Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[LondonLax]

1 hour ago, bickster said:

Well if that is the case, it should be realised that it was written into the constitution as a direct result of the 2014 Russian Invasion

They had nothing to lose by doing it, they'd already been invaded by Russia at that point

Not to try and argue for him but ‘nothing to lose’ would not the right way to put it if it was that declaration to join NATO that indeed led to Ukraine’s significant losses this last ten days. 

[Genie]

5 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

If a nuclear bomb fell on London, chances are some would blame it on Khan. Then they would complain that it was 5 minutes for a tube when it's normally 2 minutes. 

Nice way to avoid post on poster  

[magnkarl]

1 hour ago, trekka said:

The humanitarian corridor to protect civilians has once again failed after the Russians continued to shell along departure lines.  Absolutely disgusting . 

In other news, I hear Russian reinforcements are inbound. 

 

Crickey, Z group (Kharkiv) is getting a lot of old WWs and ladas that are about the hardest trucks to repair in the world

[bickster]

This is incredible, a press conference with three Russian POWs. I'm sure it breaks all kinds of conventions but the statements don't appear forced or involutary in any way.

 

[magnkarl]

34 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Russian-speaking / ethnic Russian Ukrainians are not necessarily pro-Putin or pro-integration. That’s a mistake a lot of people make in this debate. Lots of Russian-speaking Ukrainians have an independent Ukrainian identity.

(Think of it a bit like Welsh and English speakers in Wales.)

In fact there’s a myriad of videos of Russian Ukrainians yelling at Russian troops. It’s a lie peddled by Putin, akin to Hitler saying Germans in sudentenland were being killed. Total bs.

[foreveryoung]

27 minutes ago, MCU said:

I'm not trying to be funny, I'm genuinely curious. You're claiming one nuclear missile could wipe out our entire country. I'm simply asking you to prove to me with evidence that would be the case. Or are you just assuming?

If talking technical, I agree, 1 would probably just decimate London and kill 500k people plus thousands of others due to radiation. But in reality, Russia would not send over one, knowingly we would then press the button and decimate Russia.

I'm talking metaphorically anyway, as I very much doubt Nuclear weapons would ever be used, not even Putin would press the button, he knows the consequences, the Kremlin would be the first to be leveled by Nato. Maybe not the perfect analogy, but I always thought it like the regular UK family with a gun. They would need some pretty serious personal threat to use it.

[StefanAVFC]

Brilliant explainer here and actually really balanced. Johnny is a brilliant film maker

 

[bickster]

10 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Not to try and argue for him but ‘nothing to lose’ would not the right way to put it if it was that declaration to join NATO that indeed led to Ukraine’s significant losses this last ten days. 

I think the current events would have happened regrdless of the declaration of intent. There is also an argment that it bought them time between 2014 and now. I also suspect that COVID also bought Ukraine some more time. The whole Ukraine / NATO / Russia situation was going on before and at the start of the pandemic. Trump was even using it as a stick to beat Biden with in the Presidential election. If that threat of joining NATO hadn't existed, this may have happened much sooner. Who knows really?

[HanoiVillan]

58 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

When you say we, do you mean VT or NATO?! 

 

 

I mean NATO member states. It's certainly true that the American government is not waiting on a consensus to form on VillaTalk before deciding how far to push things, but posting is praxis as they say. Better to boost sensible opinions and ideas rather than dumb ones.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

28 minutes ago, bickster said:

This is incredible, a press conference with three Russian POWs. I'm sure it breaks all kinds of conventions but the statements don't appear forced or involutary in any way.

 

What a mess. Annonymous need to beam this stuff into every home in Russia. A war of lies and deceit killing and displacing millions. Nobody wanted this but a few unhinged dictators in Russia. Tragic

[foreveryoung]

It is worrying he may be holding back the experienced forces. Also the equipment he is using also seems a bit dated. Surely he has much more advanced equipment ready to come in if the going gets tough. According to some not, pro Russians, everything is going according to plan.

[avfc1982am]

19 minutes ago, bickster said:

This is incredible, a press conference with three Russian POWs. I'm sure it breaks all kinds of conventions but the statements don't appear forced or involutary in any way.

 

I agree. I also found it a little upsetting tbh. A quite sensible bloke that understands he was still pushed into an action he knew would bring devastation to those he was supposed to protect. The admission that his life was now in the hands of those being murdered by his comrades. The understanding that Russia was the aggressor and that the more soldiers that went home defeated would spread the word of what the reality was. Most interesting though...the admission that Russia could never hold the Ukraine now or in any hypothetical scenario. The whole situation is such a mess. 

[Davkaus]

5 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

It is worrying he may be holding back the experienced forces. Also the equipment he is using also seems a bit dated. Surely he has much more advanced equipment ready to come in if the going gets tough. According to some not, pro Russians, everything is going according to plan.

I think it's more likely that the oligarch asset stripping of the state has come home to roost and this is the best they've got, than the idea they've deliberately fielded a weak attack, taking significant losses only to send in the Super Army Soldiers when the going gets tough.

[Phil Silvers]

 

[foreveryoung]

12 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

What a mess. Annonymous need to beam this stuff into every home in Russia. A war of lies and deceit killing and displacing millions. Nobody wanted this but a few unhinged dictators in Russia. Tragic

Okay we will. 

[trekka]

Interesting.

 

[It's Your Round]

It’s heartbreaking to see the state of Mariupol, people want to leave but Russia won’t abide by the ceasefires. There’s plenty of evidence of the deliberate targeting of civilians, it’s horrendous to see. 

[avfc1982am]

24 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I mean NATO member states. It's certainly true that the American government is not waiting on a consensus to form on VillaTalk before deciding how far to push things, but posting is praxis as they say. Better to boost sensible opinions and ideas rather than dumb ones.

I was obviously taking the piss about VT.

So because I personally am not worrying or at least trying not to with regards to nuclear Armageddon that's a problem for you? I'm not suggesting people don't take things seriously either so I fail to see we're the dumb ideas come from?   

[It's Your Round]

1 minute ago, trekka said:

Interesting.

 

3500+ Russians arrested for protesting. What will they do when the gulags are full? 

[sidcow]

Where are these more experienced soldiers? 

Their total ground forces number 280,000.  They amassed 200,000 on the borders and have moved 90% in we've been told. 

Russia is an unfeasibly large country, its hard for us to even comprehend just how vast it is. 

They will need their remaining 80,000 stationed around various borders and strategic positions, 80,000 is probably stretching it a bit too thin really. 

I really don't buy for 1 minute they have thousands of hard core troops they've not bothered to utilise yet.