I'm sure most Russians will just keep plodding along with their usual fatalism and or/cheer for Putin as restoring Russian national pride while he turns Ukraine into a European Syria.
It's the intelligent minority there you feel sorry for. Navalny today calling for Russians to rise up and what's the response? F*ck all. Wouldn't surprise me if Putin takes this chance to deal with Navalny once and for all while the world's attention is elswhere.
I’d say more broadly the shrinking Russian population really bothers Putin and his cronies;
Given it’s vast geographic size. It’s about twice the size of the U.K. or France. Covid had a massive impact which would leave one to believe the general health of the population must be very poor once you get down to the ordinary working class that can’t can’t afford foreign medical care.
In the USSR days they were close to matching the USA on numbers. Now they’re distantly behind. There’s less safety in lower numbers.
Maybe they see a chance to push back and get out from under the scum?
Of course international relations are fluid & subject to change, but seriously! supposed national news journalists are asking what China might be thinking about events!
Apart from watching and making notes to not repeat any obvious errors if they decide to take Taiwan.
16-Aug-2021
And very recently
Beijing, China Feb 4, 2022
In a joint statement, the two countries affirmed that their new relationship was superior to any political or military alliance of the Cold War era
"Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no 'forbidden' areas of cooperation," they declared, announcing plans to collaborate in a host of areas including space, climate change, artificial intelligence and control of the internet.
Specifically mentioning inter mutual support on Ukraine and Taiwan.
Just in case not so clear.
Yes indeed. Russia is likely going to lose EU as a customer in the short to medium term, and have to switch to BRICs countries
Can be done, but not overnight obviously
Chinese UN representative made quite the statement "We must respect other countries sovereignty", I am sure that will come back to haunt them
Take with a pinch of salt, but according to US experts the Ru convoy north of Kyiv has stalled due to logistics and supply issues, and that the Ukrainians are starting to pick some of them off
I'm not sure of the veracity of this, but if it's true, they are admitting to some things:
"Russian Defence Ministry: 498 Russian military killed in special military operation
Ukraine's losses during the Russian Federation's operation amounted to more than 2,870 dead. Conscripts and cadets of the Defence Ministry's educational institutions are not taking part in the operation in Ukraine, the ministry has assured."
https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/2-march-russian-ministry-of-defense-admits-498-killed-soldiers
They'd argue Taiwan isn't a country, of course.
Maybe one positive thing from all of this is that China appears to be creating a bit of distance with Russia over this. I think the scale of the response from the international community might have given China pause for thought over Taiwan, for now.
Anonymous are claiming that Russia planned a 14 day operation : 20/2 - 6/3.
They don't regard Taiwan as sovereign in the least so that's their political cognative dissonance covered.
Although, a little side-gift Ukrainians are giving to the world is this war will make China a good deal more gun-shy about moving on Taiwan.
I got a shudder just there thinking about the boards dictator cheerleader front cock-a-hoop about another democracy in the firing line, and a replica of this crisis in East Asia.
A breakdown of what's going to Ukraine. EU's synchronised support for Ukraine: Nations unite in sending arms to Ukraine | English News - YouTube
Yeah I am genuinely surprised on China's approach to this I thought they would be 100% behind Russia
Interesting. Either the Russians believe they have enough, or they've changed plans and aren't taking the whole of Ukraine.
China will act in China's interests at the end of the day, that's the realpolitik.
Called it much much earlier in the thread when the know-nots were popping champagne corks at the 21st century gritty reboot of the Hitler-Stalin axis: Sino-Russian relations are a matter of temporal convenience.
They don't trust each other and never likely will.
I agree Furze. However my point is for many all the information in the world, even casualties may not impact many of the Russian people as much as we expect. Put it another way; there is uncountable info out there which should shake the faith of the religous and yet billions are religious.
yes. And nobody seems to be talking about what weapons or other aid China has promised (or may already be providing) to Russia.
To take the whole of Ukraine.
Seems likely whether or not they apply to join. Russia already took some territory off of them.
The message from the Ukraine is clear. Join a defensive alliance or Russia will come knocking.
China want to do to Russia what Russia are doing to Ukraine. Except they are going to do it via economics and when Russia are broke at the end of this win or lose they will loan them money. Then when they cant pay it back, China will simply take back all the eastern Russian territory with ethnic chinese living in it as payment.
Polish correspondent in Moscow just sait that Russia admitted some losses, but didn't release any numbers (source Polish TVN24)
Let's agree to disagree.
“I’ve watched and listened to Putin for over 30 years. He has changed,” says former US ambassador to Russia and Stanford University professor Michael McFaul. “He sounds completely disconnected from reality. He sounds unhinged.”
https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1497661963442130944
Israel is one of the few countries that has decent relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Putin however has rebuffed Israel's mediation attempts. Israel is in an unfortunate position of having Russia on its border in Syria. One offensive weapons donated to Ukraine from Israel, and Russia will let Iran entrench in Syria and sell them top weaponry. So Israel are out of the game.
I see Pakistan abstained. Khan met with Putin the day this war started, signing off on a massive deal for grain and gas.
Meanwhile, one billion a day flows to Moscow from the West for gas. I think about that when I hear about companies pulling 2bn or 5bn from Russian businesses/the economy. They can make that up in days. What a world.
The Chinese have no love for the Russians, their main interest in all this is cheap oil and gas from Russia and how it plays out via a vis Taiwan.
They seem them as useful idiots in short.
They seem to have given some numbers out
There's that whole thing about saving face. It's only fairly recently that they've really embraced Russia as a partner and now they are just a bit embarrassed by the turn of events. Abstention or peace broker is all they will do here.
Many did. Ukrainians were genocided by bolsheviks pre WW2. The Holodomor. So many seen the enemy of Russia as a potential allie. But that isnt relevant or an excuse for what's happening now.
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