They really are going full on Stalin over there,
death sentence for mentioning the war,
propaganda in schools, feeding lies.
detaining children.
they need to be cut off from everything in the west, everything, seize everything, Visas , everything and never get back in until putin is dead or there is a totally different political ideology over there. Hopefully Asia and Oceania follow suit.
f*ck them,
mind boggling,
Hope the C*nt dies soon.
Were the 2019 Ukraine Parliamentary elections fair and valid?
Below is a chart of how the regions voted. As you can see in the east, where the blue is, is majority for the Pro Russia, Putin ally led party. Hardly inconceivable that the vote in Crimea was not fair when the 2019 election shows such strong support in the east for the Pro Russia party.
Thats not a question that anyone can answer - for separatists/independence movements worldwide, at what stage does it reach a critical mass that its recognised and acted on?
Should People Republic of Cork be recognised?
Ukraine as an economy has stagnated over the past decades while in comparison it's European neighbour's economies have grown. This hasn't escaped the notice of ordinary Ukrainians who have increasingly want to deal with and create ties with the EU. Their controlling neighbours weren't too happy with that, and thanks to the eye-watering corruption in the country the Kremlin could run candidates and get them in, the problem was .. they were eye-wateringly corrupt. When protests emerged, and they rid themselves of that puppet, then the Soviet hammer came down.
In 2014, the Ukrainian people elected Poroshenko, a pro-EU guy. In 2019 they elected Zelenskiy, another pro-EU guy. This is a sovereign country trying to make it's own decisions, it's not a vassal state of Russia. When Britain left the EU a few years back, the EU didn't annex territory, spark an uprising, threaten to invade.
As for Zelenskiy's offshore holdings, an offshore account is not illegal, he moved it before he was president and he openly claims he did so to protect those holdings (which are pretty meagre) from the Russians, I'd tend to believe him
Could make the European Ploughing Championships later this year pretty interesting...
Plenty of the "displaced" from Donbas fled to Russia, because pro-Russia or those of Russian descent were targeted by certain Neo-Nazi "civil defence" groups in Ukraine. The situation in DPR and LPR were and are not one-sided affairs.
Yea and that is the caveat that is most important in any discussion of referenda - 100% VITAL IMHO - no referendum/cessation talks with Russian troops on Ukrainian soil
Where does that stop? If it was only 1 small village on the border of Ukraine and Russia that wanted to join Russia should they be allowed? If it was 1 small house on the border should they be allowed?
That's a Belarus MTZ as far as I know.
Someone should nuke the Minsk Tractor Works as an apology to engineering.
And on the other side I'm sure I read somewhere that the Ukraine were looking for their entire national debt to be written off.
It's considered invalid by the rest of the world. Not least because people were going to polls while surrounded by hostile invading forces.
Any region that holds a free and fair referendum on its nationhood (which includes an option that says, "Change nothing"), should be permitted to decide its own fate. For economic reasons, there are obvious limits to what can be considered a viable "region". But if Luxembourg can exist, then the limit is pretty generous.
Only if the million and a half internally displaced are allowed back into the Donbas, to resume their lives in peace, with the referendum allowing no Russian intimidation, assassination, ballot stuffing, media censorshiop or busing in people from across the border - and such a referendum was conducted and supervised by international observers and subject to their validation.
But you know Putin wouldn't allow it, because both him and you know what the answer would be if such conditions for referendum were met.
Hypothetically, any discussion of independence referenda in the two regions would need to be conducted:
-Impartially with neutral observers
-results and counting process would also need to be fully examined
-None of this could POSSIBLY EVEN BE FLOATED while there is a large army outside Ukraines capital, and on Ukrainian Soil - THIS IS CRUCIAL - an election cannot be fair and impartial/democratic with Russian guns pointing at Ukraine
Happy to discuss hypothetical resolutions - dispassionately which is always necessary for this type of chat - there would need to be a complete withdrawal though - and an acknowledgement/guarantee (possibly backed by the west, and agreed from Moscow) :
-That the result is accepted by all sides
-No interference at all or military posturing while the process is ongoing
-Once it ends, regardless of the outcome, the Ukraine is then under no further obligations. This would involve NATO/EU/Anything-They-Want
There are ways out but im looking at the above conditions (which are off the top of my head) - and i can honestly state, IMHO - Putin will not accept even one of the above. He feels he has a right to the Ukraine, and is attempting to reconstitute a NEO RUSSIAN EMPIRE - so - in theory yes - in reality, No
Put it in words better than I ever could. Spot on.
Answer my question first comrade
Even if you stripped all the armour it is still very heavy and probaly too awkward to use as very big tracked tractor dragging big cultivators.
BTW I could say John Deere are happy Putin invaded as that is where the cracked software to interface with their tractors/combines was coming from.
Didn't Crimea vote to join Russia in 2014?
2014 Crimean status referendum - Wikipedia
No, we are here 8 years after because a power mad dictator sent his army to kill non combatant civilians including children, all for questionable strategic, historical and personal legacy reasons.
If anything the west is to blame for allowing him to rebuild the red army and exert influence in the western countries, including but not limited to high profile politicians that received financial and logistical support.
Isn't that more or less what was being discussed when Macron went to talk to Putin. And the latter rejected it, has does he go back to that?
He's boxed himself into a corner, underestimating both Ukrainian resistance and what actions much of the rest of the world would take.
He can't govern Ukraine by force. Retreat doesn't seem to be in the book. No matter what happens, word & impact will get through to the Russian people and he's a goner. Best for him if he was quietly retired and the Russian state puts on a new face.
Ukraine is just as corrupt as Russia.
This notion that it's black and white, good vs evil, Batman vs the Joker is insanely simplistic.
It's a lot more complex than that.
The 2014 coup was replacing one elected leader with another on the basis of accepting more generous blandishments from Russia.
What's going on is a tug of war over some of Europe's most valuable geopolitical real estate.
Don't get me wrong. Ukraine is the victim of Putin thuggery, plain and simple. But Zelenskiy being lauded like he is leaves a sour taste too.
I'll tell you something else, those politicians standing and clapping in the EU parliament at this man, they know it too.
People should try and see this from all angles but in the fervour it gets lost when they pick a side.
I don't know bother answer to tour question but I was planning to go for a walk and listen to this podcast this evening.
[The Rest Is History] 155. Ukraine and Russia #theRestIsHistory
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/135876890 via @PodcastAddict
I know the Ukranians and Russians go way back. The vikings put Ukraine on the map and it was the seat of power more than Moscow. Its like if most UK powerful people like prime ministers and artists, came from Scotland. But then the seat of power moved to England and the Scots wanted to be independent but the English didn't want them to be independent.
They're pretty involved with each other culturally. I'd say the podcast above will give a good overview.
What do your comrades hiding under the desks on Orwell Road think?
Eamonn Dunphy has Tom Clonan on his podcast today. If you can get past Dunphy’s rambling, nonsensical questions and interruptions it is a good analysis of the military aspect of this
good to listen to someone who knows what they’re talking about
edit: I can’t actually get through it on account of Dunphy seemingly getting a little senile
Interesting question to ask, if the majority of people of Crimea, Donetsk and Lughansk wish to join Russia, should they be allowed?
Yeah they defaulted during their crisis in the late nineties
Sure every farmer will have a few
What actually caused it was the Euromaidan protests, none of that corruption nonsense. The EU dangled a trade deal in front of Ukraine and the president accepted a bailout from Russia instead. Ukraine is still highly corrupt btw.
And if it was anti corruption that ousted him, why did they vote in someone like Zelenskyy and why do they still support him?
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has railed against politicians hiding wealth offshore but failed to disclose links to BVI firm
Revealed: ‘anti-oligarch’ Ukrainian president’s offshore connections | Volodymyr Zelenskiy | The Guardian
The Pandora papers, leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with the Guardian as part of a global investigation however, suggest Zelenskiy is rather similar to his predecessors.
The leaked documents suggest he had – or has – a previously undisclosed stake in an offshore company, which he appears to have secretly transferred to a friend weeks before winning the presidential vote.
EU auditors warned last month that “grand corruption and state capture” remained widespread in Ukraine.
Did it not default in the late 90s? There wasn't the same inflations concerns on printing money at the time so it hardly just defaulted on Rouble denominated issuance? Defaulting on domestic currency issuances only really became a concern in emerging markets after the likes of the African countries saw hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. It was traditionally assumed that the repercussions from defaulting would be worse than the inflation.
LTCM went under around that time but I think that was from the yield curve inversion. I think they were picking up the pennies in front of the steamroller with a long-short arbitrage rather than going under as a direct result of defaults.
The Baltic states are demanding the EU make a decision fast on the complete ban of Russian ships from European ports. They say if the EU doesn't act they will ban Russian ships from their own ports.
Russian schools aren't the only ones pushing these narratives, we've already had a few plonkers in this thread try it
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