I do hope you're right.
Christ, you really do see Reds under the bed everywhere.
I simply said I wouldn't criticise a company for supplying baby food to russia
I don't see why not.
Sanctions may have to go up a notch, and "baby food" and medicines and medical devices may be next on the table.
It's a war, very bad things happen, all these very bad things can't just be placed on the shoulders of the Ukrainians.
You are probably right chief. The sheer insanity of the ongoing situation has my mind going a million miles a minute. I think after the craziness of the last few years and then this absolute horror show, it's almost surreal.
I do balk slightly at people when they seem to revel in the suffering of Russian people but I am also acutely aware that their reasoning isn't without merit. It's an awful situation no matter how you look at it.
That's fair enough. I have a different opinion.
Maybe I've always been humming it wrong, but is it not Nee-Naw?
Putin forgetting the first law of holes - When you're in a hole, stop digging. Now is not the time for Putin to be disappearing top-level members of his cabinet. Arguably there's never a good time, at least not if you're the one getting disappeared, but the kind of resentment and paranoia that type of thing breeds is just another source of pressure for a Russian government already under huge strain.
People who think dictators are strong men need to realise the inherent weakness of dictatorship, which is that dictators create a climate of fear and end up getting told only what they want to hear. When you have no-one questioning your decisions, you will invariably make some some really stupid ones. I don't believe that Putin was always a dictator, but he has worked to dismantle democracy in Russia and we now see him locked in the tunnel vision that dooms all dictators.
An opinion which seems to include worrying about the Kremlin getting their "story" across and having a certain brand of baby formula available in Russia, you have spent the day fretting about it.
I have to say they don't really make the list of things I give a fúck about.
But yeah you are entitled to your opinion I guess. 😕
Not providing infant formula is hardly a minor inconvenience.
I am all for sanctions, but at some point you have to draw a line. Medicine, infant nutrition, etc, it should go without saying that there shouldn't be a question of providing these things to Russia.
Some progress in the North apparently (pinch of salt, and Russia always has the potential to counter-attack)
I think this gives a clue as to how the Russians get out of Ukraine.
They'll claim that the Nazi's who were never there, are now not there due to their invasion.
But do they really? Surely four weeks on we should be dialling back expectations of the Russian military.
Eh I think it's reasonable to want to minimise the opportunities for the Kremlin to spin and manipulate anti-West sentiment. Anything to do with children is often highly emotive and devoid of usual reason so it's oftentimes best to just leave them out of it completely. We don't really want to give the Kremlin extra ammunition if it can be avoided.
And the idea of punishing literal babies who have zero concept of nationality or country by removing what might be their favourite meal from Russian shelves just seems a little much.
He's not wrong
Pfff, I had that name before Putin had it. Maybe he stole it from me, lol. I'm in Ireland btw.
Unfortunately they will suffer from it whatever their personal opinions of Putin or this war. Aim here has to be for Western countries to try & wreck Russia's economy (without blowing up their own ones too). Waging very large wars on your neighbours takes alot of resources and costs a lot of money. Has been comments here that sanctions can't destroy a country or remove the leadership/dictator + examples of Iran or N. Korea etc. but they can certainly cripple it so it is less dangerous. That will cause suffering in Russia mainly as a byproduct. After all if they did fully succeed in what they are at here [that is looking unlikely now I suppose], it is very possible a few small countries in the EU could be on the menu next for a Russian attack once they've taken a breather for a while and rebuilt forces etc (which would be much easier & faster with no sanctions) after Ukraine.
Again, thats absolute bullshit and not consistent to what I said.
I said that I would prefer to hear how Russia were reporting the events from the horses mouth so to speak, and not through the lens of western media. I don't think that it should be broadcast and given any amount of credibility. I also said I didn't agree with the likes of RT being taken off air, for that exact reason. I'd rather see the lies they were telling
I also said I wouldn't criticise a company for supplying baby food to russians. No outrage, no campaigning. Just an opinion.
But because of these two opinions, you have taken it to mean I am "fretting" and "outraged".
True to some extent but I was watching a video a few weeks ago about analogue computers. Amazing stuff really and there could be huge advancements made in the next decade or two after a ludicrous amount of time of neglect. A company in the states is making its own chips which I just found fascinating. I wonder if we might see a reversal of an old cliche. Likely an apocryphal thing but I've heard about when industries would decline in the West due to cheap foreign competition. As companies closed and downsized their equipment was bought up by Asian companies. Thought I know for a fact that cigarette making machines that used to be used in Ireland were sent/sold abroad and then ended up in sheds near the border. :P First moves to make (with tiny cost in the grand scheme of things) could be that when fabs are no longer "high-end" enough just ship them back to Europe. They can still be used perfectly fine for years for "low-power" application. Chips are still made in Europe for just such things. The Netherlands exports the lithography machines for fabrication, bring the machines back to Europe and get them churning out tiny stones we've fooled into doing maths beyond anything any human can do.
If we want to we can bring that stuff back. And at the end of the day an extra 50 quid for a phone or 100 for a laptop? Well tough titty. :P As I've yammered on about before, we need to build things to last and that can be repaired, from home appliances to phones and watches.
The other point though is to look at what different places do with the technology. OK the chips are made abroad but they're designed and tooled (well, the designing of the tooling) in the West and when they come back look what corporations, people, states, governments and militaries manage to do with them and manipulate them. Meanwhile the Russians are using equipment and technology that was outdated when my father was born.
does this mean the Ukrainians have anti-ship weapons?
I mean he's only "not wrong" mostly because ever since Ukraine's dismal showing in 2014 they've received extensive training and support from NATO. And even before that NATO had been engaging with them to align them more closely with NATO and European doctrine.
As much as I admire Zelenskyy and appreciate the enormous pressure he must be under I do think he could maybe tone it down a little.
In my opinion, I would never underestimate them. They've under-performed so far, but that doesn't mean it will necessarily continue.
Rook to B6
They historically start off wars badly but then throw the kitchen sink and succeed.
Only if your from Tipperary.
Just as there is no reason to believe that anything will change on that score. They have done everything badly and have had ample time to address that, now of course, with 10% of their invasion force gone.
If they manage to whip up enough anti-West and anti-NATO sentiment they could even get away with claiming Russia is at war with NATO in Ukraine: might allow them to draft additional conscripts and start hauling all their old mothballed crap out of storage.
If they really dig their heels in over Ukraine it could get very messy I'm sure.
I have sympathy particularly for the younger generations who by a quirk of life have found themselves within this awful regime. However in the wider scheme of things they are not suffering. They do not fear for their lives daily. They do not have to witness dead bodies on the street. They have clean water to drink. They have nourishing food to eat.
Helping those people suffering in Ukraine by necessity requires some pain to be felt by the aggressor here, and that includes not only those conscripts who through no fault of their own find themselves on the front line risking their own lives in a horrible war, but it also involves making it very clear to those who live in Russia that what is going on is abhorrent.
Many Russian people will continue to see Putin as a heroic leader. These people need to get the message that they have voted in a despot. Addressing that requires people of Russia to realise what is going on. How Ukrainians are suffering, how they are dying on the streets some protecting Ukraine, some who simply find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time when these missiles hit. Sanctions help them to realise something unacceptable is happening in their name. A few sanctions are more of a pain in the backside than any real suffering. But it is part of a message that ordinary Russians need to get
Two wrongs don't make a right. Also, Putin won't live forever. What hope will Russia have for stable leadership when the West withheld basic necessities for survival? It would be a propaganda own goal that could haunt the West for decades to come.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://www.boards.ie/applications/dashboard/design/images/banned.png)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w8.vanillicon.com/v2/877aa92d1fda3704e03b5aa206affea2.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w2.vanillicon.com/v2/282101dc2976956f9dfc87f7a2ef2413.svg)
