Russia - threadbanned users in OP

"Assault on democracy" - That's the same sort of rhetoric we heard to justify the war on terror. The American war machine needs its appetite satisfied.

Christ. Such drivel.

America didn't do anything bar move 3000 troops into Poland,

Definitely preparing for a war !!!

Stopped reading at that point.

Can anyone give me one good reason (without the new ‘Soviet empire’ conspiracy nonsense please) why Russia wants to ‘destabilise’ their biggest trading partner the EU? Don’t they want to sell gas to Germany. Isn’t a strong German economy in their interests?

That's fairly simple. Putin doesn't get judged domestically based on economic performance alone. In somewhere like Ireland the economy gets trotted out as the be all and end all in terms of evaluating a prosperous society. Look next door. Brexit wasn't won over completely on the potential for a stronger economy. There are a lot topics that interest the average joe in the street.

It isn't correct to always and only think economically but that's what we do here in Ireland. Which isn't the correct way to look at things either IMO. Our own wee country has a lot of societal issues despite strong GDP numbers.

Back onto the economic argument for a moment though. I wouldn't necessarily say Putin wants to destabilise the EU but he wants to weaken it. Less bargaining power among a fragmented Europe means they can charge what they want for their gas. A bit of instability can help bring that about though.

I suppose it's a "curious case" in that foreigners/immigrants who get deeply involved in politics & doings of the country they move to are quite curious (and something I find hard to understand), but am sure he's far from unique there, and its not always indicative of what I think you imply/suggest.

The Irish Times article makes it quite clear he is not a "man on the street"/some random Irish head visiting or with little connection to Ukraine anyway, given article says he participated in maidan, and is also willing to take up arms against Russian invaders should they launch this war that all are worrying about!

I have not read the tabloid stuff to see if they were passing him off as something he was not. You may not be aware of it, alot of posters on this thread really don't know much about Ireland for some reason and expose that in comments the odd time, but this country is quite lax on dual or multiple citizenships, people here holding foreign allegiances and the like (possibly because of our history). 

If Ukraine's govt. are unhappy with him & what he is doing am sure it is very easy for them to expel him. Anyway that's it from me on the subject...

It's all a sham ,in the meantime they have more or less annexed the east by reconising the two separatists areas as independent states all illegal

Those seem to be a large convey moving near the border within 10km, but at the same time tanks are loaded on trains near Crimea. Not sure if it is a withdrawal or some other play.

Has the Russian invasion been downgraded from “very imminent” to “imminent” yet?

More equipment has arrived over the last 24 hour's , including 60 transport and helicopter gunships .

Remember in 2008 they held exercises on the Georgian border , when they announced the end of the exercise and we're withdrawing from the area ,they about turned and entered Georgia

Lol.

So you're saying that when the US (and lackeys) invaded Iraq twice, that was illegal.

When the US (and lackeys) invaded Afghanistan, that too was illegal.

Correct?

Don't worry, Ukraine will be carved up into so many pieces in the coming years, that nobody will be able to tell which borders go where. Like a big smashed up jigsaw.

Unfortunately, that's what you get when you go running to the yanks and disrespect your historical neighbors. Sad for the good citizens of Ukraine, but their own leadership brought them down this road.

And as we can see after the annexation of Crimea, everybody kept doing business with Putin and Russia the last time. They'll keep the show on the road whatever happens this time as well. They all have bills to pay, and nobody is prepared to cut their own nose off to back a failed state like Ukraine.

There is a valuable lesson here. Respect thy neighbor, and beware of which friends you court. We have the luxury over here, of cozying up to the yanks with no real consequences. We even let them use shannon, again zero negative consequences. It's not the same in other parts of the world. If you fraternize with the enemy, you're playing Russian roulette with your very future as going concern.

It's a shame things had to go this way really, Ukraine was such a beautiful place and nice people too.

Like I said, if you want peace and stability in your neighborhood, the first thing you have to do is chase the damn yanks out of town. Ask anyone who has had the misfortune of dealing with them in their region of the world. Just like the Brits, historically, they poison everything they touch.

I wrote that last bit especially for you @Gatling... I know you'll appreciate it. 😂