Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I second that. I have operated Chinese built machinery and it was awful and unsurprisingly, unreliable.

The BBC news quoted China as saying they were only interested in actions that deescalate the conflict, when asked about supplying arms to Russia.

I think you're being unduly optimistic here. If the Russians manager to encircle Kiev completely they will likely just shell/starve the city into submission, however long it takes. No reason for friendly fire incidents if the troops stay at the perimeter until the resistance collapses.

I wonder how lushenko is feeling at the moment ,now putin is begging the Chinese for help ,he must be down to a 3star private now on Putins army

It would be an act of war ,Nato could anilate Russian forces in Ukraine to protect nato borders and prevent further attacks

So Russia, a military superpower, with a 10 to 1 material advantage, has asked for direct help from: Belarus, Chechnya, Syria, various mercenaries, Wagner paramilitary group, China

The Ukrainians really putting up a hell of a fight.

Good piece here on how life is already getting more expensive in Russia

It's a bit more complex than that,

but what seems to be the main problem is Vladimir Putin and not the Russian military capabilities.

In my opinion he himself managed to humiliate the russian military and undermined the Russian Federation as the superpower we though of it to be.

From what we've seen so far,

His generals and the ministry of defense were caught off guard, the invasion was only planned in Putin's mind, so basically the army was unprepared,

The invasion wasn't properly planned.

The troops were lied to, they were told they were on an exercice right until the moment they got the order to cross the border, imagine what this does to morale.

However their biggest screw up was the intelligence Putin was receiving,

It was tailored to his own liking, this was shown very clearly during his security council meeting while he (Putin) forced Naryshkin to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear. All intelligence that Putin received pointed out that the Ukrainians will lay down their arms and surrender at the first sight of a russian soldier. -- this can also be proven after the news of the heads of his intelligence service placed in house arrest 'for telling him what he only wanted to hear'.

Another thing that he did not expect, was the Americans and the west standing up to him the way they did, first with all the advanced weaponry they kept on sending to the Ukrainians, but also the unprecedented sanctions he got slapped with.

I remember very well, Biden going on TV since last December telling the world multiple times that Putin is going to invade, 'we got the intel', 'we're declassifying some intel', He even once said something along the lines of 'Putin is planning a minor invasion to which there will be minimal response from the west, but a full scale invasion will be met with a very harsh response'

To me this sounded like an invitation or a green light for Putin to invade, so he took the bite and fell in the trap. the west's response came in the moment his troops crossed the border and i think it is at that moment Putin switched from a minor 'small scale' operation to a full scale invasion and from there everything started going downhill.

Yes the Russian military got humiliated, however i believe that their problem is Putin and only Putin.

There was a report last week that even many people in the Russian military apparatus were caught unawares by the invasion. They assumed until the last moment that he might invade the Donbass region only, but nowhere else. Apparently, there was total dismay and bewilderment when they realised what the nut was up to.

Yes, because a victorious Putin would be extremely dangerous for western Europe. Everyone would be asking "when does he invade the Baltic states, Moldova or Poland?". Even the NATO thing mightn't dissuade him in such a case.

There is no maybe about it - a very clear and present danger.

I don't see any path to a victorious Putin. He's dead in the water already.

Somehow I think he wanted a disastrous end, for the record books. As if he fought the good War for the USSR (RIP)

He will push this as far as he can, because this is a war with the West and not only Ukraine.

We are very close to a NATO war with Russia. When that happens Putin is dead. I don't think that's far off tbh.

I have complete confidence there will be no nuclear war with Russia.

That whole nuclear war scenario is just a scare tactic. It's not gonna happen, rest assured.

What we must do, is make sure that Putin knows that most every country in the world is against him, and that even if China gives support, he's still f*cked.

where do you come to this assumption of no nuclear war? I am in awe at your confidence

And that is also what a former Russian foreign minister thinks and has been saying. Neither of these people are either stupid, naive or suicidal, so the west should act accordingly on what is good intel, rather than dither at the cost of several cities destroyed and millions of lives lost.