Russia - threadbanned users in OP

You keep using that phrase but those Ukrainians are the ones doing the fighting and they want to continue to do so. Pretending that this is being driven by the west as absolute hogwash and suggests stupidity or dare I say, some bad faith.

Again, you need to brush up on your history. It's futile to compare the War on Terror to the current theatre. As anyone who has been East of the Jordan will tell you, there wasn't a clear enemy and guerrilla insurgency was a challenge to deal with.

However, a conventional war with Russia is a wet dream for the US and NATO and, believe me, the brass in NATO, the US, the UK and, might I add, Poland, are salivating at the prospect of taking Russia to Chruch.

We'll see.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions - no far right attrocities of any scale to warrant any more than calling the police.

It could end in a prolonged war with far more dead and the same outcome. The US won't care about Ukrainian dead as long as it weakens Russia, this is pure geopolitics at play. It's already went from a special operation to full mobilization because of NATOs involvement.

Yea, but the west will not be getting involved.

This war isn't ending anytime soon. If Zelensky is going to stick to his stated goal of forcing Russians out of Crimea and Donbass, we could be here for years. Look at the battles around Kherson and Donbass, absolute carnage for months now, both sides taking huge casualties, losing lots of equipment, but yet the frontline barely moves. I am surprised people here are so non-plussed about mobilization, with some even thinking it'll be good for Ukraine.

If someone said to me this war will still be going on in some form in 10 years time, I wouldn't be surprised.

Bingo. I think that's all the information we need to complete an assessment of where you're coming from. Thank you comrade.

Dammit, now I have to polish my jackboots.

Democracies can also look weak (and act weak) when threatened by dictators from within. Which they frequently are - just look at all the pressure groups that scream and stomp their feet until someone appeases their BS demands.

Democracies tend to have a very loose an less concrete command structure or chain of command, which can make them potentially very vulnerable. This is why militaries, for example, could never really operate effectively as a truly democratic institution. There needs to be a very clear chain of command in order to operate efficiently.

Countries that don't trust democracies, tend to view them in this manner. Weak and easily manipulated by both individuals and groups. And highly inefficient.

Really, the whole nature of a representative democracy, is that it promotes limited power. But where you get limited power, you also tend to get weak leaders. Because people with great leadership qualities tend to avoid positions where they have limited power. This is why you get the highly frustrating situation in western democracies, where the best and brightest leaders gravitate towards the business world rather than the political arena... because they can acquire much more power and scope to use their leadership skills in that world, rather than in politics.

So we end up being led by weak people, with poor leadership qualities. Our political system, by it's very nature, actually promotes this outcome.

But Ukraine aren't in NATO, a nuclear attack in Ukraine might not necessarily be responded to militarily. Russia would probably end up a total outcast from the world.

A lot of deluded posters think NATO is going to strike at all the Russian Silos/Nuclear subs etc and knock out their nuke capability. That's fantasy.

Difference for me (through my own dumb ass lens) is that it could go from 'Special Military Operations' to 'OMG, Ukraine is invading Russia, declare war, because of the sham elections.

The whole world knows its BS what they are doing. But Russia will declare these occupied regions as Russian soil, and then state they are under attack from invading Ukrainian forces. This will allow them to deploy further measures.

Ukrainians aint going to stop just because if these sham elections and they're right not too. They should keep fighting until every last orc is removed from they're land.

The main reason I think the game of chicken has escalated is Putler may think this is his way out. A gamble and the West backs down. I hope to fcuk he's wrong and if he is stupid enough to deploy a nuke the hammer comes firmly down on him.

These are not new recruits.

This is a mobilization of reservists, people who had previously been conscripted and have had military experience.

Russia held annual conscription of new recruits back in March by the way. They did not go into Ukraine at the time.

Again with agency denial of the Ukrainians. They were begging for these weapons and NATO as well as non-NATO countries have been slow to give them to them? You're giving away your assumption that Russia is just entitled to take the territory of its neighbours but as soon Ukraine's other neighbours help them out, they're the ones responsible for the killing. That's some twisted reasoning right there.

Oh I agree. Putin must not be allowed keep one piece of occupied land. Not one inch.

I wonder if the Chinese are looking at all this and considering keeping the status quo with Taiwan. I know Winnie The Pooh has dreams, but they're probably looking at Russia and thinking they dont wanna go down that route.

Iran, surprisingly could be the one that turns all heads shortly.