I still think, and i know the risk, NATO aircraft should be assisting in Ukraine. If they went at it hard that convoy would be gone in a few days.
So they are essentially balancing between letting people die now and hoping sanctions and other pressures stop him at some stage OR provide military pressure now which would probably prevent some of those deaths but risks potentially increasing deaths in another country if he strikes there
People are dieing and are going to continue to die and at some stage because of Russia and Putin, NATO are going to have to intervene at some stage, its almost a case of where do you want your deaths
I suspect they will sign bilateral defense treaties with the US. They can join NATO at their leisure then. Tbh they need to get off their arses and do it
*cocks pistol*
"I said said hop in"
If Putin fears democracy, I wonder if its because he fears he would lose power in an open and democratic Russia, or because he thinks that Russia cannot hold together under if it were to try and adopt the model of, say, Denmark? Putin has perhaps looked at Russia's attempt to become more westernised in the 1990s and went, "Yeah, f that..."
Some really horrible stories of the conditions Russian troops are subjected to and the fact many of them appear to have been lied to. Many stories. Told they are going to "exercises" instead of a war.
The UK.
I'm not sure the Belarus commanders will allow their forces over the border. I think there is a chance they could remove Lukash1tforbrains instead.
Watching the BBC news - the Shelling and missile strikes are killing thousands and reducing cities to rubble.
When the Russian tanks get into kiev they will kill whatever Ukrainians are left there . Meanwhile the West just looks on!
Putin won’t take on a NATO army because he knows, even through his hubris, that in a conventional war his army would be flattened.
Despite some people on here hyping up the capabilities of their “A-Team”…
Parliament debate, referendum?, threat of Russian attack, NATO process. Russian attack? 3 -12 months?
With this precedent, that you can do what you want and we wont engage militarily if you dont mess with a NATO country is dangerous. Whats to stop him from sailing a few destoyers and troop carriers into say Cork and Galway. 50K Russian troops and he'd take the country at least in name in less than a week. Doesnt need any tanks, some APCs and troop carriers. Its an unnarmed ppoulation who wont fight much, a weak undermanned military. So long as he doesnt go North over the border NATO wont intervene. Think the UK would come to our aid? Maybe, maybe not.
Everyone will say thats mad, but is it. He doesn't care if he loses 50K troops
It’s seems quite simple the world has changed even Russia has but putin is 60 years behind
Thanks, yes I visited his Twitter status too looking for whether he noticed anything different. The pieces he links are largely ones that cohere with the average Putin admirer of two weeks ago. More interesting was that on the website of the soft piece he links to first is a further seperate contribution from Patrick Cockburn (prepublished in Counterpunch on the 28th Feb). Like the late Robert Fisk, Cockburn's columns are famously non-mainstream and can be non-antagonistic to, say, the Russian defence of the Assad regime, and yet he concludes too that Putin has made a disastrous mistake.
Look at it from the Russian perspective. He has broken the established compact that he keeps Russia strong and safe, protects vetted interests, and builds the economy. He has ruined it all based on hubris is what Cockburn concludes.
and another
How can he row back and save his legacy? Obviously to me that means declare his victory early and come to a deal with the Ukraine government, and resign from his post once he has secured his safety..... Lavrov or Mevdevev can rule in the interim.
I watched some of that a few weeks ago. Stone seemed positively giddy in his presence.
For a man who was so deeply affected by Vietnam, you'd think he'd recognise a master of war when he sees one.
There are some who are so desperate for an alternative to the way our society is structured (and there is a lot we need to change tbf), that they become utterly and helplessly credulous when a non-western snake oil merchant offers up something else - even if it lacks any coherency and only really serves the despot's power lust. Putin has been playing Pied Piper to these people for a long time.
There's no guarantee a potential war with NATO would be a conventional one.
I will that's for sure. The boss doesn't know it yet, but if he has a problem with it I'm out the gap. Not dropping 100quid for fuel each week for any job.
Every TD should be hounded out of it until they reduce the excise. It doesn't bother them with all their expenses and high salaries. The tax they are bringing in on this is outrageous.
Flight Radar.
F16 and a tanker flying orbits, lets hope he has company, but with their transponders turned off.
They seem to fare much better as POWs!
Putin already said 8 years ago he will never allow foreign troops to be deployed on Ukrainian soil,
The only peace keepers will the Russians carrying out Genocide
They literally are.
F-16 on CAP over Romania..
More talks.
Indiscriminate bombing of Ukrainian cities will kill tens of thousands of Ukrainians in the coming weeks - Putin laughing at the West and their sanctions!
Ha. Finns are great. I lost a semi-serious drunken arm wrestling match to a Finnish lady in a crowded bar one time. Me shoulder was sore for a month. Twas the start of something quite lovely. Anyway, based on the women alone, the Russians would indeed be mad to invade.
I thought it was clear I was pointing out the hypocrisy of the Americans, I should have made it clearer for some apologies
Interesting piece on the BBC about amateur Ukrainian reservists digging in around the forests of Kyiv
"The scene is somehow reminiscent of World War Two. There's no heavy machinery, just a shovel in every hand. It's a rush job to block the path of Russian forces. We cannot identify the location. One man wields a chain saw, doing battle with a stubborn pine tree.
Mykhaylo blends in with the forest. The 25-year-old computer programmer stands proud, in full camouflage gear. He joined a territorial defence unit earlier this year and got just a few days of training, but he insists he's combat ready.
"I am not afraid," he said firmly. "We are prepared, and we have a lot of powerful guys there. There is a big possibility that the Russians won't even come here. I am very confident in our armed forces. If the Russians make it this far, we will push them out".
The only input the Chain of Command in the US get is whether or not it is a legal order. That is it. Had Bush decided "**** it" and ordered a nuclear strike of Iraq during the invasion it would have required an illegal break in the chain of command to stop it.
And that's probably what would have happened, as it would have contravened numerous conducts and conventions of war and been deemed illegal almost immediately. If Bush, indeed, had ordered a nuclear strike, it wouldn't have got beyond his authorisation and would have drowned in the debate that followed.
The legal requirements of a first strike option I would say are quite varied and encompassing and are so designed to avoid an unnecessary situation from arising. However, they aren't so restrictive that they hobble the option for a retaliatory strike should that particular need arise. Because in that case, whether it was legal or not probably wouldn't matter.
Just on the whole EU membership thing, between Moldova and Ukraine, I would be more in support of EU members troops going to Ukraine than I would Ukraine hastily joining the EU. Im sorry but it would be so short sighted, the EU isnt some symbolic gesture and its not a military alliance either. These countries want to be part of the West, and lets be honest, its for good reason, but joining the EU is not the same thing as being part of the West.
G
Whatever is going on in those talks I’ve no doubt the Ukrainians are at least looking for a safe passage corridor for innocent civilians.
How can Russia not even concede that, that’s surely just something any decent person (in all walks of life) would grant. That said, I’m not familiar with the conduct of war, is it normal for armies to allow civilians out during combat? In counter to that sentence , if it’s a “war of peace” like Putin says then how can this be even something that needs to be negotiated?
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