International News Russian War With Ukraine

RyanioBirdio said:
This war has got nothing to do with NATO membership with regards to Ukraine, at least not in the sense that Putin is implying. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are already full member states that are pushed right up against the Russian border, so the horse has bolted as far as that issue is concerned. It makes no logical sense for anybody from Russia to claim it’s about security. It’s because Ukraine is viewed as the jewel in the crown as far as rebuilding the Soviet Union is concerned. It’s the country that the misty eyed generation yearn to see ‘returned’ to Russia the most. It’s nothing to do with borders and everything to do with Ukraine essentially being seen as the favourite daughter, who will always be made to live a different life to the others. It’s the apple of their eye.

I suspect Putin has been planning this for a good decade, hence Russian interference in multiple elections across the west in recent years in an attempt to divide and destabilise. He took Crimea in 2014 so he’s clearly been building up to this for at least eight years, minimum, but likely longer as I doubt he did that on a whim. The “he’s lost his mind since Covid” narrative that certain sectors of the press have been pushing, as well as any notion that as he’s nearly 70 he’s suddenly aware of his own mortality, feels wide of the mark. It’s much more likely that this is merely the latest move in a very long game of chess. There will be more.

The bloke needs a bullet in the head, to be frank.
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Superbly put.

Example - I'm sure that back in the glory days of USSR football many players were from the Ukrainian SSR.
 
RyanioBirdio said:
This war has got nothing to do with NATO membership with regards to Ukraine, at least not in the sense that Putin is implying. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are already full member states that are pushed right up against the Russian border, so the horse has bolted as far as that issue is concerned. It makes no logical sense for anybody from Russia to claim it’s about security. It’s because Ukraine is viewed as the jewel in the crown as far as rebuilding the Soviet Union is concerned. It’s the country that the misty eyed generation yearn to see ‘returned’ to Russia the most. It’s nothing to do with borders and everything to do with Ukraine essentially being seen as the favourite daughter, who will always be made to live a different life to the others. It’s the apple of their eye.

I suspect Putin has been planning this for a good decade, hence Russian interference in multiple elections across the west in recent years in an attempt to divide and destabilise. He took Crimea in 2014 so he’s clearly been building up to this for at least eight years, minimum, but likely longer as I doubt he did that on a whim. The “he’s lost his mind since Covid” narrative that certain sectors of the press have been pushing, as well as any notion that as he’s nearly 70 he’s suddenly aware of his own mortality, feels wide of the mark. It’s much more likely that this is merely the latest move in a very long game of chess. There will be more.

The bloke needs a bullet in the head, to be frank.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
RyanioBirdio said:
This war has got nothing to do with NATO membership with regards to Ukraine, at least not in the sense that Putin is implying. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are already full member states that are pushed right up against the Russian border, so the horse has bolted as far as that issue is concerned. It makes no logical sense for anybody from Russia to claim it’s about security. It’s because Ukraine is viewed as the jewel in the crown as far as rebuilding the Soviet Union is concerned. It’s the country that the misty eyed generation yearn to see ‘returned’ to Russia the most. It’s nothing to do with borders and everything to do with Ukraine essentially being seen as the favourite daughter, who will always be made to live a different life to the others. It’s the apple of their eye.

I suspect Putin has been planning this for a good decade, hence Russian interference in multiple elections across the west in recent years in an attempt to divide and destabilise. He took Crimea in 2014 so he’s clearly been building up to this for at least eight years, minimum, but likely longer as I doubt he did that on a whim. The “he’s lost his mind since Covid” narrative that certain sectors of the press have been pushing, as well as any notion that as he’s nearly 70 he’s suddenly aware of his own mortality, feels wide of the mark. It’s much more likely that this is merely the latest move in a very long game of chess. There will be more.

The bloke needs a bullet in the head, to be frank.
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What do you think his other chess moves could be?
 
RyanioBirdio said:
Christ only knows. Sounds like Moldova could be on the hit list as well, though. You would think (hope) that any posturing towards the likes of Finland is merely that, because if he dared make a play for an EU state then we are in WW3 and that’s that.
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Will Finland and Sweden join NATO?
 
eaststandboy said:
Will Finland and Sweden join NATO?
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Do they need to? Being EU states basically means that if it kicks off the rest will all pile in anyway, you would think? That said, I heard the other day that Finland tick basically every box for membership already, which if true could make it pretty easy in case they needed to be ‘fast tracked’.

If Kaliningrad starts seeing an influx of military personnel in the coming months then I hope that Europe immediately saws it off and pushes it out into the Baltic.
 
Well at least we can give money to the buy to let landlords in Ukraine via air bnb.
 
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Russia has spent the last 90-odd minutes shelling the largest nuclear plant in Europe, which provides over 25% of Ukraine’s energy. They’ve even been shooting at firefighters who responded, because trying to put out a fire at a nuclear plant isn’t already hazardous enough. There’s a YouTube live stream of the entire thing, to make it even better. This is insane.
 
I think NATO may militarily get involved if this is fully verified and continues, if just to protect the nuclear plants that Russia are firing at.

 
RyanioBirdio said:
This war has got nothing to do with NATO membership with regards to Ukraine, at least not in the sense that Putin is implying. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are already full member states that are pushed right up against the Russian border, so the horse has bolted as far as that issue is concerned. It makes no logical sense for anybody from Russia to claim it’s about security. It’s because Ukraine is viewed as the jewel in the crown as far as rebuilding the Soviet Union is concerned. It’s the country that the misty eyed generation yearn to see ‘returned’ to Russia the most. It’s nothing to do with borders and everything to do with Ukraine essentially being seen as the favourite daughter, who will always be made to live a different life to the others. It’s the apple of their eye.

I suspect Putin has been planning this for a good decade, hence Russian interference in multiple elections across the west in recent years in an attempt to divide and destabilise. He took Crimea in 2014 so he’s clearly been building up to this for at least eight years, minimum, but likely longer as I doubt he did that on a whim. The “he’s lost his mind since Covid” narrative that certain sectors of the press have been pushing, as well as any notion that as he’s nearly 70 he’s suddenly aware of his own mortality, feels wide of the mark. It’s much more likely that this is merely the latest move in a very long game of chess. There will be more.

The bloke needs a bullet in the head, to be frank.
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It’s not just a sentimental favourite daughter, it is a resource-rich bread basket that is needed to support a self sufficient Russia.
 
chuckbert said:
It’s not just a sentimental favourite daughter, it is a resource-rich bread basket that is needed to support a self sufficient Russia.
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Yes, the mind boggling untapped natural gas reserves (untapped largely because of Soviet exploitation of Siberian reserves ahead of these in the 70's) are enough to fuel the new Soviet block and anyone who wants to buy from them (think India and China for starters) for decades to come. And that's without even thinking about the significance of things like their lithium deposits....which we're all going to be racing for as we need more lithium ion energy storage capacity for our electric vehicles etc etc (Chinese and Australian backed companies already slugging it out for the rights, apparently).

And then there's the wheat and other agri production (including fertilisers) on a globally significant scale.

Remind me again what Russia's aims are with this "military operation"[emoji848]
 
Marked Ox said:
I think NATO may militarily get involved if this is fully verified and continues, if just to protect the nuclear plants that Russia are firing at.

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This is a worrying & cynical ploy to put the fear of God into the Ukrainian nation and force them into surrender.
It could also lead to pressure from the “allies” to give in .
 
LowerSouth said:
This is a worrying & cynical ploy to put the fear of God into the Ukrainian nation and force them into surrender.
It could also lead to pressure from the “allies” to give in .
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You think it would warrant intervention from the UN

Except it can't and won't as Russia are still on the Security council[emoji2369]
 
Concretebob said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Russia to appeal against football ban

The Russian Football Union says it will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to appeal against its ban from international competitions.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Seriously?
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It isn't exactly without precedent, Yugoslavia were kicked out of the Euro 1992 Finals because of war. Don't think they really have a case. Political move.
 
It seems to me that Putins plan is to invade, kill/displace the local population and use the areas natural resources to seal his alliances with Asian powers as he is completely finished with the west now, no way back. How long can the EU/NATO/Europe/the west allow this to go on for before they take action?

At the very least we are going to see Europe split along east/west lines again for the foreseeable future, it’s just a question of where the line will be drawn now.
 
Tomox said:
Did the cold war every really end?
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When I was a kid the idea that you would pop to Poland, Czech Republic, Baltic’s (or even Kiev) etc for a weekend break or stag do would of seemed mental so in that respect it did, it certainly thawed out a lot before in the last few weeks returning to ice cold.
 
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