Russia - threadbanned users in OP

It's better than listening to insufferable bores and hipster stooges droning on about macOS and Coffee.

Sure. I won't disagree with that.

I am confused about what they have in common though. I don't see too much coffee and macOS debate going on in this thread.

Kind of. I would have a concern some of those who died by 'windows' or similar may have been anti-Putin :(

That was a really informed listen.

I think it's more up to the United States than Ukraine as to when it's time to call a halt to efforts to regain territory tbh. Sure, Ukraine could keep fighting without US help but that seems unlikely and how long would they last in any case?

The fact of the matter is that Ukraine has made no meaningful advance anywhere on the frontline since they began their counteroffensive.

Russia has fortified it's defensive positions. It's a very different situation to Ukraine's last push when the Russians didn't have time to set up defensive lines and got routed as they were falling back.

If the situation stays static with no progress eventually someone has to make hard choices on what is realistically attainable.

And on the contrary, what they did in Afghanistan was something no other invaders have done...they actually spent billions ( if not trillions) on trying to modernize the Country, The difference between pre and post US presence in Afghanistan was far greater than black and white. Certainly, if the US had invaded Ukraine instead of Russian, the war would only have lasted a few weeks if even that, when the welcome mat, flowers and Vodka would have been rolled out. Afghans are now and since the US left, looking and praying for them to come back. Yet all you hear about is the evil US invaders, which is a far cry from the actual truth. But of course, the Truth is the last thing that suit's many, especially Russia and its Factory of Lies.

What will happen with Ukraine, will be decided by Ukrainian's, and no one else deals or no deals. They stood alone back in Feb 2022, and if they have to, they will do it again. The one thing they will not do is knuckle down under Putin and that's under any circumstances. They've seen what Putin has done and can still do, and are under no illusions about their future if they don't defeat him. So either the world will help in this war, which Zelensky is waging on behalf of us, as in all Europeans, or they won't and pay the price down the road.

They might have invested in rebuilding but they didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. The contracts for all the reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan were a great way of funnelling funds from the US taxpayer into the pocket of private industry.

But as corrupt as the relationship between politicians and industry/lobbyists is it's no Russia. The Russian kleptocracy seems to be fine with looting and raping their way through Ukraine one atrocity at a time. America is far from perfect but given the choice I know who I@'d want to invade my home.

Would you not want to be checking your sources - are you seriously suggesting that Ukraine has lost 10,000 military in the last few weeks?

I'll stand to be corrected but I very, very much doubt it and that you can parrot this without thinking puts you firmly in the Russian propaganda box.

The square kilometres taken at the moment will be the hardest as their on the wrong side of the defensive lines. Once they get past the lines they will multiply significantly. Have a feeling Zaluzny is playing down things to get more arms and give the Russians a false sense of security

No armchair warrior here Yagan. If I'm commenting on a post about a particular Country, it means that I've lived in it, and that includes Russia too. Ukraine, I've traveled through several time's, and I recognize a lot of the names of the places that are mentioned, because I've been in them. I lived and worked in Afghanistan for several years, and saw the before and after Afghanistan. In fact I was there for Sept 11th. The Taliban came from the Pakistani Madrassa's, hence the name Taliban, which means "Student". And they are largely Pakistan Pashtun, ( Pashtun are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan also ) And that's not quite the same thing as saying that the Taliban are 100% Afghan, What the US didn't understand Yagan, is hundreds and hundreds of years of Afghan Tribal Culture, where clans / tribes are interlinked. And in the end, ultimately, these bonds proved impossible to overcome. And no, yagan the Taliban are not a normal part of traditional Afghanistan Culture. They were a Pakistani inflicted means of control, which has now morphed into what may become a threat to the Pakistan itself give the Military hardware they " inherited" from the US. Afghans now pray for the return of the US, and the removal of of a form of Islam that the Taliban espouse, and a return to a more conventional Islam that existed before the Pakistan Taliban arrived. As an Afghan friend said to me back when then, when the Taliban first arrived " Who are these people? Where have the come from? Who sent them? They claim to come to teach us about Mohammad, but we have always been for Islam. These people are not representative of Afghan's."

Yes Kowloon, that happened, as you say. But the by-product ( if you like ) was that for 20 years, school's and hospitals were re-built and modernized. Ditto Roads and other infrastructure same thing. The Afghan Civil administration was funded by the US, Schools, Hospitals, Military etc, Girls for the first time in generations got to get an education all the way to university. Infant and Mother ( plus other) mortality rates dropped, There were many positives for the US Invasion. Now in marked contrast, we compare the effects of the many Russian invasion's. Destructive, Murdering, Raping, Thieving, Torturing, Kidnapping monsters. Give me the US Invaders any day, any time. Its what the Afghans say too, and its what they are praying for presently, because the Taliban are quickly undoing all the progress made during the US years.

Weren’t the Taliban also backed by Saudi money, and the main reason they got into power was that their cruelty and barbarism restores a semblance of law and order after the civil war?

..

It's turning out exactly as I predicted, actually. I have always seen the war as a foregone conclusion. If Ukraine started making meaningful gains on the battlefield I'll happily reassess my opinion but I've seen nothing to suggest Ukraine is able to break Russian defensive lines and they are going to continue taking unsustainable losses in manpower and equipment.

The reality now is that Ukraine cannot break Russian lines. It's not my opinion, that's just how things stand at the moment. With the best will in the world I don't see how that can change.

When the Russians were kicked out of Afghanistan, and all Russian influence at that time ended, that left a power vacuum that caused a civil war ( seems to be the standard thing) The fighting was really severe, the nightly ( and daily) barrage's of rockets and mortars into Kabul did massive damage. So when the Taliban arrived they were initially welcomed as they stopped the worst of the fighting and destruction. ( except in the North, where the population were largely Tajik, and the Taliban were fiercely resisted ) But as the Taliban showed their true colors, that acceptance change to resentment, and outright resistance, which the Taliban ruthlessly put down. In a sense, they behave very like Putin's Russian's. He uses the images and language of Hitlers Nazi Germany to convince them that Hitler 2 is coming, and only he can save them. The Taliban use a brutal version of Islam to terrorize and subdue the Afghan's. Same methods, different power source to enforce and control their respective population's. Same methodologies. As for Saudi money? I'm not sure about that, but would not surprise me in the slightest.. Allies of the US ( because of Saudi -Yemen war) but also helping their Taliban friends. For sure, Pakistan ( another erstwhile US "Friend and Partner" were helping the Taliban all their years in Exile. But why not? The Taliban were "born and bred" in Pakistan. But Pakistan needs to tread a very careful line with their Afghan Taliban now. Because Pakistan has a very large Pashtun population, related to their well armed Afghan Pashtun cousin's .

Right, like this one?

It's depressing to hear about the Taliban rolling back so much.

Tell that to Afghan girls who can no longer go to school (among other things).

How quickly we forget.

If you think the Russians are the bad guys, and christ knows they are animals, I would implore you to watch Fahrenheit 911, from about an hour in , and view the US carry out war crimes, an absolute mirror image of what the Russians are doing today. The US soldiers and tank crews speaking in front of the camera like the "intercepted" Russian calls, dead kids and adults, kids limbs torn apart.

War is ****

Read the thread title and it will tell you what this thread is about.