Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Transcript from a Zelensky interview .

So two wrongs make a right, is that what you're saying?

Mad Vlad is waving his nukes around in an irresponsible manner, so we should just copy his behaviour?

Sounds like an odd stance to take. Is this the road to the moral high ground, or have we taken a slight detour somewhere along the way?

Yes indeed, nuclear weapons since WW2 were supposed to be a deterrent and to prevent a country from being attacked or invaded. They were never supposed to be used while attacking and attempting to colonise another country.....use of one in this context would be terrorist state behaviour, pure and simple.

It's quite interesting to read the various opinions and discussions between those Boardsies born in the '90's or even late 80''s as they may have missed the bulk of the Cold War.

As a 70's child, I distinctly remember much, much more tension and heightened readiness during certain periods of the Cold War. I hail from a military family so, growing up, we were particularly aware of operations, threats, tensions that were much, much worse that what the younger folks are worriedly discussing in interesting cross-discussions. ( apart from the "Orc" discussion, which is just Wokey nonsense. I have a suggestion to settle the argument. Visit your local Ukranian Refugee centre and ask one of the folks there what they think of your discussion. Should settle it fairly quickly)

I digress. Anyway, living in a world with no mobile phones allowed for easy eavesdropping on conversations from the phone in the hall and around the kitchen sink. In the 80's, Ireland was under immense pressure to join Nato. There was great interest in our aviation infrastructure at the time. Plus there were many, many close calls between the two superpowers.

Both Powers were watching each society with great interest, looking for clues that one side or the other were preparing for war. For example, a blood drive might indicate preparing for the influx of wounded during a battle. Things like that.

In 1983, I was a teen and distinctly remember the excitement around an operation called Able Archer, where NATO conducted an excercise where by, in the story, Russia has invaded some European states and, in order to stop the push forward, NATO has resorted to using a nuclear weapon. ( ring any bells, in the reverse). The excercise was so real to the Russians, that the prepared their nuclear weapons, causing the US to go to Defcon 1. ( higher than the Cuban Missile Crisis). Only the Back Channel communications averted a war.

That brings me to Back channels. What politicians say in Public in one thing, as they speak to three audiences. But what happens in the back rooms and on secure data streams is something totally different. Russia and the US are in constant, private communication, all the time. So read through the Bluster and calm down. The US will know when Russia are likely to use a Nuke well before anyone else. I can see their use only in the circumstances I mentioned on other pages.

I keep saying this, and the older folk know what I mean. NATO and the US want a conventional war with Russia. Its the very, very thing that Russia is avoiding. If NATO go conventional on Russia, its game over in two weeks. Putin Knows this, which makes his rhetoric pointless. Playing to 3 audiences. Ourselves, his country folk and his Military leaders.

It would be interesting to be able to see how many have managed to get away. I fear that not that many Russian men of fighting age have the means to actually escape the country and that the ranks of these conscripts will be filled of poorer fellas who wanted out, but didn't ave anywhere near enough cash to pull it off.

Should it not be the other way around? If embassies are MAINLY for developing trade links and promoting good relations , then surely 5 Ru diplomats are plenty in ireland - we being such a small country with limited Import of Russian goods opportunities- And the opposite re the number of Irish diplomats in Russia with very big potential export opportunities for Irish goods. How did ireland allow such big Russian diplomat numbers. ? What reasons did the Ru give to the Irish gov to allow in suchnumbers -25 + at the moment. Maybe the Irish Gov should review those reasons as some of them may no longer be relevant

Correction - from the Irish embassy in Wgypt