They're not refusing to supply them. That's a false narrative.
They are however exceedingly complex and expensive systems. You need extensive training. Unfortunately the Pentagon can't just click their fingers and, lo and behold, Kyiv is ringed by anti-air missile defences.
There is a lead time, they are coming though and several deliveries have already been confirmed. For example, these 8 NASAMS systems.
Time to expel the Russian ambassador. I’ve thought otherwise up to now, but there can be no doubt that Russia under Putin is a terrorist state. We didn’t have an ambassador for Osama Bin Laden so why should we treat the murdering criminals in the Kremlin any different?
Throw the bums out
I genuinely feel sorry for Belarusians... Imagine having that cuck running the country.
Osama bin Laden was/is not a country himself
Russia is. That is the role of embassies and ambassadors. If you kick out the Russian ambassador here, they will retaliate by asking Irish equivalent to leave. Then if anything happens to Irish citizens in Russia, without a proper diplomatic presence there we have little way to help them.
Didn't he make an arrangement with the Revenue to pay a certain figure and then claimed that he couldn't pay it anyway, while at the same time enjoying his TD's salary? I'm sure someone will correct me if I've gotten that one wrong.
Nope if the Ukrainians are given the means to strike inside Russia's borders it has to be strategic. Air bases, logistics hubs, railway bridges.
Whilst the temptation is there to engage in revenge attacks to reciprocate a body count the real goal should be to degrade Russia's ability to occupy Ukrainian territory and us is by degrading their militaries ability to resupply.
Russia is losing this war badly hence the terror tactics today. If the Ukrainians do get involved in any "behind the lines operations" they should target individuals like they did (or didn't) with the Dugin bombing.
I'm hoping that if they do enter the war, the Ukrainians will destroy them and Lukashenko will have an up rise on his hands and no military to stop it
100%. Would like nothing more than to see a hit on the fancy architecture around the Kremlin. It would really hit home for them then. Right now, most Russians are ignoring what is happening
And he stole his employee's pension contributions...while owning a Tuscan vineyard.
'Socialist' my arse!
The Kremlin have let loose Sergei Surovikin it seems - they're probably thinking, it's all up to him now. Next they'll be printing car stickers with General Armageddon on them. The news is grim this morning.
This was exactly what I thought throughout her interview.
Its a kind of chicken and egg situation. Ukraine want and need support because they know what Putin will do to them. But she criticises them for looking to defend themselves abd thinks they should be thrown to their fate. Why would she not support pushing back against the new Russian colonial moves, because it's still imperialism - it just doesn't have a Western face. Maybe that makes it more acceptable.
Looks like the league of utter scumbags has a new recruit. I'm sure Clare, Mick and the Pope will all welcome their new compatriot with their usual display of reptillian warmth.
Failure to see things from Russia's perspective has gotten us into this situation. In fact, I would actually describe it as complete disregard for their wishes in the region.
My sympathies for any Irish citizens who have chosen to continue to live in a fascist dictatorship are pretty slim to be honest (obviously not including diplomatic staff)
Jail them. As a member of the Russian Government who have subjected the Ukranians to war crimes it's my belief that they should be held responsible.
NATO membership or not, Putin was going to invade. He wants Ukraine to be Russian territory so all this talk about NATO is a deflection.
He looks like a fat Dr. Evil. I think he smiled once in his life and international agreements had to be signed ensuring it would never happen again.
Actually, if you look up from the immediate awfulness, the news is very good.
This is a strategic win for Ukraine. It solidifies internal unity to resist and also external support. Meanwhile, Russia continues to fall apart internally and to lose everywhere on the battlefield.
I seen a few clips of them on YouTube, a lot of the Left world wide seem to glorify them. Little do they realize that Mick and Clare are neither left leaning or right.
Nah she keeps pushing the Ukraine are prolonging the war and should negotiate land to appease Putin.
She just won’t come out and say that.
What other proposal will make Putin stop his war?
I hear you, but I'm looking at the devastation caused by the latest round of rocket attacks and it is depressing. Seems like the Kremlin is past the point of no return now, as if they have been emboldened by their isolation.
Dreadful footage coming out-
Internal and external support were sky high already. It did not need dozens more civilian deaths over the last few days to achieve that. There is nothing good about this at all, it's an outrage and a tragedy, to suggest otherwise is callous at best.
That would be a massive mistake. There are plenty of military targets that Ukraine could strike in retaliation that would harm the Russian ability to commit these atrocities. The restraint that Ukraine are showing is to avoid bringing NATO into the war directly.
This does not mean anything. 1) Western borders of Belarus are Polish and Lithuanian borders. 2) A "joint taskforce" sits on the southern border of Belarus/Ukrainian border since the Russians turned tail from Kiev.
The reading I get is that Putin could handle Ukraine being a sovereign country so long as it remained in political/economic alignment with Russia. Once the latter stopped being true, so did the former. In Putin's essay last year (On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians), he claims that Ukraine was an overly generous creation of the Bolsheviks who weren't that concerned about borders since they dreamed of a stateless society.
The Bolsheviks treated the Russian people as inexhaustible material for their social experiments. They dreamt of a world revolution that would wipe out national states. That is why they were so generous in drawing borders and bestowing territorial gifts. It is no longer important what exactly the idea of the Bolshevik leaders who were chopping the country into pieces was. We can disagree about minor details, background and logics behind certain decisions. One fact is crystal clear: Russia was robbed, indeed.
In his last paragraph, Putin declares that a Ukraine which seeks partnership with western countries cannot truly be sovereign.
I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia.
So, "Your existence was a mistake and your rightful place is within our sphere of influence. I'll be fúcked if you think you can turn your back on Russia."
The Ukrainian requirement for greater air defence capabilities has been known since the invasion began.
Retaliation for the bridge bomb was inevitable, even if it was an isolated cell with no direct connection to the military action. The vicious pettiness of the response, though, just shows Russia's callous nature.
If Belarus is being leaned on to join the war, then it potentially marks a dangerous escalation. I said months ago that the longer this dragged on, the greater the risk other countries would be dragged into it. Unfortunately, that's the price of stopping despots. The question simply becomes how long can everyone else hold out from becoming directly involved? Can the war come to a favourable conclusion before that point is reached?
I doubt it if Belarus attacks. Isn't their pet dictator struggling with his own internal problems? Suddenly sending his army off to fight (by now) battle seasoned veterans right on the cusp of winter could destabilise his own country. Especially if it goes badly. They'd suddenly be on the same economic blacklist as Russia. And what kind of contribution could they hope to make?
If another nation joins the fight, NATO's alert status can only get higher.
Ridiculous idea. Thankfully you aren't in charge of the western response to this.
I thought Belarus was fake news along with Twitter....
It's a great idea, why shouldn't the Russian scum get a taste of their own medicine?
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/d38dadd4e9049f636f3a15f844846484.svg)
