This is something I am wondering. The Russians fought well in WW2 but since then they keep getting slaughtered, in Afghanistan in Chechnya and so far in Ukraine. It's almost as if people fight harder to protect their homes
But really just changing one dependent for another. But if you have to pick a master the one with an economy the size of Italy's is probably not the best one.
You need a combination of things: quality leadership who inspire and a motivated people. Both are interrelated. Ukraine has both of these things. But if this happens again in a few years, they may not have the strength or unity to fight them off again, like Chechnya. Hopefully Russia is held accountable for a long time. Puppet leaders never inspire and we wonder why the natives don't care to fight. You also can also tell the Russian army really isn't motivated to attack Ukraine, both from the encounters we see with civilians and the reaction of Putins top lieutenants.
The Soviet Union also suffered 10mil military deaths in ww2. Twice that of Germany. Their biggest military asset has always been their willingness to throw bodies
Reports that Ukraine is releasing prisoners with military experience to fight. A real life Suicide Squad!
As someone who's watched too many Russian war movies, they are even more obsessed than Americans about WWII in the post-Soviet era. They seem to love "the bad guys are the Nazis" movie propaganda too. And judging by Putin's "denazification" talk, their leaders do too.
Russia’a Army has, through pretty much it’s entire modern history, been an abysmal mess as an offensive force outside Russian territory. It takes a concrete threat to the Russian homeland to get them fighting and even then their strategy has been more or less to feed the masses into the meat grinder and out-attrition everyone.
Half of this post isn’t even addressing what I wrote and some of it mischaracterizes it. But for purposes of simplification: Nothing that has happened should be used to justify, rationalize or otherwise excuse Putin’s actions. And we can only get a seat at a table if there are real negotiations, and those will only happen if they are in Putin’s interest. That will only happen if he feels pain for invading, which can only happen with either the west intervening militarily (which it won’t do), or sanctions. It’s not on us to de-escalate, it’s on him. He is the aggressor, and he has the ability to not be. What we have done to this point isn’t dissuading him so we are going to ratchet it up until it does. And if by some miracle today’s negotiations work, it will be because of the pressure out on him. Nowhere did I say we would be unscathed, but as I posted above (and was not addressed), he has a history of taking things, and some point bullies need to be stood up to. He has already threatened Sweden, Finland as his next potential targets, and the entire world with nukes. We can’t back down from that or he will continue taking. That’s what bullies do. Your posts are seemingly saying “if we play nicer he will be less of a threat”. His entire history, as shown on countless threads here, says the exact opposite. But have said my peace, carry on.
Pootie Pie wanted this over in a couple of days. How long can the Ukrainians hold out versus how long can Russia handle having its economy crashed?
The SWISS? the "we're always neutral" Swiss???? Holy smokes. Who had ANY OF THIS on their 2022 bingo cards, btw?
Good question..I would go with more players but it HAS to be more than just lip service/virtue signaling. As of today that's all it is because Russia is still there.
CNN live: "IOC recommends Russian and Belarusian athletes be banned from international sporting events From CNN’s Aleks Klosok in London The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Monday recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes be banned from competing in all international sporting events. “In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants, the IOC EB recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions,” read a statement. ... “Russian or Belarusian nationals, be it as individuals or teams, should be accepted only as neutral athletes or neutral teams. No national symbols, colours, flags or anthems should be displayed,” the statement continued. The IOC also announced that it had also withdrawn the Olympic Order from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin was awarded the highest award of the Olympic Movement in 2001. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Dmitry Kozak, deputy chief of staff of the presidential executive office, have also been stripped of their titles. The IOC said the decision had been made as a result of “the extremely grave violation of the Olympic Truce and other violations of the Olympic Charter by the Russian government in the past."
Excuse me if I roll my eyes so hard I get a migraine about the IOC’s imposition of punishment. FFS, Russia had the most elaborate institutional doping system in history and the IOC just made them wear different outfits. The IOC can just (you figure it out) right off.
The Soviet Union had Stalin running the show during WW2, who was more ruthless than Hitler. If you were Russian, you either fought to your death or you were sent to labor camps in -30 F degree conditions in Siberia. Sometimes you were shot. Hitler once offered Stalin to give back his son, whom the Germans had taken POW during the conflict. Stalin denied having a son. Stalin is perhaps the most brutal dictator in world history. He would use a guy like Vlad Putin as his toilet paper and probably eventually have him shot as he did so many of his own aides back then. But yes, to your point, it's much different when Nazi Germany invades your country than bringing death to your neighbor just because their government wants to join NATO. Totally different set of circumstances here.
We will see if they put their money where their mouth is when the Paralympics open at the end of the week.
