The sanctions are still not enough to stop the war and Russia is not short on military equipment. When the war ends, Germary would go back to buying cheap Russian gas as the alternative of buying LNG gas from the US is more expensive.
Few countries can join the fight, that would be NATO v Russia, which is WW3. Some of the equipment Ukraine is getting is very modern. EU is Russia's largest customer for now, however that is changing rapidly.
TASS reporting when cruiser Moskva was hit by Neptune missiles,you really believe anything coming from the heart of kremlins propaganda.
During the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the designation port, the ship lost stability due to hull damage, sustained during the detonation of ammunition because of a fire. Amid the heavy storm, the ship sank," the Ministry said.
And its far from trusthworthy
Ok , Ukr may not be gaining ground and it may be even very slowly- too slow for the Russians- losing some and the body count may not be a good one BUT we cannot forget that while all this is going on there is Very significant damage being done to the Russian side - o bed / damaged tanks etc. ; a high number of body bags being returned home ; ‘missing’ soldiers ; low moral on increase, ; deflections; refusal to fight, ; sabotaging of army equipment. ; etc
It's simply not true though that Ukraine expected a quick and victorious end to the war this summer. Plenty of people within the administration have been talking about the war continuing for another six months at least (from now) and perhaps well into 2023. I'm not sure where the idea has come from that they thought the fighting would be over soon. Even if the plan was to retake Crimea and the Donbass, that would take many months of fighting.
All those '' injured soldiers'' don't have a scratch on them 😅😅🤡🤡
Putin is a clown, he could have at least put some fake bandages on the them, and some fake blood, what a tool.
Ukrainian air defense shot down Russian missile over Sumy
goodies 1 0 baddies
Russias tactics,we do the crimes,and west takes the blame
That's a pretty huge, and incorrect, assumption that EU energy policy resets back to 'January 2022' as soon as the war ends. It doesn't. Russia, barring some incredibly unlikely transition to a peaceful and democratic regime, is on an inexorable path to being locked out of Western export markets.
Countries in EU will still be dependent on Russian gas like Hungary would veto it.
A good portion of the sanctions will be dropped as part of a peace agreement when the war ends.
Many also forget its not only about oil and gas,its about energy,and that comes in many forms
Sanctions won't be dropped while Russia represents a clear and present danger to its neighbours. You need to listen to President Biden and Ursula VDL.
The real trick of course is to incentivise them to become part of the West. Likely to take decades however.
Russia is long past being self sufficient from what I've read, you'd have to go back to the USSR and old creaking factories designed to maximise employment. They could rebuild an internal economy and one also based on trade with China and India. But that's not by any means certain as those states will not be wanting to burn too many bridges with the 'West'.
Putin & Russia were f***ed the moment they started this war. No win for them in this at all.
Not just energy, but pretty much everything. They have burned their bridges with the West. The war ending will change nothing and they will remain a pariah state.
Hungary can veto at EU level all they want, obstruct and assist Russia (as they are doing with oil currently) but they can't veto the other member's energy policies, or dictate who they will purchase fossil fuels from, or who they will trade with generally. They (maybe Hungary is the only exception in the EU) will be working hard to get this monkey off their back now. They just can't trust Russia any more under current leadership.
I take it Ukraine will soon be partitioned and the two regions to the east will soon be independent and part of Russia.
I wish I could agree. Russia knows that Europe does not have the stomach to stick to the long game, it's been shown multiple times. The US will keep its Sanctions up, Europe will cave in short order.
Impossible for there to be a 'reset'. The regime is now so hated that they simply can't go back to pre-February 24th. You can't start a major war in Europe and there not be huge consequences. Putin will never set foot in western Europe again.
Can you point out where I said TASS have any credibility?
I repeatedly said they do not, however that does not mean that everything TASS puts out is a cover for some nefarious plan. If TASS reported the sky was blue several posters here would believe its a coverup of the Russians turning the sky red.
Things do be forgotten fast.
What does it take to wake up the west? https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1529774274717880320?s=20&t=0TaZM48_arVtvGeBEck5Dg
...
Not when the 'regime' hasn't even admitted doing anything wrong. They are sticking to the line that Ukraine are "Nazis" and that NATO expansionism caused the war. Putin could possibly rehabilitate himself if he admitted that the war was a terrible mistake but hell would freeze over sooner.
Also, talk that the war will soon be forgotten is completely ignoring that Putin still has (unstated) aims of invading Moldova and Poland. Impossible for relations to be normalised with a maniac on Europe's borders.
Not really. Cuba is still sanctioned. North Korea still sanctioned.
Putin's Russia has burnt so many bridges with the world in three months I've lost count. Much of it irreversible damage.
How do you propose Ukraine takes back that territory is the question.
Without another standing army from EU or NATO its hard to see how they will reclaim that territory back
Cuba and North Korea don't have anything we want.
A very interesting analysis of the situation in Russia This Is Not Just 'Putin's War' And Russians Should '100 Percent' Feel Guilty: A Veteran Russian Analyst Pulls No Punches (rferl.org)
True, but infrastructure tends to last, and whilst I now have a visceral hatred for my government back in Berlin, primarily focused on Olaf Scholz, Germany is putting in the infrastructure to avoid Russian gas in the future:
Germany starts building its own LNG terminal | Business | Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 06.05.2022
Germany aims for fourth FSRU in race to cut off Russian gas | Reuters
And whilst the Wilhelmshaven Terminal has started construction as indicated in the first link, further terminals at Brunsbüttel (next to the entrace to the Kiel Canal) and further up the Elbe near Stade (Where I grew up) are slated to start construction shortly:
LNG-Projekte im Norden: Hier soll Flüssiggas in Deutschland anlanden - n-tv.de (German language)
Is it taking too long? Absolutely, but I feel reminded of the push to phase out nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Something has snapped in Germany's political landscape and even if the pro-Russian elements regain their lost traction, the damage has been done. There won't be a return to the status quo ante, especially given the nationalization of foreign businesses by Russia at the beginning of the conflict.
NATO as a group have stated they won't be supplying arms to Ukraine. I don't think NATO have supplied any arms yet. However NATO members are free to and have already being supplying arms to Ukraine.
Poland a NATO member supplied Ukraine with tanks, they were Polish, not NATO tanks.
The US supplied US artillery, it wasn't NATO artillery etc...
The tweet seems to take the NATO statement outta context or something or he doesn't know the west is not NATO.
Agree completely, both sides are losing a lot of everything. At the beginning, things looked really bad for Ukraine. In April things looked better. Now it looks bad again. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, relentless death and suffering
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