Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Looks like Russia has pegged the Rouble to Gold

Despite all the times I read about it today (first time I've seen it), this does not come across nearly as bad as I thought. It's directed at Germany and Hungary and possibly there's a bit lost in translation.

Noticed this a few times with him (while I admire his public speaking) but shaming countries to the whole world is more likely to alienate them

100% Agree.

Especially the Theater attack................it was shown on Western TV world to be a place where people where sheltering from the war.

A couple of days later,there was a direct hit on that Theater.

Western TV are inadvertently giving good intel to Russia

Well actually I took it has a rallying speech. Stand up against Satan - evil (Putin). Because if Putin wins, We know we didn't act has one. His people face living under tyranny other wise.

It's always interesting to listen to Yannis speak, and I don't take much issue with most of his points - he's entitled to his opinion, as he himself says, anyway. Just on a couple of things, though - to say that the West's interest in Ukraine is mostly strategic is to state something that's perhaps true of every significant war in history, i.e. that each side involved has strategic interests which they're either trying to defend or increase. By contrasting between the appeal to the emotion of the individual and the emotionally detached interests of the state, you're not pointing out a hypocrisy that is unique to the West, but one that exists for all sides in war since time immemorial. Therefore, if one is to accept war is happening, then this hypocrisy must be accepted also.

On NATO, I would have been on board with the idea of Ukraine dropping NATO membership as a term for a peace deal with Russia, but because Russia have already ripped up the Bucharest memorandum and waged war on Ukraine, it is understandable that Ukraine will want some sort of security guarantee which is more steadfast than Russia super-duper pinky swearing never to invade again. I think the only things that would deter Russia from invading Ukraine again, if it suited to do so, would be either facing a direct confrontation with NATO or else a heavily militarised Ukraine well able to bloody Russia's nose. Russia has stated that they want Ukraine out of NATO and de-militarised. If Russia gets both, where is Ukraine's security guarantee? At best, it would be on paper, but in reality would be down to the whim of whatever tyrant is running Russia at any particular time.

They should get neither.

It's the choice of Ukraine as to what and whom they join and all this previous crap posted about what the USA would do if missiles were sited in Mexico is absolute nonsense. Even if Ukraine were to join Nato you certainly wouldn't see the immediate siting of deadly weapons within its borders.

It's all Putin paranoia. He has thousands of nuclear warheads that can be launched within minutes to all parts of the world. If (and it would never happen) Ukraine dared to invade or threaten Russia, Putin could wipe them off the map within the hour. And he knows this.

This is a land grab, pure and simple. Putin wanting to go down in history as the man who restored the empire to its former glory. And this was step one. He's as evil as Hitler and it needs to be explained to him by a consortium of countries - in no uncertain terms - that to continue with this war, and/or start others, and fire WILL be met with fire.

Sanctions or no sanctions, the bottom line is that when this is eventually over there will be no guarantees that he wont invade Ukraine or other countries in the future... or even follow through on his veiled nuclear threats. But in the meantime thousands have died a needless death and a country is being destroyed. All for what? To appease a paranoid dictator.

Seems Sofia's version of Yuri Filatov announced that people in Bulgaria don't support Ukraine : he got his answer from the Bulgarian public pronto (I bet that didn't make the news on Channel One in Moscow).

ukraine was not currently an existential threat to Russia, and look what the world is ignoring

What suffices until Putin is gone would probably rest on the assumption that whoever succeeds Putin would be relatively reasonable, but it would be an error to think that way.

Ukraine needs long term, cast iron security guarantees that insulate it from this type of victimisation in the future, not half measures.

A half measure, right now, that cools down Putin, may well be an excellent approach.

Putin's successor is going to be quite busy rebuilding the country and therefore more amenable to securing trade in return for non-aggression assurances.

"I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle. I also need a curry chips, two battered sausages, a deep fried pizza and a two litre bottle of Club orange."