Russia - threadbanned users in OP

The trolls are saying that Russia will win 'eventually', but Russia are even worse-equipped to manage an insurgency than the United States would be, if only because their resources and logistics cannot be as good, not to mention that Russians wouldn't give a flying fúck about winning hearts and minds. So, even if Russia could win the conventional phase of this war (which doesn't exactly look likely right now), their military couldn't withstand protracted guerrilla warfare.

If Putin uses a nuclear weapon, he's gone. Even if the only life he cares about preserving is his own, that's enough of a deterrent. If he was going to use them, he would have used them. He hasn't even broken out the gas yet, and we're supposed to be scared he's going to use nuclear weapons?

I don't completely disagree with you.

But there is a myth propagated by the west, that becoming a democracy will solve your problems. It may solve some of your problems, but it will also make many of your problems worse. (and maybe even add a few more that you didn't have before)

Where there is weak leadership, there will be unhappy people... you can pretty much guarantee this. And when your system of governance promotes weak leadership, then you are guaranteed to have lots of unhappy people in your society. Permanently.

If you don't believe me, go into any company/business that has bad leaders... look around and see how happy or unhappy the employees are.

And democracies might act as a safeguard against dictatorships. But if you get enough rubbish leaders, over a long enough period, they can do just as much damage to your society in the long run. Rome didn't collapse because of a dictatorship... it collapsed because of poor leadership within a democracy.

Not sure where you're getting your news from, but no one likes Berlusconi in Italy anymore. His comeback to Italian politics was a disaster and his party are currently polling at just 7% for the Italian election this Sunday.

Short circuit the rhetoric and keep going; flood Ukraine with all the weapons they need and ignore Putin's nuclear talk. It doesn't happen until it happens so, steady as she goes.

By the way, did you notice Putin did not mention nuclear weapons directly and now he has the west talking nuclear war? This gives him a chance to accuse the west of nuclear hysteria.

Ah yeah just lads being lads. Nazi apologist much?

I could keep posting all day, but it would fill up the whole thread.

I agree democracy is fragile and bad economic and societal conditions can quickly bring about its end. But since the end of world war 2 and initiatives like the Marshall plan and EEC etc, those conditions have not been met. Much to the frustration of those who don’t like the system.

That's a great way to avoid getting sent to war. Wake up and everyone is gone "ah well"

Sure, keep posting what the rest of the report says about what the Donbas 'armed groups' and Russian little green men were doing in the territory they controlled.

It is in the same report.

Should Russia have invaded itself to sort out its own Nazis?

Russia-led forces reportedly engaged in unlawful or arbitrary killings of civilians, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearances and abductions; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Other significant human rights issues included: harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; serious restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; severe restrictions of religious freedom; serious restrictions on freedom of movement across the line of contact in eastern Ukraine; restrictions on political participation, including unelected governments and elections that were not genuine, free, or fair; and unduly restricted humanitarian aid. Significant human rights issues in Russia-occupied Crimea included: forced disappearances and abductions; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees to extract confessions and punish persons resisting the occupation; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention;

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/UKRAINE-2020-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf

No doubt, both sides are commiting atrocities, but they had asked about the Neo Nazis.

Nope. Russia is committing atrocities on a scale and number far in excess of whatever you're digging up from years past in Donbas.

Trotting out trite lines about 'both sides' is false equivalence.

Your attempts are 'both sides' is obvious Russian propagandising we've seen a dozen times already on this thread from people who magically became interested in Ukraine's neo nazis in response to Russian cues while blindly ignoring everything else. Magically you are only interested in neo nazis in Ukraine. Zero interest in what the other side was doing at the same time. Zero interest in Russia sending in neo nazi Wagner group.

So spare us the weasel words. We've heard these Russian propaganda cues before and seen right through the agenda they push.

It was another poster who asked for sources about Ukraine's well documented Neo Nazi problem. It is very relevant to the discussion of this war