It's more of a suicide, rather than red, button.
He may still use it if his ego is so tarnished. Hitler certainly Would have.
Maybe he doesnt have the time, but the sanctions - provided they are kept in place - should serve to discourage any bravado from Putin's successors.
Russia's military has been a joke. Far weaker than we thought. But their nukes still pack a punch ... that red button looks tempting to a despot like Putin
The Russians are trying to claim it was the Azoz Battalion who mined and bombed the building.
They bombard the city with Artillery and then go "oh look it was someone else". Dirty scabby fcukers. I sincerely hope they roast in hell for eternity.
The ICC can find Putin guilty of as many war crimes it wants, but he'd never actually be handed over unless there was a move against Putin within Russia. The priority is obviously peace between the countries and I would hazard a guess that the fine print of any peace deal agreed between Russia and Ukraine has a clause which agrees to drop talk of accusations of war crimes toward either side.
Many won't care
There are more effective ways to seal someone's fate
Putin needs jailing, otherwise it's a case of "don't invade a country, the US, NATO, the UN, etc. will refer to you in quite disparaging terms"
They do once the war criminal is still in power.
I think Putin' fate is sealed after Biden's words calling him war criminal. No one makes negotiations or deals with war criminals I think....
Curious about this also. 117 million for coupons is not much, the fact that they are paying it means that for all their bravado they do care about their credit status and obligations. Maybe they routed unfrozen funds some way through the system, or maybe those payments were specifically unblocked because it's foreign reserves leaving Russia
yea i had hoped - it could have been a game changer
Don't see any mention of SWIFT in that article. This is Russia paying off a small amount of debt using frozen foreign assets, which the US Treasury said they'd let go through. Weirdly can't find any other confirmation of this, and the amount in the grand scheme of Russian debt is miniscule. Still, it seems odd.
Looks like Russia ordered the funds from it's frozen assets to pay it's debt. Looks probable the US will allow the funds to go to investors.
So Russia is likely able to pay it's debt from sanctioned funds and also use swift to receive funds for oil and gas and other important things.
Was reading that the bomb shelter underneath the bombed theatre held .. so at least there appears to be some hope regarding survivors ...
I don't think I want to know. It's too depressing and the West will again just shrug its shoulders and announce sanctions on some second cousin of Putin while "demanding the bloodshed stops"
Question specifies "would" as opposed to "should" which fundamentally changes what is being asked.
It will take the Russians decades to build their military to levels capable of invading big countries. If there is a peace deal, the west will rapidly build the Ukrainian military up to a serious force and supply them with all the equipment. This will happen even if Ukraine agrees to not join NATO and/or call themselves neutral.
Wouldn't it be great if the Belarusian forces just turned around and went straight for Minsk.
He doesn't have that time IMO. Even if an agreement were to come very soon, unrolling sanctions will take some time. His military really doesn't look up to another run at anyone any time soon and it is very possible someone will find a way to retire him.
It really isn't if it just encourages him to try again in two years time.
You might want to step away from the thread and go out into the brisk air! An agreement if/when it comes will be all about realpolitik and whether you like it or not he has to get something or believe he has got something. As they say any agreement that leaves all parties feeling annoyed is a good one.
Russia needs to be punished by maintaining sanctions when this ends
First off, although I'm quoting @is_that_so my comments are not aimed at them, just using what they've said as an illustration.
an agreement that can be made to look like it satisfies some of his objectives is about the only game left.
This sentiment, and many others in the same vein makes me very angry. It makes me think that people want to hand out a participation trophy to Putin. or a party bag containing a cheap, plastic, Made In China toy and a slice of cake, that everyone has to go away with something.
No. Mr Putin, you get nothing. NOTHING! I said, good day sir!
I understand that the important thing is to stop killing people and to do that as quickly as possible, but the thought of Putin profiting by even the smallest amount out of all this makes my blood boil.
Rant over, I return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Russia are no longer welcome to take parts of European countries
Fleet of Russian Special Flight Squadron planes on the way to pick up infantry in the east.
Russia looks like planning a magor assault linking up with Belarusian forces who are heading to the Russian border. This will be Putin last push I believe if this fails he will have to come to a peace deal.
I asked first
What do you mean exactly , I'm not up speed on this
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