we should have been focusing on building alliances with countries like India and China, who Russia actually cares about, — Baden
It was already shown in Kyiv how you get Putin to de-escalate: inflict serious losses and show he cannot achieve his objectives. Putin's blitz campaign utterly and decisively failed. The VDV failed in it's air assault on Antonov Airport and the attempt to either take or surround Kyiv failed. Putin did acknowledge his defeat with the total withdrawal from the Kyiv front. He understood that the Ukrainians would fight and that he would have to limit his objectives.Better that this gets deescalated. My expectation is the more you escalate it, the more Putin will demand as a penalty for the extra dead Russians you create. That penalty being more dead Ukrainians and harsher terms for ending the conflict. — Baden
Western aid isn't killing Ukrainians, it's the Russians arms and their basic doctrine of fighting wars with maximum firepower and total disregard of civilian casualties. It's up to the Ukrainians themselves how much they are going to sacrifice in this war. If they choose to throw in the towel, nobody will or can stop them from doing that. Likely they won't do that. They see the route to peace in destroying the Russian war machine, which they have been partly successful in. That's the correct way to handle Russia. You simply have to stop the Russian advances, have the ability then to go on the counteroffensive and then they will come to negotiate about an armstice. That's the only way.. Probably the only route to this 'People's Republic' you refer to is, ironically, the complete decimation of Ukraine caused by an indefinite extension of the war fuelled by an indefinite influx of foreign weapons: A neat way to give cover to Putin to completely destroy and subjugate the country. — Baden
Despite Russian troops in and around Grozny numbering approximately 12,000, more than 1,500 Chechen guerrillas (whose numbers soon swelled) overran the key districts within hours in an operation prepared and led by Aslan Maskhadov (who named it Operation Zero) and Shamil Basayev (who called it Operation Jihad). The separatists then laid siege to the Russian posts and bases and the government compound in the city centre, while a number of Chechens deemed to be Russian collaborators were rounded up, detained and, in some cases, executed. At the same time, Russian troops in the cities of Argun and Gudermes were also surrounded in their garrisons. Several attempts by the armored columns to rescue the units trapped in Grozny were repelled with heavy Russian casualties (the 276th Motorized Regiment of 900 men suffered 50% casualties in a two-day attempt to reach the city centre). Russian military officials said that more than 200 soldiers had been killed and nearly 800 wounded in five days of fighting, and that an unknown number were missing; Chechens put the number of Russian dead at close to 1,000. Thousands of troops were either taken prisoner or surrounded and largely disarmed, their heavy weapons and ammunition commandeered by the separatists.
You're completing missing the escalation point. Russia has strategic objectives, which don't necessarily involve levelling Ukraine.
It looks to me that the best outcome from here is Russia getting preoccupied and bogged down in eastern Ukraine with continued strict sanctions on Russia and to keep Putin’s army stuck there until they are sufficiently degraded. — Punshhh
That growing confidence made him to decide that an all out invasion would be a great idea in the first place. What else was the annexation of Crimea than a huge success?The problem is that this was always going to come to a head. If Putin had successfully assimilated Ukraine without military involvement. He would feel empowered and immediately look to the assimilation of a number of other previous USSR states. Growing in confidence at each turn. — Punshhh
Oh wow how coincidental that your views are exactly those of the US imperial agenda wow its like you haven't simply regurgitated US propaganda verbatim at all so cool how you probably came to this view entirely on your own.
That growing confidence made him to decide that an all out invasion would be a great idea in the first place — ssu
I am happy with US and soon to become US/EU hegemony for many reasons. — Punshhh
Yes, I'm perfectly aware that you are comfortable with the buggest threat to world peace that has ever existed insofar as you benefit of the blood it spills globally.
Anyway, those who think: the best solution is just low level continued fighting in which a certain population of Ukranians are subject to ongoing arbitrary death, humilation, and fear are probably monsters and should not offer an opinion on anything ever again.
They were spewing American intelligence about it early in the war. Do you care enough for me to look it up? If you looked it up yourself would you believe it? — frank
I thought you were all about it ending with negotiations. I realized a couple of weeks ago that this could actually lead to WW3. You're catching up! — frank
The US ought to fuck right off forever.
Depends on the source. I've seen news reports to that effect but nothing convincing as yet. I don't think we're going to get reliable intelligence on exactly what was said and then it's down to speculation to fit pro or anti Chinese bias. But I'm open to being wrong on that. — Baden
Unfortunately, I am. I still don't think it will lead to WW III, but with every escalation, my confidence wanes. — Baden
The separatism that Russia actually failed to instill other places in Ukraine (they tried, but failed) as they had done in other former Soviet states. Something inconvenient to mention for the anti-West people... like what Russia did in Moldova (or Abkhazia or South Ossetia).It happens to be the case that this was in fact Ukranian policy toward their own seperatist regions before the war, but this is very inconvenient to mention. — StreetlightX
The Council of Europe’s constitutional experts have criticized controversial language legislation adopted in Ukraine earlier this year and previous regulations regarding educational institutions signed into law by the country's previous president, Petro Poroshenko.
The so-called Venice Commission on December 6 said it specifically took issue with what it sees as an extremely short transition period for the converting of Russian-language schools into Ukrainian-language institutions.
The commission also said it considers quotas for minority languages in radio and TV programs to be unbalanced. "To avoid the language issue becoming a source of inter-ethnic tensions within Ukraine, it is of crucial importance to achieve an appropriate balance in its language policy," the commission said. "The authorities have so far failed to do so."
The State Language Law, which went into effect on July 16, declares that Ukrainian is "the only official state language" in the country. It adds that "attempts" to introduce other languages as the state language would be considered an effort to "forcibly change the constitutional order."
Poroshenko signed the bill into law days before he left office following his electoral defeat to rival Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
But what would it look like? — Punshhh
This is simply delirious rambling.Also imagine how people who like seeing dead Ukrainians to think: well, Russia just murdered a whole bunch of people thanks to European expansion. In response, let's do more European expansion. This is a good idea and not something only a fucking psychopath would think of. — StreetlightX
Anyway, as an Australian this doesn't concern you. — ssu
Why would it be a good idea to further increase EU membership? — Benkei
Well, you surely haven't shown that empathy.As someone capable of empathy and who is not a sociopath who enjoys dead Ukrainians, this is irrelevant. — StreetlightX
(I should remind people that here with saying "nothing they say ought to be taken seriously" StereotypeX meant the US warnings about an imminent attack by Russia on Ukraine.)Remember, the US are warmongering murderers and nothing they say ought to be taken seriously.
With the black hole of Afghanistan no longer supplying the American arms industry, what better opportunity to make up for lost profits? — StreetlightX
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