Europe War in Ukraine

[Lethality]

 

[eaglespremiers]

the people of a nation are responsible for their governments and should be held to account for not holding their government to account

Is that entirely true for a non-democratic authoritarian nation that has a compulsion to execute dissidents?
I don't think anyone from a typical western nation like Australia could comprehend the sacrifice you are calling individuals to in order to oppose a dictator who wouldn't hesitate to take your life and that of your family.
Don't get me wrong change needs to come from within, however, that takes a remarkable level of bravery and those who might commit to change of government are likely not to live long enough to know if they've made a difference. I'm sure there are many Russians who feel completely helpless to change the decisions of their government (either now or previously). Events like the invasion of Ukraine has resulted in an outpouring of such bravery and there is safety in numbers but the chances of this affecting Russia's military ambitions seems highly improbable.

 

[Schneebly11]

He’s making a fair point though. If you wanted to bait everyone, this is exactly how you’d do it. The amateur invasion almost seems too convenient at times. Surely they aren’t this incompetent. Maybe they are, but every other possibility is still on the table because we have no way of confirming any information. How would anyone outside of the Kremlin know which troops have been sent in? After all the lying and cunning bullshit that’s come from the Russians so far, you really can’t rule anything out until it categorically doesn’t happen.

We know it’s for real and we know how many troops are being sent in due to intelligence.

You can’t just conjure up an in invasion force in a day. Look at the satellite pics of the 40 mile convoy, the pictures the CIA have are 20x as more accurate. They can probably ID the rego of every Russian military vehicle the minute it leaves it’s base.

These guys saw the invasion coming in November. Right now they aren’t worried about Putin moving west.

Surely they aren’t this incompetent.

A mix of incompetence and lack of motivation. Some soldiers had to be tricked or threatened into fighting.

 

[Baldur]

I guess if you threaten to invade for 8 years, there is more than enough time for your target to increase their defences.

 

[Marcel Proust]

Given Russian history in Ukraine, assuming the Ukrainians giving up will lead to less dead Ukrainians is not really a safe assumption. And its an assumption I doubt the Ukrainians will be willing to make.

That's a good point. I was assuming they don't genocide them again

 

[Marcel Proust]

 

[NSWCROW]

MFW israel doesn't condemn russia

 

[NSWCROW]

 

[NSWCROW]

russia removed from fifa 22

That should fix everything


edit - now netflix too

 

[Crankyhawk]

Ukraine could have / can give up.

Maybe not Azov

putin could stop attacking

 

[footyfan1978]

Kherson sounds in bad way by reports on radio of people living there.
Unlike a lot of other cities it not had resources for locals to fight so sounds like Russki's patrol streets with tanks and jeeps and locals stay inside.

 

[Marcel Proust]

putin could stop attacking

Yes

 

[Marcel Proust]

Roman is selling Chelsea FC

 

[76woodenspooners]

And how exactly could this get worse?

If a foreign state assassinated a national leader, it would spark outrage in that country and it would unify behind the new leader to take retaliatory action. Even folks who weren’t a fan of the leader would be on board (It’s useful being on a footy forum - look at the extent many of us criticise and pillory our own coaches / players / game plans … but we don’t put up with opposition supporters doing that)

The situation would escalate, and in the current context that could mean anything from an escalation of the situation in Ukraine (bomb it outright), invasion of the Baltic states, assassination of a western leader, poisoning of a water supply, disruption to global communications, etc, etc.

And we know what the Russians / Soviets are capable of …

As Georgi waited for a bus, an assassin approached with a poison umbrella

As he stood on a London bridge on a cloudy afternoon, Georgi Markov didn't know he was being watched. Or that in four days, he'd be dead.

www.abc.net.au

Russia behind Litvinenko murder, rules European rights court

The former Russian spy, who became a British citizen, was poisoned in London with polonium in 2006.

www.bbc.com

Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Munga]

Well, there's a quick and easy way to list the shit governments of the world. Show that to the Russian people and see whether they can pick up on the qualities of those columns, and which one they fall into.

 

[76woodenspooners]

This whole thing has my analytical brain doing overtime.

All i see is old shitty outdated crap apcs that were obsolete back when i was in the army in the 90’s getting blown up.

Coupled with conscripts that are politely described as disinterested.

Heaps of radio traffic - in clear - so ham radio geeks can tell us how crap everything is blah blah - we all content ourselves that the worlds greatest chess players are funking morons that couldnt organise funk all.

Even though you dont need high tech to make unbreakable codes. We had this all in paper one day use only codes in the 90’s.

They arent even attempting to be radio disciplined.

the germans have hollowed out their military to the point that we could literally invade them successfully if we were next to them.

The only countries with an effective military in europe are france and the uk.

The americans no longer station the troops they did in europe instead they have reforger units in place - ie all the equipment but funk all troops - the troops have to be flown in - those armies that used to live in europe have been deleted - just the equipment is there.

What if this ukraine thing is a crock of sh*t. An excuse for russia to mobilise but for a completely different reason. They send the garbage units into ukraine - they get their arses kicked - everyone goes lol stupid russians.

The americans dont activate reforger (costs the earth and because of the reductions in force leaves the asian region undermanned)

Russia all of a sudden masses troops for the real thrust, abandons ukraine, then china hits taiwan.

All of a sudden the russian army isnt using 1970’s equipment and conscripts, the A team is out on the court and weve been suckerpunched.

All the americans prepositioned equipment in germany is over run.

Oops. They could take half of europe - expressly leave france and the uk alone - while china starts its own thing - and just like that - stop and say this is the new world order, if you dont like it we can go nuclear to keep it.

And in the blue corner we have a war weary US.

- Not sure that Russia would have the same motivation to occupy Germany as it would Ukraine / China has of Taiwan

- Not sure that Russia would amass the military force on its borders needed for a European invasion without being detected? The Ukraine invasion was detected from a long way out.

- The UK and France drew a line in the sand on Poland in 1939. Surely they would do the same thing for Poland / Germany today? Obviously there was no nukes in 1939, but UK / France have their own nuclear deterrent.

- The US may be war weary, but their President has committed to defending every inch of NATO territory. He’d look weak if he didn’t follow through, and no US President likes to look weak.

 

[Munga]

Zelenskyy has some serious talent!

 

[jackn]

Roman is selling Chelsea FC

Better be quick or it won't be his to sell

 

[76woodenspooners]

Yeah, it’s probably time to reassess what you’re doing when you’re being supported by DPRK, Belarus, Eritrea, Syria and nobody else.

Gee, even Georgia voted in favour, seems ballsy.

Dunno why South Africa would abstain. The rest seems fairly predictable.

 

[I Lost My Keays]

Did Biden actually refer Ukrainians to Iranians in his conference?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Russia angry Sweden considering joining nato

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Did Biden actually refer Ukrainians to Iranians in his conference?

He kind of just slurred the word Ukrainian, in the same sentence he was talking about the encirclement of Kiev so it's not like he was confused about which country was being discussed.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

And we all die

Waiting for ..... "So you support Putin" posts

 

[mrmonkey]

Politicians slurring words makes me think of this.

 

[TheSunGod]

Something to do with a crazy despot and nukes

Just watched Blinken press conference before he flies out to Europe. Said something along the lines that Putin needs to know the West is not bluffing. Sadly I’m getting the feeling more and more that Putin isn’t bluffing either. World is going to shit and I’m struggling to see how this ends well.