Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Do you have erotic dreams about unvetted military aged males by any chance? 😏

Booooom of the month so far I would say?

Awful

Looks like it's over for Putin. Thousands of rebel Russian soldiers have taken several Russian towns. The Putin regime couldn't stop them on their home soil. When France enters the war the invasion force of Putler will surely fall to superior NATO tech. F16s on the way boys

If you mean recent incursion then numbers of soldiers involved were in hundreds half of whom sere eliminated while still on staging area in Ukraine. Rest of them barely made it across border. Very few managed to get back.

As for the France I recomend you to see recent interview where Stoltenberg said for Reuters that he advised Macron to consult on important issues with members of the Alliance.

F16's may or may not come and even if they come nobody knows in what numbers and which airports will be used as they cant use most of Ukrainian airports anyway. During the course of this war there were so many hopes and gamechangers which did not change game much like old soviet tech from ex Warsaw pact countires, Mig's, Gepards, Bradleys, Challengers, Himars, Patriots, ATACMS, Storm Shadows, Abrams, F16's... All of them too little and too late to mean anything other than some excitement and patting on the back to look good for a while in the media. Meanwhile more and more people are dead every day. This war should finish like yesterday.

When Prigozhin began the March on Moscow there were also lots of premature "it's over for Putin" cries. When will people ever learn to be patient and see how things play out

its funny thinking about how bad the western media was in reporting this war when you think back on it, the Russians running out of missiles any day now, no tires on their trucks, their army were down to wearing flipflops and dependent on washing machine parts. Were they believing their own BS or cynically reporting it?

General Milley gave a good speech towards the end of 2022 where he thought Ukraine should negotiate with Russia on the back of Ukraine having wins on the battlefield , he thought it was their high point and they would be negotiating from a position of strength

Now onwards, Ukraine is gradually getting weaker and so is their negotiating position. Will it be left to Trump in 2025 to call it?

David Sacks gives a decent summary of it so far in this tweet. It certainly hasnt gone "as expected"

"BIDEN’S BIG BACKFIRE

Last week I gave a talk at the American Moment conference in D.C. in which I compared Biden’s claims at the beginning of the Ukraine War to how it has actually turned out.

I explained how Biden’s policy has backfired in 4 key areas:

1) ECONOMIC

At the beginning of the war, Biden claimed that sanctions would “crush” the Russian economy, forcing Russia out of the war and perhaps even precipitating regime change.

In fact, the dislocation to Russia’s economy was short-lived. By 2023, the Russian economy was outperforming the G7. Meanwhile, the real victim of sanctions was Europe, especially the German economy, which relied on cheap Russian gas to power its exports. As a result, the war is destabilizing governments throughout Europe — just not Putin’s.

Instead of hurting the Russian economy, Biden’s economic war has hurt our European allies. This is the first big backfire.

2) MILITARY

At the outset of the war, the Biden administration declared that its objective was to “weaken” Russia militarily so it couldn’t wage regional war again.

The media breathlessly amplified claims of Russian weakness and impending collapse, only to discover the reality of massive Russian industrial war production. Russian factories and forges are now ramped up and producing more artillery shells, drones, tanks, and other weapons of war.

In fact, it’s the West that can’t keep up, with its atrophied defense industrial base. America’s own stockpiles, most notably of artillery shells and air defense, have been depleted much faster than war planners anticipated.

The size of the Russian military has grown too, thanks to large numbers of enlistments and a casualty rate that’s decreasing over time. The Russian army has become more battle-tested and battle-hardened, learning how to defeat western weapons.

Biden’s proxy war was supposed to weaken Russia’s military but instead has made it stronger and more formidable, while depleting America’s own stockpiles. This is the second big backfire.

3) DIPLOMATIC / GEOPOLITICAL

At the outset, Biden claimed that the war would show Western unity, resolve and leadership while isolating Putin.

In fact, the rest of the world has not come along for the ride. The BRICS countries and much of the Global South reject the U.S. view of the war and refuse to sanction or condemn Russia. On a recent visit to the Middle East, Putin was greeted like a conquering hero in UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Sanctions have only made BRICS more popular; it has added 5 new members, with a long wait list of countries seeking to join. These countries see BRICS as a defender of their economic sovereignty and a potential shield against a trigger-happy U.S. sanctions regime.

Even liberal interventionists are now starting to notice. Fiona Hill declared that Pax Americana is over. And EU foreign minister Josep Borrell declared that the era of Western dominance has definitively ended.

Rather than strengthening U.S. global leadership, the war has catalyzed resistance to it. This is Biden’s third big backfire.

4) HUMANITARIAN

At the outset of the war, Biden claimed that his policy would “aid the Ukrainian people” and “help ease their suffering.”

But Ukraine has suffered a vast number of casualties, and its population has further declined greatly as a result of refugees (mainly women and children) fleeing the country. According to UN/World Bank, the population of Ukraine-controlled territory has decreased from 44 million to 28 million. Over 10 million of the remainder are reported to be pensioners. This is a recipe for demographic collapse.

So instead of helping Ukraine, Biden’s proxy war policy has likely doomed it. This is backfire number four. "

Daniel Křetínský - what an appropriate surname it is. :D

"The ordinary people you meet need to understand this."

Oh yes, strong echoes there of Leo, Roddy and the government & NGO reps generally wrt the recent referendum votes, that the only problem was that "The ordinary people you meet need to understand this."

Well the ordinary people did understand the referendum proposals and thrashed them. The ordinary people also understand that it's untenable to have fit and able bodied Ukrainians sheltering here when their country needs them.

So take your "The ordinary people you meet need to understand this." and go think again.

Have you FORGOTTON that Putin said that the biggest MISTAKE - political , I assume - made by any country in the history of the political world was the DECISION to break up the USSR. And now his sole mission in life is to restore the ‘OLD , defunct /gone USSR to its former glory. He has started with Moldova, then moved on to Georgia then onto Ukraine while all along he is doing his ‘damnest ‘to weaken any country that is a threat to him by cyber attacks, spreading false information, etc, etc, etc.

Ireland needs to wake up and shake the flies off its face and join NATO now.

Putin isn't looking like someone going to negotiate

Sounds like he's banking on Ukraine to run out of ammo and then roll in unopposed