Russia - threadbanned users in OP

No not at all, please don’t mix me up with a Russian bot apologist.

I am more emphasising the point that Putin is going nowhere regardless of whether the people of Russia ever do turn on him so I doubt he cares about victories before an election etc as he will never hold a legitimate one anyway.

I find it saddening amongst aquantances and others here in Ireland during discussions re Russia invasion of Ukraine how sort of indifferent, disinterested they are about it. It seems to be a distance thing. We are far away over here, an Island off the west coast of Europe .. shur why would anybody attack us and shur we are neutral. It will never effect us.

I find it incredible actually. Seems to be far more interest in whats happening in Gazza vs a war raging on our continent. A large disconnect. A few do ask - Oh yeah the war in Ukraine, when will it be over and when will the Ukrainians here go home?

All are unaware of whats going on on the ground and the difficulties that now are happening re arming Ukraine + Russian advances though small. They just never seem to have understood the huge real danger in all of this for all of us inc Ireland and not just Ukraine. And how fast this could unravel, especially in 2024/25

Lets go slightly down the rabbit hole. I previously mentioned delays with F16s and the like, asking why. Then we have the hold ups in the USA. Now here is another albeit smaller delay example:

"The delivery of 100 Bulgarian armored personnel carriers to Ukraine has been delayed as the Bulgarian Defense Ministry asks NATO to cover the transport costs, Euractiv reported on Feb. 20, citing Bulgarian lawmakers and officials."

Part of me is entertaining that there are forces in the background in the WEST, EU and NATO etc that actually want UKRAINE to fail and for Russia to win the day? I have been in discussions with some where the attitude is, Ukraine cannot win this war, Russia is the superpower here, too big to fail. And in certain corridors in Europe some may want Ukraine to fail, russia to win as it may hold off Russia attack on Europe "Proper" for another good while ( Appease )

Anyway there is your rabbit in the hole ..

They don't want Ukraine to fail they just want this war to drag out as long as possible. They'd rather Ukraine win after 6 year's of fighting instead of 3 as it inflicts way more damage on Russia and cripples them economically for longer.

Sad to say here but if the west we're really all in they're would be 100 more HIMARS, 200 Ukrainian pilot's already flying F35's, hundreds more artillery, Taurus, ATACMs, American attack heli's and a thousand of Abrams and Leopards.

Instead they'll drip feed weapons and the rate will depend on how well Ukraine is doing. At the very least with full support Ukraine would have retaken the south by now and cut off Crimea.

I feel sorry for this guy, but his behaviour after the defection was stupid. He should have stayed in Ukraine, or else severed all contacts which could have used to find him and hid in the US or somewhere.

Is there any logic to thinking that Putin has convinced countries to scale back support or he'll cripple infrastructure by snapping the sea cables or anything like that? He has a hold of some sort over many countries, including our own here with the 15 staff still in Orwell road

No, or only faulty logic.

In what sense was it stupid? He was living under a false name with a new passport in Spain, what else was he supposed to do? One of well over a million Ukrainian refugees in the EU. I'm sure he knew he was a marked man but unless he was posting stuff about himself online I can't see how he could have done much more to protect himself.

What I wonder is how are Russia secret service agents still wandering freely around Europe murdering people at will? Who's letting them in?

I have seen rumors that the guy contacted his ex-girlfriend and that's how he was de-anonymized.

We (EU/UK) are at war with Russia, whether we want to admit it or not. Russia wages a special operation in Europe. They hack computer networks, pay huge bribes to European politicians, gather incriminating materials (kompromat) on EU politicians, and let us not forget, assassinate enemies of Putin abroad with virtual impunity. So far, they kill mostly Russian defectors, but there is nothing stopping them from taking a family of, say, the Finnish prime minister, hostage to force him to do something.

You are asking how? The EU is a peacenick paradise, a Russian saboteur can avoid capture by stepping over an EU state border. Unless there is an EU taskforce already assembled, the security is on a national level. Besides, any Russian citizen can freely get a visa to visit touristic sites in Madrid and go on a killing spree, if they feel like it, there is nothing to stop them.

A fractured Russia means a lot of infighting and civil wars - let them kill each other instead of Ukrainians.

By and large, and for the time being, yes. The federation members have more beef with each other than they do with Ukraine or the Baltic countries.

1. I never said nuke external countries.

2. It wouldn't be one country anymore it would be broken up into different regions but possibly always at war with each other.

3. Warlords tend not to think that far ahead.

You seem to think I have some sort of liking for Putin or support Russias actions, I can assure you I don't,I'm just spitballing the potential future of the region and wondering "what if".

It would be a calculated risk but one that he will have no choice in. For all the comments about a 140 million population in Russia, he's currently (and has been for quite a while) suffering from a military manpower shortage. Like Zelensky travelling around the world looking for support in weapons and cash, Putin has been travelling around the world too, looking not only for weapons, but manpower as well. Nepal recently issued a demand to Putin that all Nepalese soldiers that are currently fighting (and dying) in Ukraine be returned to Nepal. And Putin also recently upped the military service age from 51 to 65 contract soldiers, and to 70 for officers. Zelensky is having problems, for sure, but so is Putin.

I think that Putin has moved heaven and earth to find and kill this guy, in order to send out the signal to any other military officers thinking about doing the same thing, we will track you down no matter where you run to or hide, and we'll kill you.

You would think that at least, they would have closed the door???

Yes, but all of them have a beef with Moscow!! Strange though it may seem, ethnic Russians are for from popular in the Republics, and what ever disagreements might be ongoing between the clans etc, once Russians appear, the focus turns on them.

I love these stories. It’s like when Chay Bowes was wandering around a supermarket showing people that he could still buy Fanta in Moscow as if he was trying to justify his decision to move there to become a Putin puppet. The loneliness and oppression eating him up inside.

Proper schadenfreude.

Rumors about Russian money behind US politicians coming out. Was it behind the stopping of Ukrainian aid..

The Russian authorities will take the children into care to be raised as Russian and "Russian ways". Now that they've taken the money off the parents and declared them enemies of the state. Wait and see.

Idiots.

A horrific image....