Trump wanted the Europeans to pay for their own defence. Something that is now happening. America was footing the bill to protect Germany, when Germany is a very rich country. Now the war is near, the Germans announce 2% GDP spending on military which is what NATO nations are supposed to spend. All Trump was doing was asking Europeans to spend the money they committed to spend but were hoarding and letting the US pay for them.
Trump was right about this as well as Nord Stream.
If anybody is buying crab sticks from dunnes and other shops:
the 'vici' brand is owned by vici group in lithuania, they have factories in crimea and donbass area and are refusing to stop manufacturing there, claiming we shouldnt mix business and politics.
Thats all
Slightly uneasy that this stuff is being done so openly. Aren't these transactions supposed to happen on a deniable need-to-know basis.
I dont know why people are celebrating the Ukraine military success and the Russian arm not doing so well.
Surely all the means is Putin using stronger bombs? So if the invasion is not successful his attitude is all or nothing so he will simply level the country.
So to avoid military escalation surely best option is to save lives and just surrender to him?
The West can't do much more than they're doing.
Best bet is to try to get support from within Russia and Putin is removed or pressured into change?
Trump did far more than that he had frank and open discussions about leaving NATO entirely.
Hear hear
The longer it takes for Russia to win the more likely Putin is to be deposed due to russia not being able to afford this war for much longer and it makes him look weaker day by day. If Russia step up to more aggressive stance like openly carpet bombing cities and civilians its more likely the russian people will find out and be horrified leading to his being removed as well.
So, Ukraine (including Donbas and Crimea) has has huge amounts of gas reserves
In 2013 Ukraine signed a deal with Shell for access to the gas fields in the East which is partly in Donetsk. Since the Ukranian government at the time was importing gas (it's largest import) and was operating at a deficit it needed outside investment in infrastructure to turn that around. Then the Russians invaded and annexed parts of the Donbas and Crimea which has large gas fields at sea, not to mention a warm water port that the Russians were paying a huge lease on.
Then we get into the energy crisis in China, their ban on Australian coal and then the subsequent agreements with Russia for gas supply. I get the feeling the Russians felt that they had no problem meeting the Chinese demand for energy but it would involve (unsure to the knowledge of the Chinese) taking control of the Ukranian gas fields. The Russians clearly miscalculated what this was going to require because the media blackout and brazen roll in would suggest that they thought that within two days it would be done and dusted and the Russian people would be none the wiser. Now we have China potentially backing off the deals in fear of sanctions or squeezing Russia for a much lower price for the gas since their economy has now collapsed.
Either way, even if they manage to take Ukraine they are completely snookered and this will possibly have cost them so much more than they will ever make from China because they are negotiating from a position of great weakness. The Chinese will also be looking at their military and considering the fact that besides nuclear force, they'd make mincemeat of them in Siberia so there's the potential for the Chinese to just take the gas from Russia, and NATO/Western economies won't bat an eye after their behaviour in Ukraine. On a side note, I would suspect China is probably going to ease off Taiwan having seen the economic damage sanctions have done in the space of a few days.
TLDR; Putin has made several economic and military mistakes and Russia as a state is now in a very precarious position and it's not outside the realms of possibility that it gets carved up by China and western influences. Completely goosed it.
If the stalled convoy (food/fuel/breakdowns/Bayraktar) is now a dead duck is it possible the front most troops have abandoned it and are on foot towards Kyiv?, it's front few km are within a days walking distance and hunger is a powerful motivator.
Conditions in the convoy must be pretty grim after a few days going nowhere.
Maybe people have Patriotic pride in their nation and would rather die than be enslaved? That's why they won't surrender.
It was “10 more days” about 3 days ago
This has been confirmed.
Nope. Have to disagree with you there, zv2. NATO did not rock up over night ( as it were) and place their flag's all round Russia. Ex communist states, knowing full well what the Russians were capable of, they, by themselves actively sought to become members of NATO, and that's what happened. But Vlad, as economic as ever with the truth, spun it like it was all NATO's fault, while ignoring the real reason NATO was camped on Russia's door step.. and as we are now seeing, they have been proved right. And if his Blitzkrieg had worked...just where would his army be camped now? Do you think that he would stop at Ukraine? Because I don't. Blaming Nato etc.( take your pick) is all wrong. The fault of all this murder and slaughter can be laid 100% at the feet of one Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and him alone.
It's the best post in the thread. It's up there with the sort of stuff you see online on transfer deadline day "I heard Ronaldo is at West Brom and will be signing a 5 year deal. My dads friend, who walks a dog that likes to piss on Dion Dublin's gatepost told me so"
Those children are clearly drug dealing nazis! Wake up
Your veil has completely dropped by the way.
Ah shur didnt ya hear? @correct horse battery staple successfully outed me as chief putinbot, and I also have a direct line to the big man himself. No veil needed. Because all us "putinbots" are here on boards to spread propaganda and curry favour, because if boards.ie posters have the wrong opinions it could really harm the war effort 🙄
All over the papers and news sites the last while. All these "ex-defence" and "unnamed intelligence sources" come out of the woodwork with a load of speculative nonsense and sell it to the papers.
I'd say if you make any official sounding email address you could sell them some anonymous stories too, dohnjoe.mi6@gmail.com says that Russia is on the brink of collapse. Trust me I'm in MI6, my email even says so.
Because the US was paying for NATO. I think only the UK were paying their fair share. It was 3 nations in total if I recall. The US was paying the shortfall for most of Europe including the wealthy ones. And the US wasn't exactly treated well by Europe in return. Not many "thank yous" for covering them, but a lot of criticism.
only 7 more days so - this day next week Russia will have collapsed
Ahem..catchy tune
@vimalandrew do not post in this thread again
I disagree - Russia have massive wealth and have been saving for this since 2013 so i don't think funding the war is an issue.
I think the longer it goes on the more frustrated Putin gets and increases the risk of it escalating or him doing something stupid.
He's like Hitler now - it's win at all cost, all or nothing attitude.
It's worth looking at the history of Ukraine from 1991-2014. The interference of the US, the increasing influence of NATO in Eastern Europe, the Maidan, internal Ukraine politics, the eastern Ukraine problem ..this has been festering for some time and no real agreement has ever been reached. The Minsk accord never really flew. But something should have been done, drastically. From Russian point of view they were backed into the corner and this is the only recourse left. That is patent nonsense of course, what is happening is so wrong it doesn't need excuses, but for those trying to get into Putin's mind, these are the issues, amongst others , Crimea also, that have brought us here...
Wow - sounding promising. It’s a rollercoaster right now in terms of what’s happening there- praying this equipment gets in the right hands at the right time to protect the cities
OK Sergei
Because Germany didn’t reach 2% on defence spending didn’t mean the USA had to make up the difference.
Death valley for Russian armour
I was talking to my mate in Canada last night and he looked up the Canadian military and it was roughly what I expected, highly trained and specialised both in terms of manpower and equipment. The numbers in the reserves seems low to me. We haven't much in Ireland but cost-wise a month of training for everyone before 21 and then a weekend or two each year to check on weapons maintenance, would apply this to Ireland too, would cost bugger all but would provide numbers for very little cost.
Yeah I have a few Finnish mates, one of them was in active service for a few years. He was saying that the Javelin launchers are super light, they're bulky and basically plastic filled with polystyrene to protect the payload. He's also a huge fan of Simo Häyhä (the Russians call him the White Death). He himself doubted the Russians abilities, stating that like in all their wars they rely on sheer numbers rather than tactical nous, owing mostly to the fact that they have no natural geographical defenses, it's just open plains.
Something someone posted earlier Mikhail Gorbachev: I am against all walls - Russia Beyond (rbth.com)
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