Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Yes, you are right. The bombings took place in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk. The one in Ryazan was the bomb the FSB were caught red handed planting.

Unfortunately you cannot isolate this event without looking at geopolitics and all the death and suffering that comes with it imo ...

350 billion has been seized from the Russians. They are trying to release that money to help Ukraine.

Perhaps, but it would be the removal of a red-line issue that currently prohibits negotiations. I did also mention "regime change" rather than simply removing Putin in a previous post. True, most of his potential successors are currently supportive of the special military operation, however, that could change quickly after Putin's removal since, at present, having any other point of view is currently a criminal offence in Russia.

Ultimately no one knows exactly how the war will end , or what it'll take to end it ..

My plan or Pauls plan , or your plan are pie in the sky , and are as worthy of debate as any other .. and individual parts sound grand but getting agreement on them or enforcing them is another matter ..

On the face of it , Russia is an unenviable position, short on troops,no reserves , supply line issues , morale issues , starting to get through their modern equipment..

The ukrainians seem to have the upper hand , modern equiped brigades in reserve , and a major offensive in the planning . Maybe .

But that may not be how it pans out , and each side probably would accept something to spin as a win to end things ,

Autumn will tell a lot .

Ukraine getting a great ROI on those drone boats.

I just don't understand russian (sorry, I can't even give the pronoun a capital 'R') geo-political strategy . If you speak to any Central European, from the Baltics to Poland to the Czech Repubilc and now Ukraine their hate for the Russians is absolutely vitriolic. Their hate is passed down through the generations. My brother-in-law is married to a Latvian girl and I've worked with Slovaks and Poles who weren't even born when the Iron Curtain came down and their hate for russians is absolute. In invading the Ukraine they have created another 35 million + russophobes and in essence created a natural border of hate from the Arctic circle to the Mediterranean.

I'm probably going to catch some flak for this, but to me, it seems more and more like a cult, rather than a nation state. The absolute obedience to their leader, the shunning and othering of "outsiders", and the belief that they alone are "the chosen people", all these are staples of every major cult. This cult-like indoctrination would also explain the extreme levels of loyalty amongst Russians abroad. They may live among the "heathens" in the west, and even take their money, but they know that they are "the chosen ones". As such, there's no real endgame in sight, as the Russian government, and significant chunks of the Russian population, they simply don't see anyone outside of Russia as equals, or even worth considering.

In many ways, this is similar to the indoctrination during the 3rd Reich, although I don't recall it ever getting to this extreme degree, though not for lack of trying.

China envoy on their idea of a peace deal, ceasefire and Russia retains it's new territories

The operative word here is 'new', which means they did not own them previously. Hmmm...

Don't forget most recently they tried to back out of the grain deal. Thankfully Turkey held strong and didn't let them weasel out of it. They'll snake out of any agreement they aren't forcibly held to. Negotiations would also need to assume that the Kremlin has its own citizens needs as a priority. Using its own population in droves to soak up Ukranian bullets and shells roundly shows they do not. Peace agreements which expect the Kremlin to do anything by asking nicely or appealing to common sense on behalf of their population profoundly ignores reality. The Scorpion and the Frog to a tee.

Unfortunately I don't hold out much hope for any future government either. The Russian population seems wholly disinterested in what its government does. It's a perfect blueprint for a dictatorship. If Putin is removed the reigns simply become free to be picked up again. Until that fundamental thing changes the country will forever be an unstable, dangerous mess. But that's an issue that might not even be solved this generation.

I reckon the US will send ATACMS in some form or another to Ukraine before any F16's arrive. The UK have lifted the stigma on this.

...

A report Earlier claimed Russia used 7 million artillery and shells mortar rounds on Ukraine this year , vastly outshooting the Ukrainans,

!!!