What it has done is create a country full of people who hate Russia, who will escape, sabotage, destroy every aspect of Russia. It has also shown it's own Russian population that another Stalin/Hitler walks in the halls of power(he dare not walk amongst them!!) - who will escape, sabotage, destroy every aspect of Russia from within, and it has shown who the real beast is. After the USSR fragmented, we all hoped we could all return to a normal world. NATO slowly started to wind down via budgetary strangulation heading towards the fate of the not needed - NO MORE - NATO budgets are upped by ~~ 100% or more, people are aware of the nature of the beast, and now Russia is a pigmy compared to the USSR.
> NATO slowly started to wind down via budgetary strangulation heading towards the fate of the not needed - NO MORE - NATO budgets are upped by ~~ 100%
And that's exactly what the US wanted and that's why they deliberately interfered in Ukraine politics - to bait Russia. After the propaganda fades away, we'll know the reality of how the world has actually changed in both Ukraine and Russia.
Yeah, every single country in the region clawed their way out of Russian sphere of influence (or tries, including even Belarus), but it's NATO's fault. Totally nothing to do, with years of being kept back in order to feed oligarchs.
The US wants a military present in Europe, and with the disintegration of USSR and calls for an EU army, the Americans needed to create a volatile situation in Europe to preserve NATO. They've achieved their political goal. Remains to be seen what Russia's goals are and how successful it will be.
And how exactly Americans created volatile situation in Europe?
Seems that Russia is very invested in American success, because there's no single tense situation in Europe without some Russians meddling in the background, which greatly contributes to volatility level.
Btw concept of EU army actually existing is pure fantasy (I assume used to scare non-informed people in Russian media).
Total BS, NATO was a totally defensive alliance against the well known expansionary aims of the USSR - who fostered conquest and dictatorial regimes that gave zero power to the people. How many communist regimes have democratically elected governments? Write it on this piece of paper - no pen needed - there are none at all.
After the US mainly went back on its words to not threaten Russian security using nuclear weapons. Gorbachev was a fool to trust the Americans (and Americans themselves have criticised this kind of political backstabbing).
And what about the aliens? Tell us about aliens and how they played poor and innocent Putin into launching a "liberation special military operation in Nazi Ukraine."
Yeah, I'm fucking tiered of war mongering boomers defending BS like this. If they love what's left of Ukraine so much why don't we send them over there?
> A Ukrainian friend joked that I’d be in trouble if I was stopped at a Territorial Defense checkpoint and asked to say what had become a kind of code word for sussing out enemy agents: palyanitsa, the name of a soft white-bread loaf. The word rolls off the tongue of Ukrainian speakers but is hard for Russians to pronounce.
Ugh. That sounds like the author revealing confidential info, that could potentially allow saboteurs to pass by checkpoints. :(
It has been all over the news, so it won't sabotage anything. Most elderly people from the south-east of Ukraine wouldn't be able to pronounce it as well as they mostly have a very spotty command of Ukrainian.
Apparently even Russian speaking Ukrainians can usually pronounce it as it's a bread commonly eaten at some Ukrainian holiday (source is some random Reddit comment so take with a grain of salt)
I suppose I must have been wrong about generalising it to "most elderly people", but my Granny who had lived in Donbas for 40 years doesn't know about it.
Yeah I learned about shibboleth here in HN, remember reading about Spanish using pork/ham foods as it's own shibboleth-like device. And how some portuguese butchers offered vegan kosher options to the travellers that wanted to not stand out in a cantina, hahaha
Oh, don't worry, it has been the shibboleth word for many years way before this invasion. The beauty here that even if you know the word it is somewhat hard for a person to learn and remember how to pronounce it. I've tried to teach a couple of my non ukrainian friends for many years, they rarely get it nearly right and cannot repeat consistently.
Besides there a few backup words like this, if you need to verify.
Nah it's a very common meme throughout telegram. Has been since the first couple of days of the war. Russians just cannot say it the same. They have the same word, but it means 'strawberries', and it's pronounced differently. It's a classic shibboleth.
In recent years, Putin has surrounded himself only with a small number of like-minded security officials, a habit that intensified during the pandemic, when he isolated himself to an extreme degree compared with other world leaders
“They thought Russia would come and, like a time machine, give them the chance to live as they did before.” Acrude military logic underpinned Putin’s decision to invade
Ukraine, Putin believed, was not a country with its own history and claim to independence but a territory cobbled together from Austria-Hungary and the former Russian Empire by the Bolsheviks
“For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation.”
It's just wrong on so many points it's just difficult to argue it.
Russians didn't build castles: they did and they also had castle-like monasteries (even the Moscow stone Kremlin has been built during the Mongol yoke). Using Polish flags of the 16th century as an illustration is also at best misleading
https://youtu.be/f8ZqBLcIvw0
The black plague had almost no impact because the black plague was very limited in Russia.
All this stuff about aristocracy competing for the favor of the monarch just disregards that almost every Romanov monarch was a result of a coup by aristocracy
Russian church was independent till Aleksei Mikhailovich and we still have old-believers.
It completely disregards the fact that during Ivan the Terrible rule Siberia was conquered by an independent knyaz (it was basically a private entity).
Comparing Russia to China is based on economic developments of the last 30 years. 40 years ago Russia was a super-state while China was recovering from its Cultural revolution. We don't know what is going to happen in the next 30 years.
Nowadays Russia in some points is less centralised than even European union.
As it's a popular belief here that Russia is totalitarian because you can't unite shariah state of Chechnya, buddist Khakasia, diamond extorting Yakutia and sea trading Vladivostok in one state without military and other types of oppression. But democracy is unfavorable to Moscow (and most Russians of the Central part) as Moscow's power is based on extorting mineral resources from the lands of conquered/peacefully joint nations. Overall we do not produce much of the economic value. European and other markets are far away. So we can't compete with Poland (or Ukraine) for European low-tech goods. The European part is interested in local manufacturing and import tariffs while Russian Far East is interested in free trade and cheap imports. Just too many conflicting interests in one state.
Russia has 4 clear demands. Why not just give it to them? reject nato, recognize crimea, demilitarize.
Putin is a crazy genocidal maniac and war is worse than hell since innocents suffer. Why argue about the 4 points and prolong the war?
I never understood Zelensky and his obsession to remain in power as well as force all men of Ukraine to fight the war. The west is also glorifying the ukrainian excessively and resulted in thousands of volunteer fighters.
The west arming the far right in Ukraine has been repeated umpteen times and has never changed anything. Taliban, isis, syrian free army, libyan rebels, somalian rebels. Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?
Ah yes, lay down your arms forever we won’t invade we promise.
Says the country that previously promised to never invade when Ukraine gave up its nukes and did it anyway.
The promises of the Russian government regarding the security of Ukraine are at best meaningless and at worst actively malicious.
The definition of insanity is letting Russia take over parts of whatever country they feel like, based off whatever deluded reasoning they spew. This needs to stop, best way to do that is to cripple the countries ability to fight wars.
I agree with you but would like to qualify one point:
> The definition of insanity is letting Russia take over parts of whatever country they feel like, based off whatever deluded reasoning they spew.
To be fair, Krim was actually almost completely Russian. So it’s not some random deluded reasoning, it’s basically the same reasoning that Hitler used to get Austria and the Sudetenland. You know, merge the Russian lands into the empire.
Aaaand.. lets dig up the history books, how did crimea become this way- and there it is, ethnic cleansing and replacement with russian civilians during the ruling of the ussr.
Thats how a lot of the baltic states in the regions got their russian minorities today. Deport the elite, import russians to life in their homes.
Hitlers crimes were rolled back, this crimes stayed and lingered and even worse, are the recipe for todays conquests. This is what ukraine can expect, if putin is victorious. Mass deportations and replacements.
It is also the "unoffical" reason why the "planted" people their need russia "for protection" against a "genocide". Every accusation a confession.
Well I just don't understand. I mean you're literally undermining your own point.
The west was incredibly patient with Russia when they annexed Crimea and started a civil war in Ukraine(10 000 dead before this invasion), even as they blew up civilian passenger planes and committed terrorist poison attacks on foreign soil, poisoned their own politicians, built up their police state.
Putin explicitly said he was not going to invade Ukraine.
Why on earth would anyone believe a word out of this mouth after this invasion?
How is negotiating in good faith with such a regime rational?
Intelligent discussion? That was supposed to come BEFORE the invasion, the only thing that matters now is to kick Russians out of Ukraine.
The genie of war is out of the bottle. The Russian people have blood oh their hands.
I am sorry you are going through all of this. It's gut wrenching for me to look at it or even read about it. This is a proxy war between US/Nato and Russia and I will be honestly happy if Russia falls and breaks.
I believe that's true. My feeling is that Putin will not stop if he doesn't get an exit from this war, even though he probaby regrets his decision by now. He miscalculated badly, it was too late for a "special operation", Ukrainians were already armed by US and NATO and more arms are pouring in the country every day. Russian forces are now openly shooting appartment buildings, churches, hospitals and things will get even uglier as he gets more desperate. The Ukrainians are better equipped and have much more resolve so I don't see an end to this conflict. Do you think that Ukrainians will be able to find a compromise before it's too late?
PS. i'm not saying that we should give in to a terrorist that holds the world hostage with his nukes, what i'm saying is that I see the end of civilisation and no way that we can avoid it.
Steven Brust has one of his characters claim that the aggressors are the ones who defend against an attack, since they are the ones stopping an action.
Of course, that only makes sense if you're a sociopath, as his character was.
Ukraine has only 1, totally reasonable demand—Russia needs to get the fuck out. Maybe they should get their one demand instead of Russia getting their 4.
Throughout its two terms, the Obama administration resisted providing overt lethal assistance to Ukraine, concerned that such a move by the U.S. would provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, President Barack Obama maintained that stance, though his administration did provide a range of other nonlethal military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, including training. That posture shifted under President Donald Trump, and Washington began a relatively modest flow of weapons shipments. Trump’s attempt to cajole Ukraine into involving itself in his electoral battle with Joe Biden notwithstanding, U.S. military support for Kyiv has ticked steadily upward.
Even before Russia’s invasion, the Biden administration had begun a process of increasing lethal aid.
It started in November 21, a month after a Russian mechanized division moved from Siberia to a new army field east of Ukraine. Any arms deal started after October 2021 was triggered by the Russians.
You have a very submissive attitude. Do you do the same when a thug threatens your family? Or when bullies at school ask for your lunch? You just give it to them? Sorry, but your comment is pathetic.
Your rhetoric is meaningless. Plenty of people have died for honor that would answer in the affirmative if not dead. That you have a blindspot to that sort of self sacrifice means nothing on behalf of the people fighting for Ukraine.
Most of them are being forced to fight since it's illegal for men to leave the country. Listen this is exactly the dixie chicks moment.
They got death threats, pulled off radio, cds burnt. Its impossible for me to explain anything rational over the din of rabid nationalistic flag waving and posturing to support this proxy war.
Zelensky 100% has the option to end the war. Just accept the terms and live another day to fight the bully
>Most of them are being forced to fight since it's illegal for men to leave the country. Listen this is exactly the dixie chicks moment.
illegal to leave country - yes. Forced to fight - no. You need to have a really good connections inside military in order to join military in combat role those days.
Because a crazy genocidal maniac would invade again after Ukraine has demilitarized , and giving time also to reduce foreign economic dependencies.
Politicians as a general rule like to remain in power. You are confused about this?
Ukrainian conscription doesn't seem out of place. During WWII, Great Britain enforced full conscription on all male British subjects between 18 and 41 who were present on those islands (with exceptions). And the Germans never made it past the Channel Islands. Had they reached Dover, you seem to believe Churchill wouldn't have conscripted anyone able to handle a weapon??
> the definition of insanity
The one that was coined by a participant of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting?
Would you have told the pilots of British Airways Flight 009 they were insane to try to restart the engines after failing so many times? Yet they continued, and saved the lives of everyone onboard.
>Russia has 4 clear demands. Why not just give it to them?
Well apparently most Ukraninans would rather die then live their lives under Putin's boot or indeed together with Russians who think its OK to invade other countries and murder people who oppose them.
But I believe you when you express puzzlement, this confusion seem to run all the way to the boss.
you are down voted like crazy, but i have to say i agree with you.
ukraine can not win this war. no way. so why prolonge it for motnhs, years even? so many people will die .
but you cant say this nowadays or youre a kremlin spy. like you couldnt be critical of the covid vaxxes without being a conspiracu theorist...
