Russia - threadbanned users in OP

All their best pilots must be dead by now too

143 countries hate Russia and want to make it known, 35 countries hate Russia but rely on their output to survive, and 5 countries hate the US more than Russia.

I lived with a few Indians over the last couple of years and they know exactly what's going on. All they give a s**t about is making money and marriage. They pretend to listen to our concerns about global politics but they don't give two s**ts

OMG, I can hear the music and all the little Lemmings saying "Let's go!"

I'm so old ... sobs ...

BREAKING: 50 nations, totalling over 4.2 billion people (more than half the world's population) choose NOT to vote in favour of the latest symbolic UN resolution.

So, the majority of the world's population did not back this resolution. Even if you take China and India out of the equation (why would you?), you're still talking about a group of nations totalling 1.4 almost 1.5 billion that did not back this resolution.

Really, I think this says more about institutions like the UN than anything else really. These organisations are not doing a satisfactory job, and votes such as this really nail that point home. But if you're Ethiopia with 115 million people, or Vietnam with 97 million etc etc... who gives a toss what you think, right? Your opinion doesn't really count according to the western viewpoint.

The dismissive attitude from many people in the west, towards many non western nations and regions of the world, is the reason that many of these countries do not feel compelled to show any loyalty to the west or fall in line with their myopic and largely self-serving world view.

Abstention: (35)

Algeria, Armenia, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African rep, China, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao pdr, Lesotho, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, United republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe

Did Not Vote: (10)

Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Sao Tome-principe, Turkmenistan, Venezuela

Against: (5)

Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria

Ah yes such lovely countries where they treat their citizens with dignity and respect!!!

How many of those countries representing half the worlds population are they themselves corrupt to high heavens where a minority live the life while the millions/billions of people struggle from one day to the next? These countries at the UN aren't representative of their populations but representative of their government/leaders wishes as opposed to theose of the populations

Edit to add that the list strangely correlates with those countries whose populations are struggling to get food on the table - https://www.concern.net/knowledge-hub/2022-global-hunger-index

That's why they have all the cars on it, they know its unlikely to be attacked with too many innocent there.

Where are you going with this? What does it say about the UN exactly? Should the UN just keep quiet about Russia's invasion because of these countries? Surely you don't think what Russia/Putin is doing here correct and a good thing for the whole world (just because some very populous countries refuse to condemn them over it)?

There's a mixture of reasons for that. Also, some of those countries are not democratic at all, which diminishes the claim that the governments' foreign policy decisions on Russia-Ukraine represents some collective will or judgement of the population.

First I note some of them are (like Ukraine was at one time) very much in the Russian "sphere of influence", their leaders are directly beholden to Putin or afraid of opposing Russia publically at the UN.

Second some of them are outright enemies of the US/Western countries (N. Korean, Iranian, Syrian regimes). If the US is for something they are against it. If something harms the US they are usually for it. Not a surprise that they either vote no or abstain.

Third this is a European war involving Europeans. Several of the countries are a very long way from Europe and don't particularly care about it. Some of them also still have axes to grind with "Europeans" as a collective either over colonialism or, as you said, the modern West harming or exploiting them economically. If they have some important trade relations with Russia as well, why stick their necks out for this to, as they see it, no real immediate benefit vs a risk perhaps?

You say their opinion doesn't count - where are you getting that from!? These countries govt.'s voted (or did not vote) as they did at the UN and gave their opinion, that is fair enough. Why do we (westerners) then have to respect or understand their opinion on the war? Russia's invasion may not matter to them enough to condemn it, it matters to us. Your arguments cut both ways. As regards criticising them, it's not a matter of expecting some "loyalty to the West" as you twisted it, but if shoe was on the other foot + you've the Western countries telling likes of India "why exactly is this our issue" with something they are very concerned about (e.g. during serious trouble they experienced during Covid-19 pandemic) I don't think you be so understanding of it.

Some of the abstentions are a little disappointing because there's big principles at play here that could come around and bite these countries in the arse later if a "rules based" + international system as represented by the UN and the other global bodies declines further in importance. They will suffer too if it is replaced by a more anarchic "law of the jungle" as the world de-globalises or regionalises.

I suppose this does not worry India and China though - they are the coming powers and expect to be the ones starting wars with neighbours if needed to secure what they want in the 21C or at least they have no fear someone will ever dare do it to them in their respective regions/spheres of influence. They are extremely comfortable with a more might makes right sort of world.

Ben Wallace seems to be the only capable politician in that government at the moment.

Future Tory leader and possible PM I imagine.

With all due respect, would you live there? Or any of the other countries listed above? I've seen many documentaries and it looks, quite frankly, disgusting. That's not meant in a racist way, I don't personally know any Indian people, but more a comment on the state of the country itself. .

But this is largely off topic. Any right thinking nation would condemn unequivocally what Russia has done. And these didn't. So that says more about them than anything else.....

I give him credit for having the brains not to want the top job. Yet, at least.

BRICS unfortunately.

Bold move from Brazil, only country in that alliance to vote in favour of the UN resolution.