Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Before mobile phones, there was this morning ritual of exiting your front door, picking up the rolled newspaper that had been thrown onto your front lawn in darkness and collecting the milk bottles.

Not only did the mik have a layer of cream on top and taste much better, the quality of the journalism and news coverage in the paper and on the radio you might have listened to at breakfast while perusing the paper, was much better.

While there was a slightly longer delay in the spread of news, it was better presented and analysed in the better papers.

There was no deficit in communocations prior to the internet. The newspapers, radio and TV conveyed news that was only a few hours old. There was short wave radio and it was pretty easy to hear in real time, news on the BBC world service, Voice Of America, Deutscha Welle, from Australia.

Most housholds wouldn't have a short wave, but there were those that did. I grew up in Australia, which apart from NZ is about as isolated from the rest of the world as you can get, but there was no deficit in news and awareness of world events.

Nobody outside of Russia takes those sham referendums seriously, and I would say Putin privately acknowledges what they're really about as well. Putin would be as well to hold referendums among all Russian diaspora in the former Warsaw Pact territories and falsify the results, if necessary, to say that all this land is rightfully Russia and the rest of the world has one week to recognise that or it will be considered that Russia is occupied by a hostile foreign force and appropriate response will be meted out. The way he's going, it wouldn't come entirely as a surprise if he did do something like that.

That the Red Cross do marvelous work is well understood ( recent prisoner exchanges, Amnesties', safe passages etc ) but to expect them to cover all the bases in a situation like Ukraine is expecting a bit much. Especially when dealing with Putin, who does not have a humanitarian thought in his mind, let alone a humanitarian bone in his body. No, there are limits to what they can do, but within these limits, they are doing fantastic work in Ukraine ( and elsewhere in the world too at the present time, same as in the past )

It's really down to the Russian people what kind of leader would emerge if Putin were to be ousted, but the last few hundred years doesn't fill me with any real hope they're interested in someone open and egalitarian. I've seen the argument made that you can't really run Russia as a western styled democracy, given the diversity of peoples in it, with conflicting cultures and regional interests.

Personally, I don't care how Russia runs itself so long as they keep their cráp within their own borders. If Russia truly looks up to China, they would do well to take the example of how China has emerged as a world power - not by threatening the countries around them (not until recently, anyway), but by becoming an industrial powerhouse.

Nope, not at all. But you should be aware that if you attack me in my home with a 10lb sledge hammer, that I also have a sledge hammer, and it's figuratively speaking a 20lb sledge hammer, and I will use it if I have to. Now what do you want to do? Go on...make your mind up. But don't say afterwards that you were not warned.

Tibet, India, the Uighurs, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc might take issue with the 'not threatening the countries around them' piece! China has become very bellicose in the last couple of decades.

Gary Kasparov is not a good politician, he is too opinionated, and has almost no influence with the Russian mafia elite.

Generally, a dictator is replaced by someone from his inner circle. Usually then there is period of turmoil while the power is redistributed. Examples: Franco's Spain after 1975, the USSR after Stalin. The successor should be a compromise candidate, acceptable to the current elites. The current PM of Russia Mishustin is a suitable candidate -- he does not seem to have any strong opinions and he is not affiliated with the FSB.

Kuwait has never been in NATO.

"Worth noting: The U.S. also has troops stationed in 10 non-NATO countries for peacekeeping and other cooperation missions.

• They include Kosovo (800), Cyprus (100) and the potential future NATO members of Sweden (10) and Finland (5)."

So, I don't agree with you and it was always a possibility. Did you know the US has been trainng and exercising with Ukrainian pilots for years? Nothing would have been simpler than for the US to put troops in Ukraine for 'friendly joint exercise' it's happened many times previosly.

https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/15579-us-marines-move-tanks-from-secret-caves-in-norway-to-finland.html

Although unlikely, I think it would be best if Russia disintegrated, depriving the indifferent Muscovites of their source of wealth from the east. There would be the safeguarding of the nukes question. But leaving them in place in the various republics can't work out any worse than what happened the last time when they were repatriated to Russia.

Might be busy calling for thread locks and fake news in other threads🤣🤣🤣🤣

I still think it would have been incredibly risky to put US troops into Ukraine (as opposed to actual NATO member states) and I don't recall seeing any US or international commentators suggesting it.

I would say the madman in question is likely to be Putin or one of his ex-KGB entourage. The apartment bombings in Moscow, theater hostage taking and Beslan school massacre were all most likely false flag operations by the KGB/FSB. This is almost certainly the same.

Look how evil people who oppose mobilisation are - you don't want to be on their side, do you?

What will be instructive to see is just who and even if, what other independent states recognise the status of these 'referendums'.

There'll be a great degree of wariness I think, even China and India will likely baulk at it. North Korea probably will and some of the 'Stans' possibly.

But otherwise they'll be meaningless. We may as well have a referendum now in the Republic and lay claim to the Six Counties and then demand them. International law doesn't work like that and all will know that these 'referendums' are merely a tool of war & Russian propaganda.

Yes...as long as they are Ukrainians manning said resources, which have been donated to Ukraine.

I presume you are not advocating actual NATO forces attacking Russia directly. Because that would be crazy.