People just need to put ManchesterManchester on ignore at this stage. It’s either deliberate trolling or extreme ignorance that cannot be addressed here.
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
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Stalin wasn't a Bolshevik. No comment on the rest, I just stopped reading.
Led by donkeys indeed…
Wings are irrelevant with totalitarian regimes. The wing is just functional to whatever provides the excuse to assault freedom.
He would and so would any capable Russian. He has no business invading any other countries but he would always say it's hypocritical for the USA and the UK to say that. They invaded Iraq for no good reason and recognized Kosovo too.
Says who?
For example, for the people who lived under Franco it was very relevant. Those who where fascists had a good life, those who were communists were thrown in prison. There is an obvious difference.
That's handy. Any ideology which produces extremists can just claim them to be insane and automatically never part of that movement in the first place.
He obviously was a Bolshevik. He had a decent role during the revolution and was very high in the chain of command during the struggles between Bolsheviks, Molsheviks and the social Democratic Party or whatever was called.
It was Trotsky who originally was not a Bolshevik.
This is going out of topic now. This is the Russian invasion of Ukraine thread and nothing to do with right or left wing.
Socialist-Revolutionaries I assume, since the Bolsheviks/Mensheviks were the Social Democratic party. But yeah, Stalin was a Bolshevik in every sense of the word, while Trotsky was initially a Menshevik.
The Guardian just published a great primer:
Stalin managed to kills millions without a war. Hardly a sheep; it is just what he did isn't as well known. Stalin was pure evil.
Stalin forced a famine that killed 3.9m people. Holodomor. He executed over 1m of his own people. Forced labour. The Great Purge. He is expected to be responsible for the death of 6m non-combatants without including the famine.
Debating levels of evil by numbers is pointless when it reaches this many deaths. Hitler and Stalin were very much the same.
In the end, the point of whether someone is far left or far right is mute as their reasoning does not matter. Their capability of doing things like this is what really matters. Stalin and Hitler evidence that it is a pointless argument whether Putin is right or left; what matters is whether he has the capability and want to do similar things to them.
CNBC running a piece on Russian finances right now
Foreign currency reserves of $630 billion
Government debt of $200 billion
Their debt to GDP ratio is 18%
Current accounts are in surplus
In other words, the sanctions won't do a thing.
Foreign currency reserves of $630 billion
Government debt of $200 billion
Their debt to GDP ratio is 18%
Current accounts are in surplus
In other words, the sanctions won't do a thing.
Whether it is right or wrong to play the final in Russia (I believe is wrong if it happens there as I mentioned in my first post) I am also pointing out the hypocrisy of the UK government.
He initially wanted to join Hitler as well but was rebuffed.
What I don’t understand is why USA and Europe don’t try to solve it diplomatically.
It’s weird that they have never offered Putin anything of VALUE during negotiations. They only threaten and impose sanctions - it ain’t gonna work.
It’s weird that they have never offered Putin anything of VALUE during negotiations. They only threaten and impose sanctions - it ain’t gonna work.
Join Hitler how? There was never going to be anything but war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, long term, both sides knew that.
Can't see the cellular service remaining active for much longer in those regions
What I don't understand is why Russia doesn't try to solve it diplomatically.
It's weird that they have never offered Ukraine anything of VALUE during negotiations. They only threaten and impose war - it ain't gonna work.
On my phone atm, can find the info when im on my computer.
What do you think would be of VALUE
He reminds me of Schmeichel's Cartwheel.
Well… immediate launch of Nord Stream 2. Cancellation of a certain part of previously imposed sanctions. Guarantees of Ukraine to be never accepted to NATO… something positive for Putin, something that he immediately receives in form of clear value (rather than threats).
it’s more than likely such approach would work miles better
I don't want to derail any more, but i don't agree with this and I find this comment disrespectful to the millions who were oppressed, deported, tortured, starved to death and killed for absolutely no reason.
Yeah so feck the Ukrainian people and their wishes, right?
Why would you offer them something of value at gunpoint? What happens then if next month they want more and more?
If any of you want to have an idea of Putins endgame here, read this. https://agdugintranslate.gitbook.io/foundations-of-geopolitics/
It's a bit simplistic to call that "trying to join Hitler", IMO. There is much to disagree with when it comes to Soviet foreign policy in the lead-up to WW2 (how they participated in dismantling Poland, for example), but it's fairly complicated all the same. Don't forget that the Soviets were already, rightly or wrongly, skeptical of Western intentions, due to the foreign interventions against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Then the Soviets watched the West sell out Czechoslovakia in Munich, when, at least on the surface, Stalin offered "a million men" to defend them against Germany (this should be taken with a grain of salt, since that also means a million men in Poland). If they were so quick to sell out their democratic ally to the Nazis, what would they do to help the communist Soviet Union, whom (as far as the Soviets were concerned) they had already tried to destroy two decades earlier?
That doesn't excuse the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or any further discussions, but context is everything.
Is your idea of negotiation to give Putin everything he wants?
What if he wants Lithuania or Poland after Ukraine? Maybe we'll give that to him too. We'll even throw France in for a sweetener.
But they didn’t offer it previously, either.
Usually what works is a “carrot and a stick policy”. But there is no carrot for Putin, and he has never been offered any - not a big surprise that “stick and more stick policy” is not working
My idea of negotiations is to offer someone to receive X in exchange for Y for the counterparty. They don’t offer Putin anything at all - only demandIs your idea of negotiation to give Putin everything he wants?
What did they demand from Putin?My idea of negotiations is to offer someone to receive X in exchange for Y for the counterparty. They don’t offer Putin anything at all - only demand
But they didn’t offer it previously, either.
Usually what works is a “carrot and a stick policy”. But there is no carrot for Putin, and he has never been offered any - not a big surprise that “stick and more stick policy” is not working
He doesn't want to talk. There's not even a chance to offer him something feasible. Assurances that Ukraine cannot join Nato is a no go, that is clear. Then Putin invaded straightway. There is no talk, only action.
I've been boycotting them for years.
It is even more clear that Putin will never let it happen, it is in the “theoretically impossible” section of options. Having NATO nuclear rockets 1km off Russian border is not a possibility, everyone who is mentally healthy should understand that.
That’s actually the only issue of relevance in this entire conflict - Ukraine per se is not at all important for Putin. Just a no-NATO buffer zone - and this is fair enough.