Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

I'm a bit sceptical in terms of the sanctions hurting Russia tbh.

From what I'm hearing it looks like Russian Gas is still being pumped to the EU and is still being paid for ?

Is that not possible if being removed from swift ?
 
GuybrushThreepwood said:
Isn't Xi Jinping, aka Putin's master (China is easily Russia's no. 1 trading partner, while I think Russia is only China's 12th largest trading partner so it's clear who's in the position of strength there), growing increasingly frustrated and annoyed by this invasion, the fact that is has been had been managed and led so disastrously and the fact that much of the rest of the world has united against Putin?

Inevitably people in Taiwan will be following what happens here very closely.
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I don't know, recent deals such as this one:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/In...itch-dollar-in-move-toward-financial-alliance

Make me believe that this has been planned between both of them beforehand. China is probably watching on intently on the outcome of the sanctions for Russia and will decide to make a move on Taiwan in due time.

The problem from the West is removing Russia/Iran from the economy is one thing but to remove China is going to straight up collapse the whole thing and I'm sure China knows this.

The weaponization of the dollar is something both Putin and Xi have mentioned and criticised countless times.
 
GuybrushThreepwood said:
Isn't Xi Jinping, aka Putin's master (China is easily Russia's no. 1 trading partner, while I think Russia is only China's 12th largest trading partner so it's clear who's in the position of strength there), growing increasingly frustrated and annoyed by this invasion, the fact that is has been had been managed and led so disastrously and the fact that much of the rest of the world has united against Putin?

Inevitably people in Taiwan will be following what happens here very closely.
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Don't think they care that much tbh. It's a win-win war for them regardless, could argue that prolonging it actually benefits them.
 
the_cliff said:
I don't know, recent deals such as this one:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/In...itch-dollar-in-move-toward-financial-alliance

Make me believe that this has been planned between both of them beforehand. China is probably watching on intently on the outcome of the sanctions for Russia and will decide to make a move on Taiwan in due time.

The problem in the West is removing Russia/Iran from the economy is one thing but to remove China is going to straight up collapse the whole thing and I'm sure China knows this.

The weaponization of the dollar is something both Putin and Xi have mentioned and criticised countless times.
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Oh yes I agree that this was surely planned between them. In fact I'm inclined to believe the rumours that Putin waited until after the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 had finished to launch this invasion, on his boss Xi's orders.

I just think that Xi probably expected the invasion to be handled and executed 'more competently' by the Putin administration.

Putin being Xi's lackey nowadays, is of course a big role reversal compared to the historic relationship between the former Soviet Union and China.
 
Feeling a bit depressed today. The fall of Ukraine now seems inevitable. So many lives needlessly ruined and changed forever. The scene of the school burning really upset me.
 
Danny1982 said:
Well, I was right about the "force" being used, it's no more than a few dozens of soldiers walking on foot into the city! Even without an armor! What I don't understand is why nobody is shooting at them. They're just walking in the city without any fight.

Surely there has to be somebody with a gun in the city and will pick them out...





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Ya, I fear that the UKR have suffered a ton of casualties and so we are seeing the result of that now.
 
Varun said:
Scary read
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It's terrifying. My anxiety is going up by a lot in recent days. If he wants to turn Poland into radioactive buffer between EU and Russia, he will just do it. I was thinking about moving to a safer place but I guess there is no safe place in Europe anymore.
 
dal said:
Help their own? I don’t think the Arab states would consider another Arab state as their own? Its like saying why don’t Poland help Ukraine, it’s never that simple.

I mean Saudi Arabia are bombing Yemen almost daily, Some Yemen’s are trying to bomb Dubai, missile intercepted two weeks ago.
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That was such an ignorant comment I can't believe he actually said that. It sounded better in his head Im sure
 
There needs to be international agreement that if Russia succeeds in their military mission of overwhelming Ukraine and holding it by force, as long as they occupy it and stake a claim over it they will be ostracised by the rest of the world, subject to the same crippling sanctions and no longer partaking in any of the benefits of the modern world. No access to flight zones, no access to international sport, no access to international finance, no western media, no western technology. Just a complete blackout and into the dark ages.
 
Varun said:
Scary read
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Much of my reflection and reading of the last 24 hours leads me to concluding that we may have already sleep walked into World War III. Just because it doesn’t look like the Second World War or what films and books prepare us for, we might be struggling to recognise it. After all, the First and Second World Wars were only named in retrospect or several years in.
 
It’s depressing. I’ve unfortunately spiralled in to reading about this constantly and now I’m doing things like checking for bunkers in my immediate area or even more drastic, looking to leave the UK immediately. I work from home, as does my wife, so a move to somewhere remote for a couple of months is just about within possibility.

I know the above is absolutely stupid but thought I’d post it for anyone else going through the same so you know you’re not alone.
 
Sarni said:
It's terrifying. My anxiety is going up by a lot in recent days. If he wants to turn Poland into radioactive buffer between EU and Russia, he will just do it. I was thinking about moving to a safer place but I guess there is no safe place in Europe anymore.
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Tbf, there won't be a radioactive buffer. If he launches nukes, that's the end of Europe, Russia and the US with life on the other continents barely resembling anything we're used to.

I'm hoping there's a coup and he's offed because the only other way this ends is if he takes Ukraine and then continues to fight insurgents for years. Thing is, no guarantees he'll stop there so I think NATO may get involved regardless. All a bit shit unfortunately.
 
Adamsk7 said:
It’s depressing. I’ve unfortunately spiralled in to reading about this constantly and now I’m doing things like checking for bunkers in my immediate area or even more drastic, looking to leave the UK immediately. I work from home, as does my wife, so a move to somewhere remote for a couple of months is just about within possibility.

I know the above is absolutely stupid but thought I’d post it for anyone else going through the same so you know you’re not alone.
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I know mate, I live in Romania and, if you kind of think about it, if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, we're next. Fortunately, we know the prime minister rather well and we'll know quite early when it's time to feck off somewhere else.

In the last few days I've been looking at various locations. Think in a week or two I'm off to Tenerife or Bali for a few months, not necessarily because it's safe, I just want to not hear 24/7 about what happens 300-400KM away from where I live.
 
GuybrushThreepwood said:
Oh yes I agree that this was surely planned between them. In fact I'm inclined to believe the rumours that Putin waited until after the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 had finished to launch this invasion, on his boss Xi's orders.

I just think that Xi probably expected the invasion to be handled and executed 'more competently' by the Putin administration.

Putin being Xi's lackey nowadays, is of course a big role reversal compared to the historic relationship between the former Soviet Union and China.
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Which makes the Indian stance in all of this a bit perplexing really.
 
It seems that the predictions of most independent analysts in the last few days, are proving to be correct.

After initially overstretching themselves with unsupported runs from small units deep into Ukrainian territory, the Russians have now regrouped, resupplyied and are playing to their greatest strength - their artillery.

The Ukrainian defiance in the face of the early Russian attacks was admirable and there's no doubt that Putin massively underestimated their fighting ability and their resolve. But no amount of Ukrainian resolve is going to be able to withstand the barrage of ballistic missiles and artillery shells that the Russians are going to rain down on the country in the next few days (nevermind the 40-mile long column of armour that will shortly encircle Kiev).

I fear that by the latter part of this week, we might be in "surrender or die" territory for President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian forces - although, as always with this type of warfare, the real penalty will be paid by the civilian population.
 
TMDaines said:
Much of my reflection and reading of the last 24 hours leads me to concluding that we may have already sleep walked into World War III. Just because it doesn’t look like the Second World War or what films and books prepare us for, we might be struggling to recognise it. After all, the First and Second World Wars were only named in retrospect or several years in.
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I sort of agree. It started with 2 nations but since then, Belarus has basically gone full in on russia's side while the rest of the world has gone with Ukraine starting with harsh economic sanctions and now even supplying arms and ammo. Then there's the cyber side of things. Worryingly, this is escalating fast and possible 'good' endings diminishing by the minute. Someone needs to off putin. And fast.
 
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Varun said:
Tbf, there won't be a radioactive buffer. If he launches nukes, that's the end of Europe, Russia and the US with life on the other continents barely resembling anything we're used to.

I'm hoping there's a coup and he's offed because the only other way this ends is if he takes Ukraine and then continues to fight insurgents for years. Thing is, no guarantees he'll stop there so I think NATO may get involved regardless. All a bit shit unfortunately.
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Yeah I honestly don't see how this doesn't end tragically unless he's overthrown in Russia and sadly I do not think chances of that happening are much above zero.
 
Varun said:
I sort of agree. It started with 2 nations but since then, Bulgaria has basically gone full in on russia's side while the rest of the world has gone with Ukraine starting with harsh economic sanctions and now even supplying arms and ammo. Then there's the cyber side of things. Worryingly, this is escalating fast and possible 'good' endings diminishing by the minute. Someone needs to off putin. And fast.
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Bulgaria? Do you mean Belarus?
 
hellhunter said:
Bulgaria? Do you mean Belarus?
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While he may have had Belarus in mind, Bulgaria is one of the most affected countries by Russian influence in the EU, it has KGB across the state institutions and propaganda is being spread almost unchecked.
 
Dante said:
But he's got a massive table. That apparently proves he wouldn't.
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I don't think any journalists have any idea on whether he would or he wouldn't. I like to think US intel has enough information though, they've been bang on about everything so far.
 
the_cliff said:
I'm a bit sceptical in terms of the sanctions hurting Russia tbh.

From what I'm hearing it looks like Russian Gas is still being pumped to the EU and is still being paid for ?

Is that not possible if being removed from swift ?
Click to expand...

Sanctions are a double edged sword. I am all for sanctions that will push Russian citizens to protest against Putin (which I feel is the only way to reach a non-catastrophic end). However, sanctions can also back-fire and have the opposite effect. It all depends on where the citizens direct the blame.

I still feel that harsh sanctions are probably our best bet at the moment. But any sanctions that may block access to information are a bad idea. The goal must be to make the citizens turn against Putin, not to completely isolate them from the rest of the world.
 
Russian-speaking city being liberated:




Mickeza said:
That last tweet - so they are now talking about military action taking place outside of the separatist areas in the media?
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The Twitter account is a good follow. Russian media seem to be all over the place in recent days.
 
Looks like a matter of time before Ukraine might succumb, and while they may not be in EU, they're fighting for Europe here. It remains to be seen how long after war, EU governments start saying, it's done and dusted, let's start returning back to usual life.
In other reports, apparantely, Hungary is refusing to send in any lethal help to Ukraine through their territory, not just theirs, any.
 
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