Russia - threadbanned users in OP

You’re contradicting yourself now claiming essentially that Russia has open and free elections and democracy

@pixelburp

"When you recognise that there were those keeping their heads down and functionally powerless, you get West Germany"

you meant to say "East Germany"?

But nothing in any way remotely comparable with what just happened at the concert.

If there are military targets in Russia that is a completely different story and there should be zero qualms if they are attacked whenever possible by Ukraine (it is their right to self defence)

We must not allow our emotions (or lazy thinking) to cloud our judgement and play advantage to Putin.

How did I contradict myself ? ... they had an election and the result there was that 87% voted for Putin. You are stating stuff I never mentioned.

Of course the thing was rigged but 87% is the only number we have Im afraid

When it's convenient for Putin and his cronies, not hundreds but thousands of innocent civilians have and will continue to die for him. There's only one life that he cares about, and that's his own.

It takes some imagination to think that Putin could have been responsible for that.

If he was and it could be shown then his end would be very unpleasnt.

I tend to take ISIS at its word but who knows ,Putin would be capable if he was certain of getting away with it.

Oh I see. Yes ,a grey area alright but a decision that was shown to be right.

In our part of the world we hardly knew what WW2 entailed.

If it was a Ukrainian bomb that hit Russian civilian targets to give them a taste of their own medicine I'd say fair game, not pretty but understandable.

But cheering on Islamic State is a very dangerous and stupid version of "my enemy's enemy is my friend". They would happily slaughter you and your loved ones if they got half a chance simply on the basis of you being non Muslim. It's incredibly shortsighted, if not idiotic, to think them murdering hundreds of Russian civilians is somehow justice for what's happening in Ukraine

Yeah ... be glad Ireland wasn't involved as such

However we have plenty of evidence of ballot stuffing and also soldiers checking voting booths to ensure people were doing things "correctly", hence we know there was significant tampering of the election.

So how is the number even relevant ?You've no idea if the number is a complete fabrication, and simply plucked from the air.

That's before we discuss the fact that the main opposition candidates were prevented from running, and any candidates who were allowed run, all support the war.

"If it was a Ukrainian bomb that hit Russian civilian targets to give them a taste of their own medicine I'd say fair game, not pretty but understandable"

It would be counterproductive as they depend on Western armaments to protect their own civilian population and to take the fight to the enemy.(that action would put it in jeopardy)(

Still it is their war but I believe they are not stupid enough to follow the recommendations by some on this site.

They say revenge is a meal best served cold for a reason.

Even those Russians fighting their own regime might think twice before playing into Putin's hands.

I know all that, but from a purely human perspective it would be understandable. I don't think they should do it

I think their drones that are hitting oil refineries further away than Moscow don't fall under the western armament clause, But I agree its a waste to fly them into apartments, they are more useful hitting their economy where it hurts

What likely happens is that when they attack military targets they will take less care of civilian collateral damage.

Still wrong but very understandable and unlikely to cause reputational damage.

What we we do in their place?

133 innocent civilians killed in one of the biggest terrorist attacks in Europe and the silence from the West is deafening because they're Russian citizens....