Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Is there a way Wallace and Daly can be recalled from the European parliament

They are extraordinary. From the defiant President all the way to the people who are standing in front of tanks, amazing stuff.

If Russia win they will have no or neutered ukranian army. They will have secret police. No dissent. Liberals western supporters disappeared or jailed. It took 50 years for Poland etc to break free of that. Those are the stakes.

I never said the pro-Russian Government could or would not be removed. I said that as soon as that is done, the Russian army rolls back in.

No, as bad as we think their decision was, that would undermine the democratic choice of MEPs.

just to say genuine thanks to the genuine posters here daily. Ive been following since the start of this. I have been fairly green about history, wars etc, know the basics, and have learnt so much in this past week. Its scary, horrendous, madness, some of things we're reading and seeing, in 2022! but its also addictive tbh...And please, I dont mean that in anyway dismissing or ignorant but its unbelievable to be following a war in real time. my brain is on the verge of exploding with all the info Ive taken in the past week. Well done to every Ukrainian out there, there is a genuine massive admiration and respect for the unbelievable bravery and fight you are showing the world....

Not taking any side on Putin's plan but what happened in 2014 was the overthrow of the democratically elected leader of Ukraine in a western backed coup. Ukraine was militarily neutral.

And why was he overthrown? Because he decided to accept a more generous funding package from Russia for Ukraine instead of the EU's offer.

This is the reason why we are where we are today.

It was a massive blunder.

That's not to give cover or an excuse to what's happening today but there needs to be some honesty about 2014 in my opinion.

Pussyhands is an excellent A student, he learned so much over a few days afair going from just asking questions/I want to know and learn what is going on here, to an expert on everything, what Ukraine should do (surrender unconditionally), the EU (certainly "no angels" in this situation ,and are just trying to "piss off" Putin). Unfortunately for us all + Ukraine esp., doesn't seem to take much to piss the man off to extreme muderous levels, even just existing may do it.

Worth remembering that a lot of what companies do is down to pure self-preservation. I recall when you had to order computers from Dell in Ireland at one point you had to answer questions confirming that your cheap Inspiron notebook wouldn't be used for research or manufacture of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. So terrified were Dell of pissing off the US government they thought it better to ask every customer worldwide these inane questions.

In this case, Boeing and Airbus are concerned that servicing state-owned Russian aircraft, providing them with parts and labour, might inadvertently be a breach of the economic sanctions, which can often come with gigantic prison penalties for company executives.

Of course, that's the whole point of the sanctions; to make it way too expensive for any company to do business with Russia. But don't be fooled into thinking that they're all doing it because they give a sh1t about Ukraine.

Bullshit revisionism

Why was he overthrown? Many reasons, chiefly among them Yanukovych was a corrupt klepocrat, Ukrainians took to the streets in their hundreds of thousands over it. After having protesters killed, he fled and the Ukrainians were absolutely correct, they discovered his mansion, private zoo, Spanish galleon, fleets of cars, full on African dictator style.

Tu-204 of the Special Flight Squadron ( presidential flight) approaching Minsk at the moment.