Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Not suggesting the SMO has had much success, but they did take bigger towns in the south, such as Mariupol, Berdyansk and Melitopol. And Kherson, which they didn't manage to hold for very long after the "annexation referendum" (anyone remember those?).

The West should seize more Russian assets and send interest to Ukraine, says UK PM

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the West on Sunday to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.

On the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, the UK leader said Western allies must go “further” with their sanctions to “shake” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belief “that he can simply wait us out”.

Sunak wrote in an article in the Sunday Times:

We must be bolder in seizing the hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets.

That starts with taking the billions in interest these assets are collecting and sending it to Ukraine instead.

And then, with the G7, we must find lawful ways to seize the assets themselves and get those funds to Ukraine too.

The prime minister’s comments follow G7 leaders pledging Saturday to explore “all possible avenues by which immobilised Russian sovereign assets could be made use of to support Ukraine”.

The grouping of advanced economies confirmed Russia’s already seized sovereign assets will remain frozen “until Russia pays for the damage it caused to Ukraine”.

Ukraine needs almost half a trillion dollars to cover the reconstruction costs of Russia’s invasion, the World Bank, European Union, United Nations and the Ukrainian government said in a joint report earlier this month.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said that the confiscated Russian assets should foot most of the bill. Kyiv wants the West to unlock around $300 billion of frozen Russian assets to fund the rebuild of its cities, roads, bridges and energy facilities destroyed or damaged by Russia’s two-year assault. (The Guardian UK)

I heard some analyst on the news the other day say that before WW2, in the period of appeasement of Hitler in the mid 1930s, the UK was only spending around 3 or 4 percent of GDP on defence. That went up by several percent in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland, but it then skyrocketed to around 40 percent in 1941 when the UK was fighting for its very future. The point he was making was that the savings you make through appeasement are more than offset by the cost you incur later when those you have appeased come after you . Not only paying money but also in blood.

Yes, thank you. I wonder to myself did Putin's big show of nuclear warheads on flatbeds in late Feb 2022 give western countries any pause, or was that always going to be the policy anyway?

A wised elderly man hits hard in Russia.

Imagine if this guy was President of Russia..

It's very clear that Ukraine have been hugely constrained especially by the US. The Putin & the West documentary seems to be right in that Ukraine were warned, by the US, not to attack the Kerch again. It's such an obvious target. This combined with having to put up with endless attacks but being told they can retaliate on Russian soil suggests that the US are actually afraid of Putin's threats. Why ?

Some extra context:

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Russia's war in occupied territories, Zelensky said the exact amount is unknown, adding that it would be possible to find out once the territories were liberated...

The HRMMU stressed that the actual number of those killed and injured is likely to be significantly higher.

I have heard it said that russia’s talk of nuclear weapons isn’t meant for leaders of countries but to get western media talking which will cause public sentiment to go against Ukraine as nuclear holocaust should be avoided at all cost.

If the figure of 31,000 confirmed deaths is correct, hell, even if it's half the number, it really highlights the disparity of losses between Russia and Ukraine.

The death toll was officially 25k in November of last year, and estimated to be as high as 30k, from 2 separate Ukrainian sources, so likely the true count is closer to 40k by now.

Wagner alone confirmed they lost 22k dead, mostly in Bahkmut.

The two most devastating wars in terms of casualties for the United States have been world war 1 and 2 no matter how isolationist they were in those time periods (and they were much more isolationist than they are today) the war eventually came to them. And world war 3 will be no different. NATO gives them the opportunity of forward deployment in other countries territories and the opportunity to put the fire out before it gets out of control . And before they have to even start thinking about drafting people by their birth dates again. Pulling back from NATO makes zero sense for them. Only country it benefits is Russia.