I could see long term it all being for “naught”. Obviously short term, Ukraine’s war is far from won. But it’s clearly the free worlds best policy to make sure a criminal gangster state like Russia doesn’t just take Ukraine easily. There truly is no other option. As long as Ukraine fights we should 100% back them. The longer term future is harder to predict. Could Ukraine “win” the war, then fall back to corrupt Russian influence 10 or 20 years from now?. Sure. I guess. But the chances of Zelensky turning around doing that seem nil. It’s a bizarre “gut feeling” when Zelensky very much seems the real deal as a patriot in this affair. As far as the Ukrainian population, the more Ukranians the Russians kill and terrorize, the smaller the chance Russia can gain any foothold even through corruption means. But obviously that all depends on how things develop on the ground (politically) in both Russia and Ukraine. People won’t just forget in 10 or 20 years, but that’s also lots of time for governments to evolve for better or for worse.
A year is not that long of a time to look forward to, I think it's reasonable for us to try to predict a few years into the future. Taking a look at a broader view, the economic data is not looking good. The Russian GDP astoundingly dropped only 2.1% last year, and they're expected to grow about 1% this year. China will grow about 5-6%. The US about 1%, while Eurozone about 0%. We should recover pretty well fairly soon, but Europe's economy is probably wrecked for decades to come. Europe will be faced with high energy costs for the foreseeable future as nuclear and coal is shunned, and concerns about replacing dependence on Russian gas with dependence on China for renewables and batteries mount. Russia will probably follow in China's footsteps and turn their attention to the Global South, who will gladly buy their exports. China for the first time ever exported more to the Global South than to advanced economies last year, so that appears to be a sustainable trend. As for Ukraine's national mood, it can turn in a hurry. What if say Trump is elected and decides to pursue a peace deal with Putin? Macron is already chumping at the bit, Germany was always reluctant to fully support Ukraine, and the UK will do whatever we say. You know who people often hate more than the enemy? Your friends who you believe betrayed you for the enemy.
As assassination attempt on Putin. Russia says it was Ukraine, but they would, wouldn’t they? I suppose I would, too, even if I wondered if my own people were behind the attempt. Good news is, I guess Putin has his face-saving out for canceling the, uh, “victory” celebrations. Kremlin Says Putin Survived Overnight Assassination Attempt
From the Ukraine Volunteer Transcripts One Yook in our bunch wrote to his wife…” At first you gnash your teeth and pull your hair out with grief, then time passes and you grow hard and merciless, and your grief becomes quiet, smoldering rage. You shave your hair now, and survive on a promise of revenge. You eat it, sleep it, dream it, and plan it.”
It was probably Putin himself trying to drum up more Ukraine hate for when the war gets even tougher and he needs support. Amazing how it was filmed perfectly, right behind the Kremlin backdrop, there was no sign of fire at it, it just exploded? And why would it come all the way that close? If it was a military drone it could have launched from a safe distance. As for Ukraine, it’s not in their interest to do anything that rash. Making Putin a martyr hurts their cause, it doesn’t help it. And mobilizing Moscow against them fully doesn’t help either.
Yeah, looks almost comically fishy. How was this supposed to get Putin? Doesn’t seem like much explosive power. Was it doing to fly down the halls and find his sleeping quarters? Because the only way that thing would ever kill Putin would be to fly into the room with him and light him on fire. Also there were two guys standing on the dome as the drone came in. That is also suspicious, like they had personnel at the ready to put out the flames immediately. This thing screams false flag. An inept false flag, not even a good one.
Anyone follow Funker530 on YouTube? Be warned, some of the live shows show clips that are quite graphic.
shaping the field. destroy their ability to mobilize and/or resupply Second Russian train hit by explosive near Ukraine border (msn.com) An explosive device derailed a Russian freight train in a region bordering Ukraine for a second straight day Tuesday ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Kyiv. Russian territory and Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, have been hit in recent days by a series of attacks. The last four days have seen two trains derailed by explosions, a suspected drone hitting an oil depot in Crimea that caused a huge blaze and power lines blown up near Saint Petersburg.
another oil depot up in flames Oil depot on fire in Krasnodar Krai, Russia (msn.com) An oil depot is on fire in the village of Volna in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, not far from the Crimean bridge.
John Kirby says that Wagner-Russia has lost more troops in Bakhmut than have been sent there. Apparently, widows of the fallen have wrested the shovels from their’s husbands cold dead hands and now control 95% of Bakhmut.
Could be. But to what end? I know what you mean by “drumming up hate,” but that’s a means, not an end. To justify a strike on Zelensky? To use tactical nuclear weapons? If Russia did do this as a false flag, then that’s an intriguing and terrifying prospect in terms of the why.
Personal belief is to raise flagging war sentiment in Russia. The US didn’t care about WW2 until Pearl Harbor was bombed, even if that’s not an exact comparison. If this allows him to call up more troops with less pushback, then he wins. It could also have been a clumsy internal attempt that he is milking.
One never knows, but I don’t think that will do it. You just can’t change the fact, even for Russians, that they started this war. Short of a no-kidding Ukrainian invasion, where the Russians see their fields burned, factories destroyed, women raped, and children kidnapped, it’s very, very hard to argue national survival here. And your average Russian knows this, even if they’re wiling to comply with Kremlin demands for the moment.
And for others, one in particular, Russia is fully justified in it's military campaign of reincorporating Ukraine into Russia as it was under the Soviet Union and under the Czars. For them the real significant date was in 1783 when Russia under Peter the Great completed the incorporation of Ukraine into Russia. In other words Vladimir is justified in the use of military force to right a wrong as he and his supporters see it. Let's not forget that Putin referred to collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th Century and would like his legacy to be the undoing of that "catastrophe". Putin: Soviet collapse a 'genuine tragedy'
One should also consider that many thousands, perhaps even the majority, of soldiers on both sides will fall into the hellish cycle of mental health disorders, depression, anxiety and so forth, often side by side with drug, and alcohol abuse, homelessness, and a predisposition toward domestic violence when putting human beings through industrialized murder (warfare) on the scale being played out..
Straining at the stool to imagine that, at long last, after finally securing the Donbas … Poland is next!
Well, asked and answered. Russia ex-president calls for Zelensky to be KILLED after Kremlin drone strike It’s both the “We’re going to kill Zelensky!” (not as if they haven’t been trying for a year) along with ye olde trite “We’re going to nuke you!” tantrum again. This is my favorite line, though: Did Russia just seriously threaten Ukraine with war? Isn’t that like an ex-wife threatening you with divorce?
In all due respect, you have no f’g idea how many troops Wagner sent, including the prison population they unleashed. You can quote your Pravd-similar sources, but they have no credibility.
