitely have a case in the two Eastern provinces in terms of Russian speakers and how they were treated.
The issue is they've gone about things in a way where they are too easy to paint as the bad guys.
In relation to this invasion, it's just strategic bullying and criminality by Russia.
There are other ways they could have highlighted issues in Donbass and even got sympathy. Instead they sent mercenaries to forment a war there.
With all respect to you, if we are talking about annoying posts, this kind of thing gets me more than the wind up posts.
This thread is about a war, a hard winter war happening in real time, people are dieing, people are losing their homes and their families. But more and more people here are getting 'upset' about other people's mean posts.
Someone else is 'crying hard' about obviously fake texts being read out at the UN, another is asking how to get to Ukraine to fight but we all know that's just posturing, another is begging everyone to - look at me I sent money into a Ukraine bank account.
Also, ffs, there are no 'Russian bots' here. There are a few wind up merchants teasing people, if you can't handle that you have no business commenting on a real war in Ukraine.
Maybe we should have a 'sensitive' thread, for all the sensitive people.
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