Ultimately its the civilians that have to pay. The 18 percent something people living under the poverty line in Russia I doubt they give a feck about Ukraine as a part of Russia, that they are the true Russians type of thing. They just want to live. And now their currency is fecked, soon prices will get more expensive and their country is being more isolated from the world than ever.
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
- Start date
There goes Chinese neutrality
Meh, feck those cnuts.
I think Akhmed Zakayev had voiced his willingness to fight for them but I'm not sure if they are fighting there already.
There goes Chinese neutrality
Don't be surprise, the people there are all brainwashed by that, and they all blame US for the invasion, but not the Russian.
The more I read, watch, and listen, the more I become convinced that this has absolutely nothing to do with Russia wanting a Soviet or Tsarist Empire (which would be genuinely insane) and everything to do with annexing enough of those countries on its border (ones with high Russian populations) so that NATO membership becomes impossible. What the video above describes in relation to Georgia and so on.
Is that a legitimate premise? No. But is it a pragmatic understanding of what otherwise seems completely irrational? Probably. I'd imagine that's how the US actually view this (echoing Obama and the rest before and after him) rather than the more emotional rhetoric you see now in the heat of the moment/fog of war. Basically, there is no justification for an invasion but there is, in the cold/calculated view of the world as a dominance hierarchy, a frame within which to understand it without in any sense legitimizing it or necessarily even equivocating
I think that's more for Western consumption than internal Chinese viewers. It's still just a couple of tweets, though, the realpolitik will be in the economic means of assistance (or exploitation) which China is or is not willing to grant Russia.
.
Can someone arrange to get Russian soldiers who surrender out of the country and somewhere Putin can't get to them?
Moral doesn't seem strong in their armed forces. If NATO agreed to get them out of Ukraine and get residency elsewhere, it might drive significant disertion.
Moral doesn't seem strong in their armed forces. If NATO agreed to get them out of Ukraine and get residency elsewhere, it might drive significant disertion.
It's proper weird how some folks here consider Putin a mastermind who's taken everything from battle scenarios to economic sanctions into account and prepared for everything. War is uncertain in the best of times but somehow, Putin who's not even managed basic logistics in the first 72hrs right is actually a mastermind for whom everything is planned and accounted for.
Weird as feck.
Weird as feck.
I doubt he's some omniscient being who can judge the future, but he and his war cabinet are surely clued in enough to judge the past and estimate the sanctions which have been imposed before as well as those which have been threatened. I think they'll have wargamed the sanctions to a worst possible scenario (including SWIFT) but the rest (the conflict) is still largely beyond anyone's knowledge. That just happens as it happens, you cannot predict how a war will go.
Well believe me, internal Chinese viewers have grown a very strong national hate on US in recent years, its not hard to understand why, with all the trade war and sanctions going against them during Trumps time, Hong Kong issues, and the blaming on COVID.
Make no mistake, China biggest enemy now is definitely the US, and they simply need Russia to balance out the power with the West.
It's possible that Ukraine were well prepared based on studying the Georgian war. Putin's a one trick pony.
Yeah, I don't doubt it. China use the US as a kind of bogeyman (similar, to be fair, to the way the US use China) with their state media raising these criticisms continuously.
They've received a lot of Western training, too, so I'm sure they had an idea of what to expect. Plus they've been at war for eight years in the East so they're also battle hardened and used to some Russian methods. The question is whether their preparedness will cancel out the trick. All he has to do, surely, is lay siege to Ukraine and then cut the country in two (to reflect the "republics" and the rest/West). I'd say that is within Russia's capacity as it wouldn't necessarily mean holding Kiev, but just enlarging upon the areas already held.
Of course they'd have known the possible sanctions but it's a totally different thing to know which ones would actually be imposed and be prepared to deal with all of them. The sanctions and how the invasion is going are linked as well and the reason why the longer this goes on, the more fecked Putin is. If he'd managed to get control quickly, he could have got to the negotiations table before the sanctions were put in place and it'd be no surprise if that's what he was banking on as well.
If you drive on the wrong side on a highway, sure you know you may be hit by anything from a bike to a car to a truck but that doesn't mean you're prepared to deal with it when the truck actually ram's you
In situations like these, I always wonder what someone like Putin is doing at this exact moment and what his true feelings are. That'd be so interesting to know. How did he sleep? What was his shit like on the bristol stool scale? Questions, questions...
Looks like Kharkiv has been breached
Has anyone heard anything on when the identities of the 'selected' Russian banks barred from Swift is expected to be released?
Problem is that they aren’t really even doing much on the Donbas front. Kharkiv and Kyiv now appear to be the two main targets.
Asking for a friend?
Just interested in seeing who the shareholders are.Ffs, still playing the same cards.
But also, let's not forget...
The crowd were chanting Putins name when MTG took the stage at CPAC yesterday too. It's insane.
There will have been breaches and heavy fighting, but there’s also a lot of footage of calm streets this morning. Seems like another night of heavy, yet largely successful defence.
Madness. He has to go, it’s as simple as that. Whatever endgame is in Putin’s plans, it’s going to end for him like it did for Saddam Hussein. There’s no other way.
What’s the mood amongst Republican Americans? Is U.S pretty much United in opposing Putin on this or has the Trump project left a significant portion of them brainwashed and pro-Russia (the ultimate ‘double think’).
Putin is very safe though. Surrounded by yes men and generals, the police state under orders to crush dissenters. And of course Saddam was captured because we invaded Iraq; we won't be invading Russia, that's for certain.
He does need to go, but without revolution in Russia I can't see how.
Be careful of mentioning Saddam name because you will be accused of backing an illegal war by Blair.
Ffs, still playing the same cards.
But also, let's not forget...
The crowd were chanting Putins name when MTG took the stage at CPAC yesterday too. It's insane.
U can say what u want but noone can deny that Trump administration was very good at keeping world at peace not starting any war conflict, easing the ones in process and not a single major war broke out in that time.
Maybe if USA would have president who is still breathing this could be resolved before it started.
Some on their hard right support Putin, the hardcore MAGA lot and Trumpers are more likely to take his side, then again so do some tankies on the far left (horseshoe theory?)
Moderate conservatives appear to oppose Putin's war. Fox news' most recent piece from Tucker Carlson is for once quite measured, it blames Putin for the conflict and warns against the danger of escalating to all out war with NATO.
I'm not so sure he's safe if this all goes tits up. Of course, this all is far from over but it would be a spectacular failure if it does go down the drain, would be hard for anyone to survive the ramifications of that.
Interesting story mate.
Greenwald is an utter crank whose spent the last few years shilling for Fox News and the last few months dick riding Tucker Carlson. His entire thing now is faux horseshoe grift.
peace by selling out to Putin, great
No, Trump was more interested in starting a civil war in America instead though wasn’t he.
Was in Putin’s pocket and one of the worst things for USA as a nation, it’s ripped that country’s identity apart.
Yeah, the president who openly threatened a nuclear power with fire and fury, tried to steal a democratic election and incited and supported a violent insurrection was all about peace.