Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Seems like they have rabies.

Vlad Vexler talked about these shows in one of his Youtube videos before. So the way he described it is that it's more of a performance than an actual political debate show. Each of the people on stage has their own role to fulfill. They're not necessarily reading lines from a script but they'd be assigned a certain ideological lane that they need to keep within. The Kremlin then uses the feedback from social media/radio phone ins as their own form of polling of the greater population.

It also helps to have a dissenting voice on just so they can be shot down by hawks, as in this video. This would maybe assuage the viewer at home, who perhaps had seen this video on Ukrainian Telegram and was troubled by the fact that they had a different origin story for it.

One of the big tells that these shows aren't organic is that it's actually pretty rare for interruptions to happen. Like you'd often see 7 or 8 people on stage and yet one of them has a 4 minute monologue. That would never happen on a Western politics show. People would be pouncing on every point that they made. When I first observed this phenomenon I thought perhaps that this was a cultural thing. Perhaps Russians were just more respectful of whoever the current speaker was. Now though I think it's just discouraged by the producers as it's annoying as a watcher to hear people butting in all of the time.

Russian politics works in a similar manner. Almost all of the "opposition" parties in the Duma are state controlled and the speeches that they give are made to order. You don't have to worry about rigging elections if you just make sure that any real opposition cannot take part in the democratic process.

IMO Unless Russia has a bottomless/replinishable supply of the things in reserve and so can launch lots each day for a considerable period + most of these continue to hit the right targets (as Ukraine will presumably adapt to the tactic), they are not going to "cripple" Ukraine (or its ability to generate and distribute electricity) with them. Ukraine is a big country.

yeah they can degrade it maybe even "cripple" it in certain areas they may focus on, and cause misery to civilians, and murder + terrorise (about only thing Russian military has had success with as a strategy in their invasion). That is it.

Given the will Ukraine seems to have to continue fighting them, provided of course Western backers get the finger out some more, accept the reality they are in a vital struggle quite close to a war with Russia (and friends...!) now they have to succeed in for themselves and their people as much as for Ukraine...I don't think it will change the outcome here.

Speaks for itself-

Lol. I just don't understand the complete arrogance of this post. Do you think if that happens there won't be retaliation on the streets of Europe?

Have you not seen the devastation other wars in the middle east has caused the last few decades.

Your new global order approach to "world leadership" developed in your posts is you can do what you like in your own borders to your own people without even flimsy + often ignored criticism of it today provided by structures of post WW2 mostly Western-created order (like the UN you hate + criticise, with its charter and the various international treaties) and you can also like Russia go into a neighbour soveriegn and do same to their own people (who are now "your" people!) if you have the strength and the willingness, just like period pre WW2.

It's not a bright shining global community replacing the Western order, it's a very bleak throwback to the past, particularly if you are from one of world's many low population, weak, small states. Can you fill me in on the positives of the new global community and order for Ireland/Irish people please? Seems more like a prison planet for humanity if likes of China, N. Korea, Syria, Iran, and Russia are the trailblazers showing the way. edit: sps

The noises suggest Russia's stay on the north bank of the Dnieper (i.e. Kherson) may be coming to an end shortly.

That would certainly be the biggest victory of the war so far for Ukraine.

It's worse than that. As I pointed out in post #66641 above, the vast majority of those countries are authoritarian. The people living in them don't get a free and fair vote to decide their country's leaders and thus their foreign policy. @Run Forest Run is pushing a blatantly misleading view of that UN vote because there is no other way to spin such a resounding condemnation.

Looks like they're going to flood Kherson.

Reports and video of Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants all morning.

Occupation authorities started to dump water at Kakhovska dam, warning about possible flooding downstream

besides 'causing a big mess'; what does that achieve militarily?

Martial law declared in the annexed regions:-

"You" can run "your" world whatever way you like, maybe just ease up on the oul' terrorism, murder, rape etc in other nations, and keep that wonderful non-western way of life within your own borders. See?

Also, why even engage in such a Western site as boards.ie? What exactly do you want? Is there not a non-western equivalent where you could share your progressive views with other like-minded thinkers?

"This big diverse basket of free, democratic countries is bad and here's why"

We get it. In my late teens and early twenties I also read Chomsky and had these edgy world views. Do you have any actual thoughts on the conflict or are you here to endlessly soapbox every autocrat's talking points?