Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Haha, what is Russia gonna do? Invade Ukraine?

Oh you absolutely are. Nothing bizarre about it. Dime a dozen in fact. One of the most repeated Russianbot bingo board points was and always has been "Why is the west fueling this pointless war?". A line which you parroted earlier. Ignoring the fact that Ukraine were fighting for years before a single american bullet showed up. Every poll shows overwhelmingly that Ukrainian people don't want to be Russian boot-lickers like you okay?

It's probably one of the most boring and easily countered points for many reasons. You're boring. Stop being so boring. Maybe that'll help.

No it's not the reality. Ukraine is fighting for basic survival. The threshold for collapse is about infinitely higher than it is for Russia, the invading nation.

Ukraine's economy being worse than Russia's is actually quite irrelevant in the overall scheme of things.

The invasion was a titantic blunder, Russia is being bled dry, and there's only so long they can keep up their current effort, and their current effort being pretty pathetic, notwithstanding the horrific level of Ukrainian casulties.

A $60bn army versus a $5bn army and Russia's only tactic is 1916 style human wave and artillery assaults. Of course domestically they have to package it was if they're fighting the entirety of NATO but we know where the truth is there.

This is basic stuff. Russia is a laughing stock, the world knows it, Putin knows it, his generals know it. The only people who maybe don't know it are the Russian people, and even at that, a fair portion of them completely understand what's going on, but can't say anything.

We're still at the very initial warfare stages two years in and Russia had made neglible headway while their economy is being battered. Ukraine's defenses are intact. Their army is intact. Their airforce, air defence...all intact. There's several stages Russia has to pass to even look like it's winning, and the idea that their economy could sustain each and every stage is laughable.

Creeping forward metres at a time at enormous human casulties and equipment loss is a) not sustainable and b) not exactly a war-winning strategy. Russia has proved it is completely incapable of delivering any sort of knockout blow, time and time again.

It's obviously crap for Ukraine, who don't want to give away land or lives, but at the rate Russia is going, it'd take them a decade to defeat Ukraine militarily, if even, while they're in a full war economy that will collapse in the near term. And even if that defeat was forthcoming - which it is not - they haven't the faintest hope of being able to occupy, pacify, and integrate Ukraine.

Putin in 2024 is Hitler in 1944. Defeat is far enough away that you can keep the charade going in a propoganda blitz, you control enough territory on a map that gives an illusion of strength, but the eventual result remains inevitable.

Like Hitler, for Putin there is no option B. He'll just keep hammering away at option A until he can't because option B is his head a proverbial pike; he has nothing to lose. He made a gamble in February 2022 that didn't work, a misfire for the history books of "worlds great military blunders" in the near future.

But Russia is fighting an unwinnable war. It doesn't mean that Ukraine won't suffer greatly, and worse, but the war is ultimately unwinnable. There is zero scenario where Russia emerges from this as a winner, or stronger.

And in case you may not know , the war was STARTED by Russia invading Ukraine for NON REASONS - even though he has proffered thousands of them

Work of AI again or how can this be verified as genuine. But the French??????? Would be more enclined to believe it if it was the Poles or the US

I'm not sure if the EU would be particularly happy to have allowed a state to expand under the guise of a peace agreement. Historically that's resulted in states that will expand again when they feel like it.

"let me rephrase"

So you are saying evil putin is not so bad because Falklands comparison blah blah and it was a mistake not to bow down to putin's terrorist acts and criminal behavior towards Ukraine. You do realise there was a peace treaty between Ukraine and putin's terrorist state where internationally recognised borders were agreed and putin has by his actions torn up that treaty. Why would it make sense for the people of Ukraine to trust putin to adhere to any future agreement when he now claims their country should not even exist? There are no countries that can order Ukraine to fall for the mistake of trusting putin.

putin has made a huge blunder by invading Ukraine and allowing his army be demolished by his desire for conquest, genocide and terrorism. It would serve him right if his folly paves the way for a collapse in the state he claims to serve. Civil war would imply the russian federation is a legitimate country rather than a collection of states which were conquered by moskow and would be much better served breaking away from moskow now.

And nobody is going to buy their combustible tanks any more. Ever.

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This is supposedly the conversation the Germans had about Taurus

My memory of the program (which could be wrong) was that it was a US official who said that it would be too serious a provocation. But, given the time taken to make the program, that would of been quite a while ago. I was expecting Ukraine to keep hitting it every time it got repaired.

Oh the idea of France sending troops, surely any country can get involved providing they & NATO say that it's an individual action & not a NATO one.

That's exactly it. If Putin decided to give up tomorrow, declaring Russia has accomplished its goal in Ukraine a large percentage of Russians would either believe it or just stay quiet. The rest of the world would see it for the horse dung it is. As regards the fate of Putin, anyone hoping democracy will flourish with the demise of Putin is going to be sorely disappointed. The mafia/ kleptocracy culture he has created there will likely long outlast him.

From consul general of China in Belfast

Once again people fall for Russian Propaganda.

They we’re discussing what targets could be hit if they supplied Taurus missiles, you know a sensible conversation to be careful not to escalate things.

Germany have said they wing be sending them anyway.

Why oh why do people still swallow Ruzzian propaganda and lies after all these years??

Do you ever get the feeling that there's a propaganda war at foot. And Putin has a bag of air. Only this time bag of air by ten times the European Union.

You'd be wondering is this bluff by China Belfast for the benefit of the dissenters in Russia to stop them getting their tails up against Putin.