Russia - threadbanned users in OP

The only theme song for helicopter gunship pilots

I guess that's what happens when you just can't help yourself on Twitter and mouth off about speaking with Putin:-

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-21/us-weighs-security-reviews-for-musk-deals-including-twitter-buy?sref=CV3b9v13

"Biden administration officials are discussing whether the US should subject some of Elon Musk’s ventures to national security reviews, including the deal for Twitter Inc. and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, according to people familiar with the matter.

US officials have grown uncomfortable over Musk’s recent threat to stop supplying the Starlink satellite service to Ukraine -- he said it had cost him $80 million so far -- and what they see as his increasingly Russia-friendly stance following a series of tweets that outlined peace proposals favorable to President Vladimir Putin. They are also concerned by his plans to buy Twitter with a group of foreign investors"

Even the Russian propagandists are getting annoyed with him and want to shoot down his satellites, doing well annoying both the US and the Russians:-

Funny how people don't learn. The British saw how the Blitz stiffened resolve rather than breaking it, but assumed that it would break German resolve because, you know...British. Turned out to be a false assumptian because resliience in the face of bombing isn't a British or German trait, it's a human trait.

Were they also hoping to push some of their biggest rivals into even closer alliances than before? And plunge everyone into a food and energy crisis? And have their lapdogs the Saudis, effectively help to bankroll Russia's war effort through OPEC?

Ah yes, this is real 4D chess being played by uncle Joe over in Washington. The grand master plan is all coming together nicely.

Whether Russia fell into a trap, or were pushed into a trap... or just felt like messing up whatever objectives the west had in Ukraine... It's all a bit of a moot point really. Because a hell of a lot of people will have to suffer and lose, in order to produce whatever victory these leaders might be envisaging - on all sides.

No one forced Russia to send their raping, murdering, torturing, and stealing army into Ukraine except Putin. The war is 100% on the back of Russia, and not one single person anywhere else is to blame. All the knock on effects are fully due to Russia too.

If I don’t like my next door neighbour because they are more successful, have nicer things, have plants that grow better in their garden, or even if they are an ignoramus, should I have the right to rape, murder, torture, and steal their home?

ETA: as I know you don’t seem to understand a lot outside of what Russian propaganda feeds you and will do everything to avoid answering….the answer any decent human would give is ‘no’.

Yes bombing cities is a very ineffective way of winning a war. After the initial terror people adapt and know what to do. With fire safety improvements over the years it’s even less effective. There has been no firestorms across whole swathes of cities like there was in WW2. Concrete doesn’t really burn like the old wooden structures of the past and there are a lot more fire resistant materials in buildings nowadays. So just bombing a probable empty building to partially destroy it does not seem very worthwhile. But it is easier than going in street by street fighting.

And yet 4 weeks ago they retook large parts of the North, and the next few days/couple of weeks they will retake Kherson. Russia is not a superpower with Nuclear weapons, its a minnow with nuclear weapons.

They're not the three possible explanations for the situation. Russia unilaterally invaded Ukraine in an illegal expansionist land-grab. That is the reason and the only reason. They've done it before and got away with it, they're doing it now and they'll keep doing it until they're stopped.

That's not a moot point, it's a very good reason to attempt to make sure that this is the last time they do it.

No, this "pretend annexation" has convinced no one.

In years to come, Ukrainian tourist guides will inform their guests "interestingly, all of this area was deemed Russian by Russians, but with no real possibility of imposing that view it is now simply a curiosity".

If the Ukrainians wanted to lay down their arms and let Russia take over, they would have done that. It would be far more definitive than any referendum. But no, they choose to fight and fight hard.

Amazing series Trauma zone. It’s about the fall of the Soviet Union made up entirely of BBC footage from the time. All episodes on YouTube.

This episode features the first mvasion of Chechnya and the bombing and the Grozny. Russia has always been a dysfunctional terrorist state spreading misery all around Europe. Russia needs to be dismantled as it just continues killing its own people and the people of surrounding areas.

There's a bit more to it than that.

Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both

If there a lot of infrastructure, manufacturing and transport hubs in the cities. Then it definitely does have an effect on that, but also the resources consuming in defending against it is vast. It has happened since WWII, (we are seeing it Ukraine) but generally accuracy (still not 100%) has improved. So you can precision (ish) target in a city. Hence we are seeing intensive bombing of infrastructure in the Ukraine.