Ukraine

[urban.spaceman]

9 minutes ago, EnderbyFox said:

 

Twitter have removed it now but this was the Russian UK Embassy 

 

And their reply to someone telling them she is pregnant:

 

 

[David Hankey]

7 minutes ago, westernpark said:

There has been movement in some of their demands. Subtle. But it’s a sign.

Clearly this was such an unnecessary invasion and that’s shown in the fact that Putin thought he’d be walking in and taking the country. 

Sorry, I can't see any movement at all. The demands Putin/Lavrov at making are ludicrous. They will not accept Ukraine is a sovereign state and they are not going to surrender, quite rightly so. Putin and his cohorts are nothing more than a bunch of very dangerous, murderous and bullies.

[LiberalFox]

I don't think peace can happen until one side comprehensively defeats the other or the war reaches a stalemate. 

[westernpark]

21 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

Sorry, I can't see any movement at all. The demands Putin/Lavrov at making are ludicrous. They will not accept Ukraine is a sovereign state and they are not going to surrender, quite rightly so. Putin and his cohorts are nothing more than a bunch of very dangerous, murderous and bullies.

Yeah I agree with your last sentence. But there has been some movement in the demands. 

[westernpark]

26 minutes ago, surrifox said:

Surely he can’t call a halt and leave Zelensky in power in Ukraine . That would be a nightmare for him with liberalism leaking into his benighted country through an open border . He needs a tailors dummy like Lukashenko as head of state 

Yeah it’s a long game for both sides. There’ll be peace for a bit. 

[Daggers]

[WigstonWanderer]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Pardon my cynicism, but I think that's entirely easy to believe given human psychology, precisely because one is all that it takes. And that Russian system is (all likelihood) not only implemented, but still operational.

 

If it comes, the herald of the end of civilisation will be a mushroom cloud (either as a succession to increased global temperature causing increased tension over resources or not) and a person saying..."but I did it for my country."

 

[FoxesDeb]

I'm so conflicted when I see footage of this. As much as I want Ukraine to defend themselves, whenever I see a Russian tank blown up I feel sorry for the people in them, and their parents. Some of them seem so young. It's just shit for everyone. 

 

On a brighter note we've offered our spare rooms out to a family, not sure if anyone will want to come this far south, but we will see! 

[SpacedX]

My immediate concern is this. The siege of/battle for Aleppo lasted what was it, four years? - approximately 30,000 deaths, accounting for almost a tenth of the overall Syrian war casualties. Enter Russia and the use of non-conventional weapons and the dropping of barrel bombs, it was over in 14 days. President Putin underestimated many things in this invasion, chief amongst them was the resistance from Ukrainian armed forces and the people. 2m have fled Kyiv, but it has since been transformed into fortress. I honestly think the Kremlin expected this to be done in a week. The more protracted this conflict becomes, the more body bags coming back to Russia, the faster the tailspin of the Ruble - the more untenable Mr. Putin's position becomes. Chlorine gas is like Sarin, heavier than air. It can permeate subways, metro stations and bunkers. Unthinkable, but given Russia's allegations about Ukrainian chemical weapons and staged smoking gun - this I'm afraid is where we are heading. As I have consistently pointed out on these threads, the Russian military have done this before and the world powers averted their gaze. This made a mockery of the Geneva Protocol and legitimised the use of chemical weaponry in the eyes of every tyrant, despot, dictator and terrorist group worldwide, without fear of recourse. The more desperate he becomes, the more desperate the measures. This cannot be allowed to continue and the only exit ramp is compromise. Ukraine is unlikely to cave into Russian demands and given the intransigence of the Kremlin and their terms, why should they? I think that the only way forward is as it was during the equally near ruinous 1940 Winter War in which Finland to ceded territory (and later, declared neutrality). In spite of this illegal and monstrous invasion, western dialogue with Russia has not been maintained, and if the Ukrainian government is culpable for anything, it would similarly be the lack of constructive dialogue and diplomacy with the contested regions in the east and the separatists. From the Russian perspective, although NATO is a defensive alliance, its growth and potential encroachment is seen as hugely concerning to the national security of Russia - as was the influx of American advisers, trainers and military personnel following the overthrow of Yanukovych. 

 

I was listening to the historian Max Hastings today, who made the point that despite Kennedy's advisors urging him to bomb the **** out of Cuba in 1962 and ultimately meet the Russians head on, he was astute enough to realise that the way out of what seemed like imminent nuclear escalation was to gently back away from the brink through diplomacy and concession. Kennedy used US weapons as bargaining chips agreeing to withdraw nuclear armed Jupiter missiles from Turkey in exchange for which, Khrushchev ordered the removal of Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba.

 

Of course if Russia does have designs on the Baltic, then incursion into Lithuania or likely Estonia is NATO soil, article 5 is invoked and it's WWIII. 

 

Returning to the Winter War though, if you don't know his story, read about Finnish military sniper Simo Häyhä, the 'white death'. Ukraine have Ellena Belozerskaya...who on account of Mr.Putin's 'peacekeeping military operation' has come out of retirement especially for the occasion... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SpacedX]

29 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

On a brighter note we've offered our spare rooms out 

No take up from Foxes Talk then? Consider that a bullet decidedly dodged 

[Ecdysiast]

if there are any streamers out there - unlikely I know - be aware that many are reportedly based in Russia. For those that care.

[David Hankey]

2 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

I'm so conflicted when I see footage of this. As much as I want Ukraine to defend themselves, whenever I see a Russian tank blown up I feel sorry for the people in them, and their parents. Some of them seem so young. It's just shit for everyone. 

 

On a brighter note we've offered our spare rooms out to a family, not sure if anyone will want to come this far south, but we will see! 

I don't feel sorry for the Russians at all. With a population of 140M+ and led by a madmen what are they doing internally to allow him to continue his murderous ways?

[Carl the Llama]

53 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

I don't feel sorry for the Russians at all. With a population of 140M+ and led by a madmen what are they doing internally to allow him to continue his murderous ways?

I think of all places in the world, we're probably one with the least rights to ask how a country can do nothing about deceitful heads of state.  If we can't even get rid of Boris over his many inappropriate acts as an MP and subsequently PM, what chance would we have if he was a scary, murderous mob boss to boot?

[LCFCCHRIS]

7 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

I think of all places in the world, we're probably one with the least rights to ask how a country can do nothing about deceitful heads of state.  If we can't even get rid of Boris over his many inappropriate acts as an MP and subsequently PM, what chance would we have if he was a scary, murderous mob boss to boot?

Invading a country... Having a few beers at downing Street.. bit of a difference though 🤣

[Carl the Llama]

1 minute ago, LCFCCHRIS said:

Invading a country... Having a few beers at downing Street.. bit of a difference though 🤣

That's my point.  If we can't even take action against our lot's brand of corruption, how can you say with a straight face that our population would have stood up to Putin and his mob of cronies?

[LCFCCHRIS]

Just now, Carl the Llama said:

That's my point.  If we can't even take action against our lot's brand of corruption, how can you say with a straight face that our population would have stood up to Putin and his mob of cronies?

All depends what you mean by taking action. Don't think they've done anything bad enough to require some kind of extreme public uprising... But I know I could protest if I wanted to without risk of some huge prison sentence like in Russia. We're living in one of the best societies in human history imo, we should strive to protect and cherish it.

[Carl the Llama]

1 minute ago, LCFCCHRIS said:

All depends what you mean by taking action. Don't think they've done anything bad enough to require some kind of extreme public uprising... But I know I could protest if I wanted to without risk of some huge prison sentence like in Russia. We're living in one of the best societies in human history imo, we should strive to protect and cherish it.

At the moment you can.  If the government have their way with the Police, Crime & Sentencing bill you won't be able to though and I feel like that kind of speaks for my argument.

[LCFCCHRIS]

18 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

At the moment you can.  If the government have their way with the Police, Crime & Sentencing bill you won't be able to though and I feel like that kind of speaks for my argument.

If this bill will be as bad as people have been saying, then I agree.

[chapero82]

 

[Carl the Llama]

4 minutes ago, chapero82 said:

 

Wow that is huge if true.

[bovril]

I think we should just admit we don't really know what's going on in Russia or what Russians think

[Countryfox]

20 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

Wow that is huge if true.

Mega huge ..

[Countryfox]

I can just see the Russian generals getting done for war crimes ..  not ..  

 

“One day, on my day off generalling duties, I decided to visit Ukraine to study some of the fine architecture of their churches ..  “

 

 

[kenny]

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, bovril said:

I think we should just admit we don't really know what's going on in Russia or what Russians think

 This YouTube channel is great. They’re not stupid although most people here are young and seemingly look like students (aka well educated/able to see different perspectives).