Russia - threadbanned users in OP

With the volume of war crimes being committed by the russians in Ukraine it would make sense for any civilised country to discuss trying to help. When you say "West" I assume you mean the countries in the general direction russia is attacking with its military invasion force that is still in Ukraine and launching long range missiles towards with a number of incidences now where these missiles have entered the airspace of countries to the west of Ukraine. To not discuss potential ways to deal with the largest terrorist state on the planet would be just negligent in my opinion.

Mighty stuff. Russian Buk goes up in flames-

A colleague of mine ( one of two, the 2nd one got killed) who was working in Donbas in 2014 was telling me even back then that I should not believe 100% unquestionably all that was being printed and shown on TV as being on-sided. He likened it to the situation in the situation in Northern Ireland when Catholics were being actively discriminated against, which caused resentment and eventually the troubles. So it was the same in Donbas, but Putin exploited it, and used it as an excuse to invade Ukraine. But it had been smouldering away for a very long time pre 2014, when Putin fanned it into flames. None the less, the ethnic Russians in Donbas, were not as welcoming to Putin as some claim.

Would that explain Orbans about face re Hungarys future relationship with Russia? Or was that caused by the looming cloud of EU financial sanctions on Hungary?

Latvia has laws gradually phasing out the teaching of Russian...

https://bnn-news.com/latvian-ministry-of-education-proposes-replacing-russian-language-with-eu-languages-in-schools-240199

Yes he had, but the difference between the Tzars time and Putins is that, the Tzar faced a returning defeated army ( beaten by the Japanese) who faced a very bleak future, no work, no food, massive social and political unrest. All of his control was not near enough to stop the tsunami of unrest that he faced, and so he was swept away. In Putin's Russia, while the first faint stirrings of unrest are starting to show, its containable presently. But if / when it reaches critical mass, the whole rotten structure in the Kremlin will go the same way as the Tsar.

I disagree. While Russia openly threatens Latvia, Latvia cannot allow a cuckoo in the nest.

Russians in Latvia can't be allowed to have a parallel society and have to integrate and use Latvian to access government services. Latvia has a small population of only 2 million. It is the only homeland for Latvians. If you want to be Russian go to Russia.

Your first comment was that they are removing the option of Russian as a foreign language in schools, not that it must be an official government language.

But there government then uses those Russian speakers to sow discent and discord amoung that population of speakers ,then that host country has to right to enforce restrictions including removing the use of that language in Schools, colleges and work places

The funeral Ukraine just laid on for Dmytro "Da Vinci" Kotsiubailo is a monumental example of why Urainians are like us and the Orcs might as well be aliens.

The Orcs leave their wounded and flee. A Ukrainian drone pilot looks down at a muddied battleground and sees an orc missing his left leg from just below the knee, whose been abandoned by his kind; he's still alive and tries to crawl away from under the drone.

A young lad who was a teen when he went to war in 2014, the youngest recipient of the Hero of Ukraine award, gets the PM, Zelensky, laying a wreath on his coffin, the PM of Finland laying one also, the Defence Minister and head of the armed forces kneel in honor...

The contrast could hardly be greater.

Unfortunately he wasn't the only one. This past week or so in Bakhmut has exacted a terrible human toll on Ukraine.

A father and son who served together, died; The nonchalent smoker, Tymofiy Shadura, who was shot for saying 'slava ukraini'; the medic, Yana Rykhlitska 'angel' of bakhmut and a Major who had been fighting since 2014, who's details I can't find.

Bhakmut might still hold, but it's come at a huge cost this week.

We know Russian companies were making a lot of money on lughansk and donesk regions ,80 % of all Ukrainian government subventions and went to Russian companies all with close ties to the Kremlin, Ukraine was a cash cow for the Russians

Prigozhin essentially announcing he to run for president of Ukraine,yes Ukraine in 2024 , wonder what his boss thinks

When a minority language and ethnicity can be exploited to cause the largest war and loss of life in Europe since WW2, I would totally disagree with you.

Extinguising the Russian language from Ukraine is as valid a form of self defense as having a military or buying weapons, and probably cheaper and more effective as a preventative measure. It's also righting the wrongs of the past, where Stalin and others supplanted native speakers with Russians, such as the near total ethnic cleansing of Tatars from Crimea in favour of immigrant Russians.

If Ukrainians wish to expunge the Russian language from their country, then I would fully support them in such a an effort and believe it's no one elses business. 'Walk a mile in my shoes' would seem to apply; in spades.