Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Going to be busy times for Viktor Orban, who has said Hungary won't be the last country to ratify Sweden's membership.

As m2-browning said, the US came to Afghanistan in the search for Bin Laden and other like minded operatives. They came when they decided, and left when they decided. While they were there, they did their best to modernize Afghanistan and bring it into the 20th century. In many ways they were successful. It's unbelievable the change's they made, and all for the better. Quite the opposite to what the Russians did in their 10 year tenure, which left Afghanistan in a ruined state. Only for Pakistan, the Taliban would be history by now, and maybe Afghanistan would be on the path to prosperity, and stability, but they would definitely be in a better place than under the Taliban in any case. No blame attaches to the US for the present situation. I've said this before, but its worth repeating, the US kicked the Taliban out of Afghanistan in a matter days, and they could do the same thing again now, and that's taking into account a better armed Taliban.

According to reports Russia is expanding their assaults today with 90 different skirmishes being reported along the front from Avdiivka to marinka

Fresh ammo deliveries from China and North Korea?

Seems that Russia is making a little progress near Andeevka. Hopefully this doesn't become the next Bakhmut but they'll be determined to keep going so it's not a total loss on their end.

So quite possibly heading towards some sort of “peace deal” or at least “talks”. ?

Most people have lost interest in the Russian invasion. The Hamas attack, the rugby world cup etc has sucked the media coverage from the invasion which means less discussion about it among the general public. Also the failure of the Ukrainian offensive has disappointed many people. Now we have reports of a potential Russian offensive. I, Personally I don't have a clue where things go from here.

At the expense of sounding like it’s some sort of morbid “entertainment” , yes I agree. Whilst I had my doubts about the Ukrainian offensive earlier this year I really was hoping that they would make inroads. My guess now unfortunately is that Russia will play the long game and just literally throw men at this conflict, maintain a stalemate of sorts but very slowly make inroads overall.

I think the international community will also adopt a different approach and may push for some form of talks to take place - Israel has taken the no1 spot for attention in terms of western nations- I don’t think this will end well for Ukraine and after all their spirit and hard work.

Russia playing the long game does not really bode well for them. I'd almost argue that it's more critical for Russia to sue for peace soon than for Ukraine. The main big hope for Moscow is that they can hold onto their current occupied territories until an administration hostile to Ukraine enters the White House. But there's no guarentee that will happen in the next US Election, and even if it did, it would take a while for such a change to damage the AFU's ability to fight back.

Beyond that, time is now Russia's most deadly enemy. As time passes, they are exhausting what useful surpluss the Soviet Union built for a Cold War conflict that never happened. They do not have the means to replace what they are losing or to produce anything to match the quality of the NATO-grade weapons they now face. Their once immense fuel-wealth is being bled dry by the cost of maintaining a war-footing and to purchase bottom-shelf replacement equipment from their few remaining friends. Russia's ability to earn enough cash for all of this has been crippled.

Russia now also faces a demographic time-bomb that was already primed to expode before all of this. Moscow has destroyed it's ability to maintain a sustainable birthrate. Young Russians are now dead or emegrated, and only a loonatic would willingly move to that country now. The grim reality is that in a short couple of decades the Russians might run short of people to bury their own dead.

Ukraine wouldn't want to play the long game either, but at very least they have a friendly Europe to their back and likely a long-term wish to regain territory, rebuild with EU help, and get Ukrainian refugees to return home. Ukraine still has a shot at a bright future, but even if the war ended now the Russians face little more than grim darkness. Russia should not want to play the Long Game, because the Long Game...will end them.

I can't believe that some people actually think international politics is based on what's the lead story on the nightly news or what's grabbing headlines in the papers. Are people really that thick?

Oh lordy, yes.

The Terricon may still be in the grey zone (just about) but there is now a Russian flag on it going by videos this morning.

The footage of Russians trying to assault this location has been unreal the past week. Simply tossing human waves into certain death like logs onto a fire. It's utterly depressing that they should attempt and claim any sort of victory out of it (like pictures of the flag for example) given the massive cost it has been.

Imagine blowing your house up because the builder said they'd accidently left a 2 Euro coin in the foundations and then dancing around celebrating when you've found the coin. That's the kind of mentality here. Head scratching, mind boggling lunacy.

That’s a bit worrying.

If Ukraine lose Adrivika it’s huge, it’s definitely bigger than anything Ukraine have regained in the counter offensive.

Russia seem happy enough to keep throwing bodies to achieve gains and it’s working.

You are absolutely correct about what Russia needs. It needs to finish the war asap and to get rid of Putin and his conies. But that is not what Putin needs. He wants to be re-elected in 2024 with the population believing that he won and he wants to stay in power until he dies. Sure, he has health issues, but he has thousands of specialists keeping him alive and he may live for another 20 years. Losing the war is good for Russia moving forwards a more normal society, but it would be a death sentence for Putin.