Russia - threadbanned users in OP

The worst case scenario for Putin and Russia may be unfolding. Quite a few people assumed that the Rus-Ukr war could drag on for years, with minor moves going backwards and forwards in eastern Ukraine. A sudden collapse by the Russian army in the east will / would be seen as total humiliation for Putin at a minimum.

5.6

The start was very sloppy and it looked a bit unbanced - simply not up with the current standard; there was some good twist in the aerials, but the rotation simply wasn't there and lacked sufficient speed; that landing - what can one say but complete disaster; a stumble and small step and you might as well not have come, taking a knee, you should give up the sport or get a better coach, but that landing - well you might as well have landed on your head as makes no difference.

I'd like to hear something like "Putin dies after fall from Kremlin roof. Witnesses at the scene report he screamed, 'This fall is entirely my own fault'".

The problem that he has is that his presidency is linked to his life. He ain't going to ever step down and retire to the fishing boat.

If he steps down or gets moved aside, the new leader will do a job on him. Either to extradite him for war crimes or arrested for corruption. He has to win this war, he has no other option, which is the scary thing.

Ultimately though, he has created his own shitshow.

Thats not going to happen, unlike Russia we live in Democracies. No EU army or NATO army is going into Russia and rightly so. I hope to see them be defeated comprehensively in Ukraine and sanctioned into Economic oblivion but not invaded. Ukraine is for Ukrainians and in the same light Russia is for Russians.

Perhaps after 20 years of commitment to real democracy, free press, handing over war criminals to ICC, Salisbury murderers to British police, Factory bombers to Czech Police, Airforce hijackers of Ryanair flights to Irish Police, they can be slowly readmitted to the international community, but I and many people who detest the current Russian (indeed all historic Russian governments) think that all countries are sovereign, including Russia.

Just saw a bit of a Wion xi special. China's spending on internal security and mass surveilance is $193 billion, while external security spending is sometheng like $123 billion. That last isn't correct, but has the right flavour.

Not hard to guess where the best and brightest most likely are.

Good idea, we can't have people offended for the russians or those with some ruski in them, that they may know. Maybe these people were out protesting against the special military operation? (yeah right)

On another note, this forum has been as busy today as I've seen it in months. Seems to be a total rout in UA and I really hope this is the beginning of the end.

Anyone in UA, that should not be there, is fair game until they have crossed back over the border into that backwards dump they came form and I don't care what "impoverished" region they came from.

The US should move swiftly - Alaska West, 52nd state, Oz being the 51st.

AFAIK, support for whatever side is allowed unless there is a law, or condition to using this forum that I'm not aware of.

Why would a pro ruski poster be banned for voicing their opinion, surely that goes against all our values of free speech?

They must be more than welcomed for their entertainment value.

The thread was opened months before Russia actually attacked. There were plenty of putinbots here then. Many of them had been posting on boards for a decade, just ask your protagonist here "Gatling". He has been calling them out for years and he is somewhat more aggressive than I would have been, but he has always been correct about their intentions.

Many of those decade old profiles on boards have disappeared since February, not banned, disappeared, because the garbage they wrote over the course of a decade can be found, quoted, and shown as lies. At the same time many "new" accounts appeared and adopted more subtle posting styles, "yes this war is bad but NATO this, Iraq that". As a result of this suspicions are understandable if not always justified.

There was a Washington post article interviewing Ukrainian soldiers in hospital after coming back from the Kherson front and it made for grim reading of their experiences. They were talking of them losing five of their men to one of the Russians, of drone and artillery strikes that were pummelling them.

I wonder now if this report was all part of the sleight of hand that convinced Russia that Kherson was the objective. Almost blowing smoke up Vlads ass, convincing him of his dominance before wiping his army out. We're always being reminded that both sides use propoganda after all.

Donetsk airport has possibly been retaken by the Ukrainans.

And they keep on Rollin