Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Yeah, it was after the Russians went in fully. It was also after rumours had started to swirl about Putin not having been seen in person for weeks and mockery of his absurdly long tables. I think he wanted to try and prove that he was halfway human.

Look, we'll just have to giver portions of Estonia to Russia if they want it. Finland, too. We wouldn't want to upset Putin, make him feel like Russia's being humiliated or diminish our own standard of living whatsoever. Let's all just give him what he wants and maybe he'll spare the rest of us.

I think you're misreading the word mistake as if its somehow downplaying it. It is a mistake what Putin has done. A grave and woeful one, but a mistake nonetheless. He needs to spend the rest of his days (what he has left anyway) in prison for it.

And also I am a firm believer that they cannot be humiliated beyond being humiliated militarily in this war. Punished and held accountable? Yes, but humiliated no.

Unless you want to spend the next 60 years worrying what several generations of bitter Russians are going to do, I mean from young to old, who are being mistreated on international level for something their parents or even grandparents did, then you'd want to get on board with the notion that once this war is over, diplomatic ties need to be rebuilt.

??? ---> A whole Russian army has been destroyed at Izyum – Ukraine news (nv.ua)

Firstly, putin will never spend time behind bars. None!

And I firmly believe Russia needs to be militarily humiliated. This warped belief in 'Mother Russia' and how it has behaved in the international community has been fed by decades of western worries of not humiliating Russia. The whole world has tiptoed around them, given them every opportunity to be among the grown ups, and what has that given us?

It has given us poisonings and murders around europe, invasions of their neighbors. What else do people want them to do. Do you feel that somehow their attitude is gonna change? It's **** baffling that people still feel they should be shown compassion.

Who was it that said the definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

How many chances should they be given? How many people do they have to kill? How many children have to raped? How many people have to be forcibly deported to places thousands of miles from home?

Will it take the rape and murder of your wife and kids?

We tell our kids to stand up to bullies as they grow up, because if they don't then the bullies will always come back. But now as adults we cower when the bully corners us.

It's **** shameful how some people are behaving during this period.

100 left out of?

Ive seen suggestions that 35th CAA was made up of around 70k men when this started in March.

I think you are misreading it. His mistake was that he attacked Ukraine. But all those atrocities you can't call a mistake. They are war crimes.

Mistake is when you miscalculate something and get a result different from what you hoped for. But knowingly breaking law and committing crimes is not a mistake.

Excellent post and well said. This is not just about Russia as well. We live in a free and open society. If we want to continue to do that and believe in democracy then Russia and it's authoritarian dictatorship needs to be defeated. Russia will not stop trying to wipe out Ukraine if yet another compromise is reached here. They will come back for more and keep coming back and move on to other countries unless they are defeated and stopped.

He is speaking in relation to Russia assessment. He is trying to understand from their point of view

Here Is his summary assessment

My argument regarding Russia's behavior:

1) Moscow switched from deterrence to compellence

2) The key issue is Moscow believes Kyiv will remain hostile and is increasing its defensive capabilities

3) the costs of inaction are greater than an escalation

note the crucial importance of the first point in that thread in January

Ukraine currently lacks a strong long-range fires capability. If they acquire that, they will have stronger conventional deterrence vis-à-vis Russia and could strike Russian cities. So a military escalation would be more costly for Moscow in the future than now. 2/

The problem with this view (Russia's view) is that it is devoid of fact or rationale. Russia's reasons for this invasion have changed multiple times over the past few months, from the downright bizarre to the utterly indefensible.

Moscow will say whatever it feels the 'intelligent' (Idiots) in the west will believe in order to get whatever it wants. But at the end of the day it just boils down to one thing. Moscow doesn't give a **** what the west thinks. It has shown that multiple times over the years.

For example, Moscow doesn't worry that Ukraine is increasing its defensive capabilities or could be hostile. Moscow was worried that Ukraine had a more prosperous path ahead of it as it had aligned with western values and hence the russian people might see what could be achieved if they had a government who cared for its people instead of fleecing them for its own benefit.