NATO has also invaded without the endorsement of the UN security council. (just saying)
Big scalp if true:
Do you have a source for this? Someone else here said it was 2 days to get Kiev.
China holds a key position. They could end this war by throwing russia under the bus by sanctioning them like the west. Then it's game over for Putin.
Why might china do this? To end the war as it is effectiving the world and their economy more than they like.
Some extra info on the possible future state of the Russian aviation sector. Some common points with the twitter thread linked earlier in this thread but I did get a chuckle out of hearing that a big Aeroflot maintenance base is located in Germany. Even Russian built planes with Russian engines aren't immune from sanctions.
Thread slowing up.
People failing to accept or trying to explain away the support Putin is getting from the general populace of other countries reminds me a lot of how many regarded Trump as completely unelectable, yet he won the first election and lost the second but with more votes than any other sitting US President.
Sometimes you just have to accept that you don't understand the mindset of people. Especially those who have different values, cultures and education systems than us.
I have talked with one Russian since this kicked off and there's much to the above, but they broadly support the invasion. Now this particular person has more skin in the game I suppose because they have relatives in the Donbas region and the same relatives have experienced the shítshow there. Most had to leave and go to Russia. The impression I got was like in the early days of the Troubles, where Catholic houses in Protestant areas were burnt out and families fled and vice versa. On the back of that(and the background NATO/the West want to undermine Russia stuff) they did support action to take those areas, but are against the wholesale invasion of the rest of Ukraine and were unambiguously clear about that.
They also reckon their relatives back in Russia don't fully realise that their army has done much more than go beyond the Donbas region and any suggestion that they have is seen as Ukrainian/Western spin. Even that the scenes of Kyiv being hit are remote missiles not boots on the ground. On sanctions the attitude seems to be we'll dig in, we're used to that. That the more 'western' people in the Russian cities will be hit the hardest, but the 'true' Russians beyond will not notice that much of a change. Years ago I knew a Russian woman who came from the rural heartlands and she grew up with her family growing a lot of their own food, mostly only buying things like flour, very much old style make and mend and make do. Very frugle with little of the trappings of even Russian city life. She moved into a city in her teens for her schooling IIRC and she told me the culture shock was bigger than when she came to the West later on. The impression I got was that there was very much 'two Russias' and the goings on of the rest of the world, even Moscow are not that high in their concerns.
Correct.
Its kind of ironic that Putin appears to think that anybody with an alternative view to him is automatically an enemy or just wrong because that’s really how threads go in these forums.
Putins actions are evil, calling him a evil is an effort to distance ourselves from him. He’s human and he’s doing things many humans are capable of doing. He’s doing thinks other western countries have done in the name of spreading democracy.
Spreading democracy is a more noble cause, or at least that’s what we think. But the people don’t always want this “freedom” from bondage.
If we in the west could engage more in self reflection and tried to actually understand, instead of just insult and deride foreign cultures , we might actually be able to manage them better.
Any atomic bombs left over?
Can everyone on here please phone the Russian Embassy today on 01-4922048 and lodge a protest. The line is still active and we need to shut it down and make it unworkable.
I know I was being sarcastic
It's a lovely sentiment by Guthrie, and I'm sure countless more people have expressed similar things, but we cannot ignore certain things that seem apparent about human nature and which make war/fighting an indelible part of history - something that will, sadly, always be with us. It seems that a lot of men just want to fight for a cause and get something out of that - some kind of experience or status or self worth, maybe - which they feel they cannot get elsewhere and prove themselves. Look at the foreign people signing up to go over to Ukraine. Look at the people who went to go and fight in Spain, or more recently in Syria. People fully knowing that they could die, and still going through with it.
There is, of course, a poverty argument as to some join the military and go to war, and I'm not disputing that this is the case in many instances, but when you have sports stars and even billionaire Peter Poroshenko joining the Ukrainian war effort, it's not necessarily always true.
Can you give us some examples, as I agree with some of your points, but I genuinely want to know.
Also, I don't think it's up to us to manage other cultures. As far as I can tell, in the west we do try attempt to try and understand other cultures, but I don't see that reciprocated much of the time.
Like a Russian Convoy!
Mentourpilot is mistaken. Aeroflot group own 8 maintenance bases and these are all in Russia. The cost of sending their aircraft to Germany would be astronomical.
The truth is in grave danger here. Whatever Russia are up to, I am noting that you can say anything about them and their companies, be it true or not seems to be immaterial. This is a very dangerous path to go down.
Yes, but if China let it drag on for a bit, it will further weaken both Russia and the West and China will be in a position to take advantage of that.
Honestly, when Lavrov mentions nuclear in his statements, I get scared. I know there's a consensus that Russia will not draw NATO into the conflict, but with the nuclear ace up Putin's sleeve, doesn't he have a free hand to be as barbaric as possible in Ukraine ? With talk already of war crimes, isn't he now past the point of no return ? If the war is deeply personal for Putin, I'm afraid that he will destroy the country - if I can't have Ukraine, no one will, so to speak. The sanctions have been swift and merciless, but I imagine Putin and his inner circle are rich enough to remain insulated from it. Still though, with all the setbacks the Russian army is suffering, you'd imagine Putin must be very stressed and agitated now and it is frightening to think what someone with so much power running off such negative emotions could be capable of doing...
Indeed. If any even slightly alternative opinion is posted it has to be qualified with "Putin is an insane maniac warmonger!!" or the post and poster is seen as a Putinbot.
Why? People prefer black and white positions because they're simpler(I have to fight to not do this myself) and people tend to react first and think later, especially when something new is hitting right now and do so as 'our group'. Look at the early days of the Covid pandemic. Same deal. Well Putin has done one good thing, much like Hitler should be praised for killing Hitler(10 years too late, but still...), Putin has killed Covid. 😁
F1 have now completely severed their contract with the Russians. No grand Prix for them for a long, long time.
Russian Grand Prix - no more
Russian's largest bank, Sberbank, is -95%. In 7 days.
Shower of Prix more like
In fairness the sports stars in Ukraine who are fighting aren't only fighting for and idea of Ukraine, they're fighting for their lives and the very ground beneath their feet. The mayor Klitschko will have had access to intel and if there's any accuracy whatsoever about the Russian "lists" then they will have no life left in Ukraine short of being a complete puppet if they're lucky.
Like the crisis we've just had people are posting what they find. Unless people have a very obvious bias or an ulterior motive some of that may turn out to be wrong, misheard, misunderstood or just not properly researched.
Interesting if true. Not to sound like too much of an armchair internet general, but counter-attacks are absolutely vital in any theatre, hopefully they can put added pressure on Ru forces
The sanctions are hitting real hard
that's the beauty of modern warfare, with a press of a button and a couple signatures send your enemy back to the stone age.
very true. we have to support those that are speaking out (even while aware that it is easy for us to call for this from the safety of Ireland). echoes of dark Russian history. How is solzhenitsyn regarded in Russia these days does anyone know? I think often of this quote:
What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, polkers, or whatever else was at hand?
Fantastic news.
Hopefully the whole Russian state is fast becoming a bankrupt basket case.
The oligarchs watching their wealth go down the swanny must be sh1tting it!
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