Russia - threadbanned users in OP

It is a concern that if there is starvation and chaos in various countries people will forget his attrocities

It's hardly rocket science.

His only advantage is his country is a global power in energy and especially in food. In fertilizer they are a key global player.

They have it within their power to make food a global crisis.

We can modify agriculture here more than most, we have a lot of good land and a reasonable climate.

Across much of Western Europe land has been whipped hard, in Asia it's incredible Fertilizer application rates that drive yield.

Who knows but it and energy are his big aces. The Ukraine alone is a key food source for 500mn people, 200 million of whom are on the Med and need that grain for each meal.

Who knows but if you want to reorder the world, buying favour with food, forcing EUR to deal with tens of millions of hungry neighbours etc is a good bargaining unit.

If it doesn't get out of Russia then the globe is going to face a wave of revolution and breakdown.

The WE again who is weee .

I think you're on to something there. When the Russian state controls all the media, they know what to expect from the people and they know there is no strong opposition. But it also means they can't prepare for anything unexpected - if the public opinion suddenly changes against the war (let's say they hear about the growing bodycount, or see details about civilian deaths in cities), then a large protest movement might start. Maybe not enough to topple Putin, but force him to stop the war.

This seems to have gone largely unnoticed. Ultimatum from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to Finland and Sweden over their moves to join NATO.

https://news.yahoo.com/finland-sweden-brush-off-moscows-133243866.html

Whats next, Putin invading Sweden and Finland?

The Swedish and Finnish seem to be brushing the threat off for the moment.

He needs taking out, as soon as.

I wonder about the credibility of, and if true whether it could encourage Russian assassins, regarding this Russian businessman who's supposedly put a $million bounty on Putin's head.

I've been watching CNN all week. Talk about hypocrisy and double standards, they have short memories. They have been just as bad as Putin and more in the past.

C-130 j crossing over my house just now. Anyone in Cavan, Dundalk, drogheda, North Dublin should hear it soon.

Heading to theatre.

The West is not moving on from this one nor are the Ukrainians. His problems will only begin once this has been "mopped up". He'll be a leader of a country under siege from the rest of the world and with an army in a country that will produce a very large insurgency, supported by a lot of weaponry from the west.

Whatever vision he has he'll really struggle to hold it as he has miscalculated all the way through this. He'll also need to be worried about things at home as sanctions really begin to bite deeply as that's very fertile ground for a "revolution" especially when the foreign reserves begin to run out.

The IOC have decided to do a U-turn on letting Belarusian and Russian Paralympian's compete as neutral countries abs both are now banned from the games. I take it the mens and womens tennis federations will now do likewise as will F1 ? It’s not that I disagree with their call, it’s that I don’t see why Russian and Belarusian tennis players who are no more to blame for the actions of their countries are allowed to keep playing.

Even the Chinese would take offence at being linked in that manner to Russia. Putin attempting to hold the world ransom over food is absolutely believable, China being involved in it really is not. His immediate concern is oil and eventually gas.

Even now they are finding it hard to get buyers. If OPEC, self-serving as they are, does increase output there would cause even more constraints as would the possibility of sanctions being lifted on Iranian oil.

In either of those scenarios the attraction of Russian oil is severely diminished along with their ability to support an economy and further his war aims. I'd expect a lot more pressure from China as this drags on.