I’d take America over Russia any day. I’ve always thought Putin is a evil warped little man long before he invaded Ukraine. He’s had lots of cheerleaders in the West for years, particularly from conservatives, a complete reversal of the USSR days when most of his western cheerleaders were far left idiots. Tucker Carlson said on his show lots of times he was for Russia vs Ukraine just before the large scale invasion so Putin still has a lot of support in the US from conservative types even if they’re not as vocal now. Putin already revealed what he was before February so nothing will change that.
You do make a worthwhile point but Russia IMO is a lot worse than the US. America and Britain illegally invaded Iraq under false pretext’s. Poor planning and the power vacuum that followed lead to IS filling the gap and destroying large swathes of the Middle East, which directly lead to the refugees crisis in Europe a number of years ago which coincidentally probably pushed Brexit over the line.
American and British troops did commit war crimes there. Under the Trump administration the US relaxed rules of engagement when it came to taking precautions around bombings that may impact civilians and concealed the death toll from resultant bombs. They and the UK arm Saudi Arabia to teeth to bomb the sh it out of Yemen with no concern for Yemeni civilians. Which is why I find it a bit mad that golfers are getting such a tough time competing in the Saudi backed tournament when their governments arm Saudi and nothing is said about that.
They all have atrocities but America is definitely the best of a bad bunch. I’d rather live in a world with America as top dogs than Russia or China. That’s for sure.
This is ominous Belarus: We Will Have To React To Poland's Desire To Take Western Ukraine | Open Source Live Intelligence (OSLINT) - Intel, News & Alerts
Belarus are buying up every heavy horse in Europe for their cavalry.
All of the talk about Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan ignores the point that western public has massively turned against those interventions and regards them now as huge mistakes.
Tony Blair saw his reputation and political legacy completely destroyed by the invasion of Iraq. George Dubya left office with some of the lowest aproval ratings ever. The Putin fans on social media (invariably drawn from the far right or the extreme left) with their non stop 'whataboutery' are speaking as if those wars and interventions are somehow popular in the West, when they are regarded with disgust in fact.
Real footage of a Belarussian tank on manoeuvres
Wait until to fit it with a forward gear. Then they'll really be cooking. Mainly because the engine is situated too close to the crew compartment.
Anyway, Lackey Lukashenko is f*cked if he orders Belarussian troops directly into the conflict at this point, and they'd be blown to bits against a well-equipped Polish army. The only point Lukashenko gets involved with good results for him is at any point where it looks like Russia is about to win and he can move troops in for the photo op. Kind of like that guy who pretends to help you move something heavy just by putting a hand to it right as you finish.
I think public opinion was mostly against Iraq war at the time anyway. So not much has changed there. No one was held accountable for that either. Bush and Blair got off Scott free. Putin fan boys will always be scum.
Indeed, but the tone from the Putin fan boys when they speak about people in the West is that they are mostly war loving imperialists and hypocrites who had no problem with Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan etc while they were happening. It's a total distortion of what was actually happening - Blair was an absolute pariah by the time of the Chilcott report.
The Putin bots in the West are way more nasty and sociopathic than even those who were supporting the invasion of Iraq in 2003, making their 'whataboutery' completely meaningless. They are extremists and potential security risks.
Slightly off-topic but as we were discussing the Russian GRU officer in Trinity and Ireland's vulnerability to this kind of activity...
The Sunday Times reporting today that a Chinese origin British citizen that was the subject of an MI5 warning of being a Chinese government agent attempting political influence operations in the UK met with Irish Department of Justice officials...
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chinese-spy-met-justice-officials-to-discuss-irish-visas-jmjx9xjb3
Did we ever hear any more from General Putinovich and his band of merry Zeds.?
Anyone saying Ukraine should surrender can really go and **** themselves. This isn't a regime change, it's ethnic fuckin cleansing like it or not. Quibble about whether it's genocide if you like but their goal is to wipe out Ukrainian culture anywhere they can. Replace the currency, put in a new "government", detain people for speaking Ukrainian, deport 10s (likely hundreds but I'll await confirmation) of thousands of people to **** Siberia. And criticising Ukraine for not sticking to agreements kinda feels a bit hollow ever since Russia poured over the border.
What would Britain do if Ireland banned the use of the English language? They'd laugh their bollocks off and a couple of their old-school civil servants would be straight on to the EU for some rules loosening and trading and Britain (London) would hoover up another bunch of high-paying jobs. FFS.
This might explain why they are talking about a long war???-
Or maybe it'll be a long war because the Russians are fine with sacrificing their young men while the Ukrainians don't want to be wiped off the map? Maybe?
I mean seriously ffs have some critical thinking, Zelensky can "stop this" any time he wants. Europe pretty much washed their hands of the whole thing til the Ukrainians showed that they weren't prepared to be a paragraph in a history book in a generation's time. Europe basically told him to surrender. The yanks offered him safe passage out. For all the talk of outside interference there was feck all at the start aside from the Yanks warning the invasion was imminent and being called warmongers for telling the clear and obvious truth.
Are the arms manufacturers doing well out of this? You betcha. Was it expected? Did anyone at the start of February think that by this point we'd be hearing anything other than horror stories coming out of Ukraine and a puppet government set up in Kyiv with widespread partisan activities trying to stymie any pretence of Russia having total control.
If by Zelenskyy stopping this you mean surrender, forget it. If they surrender they will be taken to the death camps. There's no way the Russians can be allowed to have Ukraine. And ceding territory is just a hiatus. They'll come back emboldened and want more.
Exactly, and that's why it'll be a long war. Not because of something Assange said about Afghanistan a few years ago.
Exactly. The only way ceding territory would work is if Ukraine gets NATO membership or cast iron protection guarantees for military aid fro, NATO powers.
Otherwise it won't be peace, just a truce to allow Russia to re-arm and come back again.
It gives China permission also, start a bad precedent
If China goes after Taiwan I'd be 99% sure there'd be US planes in the air, ships and sea and boots on the ground. Taiwan is increasingly important to Western strategic interests.
Ominous like a white blanket thrown over a three year old shouting… Boo!
luke is saying he has warded off a Polish attack. Poles haven’t attacked, ergo he is a hero.
Typical weak dictator ploy.
There is zero chance he attacks Poland.
Kazakhstan president Tokayev going against putin again in an interview today.
Kadyrov the goat from Chechnya was defending putin after Tokayev's insult to putin at the forum at the weekend.Kadyrov said "Who saved Belarus? Russia. Who saved Kazakhstan? Russia. Who stopped the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Russia. And when Russia needs it, everyone is silent – you are afraid of sanctions"
Tokayev said "it was not Russia that saved Kazakhstan, but the CSTO", so you should not try on the role of a "savior", because no one is going to "serve and bow at the feet" for this".
This relationship is going downhill.Russia want Kazakhstan to help with sanctions but they have said they wont help.Kazakhstan has a weak army so can not stand up to Russia in a fight but everything is changing.The Kazakhstan public are against the war and the president is with them.......for now.
On the battlefield a command centre near Kharkiv was destroyed
I think they're fairly fed up of Putin holding them for ransom and cutting off their oil and gas flows to Europe at will.
With new US, Iran relations it looks like a pipeline through Iran may be on the cards again. Bypassing Russia to Western markets.
I’m dedicating this post to Daly and Wallace, the de escalate and surrender crowd, the “realists” in international relations, the supporters of colonialism. Here you go:
Why don't they just surrender?
Because they are better people than those who advocate it. To answer your next “question”: better in every way that matters. To answer your next contribution: the ways that matter are the ways that matter. I’m sure you’ve figured it out now.
Clare and Mick?
They will not care, evil communist shi7s.
Moscow Mick was full-on Lord Haw Hawing on behalf of China in the European parliament this week.
Mandarin Mick? The Great Wallace of China? Mick Zedong? Clare People's Daily? So much to play with.
Manchurian (candidate) Mick
Manchu Mick. I like it.
Putin wouldn't agree anyway to Ukraine being allowed into NATO membership, even if Ukraine hands over complete sovereignty of Crimea, Donbass & the south coast region to Russia. Any Ukrainian leader, including Zelenskyy would agreed with such a deal would be democratically rejected by the Ukrainian people, anyone even supporting such a deal would be in grave danger of losing their lives.
Those in the west who demand that Ukraine totally compromise & meet Russian imperialist demands are enemies of freedom & democracy, as are those that demand that western military aid to Ukraine should be curtailed.
Ukraine fights on because the other stark choice is occupation, tyranny & the extinction of a culture & it's people for many decades. They will fight on without further western military equipment if they have to.
What I'm thinking is that the Polish "attack" is just an excuse to invade Ukraine.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w5.vanillicon.com/v2/57b46741463fbc937e45703395be22da.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w2.vanillicon.com/v2/282101dc2976956f9dfc87f7a2ef2413.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/eedacf599b4135dfd56d6fdbddcbd867.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w6.vanillicon.com/v2/6cf5dc758823be7b2ebdb601ec3d15b8.svg)
