That's why Russia needs to be hammered by sanctions until they leave all Ukrainian territory including the so called "self declared Republics".
Any agreement needs to include De-militarisation and De-Nazification of Russia. Removal or massive reduction in its nuclear arsenal and a change of regime in Moscow. War criminals like Putin and Lavrov be handed over to the Hague for trail.
Is Shannon still a US military refueling airport? If so, it may draw Russia military interest in the event of war between US, NATO and Russia?
What has become evident though is that Kherson is pro-Ukrainian and that it hates Putin. It would be like the UK invading Donegal and trying to set up the "pro-British enclave of Donegal" i.e. doomed to total failure.
Ooh I agree they are way better off, using drones etc .... But I dont see the issue with supplying them, Much more leathal stuff is being brought in from foreign airports and not a peep from the Russians. I dont see the difference between a Turkish drone taking out Russian armour or a gifted MIG29 doing the same.
Also ,it takes a lot of trained crew ( and pilots) to keep a plane in the air , as well as needing protected hangers and runways to fly from ,
Ukraine still has planes of its own , but they're limited in how much they can fly -
Plenty of parts available in Poland now though .😁
About 2 weeks before the war kicked off I read an article by an ex CIA analyst who said more than likely Russias desired end game here is to split up Ukraine into about 20-25 Federalist states so that power is decentralised from Kyiv and mounting a resistance nationally becomes more difficult. Moscow will play one state off against the others as needs arise, states that stay quiet will get funds for rebuilding, states that mount an insurgency will get bombed some more. It is pure divide and conquer tactics.
Seems from this attempt to create a Kherson Peoples Republic he was accurate in his analysis and that this is the start of it nationally. Just as they did in Crimea they'll hold quick 'elections' in all these new states under the barrel of a gun and claim to the international community that they were free and fair. All the while the FSB will be using the elections as a way to create lists of those who didnt vote and those who voted for pro Ukrainian candidates. They'll then be marked as people who are hostile to Moscow and will be surveilled and dealt with if necessary.
Honestly I think they're trolling us now and seeing how far they can push the envelope before they get booted... which we won't do unless everyone else in the EU does
The problem is they have to be flown in to Ukraine. If Ukrainians travel to Poland or Germany and fly them into Ukraine, Russia will say NATO is providing its bases for military purposes against it. If Polish or American pilots fly them into Ukraine then it could be seen as taking part in the war. Plus there is the problem of what happens if a US or NATO pilot is shot down by Russians.
The drones are shipped in crates, so those problems don’t come up.
A British army guy also said that the weapons they have been supplying are all defensive and can hardly be considered to be supplying arms that could be used to invade Russia, or attack Russian targets, they are anti-tank and anti-aircraft. The drones have a maximum range of 300km so couldn’t be sent from Ukraine to bomb Moscow for example.
I wholeheartedly agree on the soft power point. Russia (Putin really) has completely blown the opportunity of an open society with flowering in the arts, culture, civil society etc. A country where an outspoken intellectual is more likely to find him or herself choking on their own vomit on an internal flight having been poisoned rather than get a hearing in the media is not an attractive country.
In the USSR era, satellite countries only looked to Moscow as a center of gravity because they did so under the barrel of T-series tanks. Putin, being Homo-Sovieticus, is trying to repeat the trick.
I remember many years ago watching a mini-series about Peter the Great (1682-1725), he had great idea and intentions from modernising Russia, but always seemed to be held back by vested interests at home. Nothing much changes, it seems.
They'll end up bankrupting themselves back to the 1980s at this stage. Not quite the stone age, but their public won't be happy.
As I said before, what we're witnessing is the last gasp of a failing superpower. Somebody posted a great article a while back about Russia and one of the points made was that Russia has for much of its history been attempting to play catch up with the West and never quite managing it, and the overstretching has at times really hurt its economy.
It's like the country has never really looked after its affairs at home. It's never used its plentiful resources to make life quite good for its own people, and that has only been salved by an apparent fetishisation of hardship. It's a country that doesn't really seem to believe in cultivation of soft power. Just might. I mean, yes the ballet and Rachmaninoff and chess and Dostoyevsky are wonderful things, but they're also fairly niche and intellectual and a little bit fusty. They've never really become that economic and cultural centre that aspirational countries look to join up with, and Russia instead relies on geographic position (Kazakhstan) and intimidation (Ukraine) to try and keep its sphere of influence going. Is it any wonder why Ukraine looked west? I think not.
The Germans will, anyway
I wonder if anyone has told the mercenaries about female soldiers in the Ukrainian army. ISIS fighters were very nervous of the Kurdish female units (or so the story goes). Apparently if you're killed in battle by a woman, no paradise for you...
The longer the Russians continue with this offensive, the more I consider that bombing Russia back to the stone age is a good thing for humanity
Kinda makes a change from the usual US / UK flag burning......talk about changing times !!!🤗
Can anyone explain the difference between mig29 s piloted by Ukrainians flying into Ukraine (and staying there) from NATO territory and Drones being delivered from Turkey ?
This in the context of the one option being totally ruled out because of repercussions.
One of the worst things about the Internet is that it has given cranks a way to communicate and coordinate, and validating each others beliefs. That 'movement' has gotten to where any official line must be lies. They'll take absolutely ridiculous and abhorrent stances in pursuit of this twisted 'truth-seeking'.
If you want to make yourself mad, watch the opening of this Vice News piece where said cranks are telling the father of a child killed in a mass shooting that it was all faked,
And, not surprisingly, they're doing the same thing with this war. 'I'm told Putin is bad, so.... he must be good. It must all be propaganda against him.' It's this cadre of people and their growing influence in Western politics that has had Russia and China belly-laughing at us all for the last 10 years. Like, seriously on the floor rolling around.
Maybe, we will see. But the Chinese were more than concerned when the Taliban returned and were amongst the first to recognize them and seek assurances that they would not " facilitate" any Islamic Terrorist activity in Afghanistan especially with reference to Chinese Uighurs. But while a Fatwa would make it official, nothing to stop a devout Muslim from killing the perceived enemies of Islam, as we have seen here in Europe, where there has been many examples of this, and enemy's of Islam is a title the Russians have well earned.
Seems to be a well worn Russian tactic to wear down the population with extreme violence and then install some thug in power.
Might depend on the sect that was bombed. If it was Shia for example, the Sunny lads would be delighted and vice-versa
Disease is one of life’s greatest injustices. Nothing else matters when a person is truly ill. To willingly risk inflicting disease on hundreds of thousands of healthy people is truly evil
There's a video of the mass graves in Ukraine. People disposing of all the bodies. Bodybags, not fully covered bodies.
There are actually people commenting on the authenticity of the bodies.
not good
i see that now, wont go down well for Russians watching, they are in danger of losing their huge aircraft supremacy at this rate, unsustainable youd imagine over a 6 month period even nevermind a 10 year period which is what this will become without some kind of ceasefire and agreement
Nice one!
Serves the basket right for blowing up innocent people himself.
Send that to his mommy in Russia so she has some "closure".
RF-1340
Mark Felton report on Britain's defence capability against potential conventional Russian attacks on military & civilian infrastructure. Many points of weakness, including reduction of AEW aircraft & lack of defensive bunker protection around military bases & government facilities.
Deploying military forces to bolster the NATO response in Eastern Europe has further reduced defensive capabilities.
Absolutely they shouldn't be given any publicity at all.
Given the lies he has told he should have been on a plane back to Mother Russia weeks ago.
Assuming Ukraine is forced into surrendering/accepting a brutal peace deal that sees the country partitioned and turned into a client state do we think the west will happily accept that and go back to business as usual with Russia quickly?
If it's a Russian chopper, fantastic. Hope their entire air force gets blown to smithereens.
See a foot poking out of the wreckage at the end, there.
At this stage if the Russian Ambassador claimed it was raining I'd walk outside to check myself.
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