Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I agree he does seem very sane and refreshingly sentient. But then his actions are jarring. Like the troops build up in the Ukraine. Or the cyber attacks on the West. Or his apparent tolerance for the Belarus nutjob with his weaponised migrants scheme.

A truly dismal summation of Russia, its history and its people.

Russia's 'paranoia' goes back a lot longer than 100 years. They have good reason to be wary because they've been fighting off invasions for 1,000 years, from west to east. As for your aforementioned 100 years; they fought in World War 1, World War 2, had a half-century long Cold War that could have ended humanity at any moment and recently have seen the increased circling of NATO on its borders. "Paranoia"?

Corruption is rife among the average Russia...a scurrilous accusation.

There's people in USA who want the return of slavery.

But what does Russia fear exactly with regard to Ukraine? "Destabilising" Ukraine by giving them moral support and encouraging democracy is a long way from threatening Russia.

Nobody is going to be thinking of invading Russia anytime soon so why the paranoia of "the West"?

It is when they want Ukraine returned to Russian control. Do you think the US would tolerate Texas being independent on their borders, or demand that it rejoin the union, because of historical borders, and the resources it contains? You know well that the US would do anything to retain control over its states, including warfare.

My views on Crimea are totally biased because I know someone there very well and they were very happy with it. There was a pretty big ethnic Russian population there. Historically, it's Russian only leaving it in 1954. The people I know were not particularly pro-Ukraine at all.

I think Putin is a pretty abhorrent man but he does come across very well as a leader. There was a famous video of him talking about American installations in eastern Europe and the effect it was having on relations. You'd be hard pushed so find such an honest and forceful dialogue in many other leaders, who say one thing and do another.

As always, when you live in one of these places and see how normal everyone actually is, the scaremongering becomes tiring. I'm surrounded by three tables of "commies" as I type this and they're having more craic than most groups of people in Ireland would be having on a Wednesday night.

My best friend moved to Moscow recently and says it's great. I can't wait to visit St. Petersburg and Moscow in the next few years. Some of my older colleagues studied there, and some people in my girlfriend's family, and they all have good things to say.

Yeah, Northern Ireland was done and dusted a hundred years ago. Time to move on.

Or does it become more complicated when 65% identify as from another country.

Not really. Its more to do with how the nations concerned would react, and their perception on things. To Russians, Ukraine is part of Russia.. the same way that Americans would look at Texas.

Absolutely not... so.. you believe that the US wouldn't allow Texas independence?

Oh, and as for Russian behavior, they'll do anything to get what they want. I'm not trying to defend or justify their behavior. I'm merely pointing to what I consider to be double standards being applied.

My girlfriend is ethnically part Chinese and is fascinated with that part of her history and speaks Mandarin. Her grandfather raised her with all of the Chinese history and mythology. It will be good to go there with her as a guide of some sort even though she hasn't been yet.

We're both interested in Russia as well and if my friend is still there, it would be great to see him and see some of the sites.

The Russians lost their chance when they mismanaged the USSR until it crashed into the rocks and broke to pieces. The people who were in charge of those countries then are now in their old age or probably even dead. There is barely a collective memory in Ukraine or Russia of the old Soviet Union. An entire generation of adults weren't even born at the time. E.g. a 30 year old now did not spend a day under Soviet Russian rule. It's quite clear that Ukraine are quite happy to be independent from Russia. That should be respected by Russia. End of story.

Complicated politics and a millennia long history can't just be solved with an "End of story." haha

Russia and Ukraine literally started out together as part of Kievan Rus in the 9th century. Novgorod (Russia) was its first capital followed immediately by Kiev. Kiev was the capital for nearly 400 years until the Mongol invasion.

Drop the "end of story" routine.

It's obviously not the end of the story, since Russia remains a realistic threat to them, along with the strong possibility that neither Nato or the US would intervene. As for your reasoning, grand.. although on a personal front, I know Ukrainians who consider themselves to be Russians. So, I wouldn't consider it to be a closed book. Nations don't like giving up on territories that was once theirs... We've had 5/6 decades of peace in Europe, but that's a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of warfare that went before it. I wouldn't be so quick to assume Europeans (and others) have all become so enlightened and have moved beyond such considerations. (although I guess it's easy to be enlightened when you're from a neutral country on the edge of Europe protected on all sides by other nations)

Seriously? You think Drogheda has the amount of natural resources that Ukraine has?

And Russia will do whatever Russia wants to do. Putin has been extremely good at judging the attitudes of the Western nations so far, and that's likely to continue. In any case, it's unlikely that anyone will intervene to stop Russia from taking over Ukraine, except for some roaring speeches, and possibly some economic sanctions after the fact. The US will want to keep Russia neutral and uninvolved if they have to tackle China later..

okay... point to me where I excuse their actions.

Just because I disagree with you, doesn't mean that I'm defending Russia.