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I can assure you that Norway would be apoplectic if Ukraine tried to pull something like that. Norway’s territorial situation in the far north is pretty tenuous as it is, and having ballistic or cruise missiles coming in from Norway to take out a key strategic asset would give Russia all the pretext it needs to straighten out its border and remove the salient around the border town of Kirkenes. I was up in Norway’s far north back in November 2024 and was able to get a glimpse of just how close things really are up there. Take the photo below for example:
I took this photo aboard the coastal ferry Havila Castor whilst we were tied up at the pier at Kirkenes, the end point of a coastal supply route known as the Hurtigrute. See that body of water in the background? That’s Elvenesfjord. It leads right up to the Russian border, which is hidden behind those mountains you see at the far back of this image. That’s less than 16 kilometres. That’s not a huge distance, and I highly doubt that the GSV Ranger Batallion, based at Kirkenes airport, would be able to mount an effective defence of the town in time. At the same time, if Russia limited itself to that, I have my doubts that Norway would be able to get an Article 5 request through the NATO council.
And then, there’s Vardø. Ostensibly a small Norwegian fishing town, and another stop on the Hurtigrute, this town is notable for three things:
Those domes sitting above the town itself are a part of GLOBUS, a Norwegian radar system that is officially meant for the tracking of orbital objects and space debris. However, it’s just 40 kilometres away from the Kola Peninsula and has a direct line of sight to many of the fleet and air bases on the peninsula. It is generally understood that the system is meant just as much to monitor nearby activity as it is to monitor orbital activity, and the presence of three separate radar dishes (hence the three radomes) indicates that the system might be able to monitor all three domains (sea, air, space) simultaneously.
Russia is obviously aware of this system, and has protested against it multiple times, claiming that it is a threat to their national security, a violation of disarmament treaties and part of a plan to attack Russia. There’s a cruise missile unit on nearby Sredny peninsula that’s been put in place to counter the Vardø radar, and you can bet that the Kremlin would just love to get an excuse to take out that radar installation.
(Never thought I’d be able to put my holiday photos to use in this thread, but here we are 😉)
It wasn't just the US and UK, Poland sent troops to, but also 8.000 troops from Ukraine.
I bet they thought that partaking would guarantee some form of US loyalty in the future and not the oval office ambush.
Was just thinking about Putins logic in creating conditions where European countries feel the need to re-arm. Is it that it is advantageous to Russia to have Europe burdened with rearmament? Does he want to create conditions where welfare states and economic advancement come under pressure from rearmament programmes. You would imagine from a military point of view it would be better for Russia if European militaries remained in their atrophied state. Is he trying to create economic chaos and hardship by forcing Europe to re-arm.
The next step is that when Europe does re-arm army’s will need war to justify their existence. Im just imagining if the British army goes back up to over 150k troops and Some nut job like farage gets elected in 5/10 years time. They will have to do something with that many soldiers. They won’t just leave them in a barracks. They had 30 thousand of them on this island 20-30 years ago. And if you have similar numbers in army’s all over Europe, they won’t just sit around polishing rifles.
It's just a side-effect of the 'special military opertion' and Trump wavering in his support for Ukraine, don't think Putler is that much a 4D chessmaster that he'd be gaming out stuff like that…
The difference in previous thinking, to me, is that it would have been thought that Europe would be under strain financially from buying US arms. That's not happening now, it'll be inhouse and drive employment.
Hell, i could see Britain looking to reopen shipyards if this route keeps going
More like further instructions from Putin to Trump on what to do with Ukraine
A CONTRACT to DIVIDE UKRAINE?
it’s not just a question of Putin playing 4d chess. Russia has been de stabilizing countries for 100s of years. They have multi century uninterrupted intelligence experience at this. A militarized , de stabilized Europe is good for Russia. When Europe was stabilized peaceful and prosperous Russia suffered. Just trying to understand Kremlin logic. And it’s easy enough for them to cause chaos in Europe as we are seeing.
I suppose an EU ruile had to be made to counter likes of Hungary. I would say the rules will need further refinement than this, new rules even, that apply to all .. and rules that can remove a state from the EU also
But that will mean a return to 1930’s economics. The era of global free trade is coming to an end if global blocs don’t trust each other. Maybe that’s not a bad thing. After all globalization and free trade for all it’s economic advantages has just led us into ruinous demographic decline.
Well, thats put the tin hat on it
MORE: From interview with Tucker Carlson
- Witkoff can't even remember the names of the Ukrainian oblasts (Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea) that Putin wants.
- He then uses the Russian name (Lugansk) for one of them.
- He cites a sham vote organized by the FSB as "evidence" that people in these regions want to join Russia.
- Witkoff also fails to mention that Russia doesn't even have full de facto control of these regions.
Now .. isnt this an interesting twist .. wow!
China may send peacekeepers to Ukraine, Beijing is discussing this option with the EU, — Welt am Sonntag
As Chinese representatives note, China's joining the "coalition of the willing" could increase the likelihood that Russia will agree to the presence of peacekeepers.
Chinese soldiers in Europe. Yeah, that’s not a worry at all.
FS Europe, get your shìt together!
Guess what wars lead to when it comes to demographics
Maybe somewhat unfair (the "head honchos imagine themselves as rulers of the continent" part). The EU is, IMO, the best mechanism the members have to cooperate with each other.
However the UK is very important when it comes to defence in Europe, and there are other non EU members that are threatened by Russia.
Pretty much all countries in Europe west of Ukraine are affected by this, so it all goes well beyond the EU members.
Apart from the unreliability of the US and the cloud over them assisting others militarily if attacked, if these pro Russian moves they are now making continue, it will make the European NATO members doubt they can actually trust NATO as a forum/mechanism for their own cooperation.
Meanwhile news from Chernobyl .. alot of damage it seems.
The Russian drone strike on Chernobyl’s New Safe Confinement (NSC) has significantly damaged its structure, leaving it unable to function as designed. According to Greenpeace Ukraine, 50% of the northern roof, as well as the southern roof and side walls, were damaged by the resulting fire. Critical components, including the crane system, were also seriously affected.
The damage has allowed both snow and water to seep under the arch, creating a potential corrosion threat. As a result, the NSC no longer meets its original design and licensing requirements. Nuclear energy expert Jan Vande Putte warns that due to high radiation levels above the sarcophagus, repairs may require moving the entire NSC back to its original assembly site, an operation that would be extremely costly. Greenpeace says the future of the project is now "uncertain at best."
https://twitter.com/InsiderGeo/status/1903365807981072810
That's not really true. Prigozhin went against Putin. Others are now giving out just because relations are warming with the USA.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/14/russia-putin-nationalist-ukraine-war-peace/
Run that list of orc pre-conditions for a ceasfire past me again? Never mind it was something like let us mobilise, train and rebuild stockpiles for the next massive assault while you do none of the above. For an actual peace it was surrender.
No point countries getting into the intricacies of peacekeepers when there is not the slightest prospect of them being needed.
I think Krasnov's peace mongering is just FSB directed psy-ops designed to further break the spirit of Ukraine's population. Easier to endure starvation without a bunch of well fed gobs endlessly talking about banquet menus and possible timetables for food deliveries.
Finally some balance appearing in the mainstream media.
https://thehill.com/opinion/5198022-ukraine-conflict-disinformation/
Ukraine was to guarantee Donbas limited political autonomy by the end of 2015, which Putin believed would be sufficient to prevent Ukraine from joining — or serving as a military base for — NATO. Regrettably, Ukraine refused for seven years to fulfill that commitment.Zelensky even campaigned in 2019 on a promise to finally implement the accords to prevent further war. But after winning election, he reneged, apparently less concerned about risking war than looking weak on Russia.
Ukraine was to guarantee Donbas limited political autonomy by the end of 2015, which Putin believed would be sufficient to prevent Ukraine from joining — or serving as a military base for — NATO. Regrettably, Ukraine refused for seven years to fulfill that commitment.
Zelensky even campaigned in 2019 on a promise to finally implement the accords to prevent further war. But after winning election, he reneged, apparently less concerned about risking war than looking weak on Russia.
Hopefully they'll sort out a ceasefire and stop the violence. I wonder if we'll ever know the truth death toll.
As the article says, provoked is not the same as justified but it looks like diplomacy will start this year.
I would imagine russia invading crimea in 2014 along with shooting down passenger planes might have caused Ukraine to hesitate on any autonomy there…
What happened to Prigozhin when he stood up to putin?
I think we all know what happened to Prigozhin but what I said was in response to the poster who claimed there would be no divergence of opinion in Russia were the ceasefire agreed.
As the link shows in my previous comment, Russians are condemning Putin for talking with the USA. Maybe they'll all end up mysteriously dead too but Putin is walking that tightrope.
He's not all powerful as Prigozhin showed. A few slip ups and someone else will take the reins.
Oh wow a fullblown Putin apologist
The fear of open windows must be strong
It’s a good thing we have free speech unlike Russia eh?
I think the question is what do you think happened to Prigozhin after challenging putin as you have tended to be coy in these areas and then deny making such statements.
He never stood up to Putin, his entire argument was that the military was not filling their obligations to him, and that lasted about 3 hours before he hit the brakes, and when he was killed by Putin who protested? Who demanded justice?
The war is one dwarfs ego
Kyiv getting hit hard this evening. Looks like residential buildings. Scumbags.
Hopefully the Ukrainian drones can make the Russians pay this evening
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3lkyub3mudk2o
Those peace loving russians at it again!
Kyiv being hit!
https://bsky.app/profile/darthputinkgb.bsky.social/post/3lkyn5njmx22s
Dictatorship 101: Its not compulsive liars but compulsive believers that are important.
Never a truer word spoken!
We've seen plenty evidence of this.
Report that Germany is providing additional military support for Ukraine:
https://mil.in.ua/en/news/germany-approves-over-e11-billion-in-additional-military-aid-for-ukraine/
Also the UK is taking action on more assets of putin's terrorist state:
https://mstdn.social/%40noelreports/114205009147974425
I think he died in a plane crash because that's what the papers said. The various theories are discussed here.
https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/who-killed-yevgeny-prigozhin
China potentially contributing towards peacekeeping force
If Turkish and Chinese peacekeepers are involved that might just about make Russians think twice of breaking a ceasefire
Again, different to your other answer:
I think we all know what happened to Prigozhin
No point pursuing further as its a waste of everybodys time, but don't be surprised when others point out the bad faith posts in the future and that you need to own them.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w1.vanillicon.com/v2/196803dfa0698243a1e4321ab9efd141.svg)
