Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Some amount of fighting going on in this thread today. Must be a slow news day

Furze, nothing I can say will change your mind, but I guarantee you that if you lived in Russia as I did for nearly 5 years, you would have a completely different opinion on it. Coming from a democratic western back ground, its nearly impossible to understand the Russian mindset, situation and circumstances. You have not got a clue. And I do not mean that in an insulting or derogatory way. I cannot even begin to explain it. Basically, everyone and everything is controlled. I've been stopped by different police several times in the same day, they don't need an excuse. Document Check, is all they need to say, and they can hold you, and shake you down for cash, or any one of myriad excuses. You do not want to be "invited" to the police station .. for any reason. I had that experience one time, and I still remember it vividly. A big bleak building, iron bars on the window's, a corridor leading to a big square and in its centre was a huge iron bar cage maybe 20' x 20' packed with people. And, I can assure you, there was no one laughing or joking either. Want to be a hero? Step out on the street, or stand up in a bar or restaurant and shout out " Down with Putin the Dictator". The place will empty so fast, you wont believe it, (because no one will want to be associated with the place, never mind you,) but will fill again just as fast with police and special forces. Putin rules with and through terror, and anyone who has seen this first hand will under stand why Russian's at home and abroad are reluctant to voice anything other than support for the regime. When he attempted to murder the Skripals in Salisbury, and actually succeeded in murdering many more world wide ( not to mention the many window and assisted suicides at home in Russia) Believe me. he can kill you and you family and relatives just as easy, even here. I have many Russian friends, and I can assure you they ( and many more like them) do not support Putin, but they're powerless to do anything about it. Even when we talk to each other, they have to be very careful in what they say, and while saying one thing, they are nodding their heads or moving their hands indicating the opposite. Now Furze, go live in a world like that for awhile, and them come back and tell me what you think.

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I think we can all agree that there are good Russians and that in all probability the vast vast majority are not genocidal maniacs. The problem is they are completely irrelevant in this conflict. Talking about the general Russian public is only generating hot air and rising blood pressure. They have no standing no influence a complete irrelevance until they are not. There is some way to go before they are.

It does indeed, it says the ones calling for Russian citizens living in Ireland to be sent home are hypocrites.

No. None of your whataboutery countries threatened this kind of crap.

Visas should be cancelled and the Embassy staff all sent packing. Russia are an unfriendly nation to Ireland.

A Russian state TV report that simulated a nuclear attack launched off the coast of County Donegal has caused consternation in Ireland.

There was a female member of the Russian embassy out "protesting" with those russians outside the embassy. 100% she got the names and secretly filmed and recorded everything in the protest. She even appeared on RTE television on a news report and gave an interview as a "protestor".

It didn't do her any harm as she was photographed in other celebrations/do's with the ambassador after.

The Russian machine is really a plague on the world. Need some 1798 and pikemen and women of Wexford spirit.

The Russia Tv crowd are something https://twitter.com/vladaknowlton/status/1643110658450542592?s=46&t=I5Ng64p4m8u3ocgC9fbhIA

A very true saying, but unfortunately, when Putin took power, there were no good men in the building, never mind in the room. And in present day Russia, ( and outside it) the Good Men, don't have a voice.

More kit for Ukraine announced today

i think by the time yeltsin was gone most of the good men had met a convienient open window or found themselves in a gulag in siberia,putin seems to have put the few that were left out windows,given special brew tea to or in siberia

I've always been a bit puzzled by Yeltsin's choice for his successor. Vladimir Putin was a low ( very low) grade KGB operative in East Germany, not exactly a top notch material I thought. But then, I also thought there was method in his madness, by picking a low grade operative, he ( Yeltsin and Co) would be able to control him. I was wrong, very wrong as it turned out. The cuckoo turfed out the former resident's and assumed complete control. But did he? or was it the KGB / FSB leadership who actually took control??? And Putin is just the front man? Maybe a crazy idea, but also maybe not? Its an interesting question, I think. Thoughts anyone?

For sure!! Most of the Silovicki are former comrades, and that's one reason that he will not be easy to remove. They have his back, and their continued well being depends on his continued well being. He has his power base well stitched up. Even the oligarchs are pretty powerless when it all boils down, his Silovicki hold the real power in the Kremlin. But still, in a scenario taken directly from the Godfather, maybe it will be one from the inner circle, and close to Putin, who will take him out?