Anyone who thinks Putin is stopping with Ukraine is deluding themselves

What is next, Wise Oracle?

Agree. Fiona Hill said so too. He might have overstepped with Ukraine but he's already had wars in Chechen, Georgia, Crimea.

Going to attack a NATO country . I also believe he’s going to do cyber attacks on USA and European countries

Your 10th Ukraine thread, OP.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia? Each has ethnic Russian minorities, the same pretense Putin used in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. And each of those three countries are NATO members.

They might as well drop the pretense of Belarus being a separate country.

He's not attacking a NATO country. Moldova, if anything. Transnistria. I doubt it, however, as he hasn't even attacked western Ukraine. He just wants a neutral buffer state, and maybe a chunk of Ukraine.

Oh no! I must sell my Moldovan holdings immediately!

The same cynics were gloating that Putin was losing badly over the weekend.

[quote] I must sell my Moldovan holdings immediately!

The Moldovan stock market is a massacre now!

I don’t know a single soul who thinks he is going to stop, including the media and government, which is why they’re doing all they are to drain Russia.

He is losing badly, r8. He's over. He's toast.

Mearsheimer speaking "at" King's College, Cambridge, 2/21/22. They're interested in wrecking Ukraine - not invading NATO countries.

R12 Putin could have stopped at Donbass but he didn't. And he's going to get 1) more NATO as more countries want to join because of this 2) Germany has announced they will spend a lot more on defence 3) serious economic sanctions.

I can't be bothered to listen to the whole of that 1 hour 20 minute video r12, but from the little I heard (mainly about Russia-China relations), that man is wrong. With Putin soon to be out and a democratic government in place in Russia, the balance of everything changes.

R12, Putin could have stopped at Donbass but he didn't because he realised - once Blinken cancelled the meeting with Lavrov - that the US knows just how shit his army is. So, he's trying to show the US that they're wrong and that his army is capable. As we can see, apart from some bombing and destruction, his army is shit and is incapable of capturing anything.

So why hasn't Putin telegraphed this little fact r12, to the rest of the world? You know, let them know his real intentions, to neutralize Ukraine only. That doesn't seem to be the plan at the moment. It's not a good time for miscommunication of objectives.

R11, is drunk

A video is circulating that pretty much confirms he had plans to invade another country right after Ukraine. He didn’t expect Ukraine to give him this much of a fight.

Once Putin decided to pop off and invade, the stakes of the conflict changed. It is no longer really about Ukraine. It's now about regime change. I don't think this was even on the table 10 days ago. People were talking mostly about his actions in Donetsk and Luhansk and whether the world would have any power to stop him taking those areas. The calculus has changed almost on a dime, and Russia has suddenly become a pariah state with very little hope for its economic future for as long as Putin draws breath on this earth. It's pretty fucking breathtaking.

I bet this is a war that will be prosecuted in international fora. There will be reparations demands and--I would not be surprised--a demand that Russia give up its nukes. Putin has made well documented threats to use them, and he's escalating the conflict out of desperation. Take away Russia's nukes, and you may as well cut Putin's dick off, that's the level on which his blunt Bolshevik mind operates.

All that Putin's little bitch-orgy of violence is doing is showing the international community how important it is to do exactly that.

While I appreciate your sentiment {"Russia give up its nukes"), that's not going to happen... without a world war that Russia loses and is forced; hence, their need for nukes. I do think it's possible that Putin, however, could be rejected and/or removed by the Russian people (and by Russian people, I mean oligarchs who are losing $billions right now with no end in sight).

I truly hope he is stopped

Of course

Yeah, right...

At best I don't think you can call this thing. Putin is in over his head and little is going to plan, but the situation changes daily.

I think this is a slow motion problem for him. He will occupy Ukraine but the people will never stop fighting back and soldiers will be coming home in body bags.

The sanctions won't lift. Daily life for regular people will be very difficult and a restive population can bring down even the most powerful, especially when his corrupt cronies look around and think we can preserve a measure of our comforts if we just get rid of the boss.

Doubt it unless he plans to use nukes. His conventional forces simply don’t have that much power.

The Russian army is running out of food. That’s a big issue. Days ago there was a video floating around showing a lot of the food they have is expired since 2015. Putin gave them expired food and all because they don’t have shit.

I wonder if his military has been moving slow on purpose.

A week is a long time in politics. It's an eternity in war.

R26, it’s possible that they are hoping that they can bomb/scare Kyiv into surrendering without a full assault.

Western news media are reporting that the reason the column has stopped is because many of the vehicles have no more gas and—as was just mentioned—they are running low on fuel. It’s basic logistics 101, but Putin fucked it up.

^^running low on food

"Would you tell me why the hell we'd try to win back in a war What we wasted in the last? Might just ain't as righteous as it used to be before When your army's out of gas. "

Don’t trust the media

R32 I’m not. I’m trusting the words coming from Ukraine itself and the satellite videos online.

"With Putin soon to be out, and a democratic government in place in Russia...." This second thing is not going to happen 'soon.'

"Western news media are reporting that the reason the column has stopped is because many of the vehicles have no more gas and—as was just mentioned—they are running low on food"

Hey, Puti, Going to War 101: Make sure your troops have fuel and food

Yeah, well, markets don't lie. And with or without a Ukrainian surrender, Russia is fucked for years and years and years to come.

This is kind of a crudely put together finance website, but it does list, in order, *today's* cost of sovereign debt credit default swaps of varying maturities. As of today, the cost of insuring Russian bonds against default for one month is up 81%. For six months, it's up 427%. The only country with a higher CDS yield today is Turkey.

What does that tell you about Mr. Market thinks about Russia's prospects over the next few months?

[quote] Putin is in over his head and little is going to plan, but the situation changes daily. I think this is a slow motion problem for him.

I agree this is a slow motion problem for Putin, but it's because the situation *isn't* changing daily. He's gradually tightening the screws around the major cities, but too slowly—every day's news is more "Russia besieging Kyiv," same as yesterday. We're now at the end of the seventh day of fighting, and even his allies or neutral countries (e.g. China) can see that Putin's Russia is a paper tiger without much besides nuclear weapons—which are a serious threat, but would lose him what little support he has left.

But what shape are are they in? I watched a video around 2 years ago about the state of Russian nukes and they were reported to be actually rusting. What is the truth? Do we have any way of truly knowing ?

I wish posters here would identify what country they are from.

^ If Puti, can't maintain his ground equipment what makes you think he's maintained his nukes? One report I read was that key parts of the nukes were sold off ages ago and there's doubt about getting any to launch. I guess Puti and his nukes are impotent

R40- This I believe because it is common sense. I hope that hit from the Russian businessman is also true.

There is no telling but someone I know who was in the military and then navy for years, and grew up with a father who was in the military and knows all about this stuff said he knows for a fact that Russia has an entire intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fleet targeted at every major city in the USA. This is the fear the government has but they won’t tell us this.

Russian bigwigs starting to publicly say: "Enough."

I read some of the Russian billionaires are fuming because they’re losing money over all this.

^ Of course, once this fat cats got the taste of western capitalism they're not about to give it up

Now we will see who really holds all of the power. The rich.

R46 they control the narrative. If only more people realized the rich are our enemy, not each other. The wars should be the rich vs the poor, not racial or gender or sexuality etc. like they want.

R47- It truly amazes me how anyone can be that uneducated and uninformed, but here we are.

"Bring it, Bitch!"

Clearly he isn’t going to stop with Ukraine- that is for sure. I do have some friends in Bulgaria that have mentioned that the country had received a message fairly recently from Russia (before this aggression), that Bulgaria should exit NATO (basically phrased a bit like mafia style- as in “it would be in your best interests to leave NATO”) At the end of the day- who really knows- however that sounds about par for the course.

Here are other threads that OP (aka Chicken Little's) has started, according to troll-dar:

[quote]WW3 is imminent

[quote]Prepare and pray 🙏

[quote]Putin wants World War 3

[quote]Make no mistake about it. He is very much in control here .

F&F for this Doomsday Troll.

Putin doesn't give a shit about his troops, they should all stand down. He sent some to Chernobyl and they'll be in worse shape than the WTC clean up crew.

Yes, Putin doesn’t care about them and even lied to them. Many of them are teenagers, too. Maks said most of the ones he saw were kids, and looked terrified. Supposedly they were told they were just doing drills, not a real war. Putin fucked them over.

On the other Putin thread there is a video of Russian soldiers manhandling an elderly lady. Repulsive.

He wants to reconstruct the Warsaw Pact. I think that’s about as foolish a wish as anyone could have. The United States alone is far more capable militarily than Russia, but aggression any further west will put him at war with the United States AND TWENTY NINE OTHER COUNTRIES.

R55- He wants to turn back time. That is impossible.

If only Putin and Republicans would realize that, R56.

Putin also wants those natural gas reserves.

Ukraine has maybe the best natural resources in Asia - certainly in that region.

Except that Ukraine is in Europe.

From the latest reports, seems like cunt is winning, he's destroying the fucking cites, captured a port and now attacking more cities.

Putin's presidency is over. Maybe not this month or even this year, but inevitably it will come to an ignoble end. Even if subjugates Ukraine, he's going to have over-lordship of a country with 40 million people who fucking hate his guts. There will be a grinding insurgency. Shunned from the outside, he's also turning Russia into a pariah state with a shambolic economy, North Korea 2.0 really.

Eventually, some day, he's going to be slipped some poison tea, "accidentally" fall out of a window, or have a bullet put in his head.

^ what R61 said

They have done this for years, R3. But I agree, it will increase.

I know this sounds paranoid... and it is, until it isn't, but accepting the risk of disruption from cyber attacks, I presently have a lot more cash in the house than I've had in ten years and a lot of bottled water. I read about disruption to major infrastructure system, recoverable but it wasn't outside possible. I feel like a kook even saying this, but I made arrangements for both.

I think I will go wrap myself in tinfoil now and crouch under my desk.

What R61 said. I pointed out on another thread that the Ukrainian population is about one third of Russia's. If and when Putin absorbs Ukraine into Russia, as he says he will (“Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood”), how much of Russia's military and economic resources will have to go into keeping a full quarter of the country's total population under control? And under continuing economic isolation from the West.

Ukraine ain't Chechnya. Russia will be depleted to the status of a Chinese client state. Putin's grand plan has already backfired, and the oligarchs and military should realize as soon as possible that conquering Ukraine has no security benefits for Russia.

^ Wow, well said and a quite reasonable summation

You must chill.

They should revive Mr. Bill but make Sluggo Putin. In the reboot, Sluggo does not prevail.

Everyone seems to think one answer or the other is done and dusted already.

Putin is capable of anything. But how far he goes depends on other factors than what he'd like to do. One is the response of the rest of the world, especially but not limited to, the West and Europe. Another is whether Russians themselves are tired enough of body bags coming home from a 20-year fierce, violent insurgency, and years of economic hardship.

Moldova's constitution forbids the parking of foreign troops on its soil, which is one reason it hasn't joined NATO. That means nothing. It isn't in the EU but operates on some sort of partnership programmecwoth it.

If the West is content to spend years and billions supporting an insurgency that will constitute Afghanistan in Europe, Putin will put up with that.

You could say that's better than all out war, but. Is it, really? An aggressive Russian puppet government installed on Europe's doorstep in a large country run by a megalomaniac? A large democracy overrun in the midst of Europe? Bodies piling up for years? Atrocities everywhere and then later the West weeping crocodile tears about how they did too little, too late?

Hitler took Alsace-Lorraine and then Czechoslovakia and they let him. He had to invade Poland before the handwriting was on the wall.

In nuclear war, Russia will lose, too.

How dangerous, or not, does the West really the fall of Ukraine to a ruthless savage autocrat on its doorstep?

That's what Putin is waiting to find out before he makes his next step.

Ukraine will fall within two months at the outside.

Then the West dooms those people to at least a decade of death, despair, incessant fighting, and a triumphant tyrant sneering at the West as Russia adapts to its new economic conditions, backed China, Iran, and to a certain extent, India, the world's next economic giant.

If the West lets Putin take Ukraine, it will pay a huge price down the road.

I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to go all in and lance the festering boil on Europe's arse now.

^ Interesting take, but you make too many assumptions

Here's something that could be done symbolically. Every street or avenue or square where there is a Russian consulate or embassy should be renamed "Ukraine Blvd." or "Kyiv Avenue" or "Zelinskyy Square." Build a memorial to the Ukraine dead from the Russian invasion right across the street from each one, with a giant Ukrainian flag.

I think it undercuts the conflict between China's strategy, relying on it's economic dominance, and Putin's criminal invasion. There was no one to contain Hitler. The China Russia dynamic is a variable. Russia's interests do not support China's plan.

Oh no.

[quote] as Russia adapts to its new economic conditions, backed China, Iran, and to a certain extent, India, the world's next economic giant

Here's the problem, R69. Does the Russian ruling class, economic and military, really want to give up their world stature and international lifestyle in exchange for a second-tier stature, letting China, Iran, and India dictate their governmental and economic policy? Because that's what "backed by" means in this case. Is a dependent Ukraine—with all of its military headaches—worth it to them?

If he would attack another country, and I don't think he will, it could be Bosnia and Herzegovina. A lot of ethnic Serbs there who want to separate themselves from BaH and have their own country. Plus, Serbia is his number two European ally, right after Belarus. And their radical conservatives are still dreaming of big Serbia like Putin is dreaming of big Russia. It would get Russia to close to the Adriatic sea/Mediterranean.

Close the Adriatic/Mediterranean, what R75? With NATO members Italy, Greece, Turkey, France and Spain being the rather large countries surrounding the Mediterranean?

Plus, Serbia rather enjoys being part of Western Europe now that it's not longer a pariah state.

Basically, Ukraine has been targeted by the West for “regime change” since at least the “Orange Revolution” of 2004 which was a creation of the NGO racket and Western intelligence, ousting the pro-Russian Victor Yanukovych.

The succeeding Tymoshenko government privatized state assets and vocally supported NATO membership to “protect Ukraine from Russian aggression”.

Things went back and forth for a while with Yanukovych as opposition leader, after which he was elected to the presidency in 2010 and played a chief role in shaping the succeeding two governments.

Then we of course end up with the US-backed coup in 2014, the “Revolution of Dignity”, according to Wikipedia. The purpose of this coup was to absorb Ukraine into the EU, indirectly rendering it a NATO asset, and of course reducing its utility as a Russian market. ... Since 2014, the United States alone has spent billions of dollars for this purpose, including supplies of arms and equipment and training of specialists. In the last few months, there has been a constant flow of Western weapons to Ukraine, ostentatiously, with the entire world watching. Foreign advisors supervise the activities of Ukraine’s armed forces and special services and we are well aware of this.

Over the past few years, military contingents of NATO countries have been almost constantly present on Ukrainian territory under the pretext of exercises. The Ukrainian troop control system has already been integrated into NATO. This means that NATO headquarters can issue direct commands to the Ukrainian armed forces, even to their separate units and squads.

The United States and NATO have started an impudent development of Ukrainian territory as a theatre of potential military operations. Their regular joint exercises are obviously anti-Russian. Last year alone, over 23,000 troops and more than a thousand units of hardware were involved.

A law has already been adopted that allows foreign troops to come to Ukraine in 2022 to take part in multinational drills. Understandably, these are primarily NATO troops. This year, at least ten of these joint drills are planned. ...

In addition to the US-NATO military investments in Ukraine, there is the $10 billion plan being implemented by Erik Prince, founder of the private US military company Blackwater, now renamed Academi, which has been supplying mercenaries to the CIA, Pentagon, and State Department for covert operations (including torture and assassinations), earning billions of dollars. Erik Prince’s plan, revealed by a Time Magazine investigation [1], is to create a private army in Ukraine through a partnership between the Lancaster 6 company, with which Prince has supplied mercenaries in the Middle East and Africa, and the main Ukrainian intelligence office controlled by the CIA. It is not known, of course, what would be the tasks of the private army created in Ukraine by the founder of Blackwater, certainly with funding from the CIA. However, it can be expected that it would conduct covert operations in Europe, Russia, and other regions from its base in Ukraine.

Against this background, it is particularly alarming that the Russian Defense Minister Shoygu denounced that in the Donetsk region there are “private US military companies that are preparing a provocation with the use of unknown chemicals.” This could be the spark that causes the detonation of a war in the heart of Europe: a chemical attack against Ukrainian civilians in Donbas, immediately attributed to the Russians of Donetsk and Lugansk, which would be attacked by the preponderant Ukrainian forces already deployed in the region, to force Russia to intervene militarily in their defense.

In the front line, ready to slaughter the Russians in the Donbas, is the Azov Battalion, promoted to a special forces regiment, trained and armed by the US and NATO, distinguished for its ferocity in attacks on the Russian populations of Ukraine. The Azov Battalion, which recruits neo-Nazis from all over Europe under its flag, traced from that of SS Das Reich, is commanded by its founder Andrey Biletsky, promoted to colonel [2]. It is not only a military unit, but an ideological and political movement, of which Biletsky is the charismatic leader, especially for the youth wing educated to hate the Russians with his book The Words of the White Führer.

R76 No, they don't. Most of Serbians say they support Russia in what they are doing.

Well that would surely win the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people.

It'll be a meager spectacle compared to the desecration awaiting Putin's bloated, geriatric corpse when he's paraded in front of the world by his usurpers.

Another outcome of Putin's "genius" move.

Very much like in America, there are two groups: the older and rural who swallow everything Dear Leader Putin tells them....and everyone else. The latter, who are against the war, some of whom have taken to the streets in ✌️ peaceful protest are to be conscriped into the Russian military or killed. The Russian equivalent of MAGATs there are of course all for it.

Ukraine, Georgia, and now Moldova are applying for EU membership. Sweden and Finland (both already in the EU) giving a serious look at joining NATO.

Good job, Putin. You're accomplishing exactly the opposite of what you wanted. Genius.

Has anyone gotten the gymnast to flip on him yet? Those bitches have lethal thighs. She could lure him with pussy and then fatally constrict him around the neck. Not too late to save yourself, Alina.

Again, maybe not this week or next, but at some point the Russian elite looks around and asks: what do we have to do to preserve our cut?

The only good news so far is that these homophobic Chechen murderers are getting killed off. Hopefully, they throw them our of every country in the EU too.

Apparently Covid freaked Putin out? I wonder if it made him realize how chaotic life is, that he's not in control, that war has changed, that everything in the world could be gone so easily so what was even the point? And now he's a lost, scared, dying old man trying to take the world out with him.

Putin is now fighting three wars: one in Ukraine, one against the rest of the world in the form of sanctions, and a third growing at home. They are all going poorly for him.

They'll have to kill him, eventually. That's how it ends. They will assassinate him to preserve themselves.

When I see Putin at the end of that long table, I think this is just the moment for a midget with a poison blow-dart--just like in Sherlock Holmes "The Sign of Four"--to take him out. Yes, it's politically incorrect. But now is not the time for such quibbling. The future of the free world is at stake.

I think it would be a very fitting end. He loves that kind of tacky, Cold-War style "cloak and dagger"-style theatrics. The thought of something like that is probably the only thing that gets him semi-hard anymore.

[Quote] Russia has an entire intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fleet targeted at every major city in the USA.

And you think the US hasn't returned this tribute? That was what the whole Cold War scenario was all about.

I see Svetlana has woken up and weighed in at R77 and 78. Nice try, Svetlana, but be that as it may, there's no substantial support in Ukraine for Russian domination—far from it. Except for possibly Crimea and those border districts in the east, the country overwhelmingly wants independence from Russia and close ties with western Europe. That's not a creation of covert western aid.

And I've got some more news for you: even the RUSSIAN upper class wants close ties with western Europe. If they didn't, they would have been spending their time and money in Russia, India, and China, not London, New York, Paris, Switzerland, Aspen, the Riviera, etc. They make it clear by their actions that they want close economic ties; now they must be realizing that those have a political and military component, too.

Russia is losing? Not from new reports

R74 It's a good question. I just don't the answer. The next question is, can we afford to wait to find out?

There isn't. so far as I know, a single foreign policy analyst out there who believes that the most far reaching sanctions will stop Putin in Ukraine.

The West will still lose face, and waste billions in a futile attempt to stop him, and more billions funding the insurance.

The bill for 20 years in Afghanistan was in the trillions. And the West still lost.

To me, this looks like doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result

Only this time, right on the doorstep.

Russia is steadily gaining ground in Ukraine, but losing big in the world economy and in geopolitical power. R95, your analysis should be directed at Putin, who is tying his country up in a long quagmire that will drain its money and military resources, even aside from sanctions. And its weakness has already been revealed—eight days and counting to take Kyiv or Kharkiv.

The West can do without Ukraine, and our economies will adjust to compensate for the Russian market. But Russia can't do without the West, unless it becomes subordinate to China and India, thus defeating Putin's whole agenda.

Little Miss Molotov is burning through arms/materiel and cash every day, hour, and minute that (s)he continues this tantrum and that Ukraine continues to hold out. The report I heard indicated that Putin was planning for 96 hours to take all of the country.

Putin's army loses momentum because it's rapidly spending through its resources. When the West intervenes militarily, which it will, it is to their advantage to confront a weakened and worn out enemy, which is happening very quickly because Putin is (like phallically threatened and over-the-hill men everywhere and across history), blowing his wad.

Jeangenie, just want to say, I love you.

Thanks, babe.

[quote] He’s going all out .

Nah. Just some minor incursions

[Quote] But Russia can't do without the West, unless it becomes subordinate to China and India, thus defeating Putin's whole agenda.

Didn't Putin make a fly in fly out trip to India to meet Modi just before this? And he was one of a very few leaders who went to Beijing for the winter Olympics. He was covering his bases no doubt.

When I read someone referring to Europe, the US and Canada "The West" I usually am looking at a big ole Russkie troll. Barring diplomaticspeak Americans do not think of themselves that way.

NATO is what that troll should be saying

Putin wants the Soviet Union breakaway clumsy back. Plus Alaska. I bet you he wants Alaska and the GOP with President Palin in charge will sell it to him.

I've made multiple references to "the West" and I am not a "Russkie troll" (except maybe in Putin's no doubt unimaginative and clumsy Soviet wet dreams). It is colloquial/online shorthand for "Western liberal democracies" and related worldviews, thus encompassing other countries that are formally unaligned with NATO but ideologically and economically aligned with the post-war democratic world order, such as Switzerland, Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta, and Sweden.

Russia will spend the next few decades trying to recover from this ridiculous blunder. Vlad will be dead, so he won't care, but the rest of the oligarchs are in for some rough shit going forward.

[quote]R104: Putin wants the Soviet Union breakaway clumsy back.

Once more in English, please.

[quote]Barring diplomaticspeak Americans do not think of themselves that way.

How do they think of themselves?

Contrary to what someone said upthread, Hitler did not take Alsace-Lorraine and Czechoslovakia before his invasion of Poland.

He took AUSTRIA and Czechoslovakia, and that was what led to WW II when he invaded Poland.

^^^^^*the insurgency (not the insurance) Fucking autocorrect.

What R105 said. "The West" is routine shorthand for the EU, US, UK, Canada, and allied democracies—used in those countries. No idea where R103 got the notion that it's current only among "Russkie trolls."

R71 Symbols mean nothing.

Try eating them with a side of beefsteak and a nice chiantu.

Or burning them for heat after you e burnt all your furniture.

This is the problem: too many symbols, not enough men and materiel.

"The West" is perfectly acceptable usage. Issue resolved.

@r107, I'm getting a little tired of getting the Russia Bronze Troll Team around here

^*chianti (not chiantu)

Taking bets on when Putin begins to purge his inner circle. You know the ones who “talked him into” this invasion, who “told him the army was fully stocked with the most up-to-date hardware”. Because it will never be HIS fault. He’s a stable genius.

All these border countries rushing to join NATO or the EU. He’s losing his buffer! Never seems to ask himself why they want to join a less-corrupt union with a strong economy. Too busy getting his % from the oligarchs.

[quote]@[R107], I'm getting a little tired of getting the Russia Bronze Troll Team around here

Sigh. You get what you pay for.

R109 Alsace-Lorraine was a region between. Yes, he annexed Austria first. But he didn't "take" Austria militarily; he "claimed" the Alsace region between and then marched into Czechoslovakia and then Poland.

"In the front line, ready to slaughter the Russians in the Donbas, is the Azov Battalion"

HA! Yeah, all 900 of them. That's how many there are.

To put a very fine point on it, there is the very real possibility that Putin will martyr Russia via nuclear war. He will do it if he's backed into a corner and has no other options. The man won't blink or back down...nor be coerced by any "off" ramp the West tosses his way.

Because it's his way...or oblivion. Nothin in between unless someone decides to assassinate him, which is laughably unlikely.

We're not all mixing up Alsace and the Ruhr Valley are we? Or are they the same. The "invasion" of the Ruhr Valley was a big deal, but I think it was technically part of Germany. Just demilitarized or something.

Calling a real Eldergay! Any true Eldergays in the house?

R116 It takes years to join the EU with thousands of bureaucratic agreements and examination of economic standing. Christ, they even disabused Sturgeon of the notion that Scotland would be quickly grandfathered in after BREXIT.

NATO may be a different matter.

And the EU can't even defend it's own borders. FRONTEX is a joke.

But NATO might be able to expedite membership.

Then let's see how serious Putin is.

@r117 "—Vlad"

Don't you have anything better to do than hang with a bunch of Gay guys?

R64, hugs to you.

Just some tips to help your paranoia. You CAN do something.

[quote] "In the front line, ready to slaughter the Russians in the Donbas, is the Azov Battalion" HA! Yeah, all 900 of them. That's how many there are.

Do they have drones? Cause I've been telling you, that's the ticket. That long line of Russians just sitting there like ducks in a row. Drone them out.

[quote] All these border countries rushing to join NATO or the EU. He’s losing his buffer! Never seems to ask himself why they want to join a less-corrupt union with a strong economy. Too busy getting his % from the oligarchs.

Right. HE doesn't need a buffer. No one is trying to invade Russia. It's the other countries that need a buffer from g=him - in any form they can get it.

Putin's the one trying to overthrow a democratically elected government and steal their natural resources by brute force in the 21st century. He's the one who stole Crimea to get at those natural resources (the newly discovered natural gas mostly in the Crimean region in 2012) to keep Ukraine poor and to keep them from developing those resources and becoming competition to his energy companies. The old regime was a Putin ally. He succeeded at first because Ukraine didn't have the resources to develop them but once they invited in Shell et al to assist in developing them Ukraine "threatened" to become a huge petrol state and take away Russia's European customers.

Fuck Putin. He's just a maniacal greedy bastard.

What a fuckin scumbag. Put a bullet in his goddamned inbred looking head. Piece of shit. Fucking hate him almost as much as I hate Trump.

He IS losing badly R5. He’s a complete joke. Russia has a completely incompetent military. The real question is do they have weaponry that can make up for that that isn’t rusting in some dump in the Tundra. That is an open question which will likely soon be answered. Putin and Russia aren’t the foes they think they are, and the whole world is seeing it in real time.

Leaving NATO/military aspects aside, as well as the money woes of oligarchs and mafia types, just take a look at the damages that the broader Russian economy is experiencing in warp-speed fashion as we bitches type. This is part of a market comment from an investor friend of mine:

-- Note that virtually all of Russia's technology and infrastructure (e.g. payment systems) are imported, which is fine as long as you're able to import such technology, but which Russia is now unable to do. Apple Pay and Google Pay are widely used in Russia (for basic stuff like buying Metro tickets), but they're now shut down, so people have to come up with cash for Metro tickets (thus, long lines forming these days at Metro stations). Visa and MasterCard are also shut down, raising transaction costs just to move money from one place to another *domestically* in Russia.

Boeing and Airbus have said they'll stop providing spare parts to airplanes they've sold to Russia, so either look for planes to start falling out of the sky, or for flight traffic to curtail dramatically, both domestically and internationally. In order to make flight reservations in Russia (as in most places around the world), you use a system based on technology from an American company called Sabre, which (literally 5 minutes ago) ended its involvement with Russian air carriers (with whom they have worked since 2005). Without Sabre, there's no reservation system, and therefore no flights.

With Russia now mostly kicked out of SWIFT and the Russian Central Bank under strict restrictions, Russia must now base its foreign trade on barter (oil and gas in exchange for cars, etc).

Western sanctions also include strict limits on the export of technology to Russia. All of this means that we are basically seeing a throwback to a pre-1991 world, before the fall of the Soviet Union. Back then, the USSR had to copy Western technology and/or smuggle technology into the country, or rely on bad copies of goods from other non-Western countries. The result of all that is clear from the photos we are now seeing of Russian military vehicles with crummy knockoff tires stuck in the mud. And this was the standard of goods *before* the sanctions.

Without technology, there is no long-term economic growth, so Russia is facing many years of economic stagnation if the current sanctions are maintained. Militarily, this will also weaken Russia significantly.

Alsace and Lorraine are nowhere near Austria and had nothing to do with its annexation.

Austria lies to the south of Bavaria, Germany's southernmost area. Alsace and Lorraine are borderland between northeastern France and Germany.

And Hitler did not "take" Alsace and Lorraine until his invasion of France itself.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote] The report I heard indicated that Putin was planning for 96 hours to take all of the country.

Nah. No way. 48 hours at most. He expected to roll in as inheritor King with ticker tape parades throughout the country as they welcomed back Mother Russia. He expected little to no resistance. He can’t afford resistance.

[quote]Boeing and Airbus have said they'll stop providing spare parts to airplanes they've sold to Russia, so either look for planes to start falling out of the sky, or for flight traffic to curtail dramatically, both domestically and internationally.

Aeroflot: Where we let kiddies fly plane!

Just for those keeping track: the sun set two hours ago on the wight day of fighting in Ukraine, and Russia is still trying to take over the major cities. This is just the beginning of a massive drain on Russian resources that the occupation, if and when it comes, will exacerbate. Good luck keeping down those 40 million Ukrainians, tovarishchi!

They just need more fighters and weapons and they can hold them off.

May God help us all get through this. I've had my prime years, but my niece and nephew are still in high school, and this fucking piece of shit is going to launch nukes and put an end to EVERYTHING. He's a deranged sociopath.

Finland is worried because they're not a NATO country and border Russia.

There's a series on Netflix called Occupied, where Russia invades Norway. Like a lot, it's better in the first season than the third but may rewatch it, all things considered.

R126 Almost?

Somebody in Finland stuck up on twitter one of those picture things where you're supposed to put an x in every pic where there's a fire hydrant to prove you're not a robot. They put up a dozen pictures of snowy woods in Finland with the caption: put a checkmark in every pic where you see a Finnish sniper. Every pic had a checkmark..

Did you see The Americans on Prime? Set starting around the '60s, two Russian spies live in suburban DC, with unknowing children and a CIA neighbor. The dramatization is chilling.

Isn't Putin actually winning if you boil it down?

I get that nobody can militarily intervene. Or, we can, but then we'll be in the midst of The Bigger One- WWIII. Even more to the point is that Putin knows that.

Isn't that just another way of saying that Putin has the world by the balls?

That we're experiencing mass, collective emotional blackmail on a world scale?

If the reports are correct that, unless Ukraine is armed and fast, eventually Russia's sheer physical and military might will overwhelm Ukraine.

The guy on MSNBC just said so.

WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT OF ALL OF THIS IF THERE IS NO MILITARY INTERVENTION BY NATO?

Then let's stop all of this pretense and tell Ukraine, "Too bad, so sad."

Sorry for my rant everybody. I certainly don't want any US soldiers or from anywhere else deployed to Ukraine.

I'm just adjusting my cheese that slightly slipped off my cracker.

[quote]WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT OF ALL OF THIS IF THERE IS NO MILITARY INTERVENTION BY NATO?

NATO exists to defend NATO. It is not an army, it is an alliance created to protect the member nations. There are other ways to wage war, that don't have CNN level comfort of actual, visual, theme music warfare but can provoke as much trouble for Putin as any bomb. And it avoids the use of nuclear weapons and the waste of even more lives than are already being wasted. The world and warfare have changed.

He's winning the battle but losing the war Della. He's winning like Hitler won in Poland, and even France. The world in its slow, stupid, clumsy way is turning toward him in the bad way. He will be dead inside a year, most probably, and Russia hunkered down and praying for daylight.

NATO doesn't want to get involved because of the threat of using nuclear weapons. Are they right? I don't know. I wouldn't like to have to make that call.

NATO is an alliance formed for the protection of the member nations. "Article Five of the treaty states that if an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it shall be considered an attack against all members, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary."

That isn't what we're dealing with here. NATO can't get involved. It does not intervene in matters outside the member nations and when it does there is a process that is followed, because NATO is not an army. If NATO gets involved it is the equivalent to declarations of war by all the member nations, which is generally something approved by the legislative processes in each country.

Well in fairness r145, Declarations of War are passe. America goes to war on a whim, really since Korea. But I don't think we are particularly interested in getting into a shooting war with Russia. There are other ways to kill it, and we are doing that, slowly. More boa constrictor than cobra.

That's always been one of the tensions of modern American government... when the executive branch goes to war without the legislative branch signing off, or rubber stamp signing off. But I agree and great analogy: boa constrictor. It's already happening. I agree with whoever said he's dead in year.

Ok

Ok

Meanwhile, I think I'll turn my attention to observing China and guessing at what they're doing and thinking, all for something else to helplessly stew about.

Garry Kasparov on Twitter had a great idea, since NATO is so stuck in the fine print about whether to intervene: sell fighter jets to Ukraine for one euro each. Paint UKR on the side and offer a Ukrainian passport to a volunteer of any nationality that's willing to fly in combat.

I've read that 16,000 foreign citizens have volunteered to fight in Ukraine and will form a 'Foreign Legion' according to Zelenskiy. In the past such volunteering has not worked well but this has been limited to people with prior military experience.

How would the USA react if Russia put missiles in Toronto. USA starts wars all the time whenever the fuck they want so please spare me the Bullshit. The Average person is once again fucked over here there and everywhere. Dismissed.

R148, that’s a good idea, because China is a huge factor in this. They didn’t sign up to die from radiation poisoning just when things were really getting good.

I hope they do that R149. If Ukraine could seize the air superiority it would be stunning turnaround.

[quote] The result of all that is clear from the photos we are now seeing of Russian military vehicles with crummy knockoff tires stuck in the mud.

I take it this is your first war?

Sounds like Iran has seized upon the Ukraine invasion as a window to securing terms for itself in ongoing JCPOA (nuclear talks). The Reuters article released this afternoon says Iran is saying it can return to "full oil output" 2 months after a deal on nukes is struck.

I'm reminded of our own SHOOT TRUMP FIRST troll of yesteryear and would caution our Russian brethren that we failed to heed that wise advise to our detriment.

SHOOT VLAD FIRST and then sort the rest out.

And another piece from the Atlantic Council on the role that Iranian oil/nat gas can play in offsetting Russian energy exports.

This opens the door to Iran, whose oil industry has been threatening to both the Saudis and the Russians, but, you know, fuck Putin. China's been buying their oil all along, so their production ramp-up will not be that hard. Israel will hate this, but they refused Iron Dome to the Ukrainians, so I bet their protests are not gonna carry a whole lot of weight with Biden's people.

Well good jeangenie. It's long past time we all got out of the neurotic foreign policy phase with Iran. (Of course we're still stuck there with Cuba, but maybe we can stop that shit too.)

[quote] He wants to turn back time

I really believe we are heading for world war three, those are scary times and it seems unreal. What next? Aliens?

Aliens, r160? If you are going to go all Mary! end of the world, it's obviously zombie apocalypse.

How? Russia is broke and 90% of his Army is Ukraine

And for a very long time, apparently r162

Anyone who has been to Russia (immersed in the culture- not just visiting touristy hotels) and has also been to other developed countries knows that Russia is not in good financial health. There is still World War II debris. I saw tanks from World War II on a road trip to Novogorod. That is probably what they having these kids drive. The water system in St. Petersburg gets shut off some summers (the hot water) and the entire city has cold and I mean COLD COLD showers- you don't know a cold water shower until you have showered where the water is permanently cold. It's bizarre the disparity of wealth. It ALL goes directly to a few

yeah, that's the thing, r164. Never been there, but from everything I have read, that is the reality. It is clinging to faded glory, but honestly even when it was a huge deal dicking around all over the globe it was still a mess at home. Now it doesn't even get dicking around privileges and the whole the Russia Will End Us crap is just sort of embarrassing whenever it crops up.

And the truth is, and I don't want to see this, cause, you know, nukes and all, but if the U.S. just got bored with this shit and decided to truly fuck up Russia, it would not be all that difficult to do some serious bombing and fighting and sending tanks and all the shit that happens when we Americans get into one of our moods. Russia would feel the kind of shit it has not felt since World War II. We shouldn't, because of course, those nukes, but we really, really easily could.

And actually, I will add, we shouldn't because bombing a lot of innocent Russians who don't control anything their asshole government does is awful in and of itself. But seriously, Vlad, we could. I know you are losing touch with reality, but before you go to the total dark place, think seriously about your options and your realities.

R166 It would. I remember being a kid in the 80's with all the War Games type movies, thinking of Russia as an equal to the US on the economic and military front- to me it was McDonalds vs Burger King, Coke vs Pepsi, US versus Russia. When I got there I was shocked- it was all bullshit, it was Coke versus Great Value Cola. It is a ton of saber rattling granted with a crazy idiot who still has really, really dangerous toys to play with- but they should probably shut up and sit down. His only power is his unpredictability and instability with those dangerous toys and his lack of ethics. If other leaders didn't have ethics they would have shut him up a long time ago.

What in the world possessed Putin to flaunt power he didn't actually have? He's completely blown away any delusions of Russian strength the world might have had, and the Chinese are probably smacking their lips over the Siberian oil reserves now.

Putin appeared on Russian TV today, saying the invasion is all going according to plan, and promising 5mn of his increasingly worthless fucking rubles to every family of a dead Russian soldier (the check will bounce), but Ukraine is offering the equivalent of 5mn rubles plus full amnesty to any soldier who defects.

Yup r168, and it is a little false pride, I admit, I'm feeling right now as an American. We got some power.

But when I stop that shit, when I step outside of that for a bit, I start to feel a kind of horror at that power. We can rain holy hell down upon the earth, and I really hope we don't. But I know this country. If Putin and Russia keep pushing, that is the awful result. And yes, now I know I am being the kind of big Mary! I like to make fun of, but seriously, you push us into one of our damn moods, well you wouldn't like us when we get angry.

5 mn rubles is about $45K right now.

Ukraine is offering the ruble equivalent in Bitcoin.

That, R173, is interesting and au courant.

The Ukrainians are certainly winning the information war, at least everywhere except in Russia due to their North Korea-style censorship lock-down.

The EU Countries should also offer asylum for any Russian military people who surrender, plus a work visa.

The EU countries, the UK, US, Canada, etc. should also offer visas to any Russian scientists, engineers, etc. who want to leave Russia. Similar to after WWII with the German scientists.

Interesting r175. I wonder if they can get out, but still, it's an interesting offer.

Oh my god.

Hey Sweden 🇸🇪 and hey Finland 🇫🇮 better watch out, Putti’s mad and he’s fuck’n lost his mind, his coming for you next.

Yes R171, the truth is nobody should wield that kind of power. No government should be able to destroy the world.

The Manhattan Project is shaping up to be one of the worst advances in the planet's history.

Yup, r179, yup, and I get we are a couple of Marys! but still, it is kind of horrifying to me lately, just because it seems just a little more real lately. Honestly, I don't think we are anywhere near that, really, but still sometimes the idea just makes me a little bit crazy.

Since the Russian government sent in "peacekeepers" to Ukraine, maybe it's time for the West to send "firefighters."

I'm with you R180. The bomb anxiety is driving me insane. It drove us all insane in the 70s and now its back. I guess, in truth, it never really went away.

So true R181. They can start with this fire.

R149 - Kasparov beat Bobby Fischer at chess (at least a few times). I'm therefore inclined to put more faith in Kasparov's analyses of options and strategies, and suggestions thereof, before those of varied politicians.

The U.S. spends 3.2% of its GDP on defense, and that number will only go up next year, the year after that, and forever more as a result of a man from St. Petersburg who fucks dogs. The U.S. defense industrial complex will never, ever die because of this.

Defense spending in Russia is 4.0% of its GDP, which is roughly the size of Texas, and according to analysts at JPM this morning, is (GDP, that is) expected to contract 30% this year.

The Russians attacked a nuclear power plant. Radiation is escaping. If they're creating a new Chernobyl, that's not just Russia and Ukraine's business. That affects all of Europe. And a reason for the EU to intervene. Fuck you, Putin.

Absolutely R185. It's declaring war on Europe without formally doing so.

Putin's gone insane.

I said Putin is terminally ill and DGAF!

And 3.2 percent from us is just, well damn, r184, we hardly notice and it is just a drop in the bucket that is our economy. I was the one sobbing up above, but honestly it is really kind of incredible. We are Britain in the 19th century. We don't even have to think about it. We are just the biggest fact of life on the globe right now.

And honestly, right now, I am more afraid of us than I am of Putin. The damage we are going to do, well, I honestly don't want to see it. Russia, seriously, just ... well, it is too late, but if it isn't, just don't.

I sensed that Putin ultimately decided to do this as if it were because the West's media and leaders were "egging him on," or else reporting or predicting over and over that he would likely invade. --You know, like they did with everything about the Covid mandates hysteria, non-stop, until the latter has started to head towards its endemic stage and, hell, now let's turn to focusing on Putin and the Ukraine Invasion. You know their MO, i.e. We say it enough, and therefore it is so. It's like the guy decided finally, "Oh, well, I guess they expect me to and won't be surprised if I do...why not, then!?"

Does Putin have male children with the gymnast or just more girls? He's so fucking old and chemically altered, his kids probably have 6 kinds of autism that haven't even been observed in primates before. He's certainly acting like someone who doesn't believe there's a future for his "seed." It really bothers some guys.

R190, yes, that must have been it. Sure. He was FORCED to invade by a few headlines, they broke his will . . . 🙄

China could end this in 24 hours.

China had an opportunity to play an honorable and sober role on the global stage as a negotiator in this shitshow, but they're complicit because they had advance knowledge and asked Putin to wait until after their loser/fake snow Olympics. So, they fucked up. They showed their true colors. They have no credibility in this matter whatsoever. Black eye for Xi. Fuck him, too. Think he'll dump U.S. Treasuries to buy junk Russian bonds? Fuck him too.

All valid points, R194, but China could still end this quickly with one pointed message sent from Xi to Putin. He's their only real economic line at this point, and while China sucks in so many ways, they also want to keep making money. They're really good at that.

Xi won't do it just because he hates the U.S. and the West, basically. Putin is beyond talking, he's like Czar Kanye the Terrible. I don't think China can do anything, and wouldn't if they could.

Yes, the other nations in the world are not our friends, but what is kind of obvious is that the U.S. can really go it alone. nobody really, deep down, cares about Russia or China. they suck and the suck is now obvious. It really truly deep down does not matter what anybody but the U.S. thinks about anything.

Yeah, well Trump ridiculing and attacking China over Covid-19 didn't help and that goes for his "trade-war" with them, too.

They've been looking to fuck us, and not in a good way, since Trump, despite him bragging about his "close friendship" with XI.

Not that in the absence of those two things they wouldn't have been self-interested in the face of all of this, but still.

[quote]To put a very fine point on it, there is the very real possibility that Putin will martyr Russia via nuclear war. He will do it if he's backed into a corner and has no other options. The man won't blink or back down...nor be coerced by any "off" ramp the West tosses his way.

This is exactly what my Russian ex-supervisor told me a few days ago. She also said it makes no difference to him if even most of his own countrymen are dead, because in his mind, they will have died for a heroic cause.

Which is wherevI argue human nature kicks in and compelled to survive, somebody close pops the fucker.

We should have gotten rid of all nukes a long time ago. I grew up in the cold war and it is not fun. because of nukes, Putin can take any country, not in nato and no one can do a thing about it because of those nukes. I would not be surprised if he is deliberately trying to cause a nuke meltdown in the biggest nuke plant in Europe. I heard that if this plant blows it will be a lot worse than Chernobyl.

yes, I heard it would be 10 times worse

I did read a few days ago that China was willing to mediate in Ukraine and Russia war

Kraken crypto CEO bashes US, won’t freeze Russian accounts

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher launch Ukraine fundraiser, will match $3M

If Putin wanted to nuke the world he wouldn't go through all these pretenses, he just would. He's an evil asshole for fucking with Ukraine and killing civilians but he isnt some lunatic on the button.

R206 I still remember all of the experts mocking anyone who thought that he would invade Ukraine... It was too crazy, they said.

I agree, in the long run he can't win this. Unless he wants to know the whole planet up with his nukes.

That nuclear plant is just 300 km north of Crimea where little Putty has one of his holiday dachas. That's the whole reason he wanted Crimea back. If the wind blows south, all of Crimea will be a nuclear exclusion zone.

[quote] we shouldn't because bombing a lot of innocent Russians who don't control anything their asshole government does is awful in and of itself

You don't understand the Russian culture. Most of them approve of this. To them this makes their country great. They believe in expansionism. Most Russians do not get outside media - what they get comes from the state - even with today's technology their info is very limited.

If we can't stop him then he will retake Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He'll find some excuse based on lies and revisionist history like he is doing with Ukraine.

We should have imposed the sanctions back in 2014 when he invaded and took Crimea. We let him get away with that and this is where it gets the rest of the world.

He sees us and the West as weak and when you want to be the Superpower you move in when you see the opposition weakening.

You have to decide who you want as Superpower - because the reality is someone will be it. Do you want Russia and/or China or do you want the US and other Western liberal democracies with the US leading the way. Those are the only choices. Pick a team.

[quote] We should have imposed the sanctions back in 2014 when he invaded and took Crimea. We let him get away with that and this is where it gets the rest of the world.

Sorry I was too busy being worshiped for putting trannys in high schools girls restrooms. First things first.

He can't even manage his own miserable country of poor zombies. No he's going take on countries he just raped and pillaged?

It's just a colossal mistake, and he and his country will never be accepted by the world again.

As well as the imminent threat he poses, that piece of filth is largely responsible for that ass clown who terrorized us for four horrible years.

cnbc Russia’s top billionaires have lost more than $80 billion in wealth in recent weeks, with more to come as sanctions and seizures start to bite.⁠ ⁠ The economic turmoil surrounding President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has erased about a third of the wealth of Russia’s 20 richest billionaires in recent weeks, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The impact of sanctions on oligarchs, along with the collapse of the Russian ruble and economy and global outrage over Ukraine, have swiftly brought the end of an era for an entire class of Russian elites around the world.⁠ ⁠

R211, is it physically painful to be as stupid as you are?

I certainly hope so.

R214 who the hell is going to buy up all those yachts??

Other rich cunts, they will be able to buy them dirt cheap too since they will be desperate to sell.

Not enough rich cunts. The Russian oligarchs were a whole billionaire class of their own.

They are called vulture investors.

Deluded is us.

Seeing all those little kids holding their stuffed animals at the trains gets to me.

So fucking stupid. Does "Russia"--by which I mean, the aggregate of regular people, domestically influential elites, criminal/mafia types, and military/government people--care more about a Pyrrhic military than about how the country will live (the near-term survival, and the long-term standard of living), for the next 30-odd years? They could stop this by ending the escalation. Go home and repair their bleeding economy before their debt defaults in a few weeks. This would take additional sanctions off the table, and they could negotiate the gradual lifting of some of the immediate ones. It is such a no-fucking-brainer, but these Kremlin assholes have no fucking brains.

Putin does nothing but spout lies on television, so why not tell another one? Tell the Russian people that the "special military operation in Ukraine achieved its objectives" and the Army has concluded its activities there. Lie, bring home your miserable fucking Army, and lick your wounds. Maybe enjoy life in the dacha for a few days before the whole country turns into South Sudan, which it is on track to becoming.

But, alas, Putin is dumber than Kim Jong-Un, and probably sicker, too. Who'd have thought?

I don't think he cares, R222.

I don't really care, do you?

A few weeks ago one could have argued that the era of international cooperation was over and imperialism was back again. Russia's performance—and the response of Ukraine, NATO, and other countries—certainly casts doubt on that. Looks like the post-WWII order still has something to be said for it, thanks to globalism and Zerensky.

Putin feels emboldened now

R225, is brain dead

Putin feels emboldened now? To do what, gain another few kilometers towards Odessa? Blow up a few more apartment buildings in cities he still doesn't control?

OMG, R228, are you taking the piss or are you serious?

He's banned FB and censored media. The poor russians don't know what the fuck is going on.

bloombergbusiness--- Ukraine has already used $15 million of the donations it received in cryptocurrencies on military supplies that were delivered Friday, Alex Bornyakov, deputy minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, said.

Bornyakov said the Ukrainian government anticipates doubling the $50 million of crypto donated so far in the next two or three days. Most of the donations are coming from Bitcoin and Ether, along with hundreds of NFTs, including a valuable CryptoPunk.

To raise additional funds, the ministry is now working with two companies that are designing an NFT collection that could be ready in less than two weeks, and would raise funds for the Ukrainian war effort, Bornyakov said.

“No one was ready to do military NFTs, the war just started eight days ago, they are still trying to figure out how to do this in terms of design.”

Our UN Ambassador - a black woman I had never heard of - read a speech at the UN and twice said "nukular"... Oh, dear.

So what? Dubya said "nukular." It played to the base.

Interesting.

Since 2014, when Russia's annexation of Crimea sparked sanctions that helped send the ruble tumbling against the dollar, Vladimir Putin has been building up his war chest — or so he thought.

Russia's central bank embarked on a massive accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, amassing some $643 billion ready to defend the ruble in the event of another crisis. Huge inflows from oil and gas exports were diverted to the stockpile rather than invested in the economy; in that sense, Russian citizens have been bearing the cost of the current conflict in Ukraine for many years.

That's why the new raft of sanctions, and in particular the extraordinary targeting of Russia’s central bank, is such a big deal. Putin was counting on the world's, and especially Europe's, reliance on Russian energy exports to prevent governments from taking extreme measures in the days of the invasion. It didn’t work — and his regime faces being cut off from billions of its reserves parked in their jurisdictions.

cnbc ---More than 500,000 children have fled Ukraine in the past week, UNICEF said Thursday, setting the stage for what could become the worst refugee crisis in Europe in 70 years.⁠ ⁠ Most of the refugees are women and children escaping the advancing Russian troops and leaving their husbands, fathers and sons behind to fight. Ukraine has prohibited fighting-age men from leaving the country. More than 1 million refugees have fled the country in just 7 days, according to the latest figures from the United Nations.⁠ ⁠

[quote] Ukraine has already used $15 million of the donations it received in cryptocurrencies on military supplies

Can't he just put it on a tab? We can catch up with him later.

What an elected president says is one thing - what a non-elected government official in a diplomatic position on the world stage says is quite another.

Russia blocks BBC website, Facebook and Twitter in Kremlin crackdown

State censorship agency Roskomnadzor cut off access in a Kremlin crackdown.

BBC boss Tim Davie said: “Truth is often the first casualty of war.

"In a conflict where disinformation and propaganda is rife, there is a need for factual and independent news people can trust.”

Russia’s foreign ministry said the BBC is “undermining domestic political stability and security”.

With Facebook, the regulator said there had been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by the platform since October 2020.

Radio Free Europe, one of the continent’s biggest independent news outlets, and Maduza, one of the largest Russian in-exile news sites, were also banned.

RFE staff were called “foreign agents” and evicted from the Moscow HQ.

Russian media has been warned not to refer to the situation in Ukraine as a “war” but to call it a “special operation”.

R229, are *you* taking the piss (to adopt your Britishism), or do you seriously foresee Putin gaining any advantage out of this fiasco?

[quote] that piece of filth is largely responsible for that ass clown who terrorized us for four horrible years.

Please be more respectful to our former First Lady

The only thing we're going to get out of this is freezing-out Russia forever. A total shunning. Now is our chance, don't waste it.

R240 nice to see Russian trolls have access to the DL. Must be horrible being blocked from twitter and Facebook.

If only a REAL president was making the decisions! Mr. T would never had let this happen! This is all on you Libs, you stole the election! You and Killary! 2A! 2A!

R243, oh for god's sake even I know that was a joke.

But with what's happening even after we have been so good and conciliatory . . . I don't know . . . maybe. LOL!

We are not seeing the beginning of WW3 but the beginning of the end of WW2, a war the Russian communists were complicit in starting with the National Socialists. Buckle up, ladies!

Russia is broke. The kleptogarchs have raided the coffers.

Maybe China is financing this.

I worry more about China....unlike The Russians, their missiles will work and their cyberwar will be effective. Taiwan is next.

China is loving that Russia is humiliating itself on a global scale. One less superpower to have to schedule a meeting with for Xi. He probably stopped returning Vlad's call after day 4 of it all. Now his calls are all going to voicemail.

11 days in and they still haven’t captured a city. This is all over for Putin. Russia is an international pariah. They’re a poor third world country with an embarrassment of a military. A complete joke and laughingstock. Why is anyone listening to a word Putin is saying? He’s completely showed the country’s ass. NATO and America should call his bluff and finish him off. It’s highly doubtful he even has functioning nuclear weapons at this point.

yes, what kind of advanced weapons have they used? nothing right?!

Nah R247, Taiwan is extraordinarily difficult to invade. It’s an island nation surrounded by notoriously stormy seas. China is watching with sharp interest, and they don’t want to suffer through the financial nightmare that will happen if they fuck with the West. I think after this embarrassing debacle for Russia, China won’t even touch Taiwan, and may even rethink how they’re handling Hong Kong.

I hope you’re right r249

so I reckon the havana syndrome attacks is the work of the Chinese. Russians aren't capable.

Supposedly they used some thermobaric weapons early on R250, but there’s no actual evidence of that. It was most likely Russian propaganda.

Putin has now literally resorted to whining that Ukraine should just let Russia in. Zelenskyy should reject every single offer Russia puts on the table and say nothing less than full surrender and pull out will be accepted.

The longer Poots drags this out the fatter and more flaccid Russia ass looks.

"It’s highly doubtful he even has functioning nuclear weapons at this point."

You think we should call that bluff? Where, if we're wrong, it's game over for all of humanity?

You, sir, are retarded!

Datalounge neocons are so disappointed Trump never started a nuclear war that now they want to make up for lost time

Putin is a very determined mass murderer, but that's not the same as being a military genius.

You R256, are delusional if you think anyone in command in Russia, including Putin’s inner circle who he reportedly barely speaks to or commutes with at this point, will let him anywhere near their rust bucket nukes. Every minute that passes as he fails puts Putin in more and more danger. He doesn’t have the ability to overcome the nuke chain of command. And again, there’s scant evidence they even have functioning nukes.

Sorry, I'll take the word of academics and foreign affairs specialists like Fiona Hill and Masha Gessen over anonymous naive war hawks like yourself.

You're making massive, dangerous assumptions. People who are a lot smarter than you are pretty convinced he'd martyr Russia - and the rest of the world with it - if NATO gets involved.

Would be hilarious if they set off a nuclear weapon with great gloating fanfare and it fizzled out, or landed in Strassburg with a thud and turned out to be a lime-encrusted rustbucket that hasn't been operable since 1984. That would be the end of Russian power; NATO troops would pour into Ukraine, the Baltics, Georgia, and possibly even Belarus.

But yeah, I'm with those who don't want to tempt fate.

Link to CNN interview with US Army Major General Mike Repass - including the technicalities of weaponry on both sides, tactical errors, and why the rules-based hands-off approach will, over the longer-term, fail the West - again.

Putin is over. Who is the next evil in command?

R263 - You mean in Russia or outside it?

Rumored to be Shoigu, the General of the Army, which is weird because one of the reasons Putin picked him was that he would not be seen as a 'real' Russian and therefore not acceptable as a leader (Russia is racist as fuck).

Shoigu has a very nice home.

Russia whistleblower says: PUTIN, NYET!

I would worry more about cyber attacks before being nuked.

[quote]"It’s highly doubtful he even has functioning nuclear weapons at this point." You think we should call that bluff? Where, if we're wrong, it's game over for all of humanity? You, sir, are retarded!

And you, sir, have had one (or two) vodka shots too many. Go to bed and learn how to write once you sober up.