Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Excellent if somewhat depressing article in the guardian about the response to Navalny's death both within and outside Russia

Clearly the USA need to start thinking like Putin, what is their hard focus. Are they in for this and if not, what are the consequences for the US if Russia prevails.

On another note I hear it reported that our own president https://president.ie/en/media-library/news-releases/statement-by-president-michael-d-higgins-on-the-death-of-alexei-navalny has stated that "The freedom to express dissenting views, be it on the structure or administration of society, is a fundamental tenet of a democracy and any accountable system."

Does our Michilín think that Russia is a democracy?? Kind worrying that this might be his idea of democracy, hopefully not a sign of things to come here.

You ever hear of strategic retreat, Rogber? Now had that been Putin, he would keep keep pumping Russians into it to try and hold it, same as Stalin did in Stalingrad. There's a time to fight, and a time to fold. The Ukrainians made the right decision, under the circumstances. Adrviika will still be there when they come back for it.

Mutual unwritten agreement not to kill each others leadership? I doubt that very much, seeing that there has been several assassination attempts on Zelenski's life. Best chance of killing Putin will come either from his inner circle, or the military. No one else will even get close. As for a sniper taking him our say during the may day parade at the Kremlin when he's on the balcony, more than likely it will be one of Putins doubles that gets killed / injured. At this stage, when you think of all the assassinations Putin has ordered, and the different methods used, he's beyond paranoid himself now I'd say.

And how many would have died by now had Putin managed to take Ukraine??

They are not even towns anymore.. their past glory preserved by old Google images and satellite data. piles of rubble is all that is left.

A good tactical retreat would have occurred month or 2 back, werent the Ukraine trying to reinforce it up until recently? the risk now is they didnt all get out which would mean there was stubbornness at play or because of the funding issue with the US and it would have been a bad look.

arent you just the pleasant poster lol

It's just depressing. There seems to be no end in sight for this. I've never wanted a world leader to die a more painful death than that scumbag Putin.

I'm disillusionment comes from the fact that despite all the talk from the start of the war that "Russia only has 2 weeks of funds before it collapses etc" none of this has come to pass. Life seems normal in Moscow (whatever normal in that **** hole country is). We are now hearing again from posters that Russia is in financial trouble and can't afford this war long term yet none of the evidence do far has been proven as to Russias financial position. Where is the evidence that Russia had burned through is ammo stock pile and through its sovereign wealth fund? I'm gleefully looking forward to the collapse of Russia just like what happened to the USSR but I'm losing hope of seeing it happen.

Heading into the third year of this war. Who would have seen it coming?

The military eagles said that both Ukraine and Russia could never sustain this level of men and materiel. The original 300,000 invasion force is probably nearly all dead. The equipment on the battlefield is twice as old as the unfortunates using it.

It's seems to be endless meat grinders for no name towns and villages. There's probably thousands of linked videos on this thread alone of drone dropping munitions on unsuspecting Russians, and hundreds of videos of tanks vehicles getting popped by artillery.

Utterly depressing, and we're all so far removed from it.

Suppose the difference on the Ukraine side was they have the west "supporting them" whereas Russia were going alone as such.

The problem as I see it is all the forecasts about Russias capability to rage long term war were wrong (now it has proven what a busted flush its military are, but that's a seperate story).

I know we want to believe anything negative about Russia and that makes spurious claims about the state or Russias economy, Putins so called health issues, revolt from within all to be bullshit so far. I've given up paying any credence to stories about Russias funds and weaponry running our as it's a broken record at this stage. I'll celebrate if/when it happens but I'm not buying into any of these stories any more.

The Tucker Carlson stuff is just embarrassing.

The videos of him going around Moscow talking about the supermarket and the subway station, it's very cringe.

Without dragging the thread off topic but it is causing genuine worry as Kim's attitude has hardened. NK could devastate Seoul & Kim would be safe in a bunker. Like with Putin there is a sense of cultural destiny no matter how bonkers it may seem.