In reality Ukraine represents as much of an existential threat to Russia as Mexico does to the United States although ironically it probably represents a real existential threat to Putin's reign but certainly not the country considering that historically it doesn't end well in Russia for governments that lose wars, the monarchy of Czar Nicholas in 1917 and the Soviet Union in 1991 coming immediately to mind.
You have girls and women being raped by russian occupiers and people being tortured and executed by the invaders. We have war crimes being committed by multiple russian outfits against men, women, and children....and your focus is that people are going to have to pay more for electricity so we should forget about all that. smdh and I'm fairly certain that Ukraine doesn't rely on nat gas for electricity, they are big into nuclear and have even stated that they have excess electrical capacity to sell to other european countries newsflash, Russian economy is exponentially worst off than any of the western economies. Russia's isolation from global markets is withering its economy and will wreck its status as an energy superpower, experts say (msn.com)
In eastern Ukraine, Ukrainians are the new WWII Jews. They go to the back of the torture chambers. Bonus question: who is it harder on, the Russians in the back of the bus or the Ukrainians in the back of the torture chambers?
It’s referred to as the ‘Izium Massacre’. They are finding 100s Ukrainians in mass graves, including many civilians and many being tortured. It’s getting lost in our flooded news cycle so did want to mention it.
Dumbest argument yet. Even if the West stopped arming and supplying Ukraine, you actually think that Ukraine would just stop fighting and surrender? Ukraine has already proven it is going to strongly resist any more Russian aggression. So the killing does not stop in any case. Might as well be Russians doing most of the dying.
The vast majority of the North Korean people have never tasted the good life, or enjoyed a functioning economy. When you put sanctions on the North Koreans, it is not considered a hardship--it is considered "life". It's been about 120 years since North Koreans have known freedom and any semblance of prosperity. North Koreans also have China to trade with in spite of the sanctions. Russians have enjoyed a functioning economy, to some extent. If you can shut down that economy, people will look for someone to blame, and it won't be hard to guess who that will be. Propaganda will help keep the criticism down for a while, but eventually the body bags start coming home and the truth gets through: they are in an unnecessary war and they are losing.
NK is not a success story and having ‘the bomb’ doesn’t mean they have a great army. Although it is ironic Russia is already going to NK for weapons because they are running out. Not sure why the pro-Russia anti-U.S. theme, but ok: service industry makes up 53% of Russian gdp. (A link below) And their industry sector is 33%. It’s heavily dependent on hydrocarbons and not diverse, which can be a problem. As for the sanctions; their economy has faltered some, but not as much as hoped by this point. But it’s only been 6 months, let’s see how their doing into next year. Sanctions are making it more difficult for Russia to build sophisticated armaments as they can’t get parts from the west. Russia - Distribution of gross domestic product (GDP) across economic sectors 2021 | Statista Russia's Defense Industry Is In Serious Trouble Due to Sanctions Russia's isolation from global markets is withering its economy and will wreck its status as an energy superpower, experts say - Business Insider India
War brings out the ugliness of humans on all sides of those involved. So lets not pretend such atrocities are committed by one side only. Those on the sidelines are just as affected by this war all be it under different circumstance. We keep hearing any day now Russia will bend yet there are no signs of this war letting up much less Russia tucking tail.
All true yet the Korean government continues to exist and the people continue to suffer the consequences of sanctions that would provide a better life for them. We are just as guilty of the hardships they endure. As for Russia our dreams of shutting down their economy are not working as intended. Instead it is affecting the economies of nations across the globe. Many which do not have a dog in this fight.
I didn't say NK was a success story what I did say is economic sanctions have produced the desired results. A regime change in NK will not prodice the desired results either as history has proven that fact. NK remains a threat to their surrounding neighbors and has proved time and again they will proceed down that path.
There is a difference. We all were horrified by the Mei Lei (sp?) massacre and the officer was severely punished. It was isolated. What the Russians are doing in Ukraine is sick and all that is being reported is the Russians like it. I am skeptical of the reporting.
Odd, i have seen no evidence of Ukrainian shelling rissian villages or raping russian women. This war is 100% russian and you know it. If you aren't seeing that then you are choosing to remain willfully ignorant.
Your analogy is poorly developed. Better analogy: China engineers a coup, in Mexico, and builds up the Mexican military for years. Then China ‘let’s’ slip its designs to depose the American government and weaken the US.
You'll soon find out there is no difference when it comes to war as combatants feel justified in everything they do. Morals go out the window in short order.
Using your analogy, the West didn't start providing military aid to Ukraine until after Russia invaded and annexed part of the Dunbas and Crimea in 2014 and even then Obama refused to provide lethal military aid to Ukraine. Additionally, the NATO countries let it be known that they would not approve a request by Ukraine to become a member of the alliance. Despite his obvious expansionist intentions both President George W. Bush and Obama gave Putin the benefit of the doubt. The reality is that it was always Putin's intention to reconstitute the Soviet Union/Czarist Russia through expansion. In any event even if the West started building Ukraine's military, given the relative size of the countries it would have never represented a threat to Russia. Using another analogy, with the exception of a month or two in 1962 when the Soviet Union based nuclear missiles on the island Cuba has never represented a threat to the US even though for a country its size it had a formidable military courtesy of the Soviet Union. The only way that Ukraine would have represented a threat to Putin (note that I specifically mentioned Vladimir rather than Russia) would have been if the Russian people decided to emulate Ukraine and replace the authoritarian regime of Putin with a true representative democracy. Opinion piece from 2014 and how Putin manipulated US presidents. Why Putin Plays Our Presidents for Fools
You have a solid point. My takeaway is, don’t invade your neighbor, and you won’t bring out the worst in them.
I more or less automatically assume that the country that has engineered 400 military interventions since 1776, 200 since 1950 and over 100 since 1990 is at the bottom of it.
