Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

A horrible bunch of lads. Would be great if people in the 'West' made a concerted effort not to buy cheap Chinese crap online. We're wheeling the trojan horse in all by ourselves. When they stop violating the most basic human rights everywhere they govern then they can be embraced as partners again.

Europe really needs to make a determined decision and concerted effort to close the gap to self sufficiency. Yes, wealth will always be dependent on global trade and cooperation, but in times where security not wealth becomes the driving concern we can't continue to leave ourselves at the mercy of the likes of Russia/ the Gulf States (fuel), China (tech) and the US (tech and weapons). Nothing will happen overnight, and nobody is arguing that we should look to become isolationist or a military belligerent in the guise of the US/ China, but we should remind ourselves of the continent's great achievements - industrial, academic and scientific over the past 100 years - and shed this sense of inferiority we seem to have.

There's no reason why we can't shape our economies to allow for greater tech powers and greater military capability etc. We have skills, capabilities and strengths that no other economy has. Yes, there are inherent weaknesses - we don't have the cheap labour of China, the raw materials and access to wealth of the US - but we do have the benefit of a much more diverse range of thinking - from Spain to Greece, Italy to Norway, the robust yet not wholly inter-dependent economies of France, Germany, the UK (this doesn't have to be a purely EU thing). We have a lot going for us that we really don't exploit.

Let's just assume that we can no longer trust the US to always have our back or NATO to be the force it's always threatened to be. Let's assume that we can no longer rely on traditionally stable trading arrangements to secure our energy sectors. And lets assume that with the trajectory it's on, China is going to become a belligerent force in the near future. So let's return to developing indigenous tech, arms and energy industries.

If there's any silver cloud to Trump's terms in office, it's been to wake us up in Europe to the fact that we need to become more self-reliant and self-sufficient.

Nazis in Israel? This seem to offend you? Presumably Ruzzia's co-operation with the murderous mullahs of Iran or the deals made with the psychopathic regime in North Korea didn't surprise you or cause you to turn a hair.

’younger’ by how much , One day two weeks , one and three quarter years or what?

Macron at it again. I hate that prick. He spoiled and delayed the million rounds of artillery ammo over a year ago with the same nonsense of only buy from european french manufacturers. He's scarcely any better than Orban and Fico on the larger scale issues.

It would be a reasonable and understandable stance if you could actually source this stuff from Europe, but you can't. Samp-T lead time is years - Ukraine can't wait years. The POS should buy them a couple of patriot batteries and a swag of ammo for them at the very least.

Ireland could easily afford to buy a couple Patriot batteries and would scarcely need to blink, financially, given the size of the current surplus - much bigger than France's, but oh no, the precious neutrality BS that really only exists to save money. 'We're neutral, could you please intercept and scare away those Orc bombers and those subs for us thanks? Ta.'

About 6

All this weird natalist **** is being pushed from the very top. The orcs have a million dead and countless maimed. They think they will be able to fix their problems by turning girls and women into breeding machines. It's a warped delusion.

Not to mention that the catastrophe of the "Great patriotic War" was made much worse by the fact that even before it had begun, Stalin had murdered up to 8-10 million people by starvation, privation or bullets. And after-and even during-the war, whereas any normal or even non-sociopathic ruler would have taken pains to husband and preserve the human resources remaining to the state, the lunatic began the killing again, this exacerbating the worst demographic disaster ever inflicted on a European country.

we’ve spent billions housing Ukrainians, do you not think we’ve done enough. Not think if ever we get 14 billion we can improve our own country or alternatively we can spend it on building houses for the world arriving?

You're not really a pro peace & diplomacy kind of guy, or you are quite selective about where and how you want peace IMO. Article (well, blog post) you read and shared here recently about invasion of Ukraine definitely is not pro peace.

East of there, Russian forces liberated ‘Myrne’, a settlement whose Russian name is Karl Marx:

And to the east of it, you can see Malinovka, whose complete liberation by Russian forces was also just announced:

🙄Things that make you go hmm…"liberating" here is Russia conquering territory of another UN recognised nation state, using military power to drive people out of their homes, or make them Russian citizens. I don't think the source is on the up & up.

I was merely "liberating" wallets from pockets your honour! I liberated his soul from body by liberating his head from his shoulders…

If Russia's invasion is successful, do you think the number of Ukrainians fleeing to Europe will a) decrease or b) increase?

they are arming Ukraine, we didn’t send a bullet

There is I suppose but then again other countries have a whole lot more skin in the game. Namely some big countries who were signatories of the Budapest Memorandum. And perhaps they could spend the billions and ensure security like they said they would when they were busy ensuring their hegemonic place in the world.

As a US citizen you're in no position to be throwing out this talking point given the current goings on over the US funding of Ukraine's effort.

From cutbacks and blockades to disingenuous valuations on equipment sent. It's not something that's going to be remembered in a kind light in the history books unless things change.

There's big talk at the moment but whether it'll make it's way into reality remains to be seen.

Or an even worse case scenario, Putin takes all of Ukraine, and in a frenzy of victory, supported by China,Iran and N-Korea, decides to continue into Europe. In this case, all of Europe, including Ireland will have to buckle up and prepare for war, and what Ireland is doing now will seem like child's play compared to what a full-scale war will be like. And that will rule out many choices.