Russia - threadbanned users in OP

More of a comment, but you again stated you never said something, but still haven't said that it is right for the Ukraine to defend itself.

Of course this will end in talks, for that to happen you need both parties involved, russia are not getting involved at all and haven't laid out what their position is (which I really take to mean that they, i.e. putin, don't have any). Any talks so far have been used as a military tactic for repositioning and more shelling. Anyone thinking the US can force talks is incredibly incredibly naiive.

And in that summary you have contradicted yourself.

This is the thing: in times of relative peace we can be a bit of this and a bit of that. The luxury of sitting on the fence. In times of strife and war, it's more black & white. You're either for 'us' or against 'us'. Because there is little middle ground when an aggressive state like Russia just fancies that it will take over neighbouring states forcefully. Making excuses for them and/or offering 'what aboutery' just doesn't wash. Otherwise you might as well just well tell the invaded neighbours to roll over and suck it up.

The reality . The basic reality is.

If the country isn't given the means to defend itself then more citizens die. Not military. Actual people. More kids more adults more homes destroyed.

Ukraine ceases to exist. Russia is already stealing people from Ukraine and spiriting them off to Russia . Literally taking kids and issuing new Russian passports. Issuing Russian birth certs in occupied areas.

Let's not play around here . It's eradication. That is what the goal is here. Eradication of the Ukrainian identity. I'd always like to ask people . What if someone decided to take away your irishness, stamp it into the ground and educate your kids and remove their language and identity. Those that don't comply are tortured raped and murdered.

Is that not worth standing up against?

It doesn't stop at Ukraine btw. It's the doorway.

Given the way Russia is behaving, I think we're heading into a situation of probably Cold War II rather than World War III.

Forgetting about the US/Russia history of conflict and standoffs for a moment, the problem is that the EU and Europe in a broader sense has to live next-door to Russia, a country that has just invaded another country and in an extremely brutal and irrational way. It's also a country that is continuously making nuclear threats against Western European countries and has made open threats against Finland, Sweden and several others either directly through governmental sources or through state controlled, state owned television.

It has spent years flying bombers and other heavy weapons into or right next to European airspace for no particular reason other than to be threatening and pinging radar systems and regularly carries out cyber attacks, political destabilising operations and so on. It's even killed enemies on UK soil using chemical weapons ffs.

Then you add the gas issues. How exactly are you supposed to interact with a country as a major energy supplier if it keeps behaving like this and using access to gas as an economic weapon too.

A lot of Europe, and I think particularly Germany, has been very optimistic about Russia and there was always a sense that the door was open and that it was welcome to become a friendly neighbour. That was always the aim of the European institutions at least. There was cooperation across a broad range of areas and loads of flow of investment and interaction in general. The whole focus has always been to create a friendly, safe, peaceful, prosperous post WWII and post Cold War Europe without stepping on anyone's toes and through trade and development.

The hand was reached out and all that's been returned is being repeatedly slapped in the face.

So, I think realistically we're now looking at bridges having been burned and decades of a cautious containment approach to dealing with Russia - effectively Cold War II.

There isn't going to be any attempt to 'defeat' Russia - just contain it for everyone else's safety. I think what we're going to see is Russia just being frozen out and it's the one that's doing the freezing to itself. Nobody asked for or wanted this kind of situation, but they seem to continue to live in some kind of 19th century parallel universe of empires that nobody else is living in anymore.

I think it's a sad waste of life due to the level of hostilities and loss of life this has caused. It's also a enormous waste of potential for peace, prosperity and a much brighter future in Russia itself. Their leadership is throwing a lot away, killing huge numbers of people and destroying lives, livelihoods and people's future prospects by behaving like this.

Russian state TV is like a comedy show

Ya it will be a rather empty prade review stand.

They hate President Zelensky with a vengeance. I think they believe their own propaganda of him being a "drug addict" and a "state terrorist".

It actually tells us far more about them than about Zelensky. The President seems a warm man, high on empathy, emotionally intelligent, caring and thoughtful (everything their own cold blooded psychopath in the Kremlin isn't).

This is a war of conquest and annihilation, Putin will just never settle "for the East" any more than he was going to just settle for Crimea, he wants all of Ukraine (and more). At the moment he has more territory than he did before the war, so Russia is up.

Clip from Estonian PM Kaja Kallas's interview on CNN yesterday. She totally has Putin's number, she can read the dictator like a book and is not afraid of him :

But they clearly really like cold blooded, vicious, Doctor Evil style leaders and see anyone who’s warm, empathetic and friendly as weak.

That is fundamentally one of the enormous problems in Russia. They’re constantly looking for a battle ready medieval king type of character instead of a modern political leader.