Russia invades Ukraine

According to Ukrainian politicians and eyewitnesses on the ground, Russia have just launched a major offensive and cities across the country are under attack.

This could be one of the major events of this decade or even this century.

Putin will do everything he can to declare a casus belli, and there are genuine grievances they may have against NATO and the manner in which this Ukrainian government came to power, but aggression on this scale is a firm wrong committed by Putin and the Russian state.

Unconfirmed reports Belarusian forces are also involved on the Russian side.

 

Thanks to Vlad we now know time travel is real - he’s just taken Europe and the world backwards by nearly 100 years in one foul swoop - sad sad day

 

I’m very surprised that sanctioning 5 tin pot banks and 3 oligarchs didn’t work…

This is a terrible day for modern civilisation and the West need to really up their game after their initial pitiful response. Time to turn Russia into a pariah state I’m afraid.

 

It's pretty clear, and understandably so, that beyond providing weapons and logistical support that nothing will be done to help Ukraine in terms of actual military support. Ukraine will be left to Putin because the alternative is far worse.

 

That would be the right decision. I don't fancy being nuked anytime soon.

 

Putin is a madman and just made a pretty transparent statement that he would be prepared to use nuclear options if the West intervenes militarily in defence of Ukraine.

On that basis , other than sanctions, militarily there is little the West can do. The ridiculous propaganda that the Russians are putting out ("Ukraine is the aggressor" and "the World blames them for this action") may have worked for Nazi Germany in the 1930s but fool very few (I suspect not even the majority of the Russian population ) since mass communication and social media means people no longer live in a vacuum.
His expansionist dream is a mirror of Hitler's Lebensraum but Hitler did not have the power to nuke half the planet.
In truth the only solution is to topple Putin and his administration from within but even if that was possible it will be too late for Ukraine.
Crippling sanctions may work but will cause insufferable hardship on the Russian population the majority of which do not support Putin or his war.
That said, short of imposing those sanctions I have no idea what the answer is. Anyone insane enough to launch full scale war on a neighbouring country is capable of anything and my fear is if sanctions threatened to bring down Putin he might resort to the nuclear option anyway.
As if the World did not have enough on its plate with Pandemics and Climate change.

 

Pendants corner here.... I was once told off myself for saying ' foul swoop'. The correct term is 'fell swoop'.

 

Hardship to 144 million Russian citizens would be regrettable, but Putin is posing a far more serious threat to many times that number of people. He must be isolated now, and nothing held back in terms of sanctions. We must hope that his own citizens can somehow overthrow him. There must surely be some amongst his own military who doubt what he is doing.

 

And the Russian misinformation campaign, supported by their paid for apologists and "bots" is in full swing. (K)GB news led by Farage, and Steve Bannon over in the US prime example. Regardless of other views, the Russians have definitely been interfering in Western politics over the last two decades in an effort to de-stabilise and destroy the unity of the West. Europe and the US have never been in such disarray or as divided. The Baltics and Finland will be watching developments aghast. It is a scary time. And the UK has a Russian compromised PM who is impotent to respond. He is more Chinchilla than Churchill. Imagine Winston being in bed with Hitler? All this and we are in the 2022 version of the 1930s!

 

Putin is frighteningly unstable.

'any interference will be met with instant response'.

Disturbing to the Nth degree

 

Hmmm. The one thing is that now we have a mutual 'enemy' with ICBMs the US can no longer be isonationalist like they tried to be in WW2

 

Maybe it's time that wealthy British criminals started interfering in Russian politics. Give them some of their own medicine.

 

Is Biden real?

Looks and acts like a remote controlled corpse.

Or maybe a hologram / Max Headroom.

 

It’s Pedant not Pendant.

 

I stand corrected

 

I mean, even Bojo the Clown had a suitable sombre look. Biden walked on stage smiling like he thought he'd been taken to a Broadway musical

 

Use this thread as a keepsake and maybe put it in a locket.

 

They love a war do the yanks.

 

Ukraine defence Minister says anyone who is able can join the Territorial Defence Forces.

I hope this doesn't turn into another Iraq with a swift 'victory' followed by years of guerrilla warfare.