Russia - threadbanned users in OP

The german politicians were not naive, they knew very well what they were doing, and it's called treason. We need to see Schroeder and Merkel being investigated for treason or this will happen again.

Sure, in as large a country as Ukraine, a lot of it will have been at least physically untouched by the war..you will be able travel over vast distances without seeing any war destruction. So easy to see why articles can appear claiming that its not a real war, which is the angle they are pushing. The truth of course, is far different. Its an ugly destructive war, and caused by one man, and one man only, Vladimir Putin.

I think treason is harsh. I think it was more a misguided thinking. I think Merkel taught that Germany could make Russia dependent on German cash flow. She just did not understand that Putin was just another psychopathic dictator.

Merkel and Schroeder would have a distrust of the US and US policy. They just gave the ballox the benefit of doubt for too long.

Remember from 2017-2020 you had the Donald in the equation as well

Substation turned off the grid in Belgorod, due to power overload, - according to authorities

The same Donald that told them they were too reliant on Russian energy, and I am pretty sure this war would not have started with him as president.

Why wouldn't anyone, with a shred of common sense, be concerned about pouring billions of western arms into a region that was well known to have some of the highest levels of corruption and organized crime in the world? It's very easy for people to forget these things about Ukraine now, because the focus has shifted almost entirely onto Russia. But Trump was well aware of this at that point in time.

Also, the Russians had no intention of waiting for security guarantees from the west. The historical distrust, meant that they couldn't actually rely on empty words or promises. Trump seemed aware of this too, which is why he saw western weapons pouring into Ukraine as an overt sign to the Russians that Ukraine was effectively becoming a de-facto NATO-armed state.

We can dispute this line of logic all we want, but that's certainly how the Russians viewed it and Trump knew it. Now, you can criticise Trump for almost entirely putting US interests first in this respect, but the reality is that this policy might very well have avoided the scale of conflict we're witnessing today.

And we have guys like Stoltenberg even coming out recently and letting the mask slip with regards to NATO's strategic position on this conflict. What are the Russians supposed to think now? From their perspective, their worst suspicions are being shown to be true. This emboldens them in the belief that they were correct to act preemptively. Western cries of "unprovoked attack" are met with levels of scepticism in Russia (and elsewhere), that are not entirely unjustified.

Sad state of affairs really

So that’s your reason for Putin invading Ukr. If Putin is so upset about The Ukr even thinking about joining NATO that he had to invade it to head the idea off THEN why has he said/has done ABSOLUTLY NOTHING about an ACTUAL application by a neighbour of his ie Finland

what is your reason for Russia invading Georgia. Was Georgia thinking of joining NATO also

And what is your reason for Russia invading Moldova. . Was Moldova having notions about even thinking about joining NATO.

will you ‘get up the Yard ‘ with your conspiracies, deflections, derailing attempts, falsehoods, insinuations, etc, etc, etc and stay there

Because Trump wanted to put America first, not some country thousands of miles from there border.

The Democratic party are the biggest danger to world peace and greatest threat to mankind , they are even openly admitting to using Ukraine as a proxy to fight Russia. They will bleed every last Ukranian if they could just to weaken the Russians.

https://twitter.com/historyoarmani2/status/1582461658957746179?t=khEJKPCaP46deH8WHcqVaQ&s=19

When the thinking is misguided by russian money its treason, it is harsh because consequences are harsh. Schroeder is or was employed by Gazprom so he's not even hiding it.

Ah, I know that but I'm always curious to see if they understand Irish references. Things you would only understand if you've lived in Ireland most of your life. From the few I've thrown out, the answer is usually no - it passes them by. So I conclude these posters are not familiar with Irish domestic politics and matters of society here. Posting from outside the state I'd think or at most they are 'furriners' living here.

Threads is better.