Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Going to be quoting higher figures than the US civil war now. And the Kremlin Putin veneer is to project that it's all fine.

Jesus he'll be worse than Hitler and Stalin. And still not dead.

Russia wives now get in trouble for quoting dead beneficaries figures.

Everything needs to be legal even before talks can begin. I'm all for it!!! First the Russian Constitution needs to be restored to its original pre-Putin version. 2nd, Putin needs to be charged under the original version for his many treasonous breaches of Russian law. Then when his replacement, all legal and above board is selected, let the peace talks begin.

And Ukraine is about 250 times larger than co. Meath. So at the current rate, I'd estimate Putin's war will take more than the initial plan of 3 days.

Syria was created by the European powers as a French colonial interest after the fall of the Ottoman empire. It's made up of disparate groups of religions and ethnicities. Sunni, Shia, Alawite, Druze, Christian, Arab, Kurd, Turkmen, and dozens of smaller identities.

Assad was an Alawite, a small minority in Syria, he put fellow Alawites in positions of power. The rebels who took over are of the majority Sunni Arab and Turkmen groups. Syria was a house of cards.

3 years ago today the media was hyping up an invasion that was never going to happen!!

Friends of Russia: "let's project an argument that nobody is making against ourselves and use that to distract from the glaringly obvious in the hope that people will forget what the actual outrage is"

Ah yeah, it's the pesky technical laws that are preventing peace and forcing Putin to continue to pound Ukrainian civilian areas and essential energy infrastructure.

It's hard to take any of your "such a tragedy" posts seriously when you come out with comments like that.

We know he can't achieve "peace" in 24hr of taking office. He is not Jesus or a wizard or something, far from it. I think you are overestimating US control over what is going on as well.

Putin doesn't particularly want peace, and thinks he can win on the battlefield eventually. What he wants is also unacceptable to Ukraine to sign over for peace. At the moment they'd still rather stand and fight and invite Russia to try and take it from them if they can.

Trump can cut aid to Ukraine of course, and threaten them (and possibly bully their other supporters in a worst case scenario), but I don't think it will change Ukraine's mind and make them sue for peace rapidly.

The main effect is it will just confirm to Putin (and the "friends of Russia") he now has even better chances of winning on the battlefield, so Russian efforts to attack Ukraine with Chinese (and other) support will likely increase again. I suppose Putin may engage in some sham delaying "peace" process with Trump and the US + Zelenskyy early next year, while the glide bombs and missiles etc. keep flying daily. No quick end in sight here to me.

On the other hand Trump could increase aid to Ukraine, to pressure Russia, but Putin is all in on this and going for broke so I think he will keep going until the Russian military or economy or both suffers some kind of crack up and that ends the war. Again no rapid (24hr) conclusion, whatever Trump says or does.

On your final part, if the Europeans have no other way to quickly get some classes of weapons than an arrangement with the US for "payola" to keep what is required to support Ukraine flowing out of US military stocks (don't think they do - they don't have the weapons, and the arm makers incl. the US ones are all booked up), they will do that I think.

It is pretty important to majority of the European govt.'s that Ukraine not collapse, and Putin not get a victory.

This is all more academic in a way for the US govt., particularly for a Republican one that has antipathy towards Ukraine (and the war, seemingly the fact Ukraine bothered to fight) and we can expect to be hostile to the EU, and in my view dislikes and mistrusts their European "allies" instinctively anyway (an unfortunate and depressing process that started in the Republican party with the Iraq invasion, and has only gotten worse since).

In my view, it is kind of like supporting South Vietnam or Afghan govt. or the Kurds to them (Trump, US Republicans) IMO, highly optional. If Ukraine falls over, well it is sad and many people suffer horribly and die and so on but its a quarrel on a minor continent far away concerning unimportant people we know little about and all that. This is not the same at all for the EU/European countries.

Sergey Yevsyukov, the former director of the infamous Russian prison camp of Olenivka, where 53 Ukrainian POWs were murdered in July 2022, was killed by a car bomb in Russian-occupied Donetsk apparently.

On "garden leave" (becoming one with the soil, literally?) [joking, have not kept up with what happened him after he fell afoul of Putin, or if its even known publically]