Russia-Ukraine War (Threadbanned in op)

A lot of videos like this doing the rounds lately https://news.sky.com/video/us-on-the-streets-of-san-francisco-a-city-ravaged-by-fentanyl-12872171

there was definitely a peak way back 60? 70? with young adults , it makes sense without even checking that demographics have changed and we know younger people are going to be involved more with the visible crime people

Again I dont reward bad behaviour, if the US media if full of White people this and white people that, logic would suggest it turns into random violence, not my problem, it up to them to be more reasonable.

It could also be down to the fact that a lot of petty criminals have become business people, selling drugs and living it up. They discovered it is more profitable to sell stuff for big money than breaking into people's houses.

you cant walk around with stats, Ive been around long enough to know that wealthier areas are safer than generic urban areas. There is a reason I walk more around "grafton st" than "Henry st" or that private schools are better/safer or that living in D4 makes more sense than some "SH" part of Dublin.

Putin has carefully constructed a power vertical where all power and authority in Russia flows to one man - him.

I would completely disagree with your assessment above. Especially the bit about him operating on 'a rational level'. Whenever he speaks about Ukraine, he comes across as unhinged.

People suspect some of these "travel" videos may be propaganda, look at his feed for example. They all have one thing in common: they only ever visit the nicest parts of Russia (believe it or not there are decent parts of Russia), they are rarely hassled by police (foreigners are often hassled by police in real travel videos), they are never the types who visit the many shiatty places without roads and toilets. Whether it's clickbaity stuff or Kremlin orchestrated, it's not very realistic.

It's a well worn playbook at this stage. Seize land\declare 'peace'\freeze the conflict\move onto the next conquest.

All in the service of creating some replica of the USSR\Tsarist Empire to restore the former glory of Russia, that has been unjustly stripped from the nation by NATO\the EU\Lenin\Fascists\gays\trans people\take your pick of the bogeyman du jour. It's demented but seems to float his boat.

But that's a rational appraisal of what he should have done, but he's not acting rationally.

The previous event you mention do build a pattern though, Chechnya was considered a post soviet Russian federation conflict that no one knew where to begin to intercede. Then after 9/11 Putin was invited to Crawford range where Bush Jr presented him as an asset in the US war on a noun.

The bombing of Georgia raised eyebrows, but in the US war on a noun he was still an asset in the "with us or against us" axiom.

The pattern seems bigger and bolder, broader and more brutal because up until his outright invasion no one could fight back. Russia might have reached the limit of his conventional military capabilities, but that doesn't mean Putin has reached his limits with nuclear.

The US are not responsible for Russia invading Ukraine. That's more the Russian line of what started the war. Russia engaged in expansionism and thought they could get away with it cause they've gotten away with a lot since the early 2000s including Crimea, political assassinations in the UK with chemical and respective weapons. So at worst, the West can be blamed for not taking a harder line against Russia over the last two decades.

Noone cares. Your mask has slipped completely now. Fair play you kept it up for a while.

But it's over. You're no different than the driveby ,Kremlin apologetic , low post count/Russian bots at this stage.

Good riddance.

The US did cosy up with Putin after 9/11. Bush buffered up Putin at Crawford ranch in lieu of the Iraq invasion.

In effect that did make Putin feel Russia had regained Soviet era geopolitical respect.

I'm sure Putin came feeling that he had tacit encouragement to invade anywhere in the same way the US/UK invaded Iraq without a UN mandate.

Putin could say the Iraq invasion made the post USSR international order meaningless.

So while the US may not have directly poked the bear it can't be seen as innocent in previous encouragement.