Russia - threadbanned users in OP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897588#Comment_118897588

Yeah they've moved into the Nazi part of the spectrum where you have to think "Surely they know they're the bad guys!".

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897647#Comment_118897647

You would have to wonder if it was Russia has money behind the trend of calling everyone a Nazi over the last 5 to 10 years.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897588#Comment_118897588

Not that it makes it any better, but apparently the translation should more be read akin to "For Frodo" - i.e. we do this for our children, as opposed to this being targeted at children. S

gandalf

TBH as every day goes by and a new Russian atrocity occurs I honestly don't know how NATO cannot get involved in this. At this stage the Russians are butchering civilians with impunity and we're all standing on the side-lines watching. Ireland can't do much offensively but the nations in NATO have the capacity and capabilities to do something about this.

Russia has shown its hand, its a dangerous fascist nation that will continue along this path until it is confronted with extreme force. The time to do that is now. NATO should declare it is patrolling the skies of Ukraine on the invitation of the Ukrainian Government and it should demand all of the aggressors forces leave Ukrainian Territory in 24 hours.

Ireland should expel everyone in the Russian consulate with immediate effect. Russia will not be engaged with for a long time after this disgusting illegal war of aggression so we don't need anyone to promote Irish interests over there for now.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897659#Comment_118897659

Not sure about that but I imagine Russian money was behind the likes of Trump (Openly hostile to NATO friendly to Putin) and Brexit (Destabilise the EU).

I naively thought the image of the big bad Russia was overblown, sure they were behind atrocities but there are plenty of those to go around eg Iraq, Palestine etc, so to a some extent i bought the narrative of one side as bad as the other to a certain extent, not completely.

My opinion is now totally changed, Russia under Putin have shown themselves to be a truly evil force in the world, and their grip over Russian public opinion is probably the most worrying aspect.

This current east west divide could last for years to come and possibly escalate. Stuff I never dreamed of a few months ago.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897683#Comment_118897683

Definitely Orcs I tell you!

gandalf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897683#Comment_118897683

"For the Children" is what a number of Ukrainians have translated it as on Twitter. TBH its sick no matter what. It appears it was mainly women and the elderly that they killed with that strike. Another war crime to add to the catalogue already committed by this sick nation. Russia as it is currently constituted should be isolated totally from the international community for decades.

Northernlily

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897641#Comment_118897641

They'll ramp up attacks to coincide with Von Der Leyens visit. They are the dirtiest shower of pricks.

whatchagonnado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897734#Comment_118897734

Took NATO 7 years to get involved in the Balkans. That was after the UN walked away and the Serbs massacred 10k people in Srebrenica.

Anyway, the Biden (NATO) red-line is chemical weapons. Once the Russians use them, Biden et all will tie themselves in knots trying to explain how they aren't meeting the definition of chemical weapons (much like the thing the was but wasn't genocide in Rwanda) so they don't have to intervene.

zv2

Nato now has a moral case for a no fly zone. What they'll do about it is another question.

TheTruth89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118896546#Comment_118896546

Why not ? Why are NATO confined to strict rules when the other lot are just making it up to suit themselves, I don't see why NATO don't just make up out of thin air a special operation to go into Ukraine and "Peacekeep"

It's awful naive to stick to the rules at this point.

jmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118894993#Comment_118894993

Forests aren't always conveniently situated so that artillery is then within range of their targets, especially in a flat open landscape like big chunks of Ukraine.

The country consists almost entirely of level plains at an average elevation of 574 feet (175 metres) above sea level. Mountainous areas such as the Ukrainian Carpathians and Crimean Mountains occur only on the country's borders and account for barely 5 percent of its area.

That is very basic description of the country.

There is a reason it is known for growing wheat and sunflowers. 🙄

Also camouflaging something against a flat open background when it sits up and out from the environment is not that easy I would say. You would have to dig it in and then if it is self propelled it kinda distracts from the mobility.

gandalf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897869#Comment_118897869

That's why airpower be it manned or unmanned is going to be key to the outcome of this going forward.

Ukraine either needs NATO to step up and implement a no fly zone. (I don't think it would happen even if Putin appeared on Russian TV barbequing Ukrainian children alive at this stage). Or the West gives Ukraine air assets that will allow them take the war to Russia in the form of Jets, Longer range lethal drones and precision cruise missiles that can be used to hit hardened Russian targets or the Black Sea Fleet.

jmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118895227#Comment_118895227

Well they have a lot of gas.

Sorry couldn't resist. 😯

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897868#Comment_118897868

NATO was not designed to police the world. Even if they did intervene in the old Yugoslavia.

jmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118895285#Comment_118895285

What a surprise a skanger in a tracksuit.

I have always wondered whay skangers wore before tracksuits?

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897370#Comment_118897370

Underemployed people with journo degrees are a good target for slick state media outlets like RT and CGTN.

They get to employ people with western accents to peddle the state line to lend an air of credibility, the westerners get to larp as "journalists" and put it on their LinkedIn to impress their mates back home.

It's a sad way to end up if you orginally entered journalism as a vocation.

Blowfish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOn4eOH_BS4

There's actually a pretty decent interview with an ex RT affiliated Journalist who left when the invasion happened here. Seems the culture was that they collectively were uncomfortable with the worst of the propaganda and some would try to minimise it, but the invasion in particular crossed far to many lines for them.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897641#Comment_118897641

Russian bots are already trying to cover their arse on that one. Their spiel is that the type of missile involved is an older one, used by Ukraine, not by Russia(which can easily be discounted) and another "false flag" like all the other massacres of civilians.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897989#Comment_118897989

There's no way any of these atrocities are 'accidental' or 'collateral damage'. It's been obvious for weeks that the regime is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure (and people) - look at the amount of residential dwellings hit in Bucha, Irpin and Bordianka. This is the Putin playbook in action.

nigeldaniel

Things are just becoming absolutely despairing. I do not know what more to say, Russia has become an evil regime of appalling levels. Why did they have to target a train station and why are they such a... I just don't understand what is happening in the world. It seems to me that some men and they are primarily men are just out of their minds to the most alarming degrees. Surely there are politicians in the Duma that can see the truth of their insane president. Why are they not doing something about it? I just feel so depressed by it all.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898025#Comment_118898025

I believe it will be common knowledge in Russia within a year or so that the regime carried out a brutal war of annihilation against its neighbour, did unbelievable damage and killed tens of thousands of civilians. How could they even begin to cover up a war of this magnitude lasting months? There will be huge repercussions for Russia and even their own citizens (all of them) are going to have to confront what has happened and the long term fallout.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118896837#Comment_118896837

Good to see.

The pressure being brought to bear on Merkel is really impressive, from within German society and without, across much of the leading Media and from neighbouring political leadership.

The Polish PM accusing her of helping building a Russian monopoly on key resources, Zelensky inviting her to Bucha to see the outcome of her actions.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany recently calling out the German President for having "the attitude towards Russia is something fundamental, even sacred, no matter what happens, even military aggression does not play a big role".

Political Scientists from within German Universities like of Regensburg, Stefan Birling: "Since Putin came to power, all German governments have sent signals that unproblematic relations with Moscow are more important to them than Ukraine's fate. That encouraged the Kremlin to attack".

Merkel has been called out by The Washington Post, Deutsche Welle, the New York Times and countless German papers and magazines, not all though.

At the very least Merkel loses out on "consultancy fees" from Gazprom. In reality she will never be held to account for her actions and aiding.

Sanctions against Russia will only be meaningful and work if Germany is forced to side against Putin's Russia. It must no longer be allowed talk in public one way but act in another.

If it doesn't then Putin will weather sanctions.

jmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897736#Comment_118897736

Jaysus Joe were you really that naive to not cop on that Russia were hugely behind Trump.

FFS Trump was a disgrace the way he ar** licked Putin when they met.

He basically told the world he believed Putin over his own intelligence agencies.

They should have fooked the guy out of Air Force 1 on the way home.

Trump set about dismantling the US involvement in world matters, pulling advisors out of Kurdish areas, trying to pull the rug from under NATO, etc, etc.

And to top it off he withheld aid to Ukraine.

Putin has even said that the worst thing that ever happened was the end of USSR because it left just the US.

And then to add insult to injury he saw the power of growing expanding EU taking in not alone former Warsaw Pact states, but former Soviet states.

So Putin set up distablising both EU and US, and he damn well succeeded.

Putin's little ally in Belarus tried to use migrants and often questionable refugees to flood into EU to destablise it.

So as sure as hell Putin may have had hand in massive movements over the last 10 years.

It suited him perfectly as he could use it to divide people.

He saw Britain leave EU, he saw rise of right leaning pro Russia parties in numerous EU countries.

He looked at US and saw a deeply polarised society, a totally fooked up electorate with the Republican party veering towards dictatorship.

I would bet he had hand in antifa, QAnon and all the rest.

He gambled that the US would not rally behind Ukraine and that the EU would not rally behind them either.

And to a degree he was almost right with the Germans and some others more worried about keeping their ar**es warm.

He has totally miscalculated on a number of fronts and rather than divide his opponents he has brought them together.

He has the EU to follow the lead of the former Soviet/Warsaw Pact countries and stand up to him.

He has gotten two Nordic countries, one an agreed non alignged bordering country and one a neutral country to seek membership of NATO.

And some eejits thought he was a genius.

PS: a lot of the rallying and support by EU, US and other countries round the world would not have happened if the Ukrainians themselves had not stood up and fought.

And a hue amount of that is down to their leadership.

So he totally miscalculated on Zelensky and the Ukrainians.

They showed remains of the rocket that hit the train station on sky there. It had "Za Dete" sprayed on it ffs . Pure scum.

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898025#Comment_118898025

The Duma is entirely captive. These aren't politicians, they are a junta.

Dohnjoe

https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1512389344052531205

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898066#Comment_118898066

What does that mean?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898010#Comment_118898010

Look, can argue the toss all we like about the end effects but the Russian tactics are reflective of their culture, stuck hundreds of years in the past. Just look at what they sent in from Belarus, it was basically a marauding horde, raping, pillaging and murdering. They're as much about terrorising the populace as achieving any kind of military aims.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897589#Comment_118897589

You can't measure the volume of dead Ukrainians but Berlin can measure the volume of cheap Russian gas.

It's that blunt.

If Germany changes position, then the Russian economy takes a fatal hit and it will stop Putin.

If Germany maintains its course then Russia will keep up its war of attrition, it's willing to kill be killed in incredible numbers.

It's choice and I think we all can see that Putin will not be concerned.