Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

There was a chemical attack on U.K. soil killing a British citizen and putting a police officer in a coma - and we still went to the World Cup in Russia.

Yeah ok but there were no Russian ships encircling our border though. There is a clear escalation here that is different from isolated acts of terrorism.
 
I really don't get why Putin found it necessary to humiliate the head of a Russian intelligence agency. You'd think he doesn't wanna create resentment among the powerful people surrounding him.

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There’s nothing in this. Putin has always been like this in his tone.
 
It would make economic sense for UEFA to move the event too, not just for safety.

The Russian FA isn't a football superpower that needs placating and any revenues generated in roubles will soon be worth next to nowt.
 


To be fair, his invasion attempts are currently quite weak as well. Sending tanks in the cover of secrecy with no Russian insignia? What's that about after all that 1 hr muscle flexing speech on TV last night?

Still expecting him to escalate of course, and then the sanctions will escalate too.
 
Christ, BJ completely dodged the question about releasing the Russian report with some nonsense. He really doesn't want that getting out.
 
Why should Ukraine fall? There is no way the Russians can roll up to Kiev.
Land maybe captured but the country remains.
Russia could probably quite quickly take all land up to the dnieper river ... at that point the logic would probably be to camp outside Kiev rather than engage in urban attrition warfare ...

That alone would probably be enough for the vast majority of people to flee kiev... and see the government of Ukraine operate from lviv

At that point they would have taken the 2nd biggest city and probably reduced the largest city to a non functioning fraction of what it is today... sure a ukraine still exists but one hardly recognisable

Dnipro would probably have the same treatment as kiev... at which point the largest 3 cities in ukraine would probably be Kharkiv, Odesa and Donesk - two of which would be effectively now part of Russia
 
I really don't get why Putin found it necessary to humiliate the head of a Russian intelligence agency. You'd think he doesn't wanna create resentment among the powerful people surrounding him.

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Now that's firm leadership!
 
This plus a total embargo should happen.

But then I'll freeze to death here in Germany cause Merkel in her infinite wisdom decided to close all nuclear plants and be totally dependent on Russia for energy.
Ok, stupid question time. Can’t Germany just start them up again or have they started dismantling them?
 
I don't know what people expect sometimes. Escalating things too quickly would be extremely dangerous in this situation.

Russian troops are moving into another sovereign state and harsher sanctions would be "escalating things too quickly"?
 


Why would he stop at double the price? He could raise it 100 times.

The only question is whether there is a suitable Plan B for Europe.
 
Russian troops are moving into another sovereign state and harsher sanctions would be "escalating things too quickly"?
60% of the gas in Germany comes from Russia. 40% of the total gas in Italy - again from Russia.

I agree with the poster above that expectations of very strict measures would probably be far from reality.

EU would probably sacrifice Ukraine rather than completely shut down the import from Russia.
 
Russian troops are moving into another sovereign state and harsher sanctions would be "escalating things too quickly"?

Yes. Backing them into a corner is dangerous.

The invasion, at the moment, is nothing compared to what the Russian military is capable of doing. There are far too many consequences to pushing too hard at once.

Then you take into account energy supplies to Europe, which will cause chaos in those countries if they were shut off or reduced. It will wreck Europe. I don't think people realise how bad this would be.
 
60% of the gas in Germany comes from Russia. 40% of the total gas in Italy - again from Russia.

I agree with the poster above that expectations of very strict measures would probably be far from reality.

EU would probably sacrifice Ukraine rather than completely shut down the import from Russia.
I think you could be right. We might tell our grandchildren one day.... once upon a time there was a country called Ukraine. It is a part of Russia now.
 
I think you could be right. We might tell our grandchildren one day.... once upon a time there was a country called Ukraine. It is a part of Russia now.
On the flipside, marching on into Donbas alienated Putin from rest of Ukraine even more. The west side of it will never back down without turning it into a bloodshed. Putin isn't that stupid to orchestrate a full blown invasion(I hope) as the population there will oppose to be annexed and assimilated.

History remembers what happened in 2014 and the annexation of Crimea followed with very weak sanctions that was expected at the time too. Gradually from that time on Putin started feeding Donbas areas with separatists and propaganda to reach the point we are now.

He wants to bite off another area which will use as a cushion between a future NATO state and his borders, something that he already did with Georgia.

Sanctions however don't work straightforward, as some of what people are suggesting would at times mean that Europa would pay more as a direct consequences of the sanctions rather than it will hurt Russia.

Strict economical measures would mean heavy losses for all sides that are part of the equation. Maybe not USA which are far from the conflict zone and might gain advantage over EU due to the recent events.
 
Not dismantling, just not certifying it, so it cannot be used.
Some of them, the older ones who are out of use a longer time are already in the dismantling process.
And the problem is/was not only Merkel.
The energy policy of Germany is an almighty clusterf**k. Due to political reasons we messed it really up.
For both sides of the political spectrum it is highly ideological (No nuclear for the left. The right opposes green energy sometimes just out of spite). And then there are myriad political and economical interests.
There will be no solution to it without an ideological climbdown on both sides and massive investment.
 
The Dutch alt right is quite strongly in Russia's corner in this whole thing. Seeing as the alt right is a bit of a global cult, is it the same in other countries and if so, why? I just don't see the logic behind some of their beliefs.
 
On the flipside, marching on into Donbas alienated Putin from rest of Ukraine even more. The west side of it will never back down without turning it into a bloodshed. Putin isn't that stupid to orchestrate a full blown invasion(I hope) as the population there will oppose to be annexed and assimilated.

History remembers what happened in 2014 and the annexation of Crimea followed with very weak sanctions that was expected at the time too. Gradually from that time on Putin started feeding Donbas areas with separatists and propaganda to reach the point we are now.

He wants to bite off another area which will use as a cushion between a future NATO state and his borders, something that he already did with Georgia.

Sanctions however don't work straightforward, as some of what people are suggesting would at times mean that Europa would pay more as a direct consequences of the sanctions rather than it will hurt Russia.

Strict economical measures would mean heavy losses for all sides that are part of the equation. Maybe not USA which are far from the conflict zone and might gain advantage over EU due to the recent events.
This is not true at all. Coordinated efforts from NATO and EU can kill Russian economy in the matter of weeks. Russia's stock market is almost non-existent already, their savings are losing their value with each and every minute. The only way to stop Putin invading further is to hit him as hard as possible now, thus making him realize that more aggression will cost him even more. A slap on the wrist never worked and will never do. I have no doubt that UK, US and rest of EU and NATO countries will introduce new sanctions quite soon EVEN if Putin decides that the troops shall not go deeper.
 
Is it me or does Putin's face look swollen? Looks like Ricky Hatton after a fight.
 
The Dutch alt right is quite strongly in Russia's corner in this whole thing. Seeing as the alt right is a bit of a global cult, is it the same in other countries and if so, why? I just don't see the logic behind some of their beliefs.
Both far-right parties in France (polling combined at 30%) are in Putin’s pocket.

In Italy, it is even worse. Lega and Fratelli d’Itallia are at around 38%, and they have Putin connections although not as much as France’s.