Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I know it's been called out already that the security threat is a red herring, but i'll repeat it. Ukraine is not a Nato buffer, it's a democracy buffer. The threat to Putin is the advance of the free world. Ukraine's fate was sealed when it overthrew the puppet Government in 2014.

That man's either an idiot or a liar. Each of those points can be compared to reality and found not to agree with it. Those points are also the same points made by Putin and his lackeys, coincidentally. He's probably been watching too much RT or Tucker Carlson, RT's favourite useful idiot.

** Coming to the Bord Gais Na Mona Energy Theatre this spring

Of course you don't. Do me a favour and just shout at a cloud next time.

The free exchange of ideas has never been absolute in the West. It's never absolute in any society, because any society is held together in part by common values and the antithesis of those values are taboos, which are out of bounds and people who espouse these taboos face certain penalties. It may only be in Western society that we just have a broader spectrum of what can be discussed than other places. And it has increasingly been the problem in Western society that people hide behind the banner of free speech to industriously sow confusion and hatred. There comes a point where you have to say, 'stop'. Nobody sits around and goes, "Y'know, it's good that the Allies won WW2, but wouldn't it have been great if they let Nazi Germany broadcast in their home countries, just to get a balanced perspective?"

Yes the domestic Russian equivalent is called the 'Government'

Kooks like that are all that can be found at the moment. Next we'll be hearing from Steve Bannon's podcast and a translated clip from North Korean News Lady.

Since poor Vlad's reputation is taking a bit of a beating....I thought I would share this quirky story. It's the "Hitler loved dogs" kind of thing where a person who you think of as wholly evil...does something nice.

TL;DR - Putin loved his primary school teacher. She emigrated to Israel. Years later after becoming PM, he goes on an official visit to Israel. Seeing 'her boy' was coming, she contacts him through the embassy and he ends up buying her a flat in Tel-Aviv.

That's all due to the rule about non-biased reporting being eliminated. Nothing has been the same since then, though I find news on the main networks passable.

Don't forget that Russia has its own social and messaging apps too which are very popular.

Has this been shared here already?

CNN ~ ‘Enemy of humankind’: Ex-Russian oligarch speaks out about Putin

As mentioned in comments, putting his life on the line by speaking out?

Belarus is a major exporter but has already been sanctioned by the EU over that border thing. Ukraine itself is big exporting lots of minerals including fertilzers but in the next few days they will be cut off from the sea.It will be impossible to deliver by road in the middle of a warzone and too expensive anyway.

India & China are massive producers but they export very little and still import loads themselves.

All in all expect prices of food to explode in general to skyrocket now, and that is just fertilizer.

Thanks for demonstrating my point.

I mean it's all the more impressive when you've entirely ignored that both sides are busy killing civilians.