Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I don't believe this fantasy every one is spouting about Putin using Nukes. If Russia uses Nukes so do Nato and game is up for everyone but Russia will be in the process wiped off the map of the earth. I wouldn't even be surprised if Russias Nukes actually diddn work when you look at the state of some of their military equipment and tanks. Russia will be beaten also in nuclear war if Putin goes down that road but it doesn't matter to anyone at that stage as we are all dead.

Yup, crashed mere metres away from a student accomodation building in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, at 11 pm. Very lucky it didn’t kill anyone as it crashed down. The claim is it is possibly Ukranian as it the type of Drone TU-141 Strizh, and that is being used solely by Ukranians - allegedly. But could be Belorussian as well, according to its range. It flew over Hungary to end up in Croatia.

Indeed, you'd think that Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine must be feeling very exposed and a bit paranoid. To not only have to advance on an army dug in and determined to resist but to know that sophisticated intelligence forces are watching you and advising said defenders from afar.

Hardly surprising. The Russians nickname for London is laundry. I saw David cameron this week defending a tennis match he played with the wife of an ex Russian minister under putin. Boris was at it too. David assures everyone russia wasn't mentioned during it. She paid 160k for it. Also making a Russian businessman a lord against security advice, lord of siberia is one of his titles.

In July 2020, Lebedev was nominated for a life peerage by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a move that drew criticism. British security services warned that granting Lebedev a peerage posed a national security risk, but Johnson went ahead with it despite the security service assessment.Lebedev has sat in the House of Lords as a crossbench life peer since 19 November 2020. The New York Times wrote in 2022, "nobody is a better example of the cozy ties between Russians and the [British] establishment than Mr. Lebedev.

In my opinion, he has a stronger hold on effective propaganda than any of his predecessors, especially since 2011. Polls have shown that Russians, by a large majority, support his manufactured narratives. This is a man who openly poisons people with trademarked Russian nerve agent. His grip is extraordinary.

The average Russian seems to be either helpless (arrested if protesting) or apathetic or supports Putin. Of the two key groups, the oligarchs and the strongmen, the oligarchs have shown they are impotent, their fate is entwined with Putin's. The strongmen support the war. Maybe the economy crashing down the line will get normal Russians to wake up and risk 15 years in prison for protesting about it, but I don't know. Perhaps something in the mid-level (with the military) could happen. Not holding out any hope for either really.

Yeah but it would involve removing Russia as a permanent member, which China would not allow to happen. The UN does do good work around the world, but in these types of situations, it has bark (for global optics) but not much bite.

Maybe some new global group will emerge out of the ashes of this conflict.

We don't know if they have sorted it out, but they are moving again. There's always a chance they could be a "ruse" to deflect attention away from the south (although Kyiv is definitely a key strategic goal of Russia) but indeed I reckon they will try to make moves on Kyiv in the coming days. The Ukrainians are pulling counter-attacks, so this whole thing could be slow. The Russians seem to be terrible at doing anything fast, but are having more success taking it "slowly", however the slow approach is heavy on morale, attrition and logistics

Goes against my better judgement but I'll respond.

Sure, Russia are shouting everyone down and handing out threats to the west. But in reality, the West knows they are all bark and no bite with those threats. The west is still supplying Ukraine with state of the art weaponry by the plane load.

Make no mistake about it, Russia are struggling here. They are inching forward due to brute force but they won't be able to keep sustaining these losses. Putin thought they would have control of Kiev weeks ago. He's not even reached the city, is struggling to get control of others and when they do get control they are struggling to keep it. They are getting a little desperate, hence the increase in 'noise'.

The West cannot get into a direct conflict with Russia for very obvious reasons.

What is Russia’s end game? Even if they overcome a city, they will not be able to maintain control of it for any long period…

Also, Russian influencers crying about their lack of McD’s, designer boutiques and ‘gram is very maladroit. Hmmm, dying children in a hospital don’t know how hard those young people in Russia have it; no more Big Macs, or Louis Vuitton. Sickening!

Are all those weapons and humanitarian aid nothing?

The West is doing what it can, without blowing the whole mess into WWIII (though sadly, the Gremlin seems to have its sights further afield).

People like to bitch at the West. We are damned when we intervene and damned when we don’t