True but it can cause you to misplace the blame for that hunger and lower standard of living
Blame doesn't fill empty stomachs.
Just with his fingertips too
Yeah, but propaganda doesn't fill your belly or allow you to maintain a decent overall standard of living.
Exactly, he had a buffer from NATO if that's what Russia really wanted. But it isn't - this is good old fashioned nationalism, Russian Nationalism in this case, expanding the territory on the basis of supposed shared nationality.
If they are subscribing to Russian media then they will just blame the west.
What's weird to me is that I think Putin had already completed his basic objective for Ukraine before he undertook this stupid invasion. Like, we hear Ursula Von Der Leyen make emotional pronouncements about wanting Ukraine in the EU, but we also suspect that when it comes down to bureaucrats sitting at long tables examining the situation a little more dispassionately and checking Ukraine's real eligibility that scepticism about the possibility creeps in. Similarly with NATO, there have been pronouncements made and action plans drawn, but NATO surely cannot consider a country with territory occupied by NATO's biggest rival. That's just too much of a headache.
All Putin had to do was keep the Crimea, which the international community was broadly willing to overlook and let the Donbas situation bubble on in perpetuity. Ditto Georgia. No NATO, nor EU for them. Putin could have kept on in the background, nipping at the west and being generally sneaky.
Although, this is all moot if he really just wanted Ukraine anyway.
There was a tank mechanic offering up tidbits of advice on how to disable a tank a few days ago.
It's an interesting thread.
Any news on that rumoured declaration of martial law?
TBH we have under funded our defence forces for years with the understanding that "sure the brits will cover us if anything happens". Which is the case when Russia send planes in that violate our airspace.
I was heartened to see that report but I fear that after all the promises the politicians made on its publications the reality will be that nothing changes. In the new Europe we definitely need to increase our spending on defence. I have also said that we should have the ability to intercept any incursions into our airspace so a modest fighter capability should be at the Air Corp (sorry Air Forces) disposal.
[Edit - added]Here's an article on it here https://www.forbes.com/sites/pauliddon/2020/07/13/irelands-air-force-badly-needs-fighter-jets/
Seems the Grippen is the bird for us!
"Series"
Jesus, they even walk like they have the worlds' biggest balls
That lad definitely had his Weetabix to be holding that up
Historically he is correct. West Ukraine or East Poland as it was once known
Some of the ordinance used on Kharkiv
I get the impression both sides now know that the other lot have anti aircraft assets in place and are avoiding risking it, Ukraine air force staying very low when they do fly missions, apparently
Russians are still losing a lot of planes though, a lot of photos of downed Su 25s on Twitter.
The Ukrainians have a theory about the origin of the "Z" motif being used on Russian vehicles:
Putin probably fires a missile at UN Headquarters given his previous rhetoric. And sadly I'm not even kidding.
Old WW2 German joke in Normandy: "If the plane shows up white it's the Americans; if it shows up black it's the RAF; if it doesn't show up at all it's the Luftwaffe."
I get the impression the Russians are actually being restrained so far when it comes to air bombardment and that when they do decide to switch that tap on, it'll be a totally different ball game.
I don't see either as likely tbh.
My read is that this will continue as a medium intensity conflict for the next two three weeks before the Ukrainian state apparatus is sufficiently destroyed. Kyiv falls and what remains of the government goes into exile.
A guerrilla war then begins in earnest, with the west continuing to supply arms to the rebels. This could go on for years. There is no short path to peace visible to me.
Short or long war, Europe is going to turn it's back on Russia, and end it's dependence on gas. I think we shall start to see serious reconsideration of nuclear energy for decarbonisation. Political energy is likely to be diverted away from the soft stuff, emerging social and identity politics and back to the serious, geopolitical and defence.
"Seems to be just deliberate misinformation though"
You can say the same about pretty much anything which comes from the Russian press regarding the invasion special military operation, or indeed anything regarding the west.
But we know where it is coming from, much of it is transparent marxist ideology ie. our society will always be tainted and illegitimate until it is made ideologically pure. That's what gets us from utopian ideals to mass graves. The most obvious example was the complete denial among the hard left about the genocide in Cambodia, dismissing the lucky ones who escaped to warn the west as being anti-communist stooges. I'm just sick of it at this point.
Will be worried when they start arriving in numbers though, if the Russians get air superiority will be horrendous. That said, there are reports of up to 3 Russian fighter jets being shot down today.
And herein lies another problem which I've mentioned several times in the thread, if the UN actually followed it's own charter then Russia can't veto anything regarding the conflict, even as a P5 member there is no power of veto over any conflict to which the member is a party to, there is a history of this being overlooked, even now surprisingly.
Russian press are spreading claims that Zelensky fled to Poland. Seems to be just deliberate misinformation though and being mainly retweeted by the army of Putin bots on Twitter.
It's not hard to retain air superiority when the opponents air force is notably for the most part missing.
Disappointing to see Emirates and Qatar planes still flying in and out of Moscow.
I hope the public at large starts boycotting any businesses that are still doing trade with Russki.
I see Microsoft are the latest to pull out so maybe more to follow..
Russian veto in the security council makes any binding UN action impossible. Even if the Russian ambassador got locked in the toilet or something during voting it would still be the US implementing it so what is the difference?
Ruble is being dumped
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