Russia - threadbanned users in OP

JDD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813500#Comment_118813500

It was something I was thinking about this morning. I think here in the West, we expect Russians to be questioning why Western media and social media has been suppressed in Russia, and that the inevitable conclusion that they will come to is that their government is hiding something from them. Carrying on from that, when stories filter through from the families of soldiers you would think that they would definitely know that the government is lying.

But then we banned the russian news networks. Now, obviously I know it's because they are pure propaganda, but isn't that what every Russian thinks about the Western news networks and social media? It'd be easy to paint a picture to say that the West is desperate to sow discord in Russia, and will mock up news reports and plant content creators on instagram solely to lie to the Russians. And Russia is massive, even 40,000 soldiers dying will only mean sporadic stories amongst a massive population. Easy to disregard as conspiracy theorists.

I think it'll be a long time before ordinary russian accept what is truely happening in the Ukraine.

DrumSteve

So just seen one military transport, 2 planes and 3 helicopters flying overhead going west here in Dublin.

briany

On the topic of Russian comms - we've heard that their secure comms were not working or malfunctioning, and that the Ukrainians were jamming the single-channel backup comms, which forced some Russians to go to cellphones but the Ukrainians blocked the Russian prefix, and that led on to Russian soldiers using stolen Ukrainian cellphones...

This makes me wonder how much working power is left in the country because cellular towers are not impervious to power outages, so if the Russians continue to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, they could end up inadvertently knocking out the only reliable communication method they have, unless they get their proper comms sorted.

https://twitter.com/most_ks_ua/status/1505867793413070856

Think it was already posted on thread but didn't spot it.

The massacre has barely started yet.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813668#Comment_118813668

This has already come to pass - the US spent an eye watering amount of money trying to modernise Afghanistan - the $ toll to police the world isn't cheap - and it was pretty much all reversed in weeks. The world already knows the US cannot afford to police the world.

Every war NATO and the US in particular wage it becomes economically weaker and China gets stronger in relative terms.

Now, that's not the reason I hope NATO (individual local countrie okay) intervenes in Ukraine. That's for different reasons - money wont be the issue there as we're talking about a potential existential event.

Bayonet

"Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated that the Russians are no longer demanding the removal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky nor the complete demilitarization of Ukraine, adding that there is "still a long way to go" in mediating between Russia and Ukraine, at Ynet's "People of the State" conference on Monday"

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813699#Comment_118813699

Still unclear if anyone was actually killed here, it may have been mainly shots into the air and tear gas. It does show that tensions are rising though....it may be only a matter of time before we see a very serious 'incident' with multiple fatalities.

circadian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813699#Comment_118813699

This is bleak, completely indiscriminate. The gunfire didn't stop once and judging by the fact that what I'd assume to be a grenade thrown into the crowd means these aren't warning shots.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813720#Comment_118813720

That would be great if it came to pass.

Now, I think the Russians may hold Ukraine hostage and demand the call off of sanctions from the rest of the world before they leave Ukraine - it'll be despicable, but they might just do it - it's not like they care what the West thinks of Russia.

greenpilot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813411#Comment_118813411

I'd take issue with anything Clarke says. He was demoted from his NATO post after the Pristina airport incident.

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813718#Comment_118813718

The Afghan withdrawal was a colossal mistake. The US footprint in-country was small, not economically burdensome with a very low-risk of further casualties. What the did have and would have been essential to Afghan government security was air cover for the Afghan army.

That the US failed to turn Afghanistan into South Korea in 20 years was no great surprise given the cultural challenges faced. However, even South Korea after 20 years under the American security umbrella wasn't great shakes, although green shoots were emerging.

Biden compounded Trump's error in calling for a swift withdrawal. What the US had there was sustainable.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813739#Comment_118813739

I don't think it makes a huge difference overall. Russia will spend the next few weeks picking off the last few buildings in the cities they've already hit hard and start stepping up against the ones they haven't hit yet.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118812782#Comment_118812782

"Yes it will really hurt us short term"

If ever there was an understatement. Those calling for such measures really ought to spell out the consequences of what they are asking for. Because it's really easy to say you want to isolate China and Russia, but are you willing to have next to no electronic devices? Are you willing to pay substantially more for clothes? For fuel? Even if we choose to wean ourselves away from Chinese goods it will take decades, and then the question is what will it achieve.

If Chinese wealth is dependent on the west buying their stuff, isolating them will mean that they no longer have a stake in the economic success of the west. The relationship will become even more adversarial as the great powers, now compete for resources rather than sell them to each other.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813676#Comment_118813676

Sounds like the casa and the two new pc12 planes

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813621#Comment_118813621

Just going on what I mentioned earlier in my chats down the years with the Russians I know, their view of history based on their side of things and what they were taught at school and reinforced by various media, books films etc, can be quite different to our view of history and independent views of history. EG Their Great Patriotic War(WW2) perceptions and beliefs clash with reality in a few areas. Now WW2 is a war where the propaganda never really switched off after it was over and each side has their own continuing spin on it to some degree, but the Russian spin has more howlers than an international wolf singing competition. Now the Holodomor never came up, but I'd be surprised if in general Russian views weren't "state sanctioned" as it were and it either never happened, or it was somehow the fault of "outsiders". That's an extremely common thread in state sanctioned Russian "history" and wider thinking. The only Ukrainian I've known did mention it and blamed Moscow for it and she was actually of Russian extraction.

Bayonet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813739#Comment_118813739

It's a 'softening' of the Russian position, probably because of their lack of military achievements - but this could also be a stalling tactic by the Russians. Pretend to be engaged politically so as to perhaps stave off more western actions - all the while bombarding Ukraine.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813760#Comment_118813760

Yeah, so they'll choose to believe the same about this nonsense.

DrumSteve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813759#Comment_118813759

Yeah they didn't looks like the normal ones they fly

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813664#Comment_118813664

Einstein said that in 1953 - when nuclear MAD was not... assured, this only came later when ICBM subs ensured neither Russia or the USA could have their retaliation strike ruled out. So, we don't live in the same World as Albert was talking about.

Al did also say: I don't know with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones. So he was well aware of the horror and likely outcome of atomic war.

DrumSteve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813771#Comment_118813771

I wouldn't trust the Russian government if they told me my own name.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813213#Comment_118813213

Israel's intake of refugees is qualified. They are obliged, under the law of return, to take jewish Ukrainian refugees, and that is what they are doing. They are limiting non jewish refugees to 25,000, so the grand total is 125,000 for a country with a population of 8.8 million.

And they are not shy on being self congratulatory:

"“Israel has a challenge no other country faces in terms of the number of people entering the country per capita,” Minister Ayalet Shaked said in an interview on Kan Bet public radio Monday."

Which is a remarkable load of nonsense. Israel are set to add to their population by 1.4%. Ireland is taking in 100,000, which would be 2%. Poland has just over 2 million ukrainian refugees which is a staggering 5.5% population increase. But poor and impoverished Moldova, currently has 365,000 Ukrainian refugees, which is a more than 9% population increase, which is proportionally 6.5 times what Israel is taking and almost double Polands exemplary figure. Israel's 'no other country' is truly some epic BS. Israel's intake of non Jewish Ukrainian refugees is not remotely praiseworthy.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813746#Comment_118813746

It was totally shameful what they did and how they did it.

combat14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813668#Comment_118813668

the question now is will germany sacrifice its economy to totally sanction russias gas and oil .. this will have major bearing on things ..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813784#Comment_118813784

Fair observation.

I don't think we can jump to the conclusion that Einstein would be advocating NATO engage Russian troops in Ukraine from a near 70 year remove.

Bayonet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813795#Comment_118813795

I'm shocked to learn that countries bordering Ukraine have more Ukrainian refugees than a country in the Middle East. Your bigotry is very apparent.

deise08

https://twitter.com/CivMilAir/status/1505894635054501888?s=20&t=RkZ4lgJSpPU6e8arFQVpeQ

Double Dutch to me. But this guy is highlighting Russian plane movements at the monent. Should this be of interest.

TheRepentent

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118812392#Comment_118812392

Any chance you can keep your crap to the CT forum ?

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813265#Comment_118813265

They are not leagues ahead of Moldova, who seem to be doing more in relation to their wealth and resources than any others.

RGARDINR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813514#Comment_118813514

That's exactly what will happen longer this drags on.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813771#Comment_118813771

Yeah, people need to get real, Russia are going to level most of the country until they get most of it under control or destroyed. In 2/4/6 months when they get bored they'll claim whatever bullshit victory they can at the time. "De-escalate" as they did in the East and pretty much keep the country crippled indefinitely.

If they're smart they'd have sent a few thousand troops to take Moldova. I don't get why they're taking so long. Would be the added bonus for them of trapping hundreds of thousands of fleeing Ukrainians.