.... the date Putin's "Special military operation" started. So here we are, 5 months on and what has he got to show for it. Tens if not hundreds of thousands dead on both sides. Many more suffering life changing injuries. Towns, and villages obliterated, Millions displaced. Many 3rd World countries now at risk of famine. Millions of roubles, euros and dollars spent on ordnance /many of which now lie rusting in the countryside and tens of thousands of shells, and hundreds of missiles as well as millions of rounds of bullets fired indiscriminately often targeting civilians. Money which could be put to far better use than slaughtering innocents. Economic chaos in the World brought on by the uncertainty of Gas and Oil supplies. And all for what? To staisfy one man's distorted view of the role of Russia in the World order. We never learn and history seems destined to just repeat itself over and over. The worst part is that, if Nuclear weapons and WMD never existed, with the 'relative' maturity of most of the rest of the World leaders, by now NATO and an allaince would have settled this, or more likely Putin would never have dared to do what he has. As it stands though, all the World can do is assist in supplying arms and expertise to Ukraine and watch events unfold from the side lines. with an increasing sense of anger and frustration. Puts all our squabbles on this BB in perspective.
Yes but with censorship of foreign media akin to the isolation of North Korea, the constant propaganda on State TV and Newspapers, closure of independent media crackdown on dissent and prison sentences handed out right, left and centres and 're-education centres springing up the polls may well be accurate. In that sort of climate you would tell pollster what they want to hear. Besides, most Russians away from the major populated areas still live a very spartan existence andwidespread poverty is a perfect breeding ground for a 'Strong' leader to sow seeds of discontent and misplaced patriotism amongst the people and whip up misplaced patriotism and a sense that everyone is against them (which ironically, on the whole they now are). Then find an external 'enemy' to blame your domestic woes on, or in the case of Ukraine and NATO create a non existent threat to your country that must be dealt with. We have here a classic dictatorship where opposition to the glorious leader, from any quarter or level, is crushed. Admiration, by some (particularly elderly steeped in the Soviet culture) and fear for many others with the remaining fanatics drown out dissent. All straight from the Dictator's (e.g. Hitler) playbook.
Exactly. People are even afraid to tell the pollsters what they really believe. Far more anti-war graffiti in St Petersburg than "Z" symbols on show. I don't know a single person who is in favour of the war. Some are ambivalent, most are vehemently against. But my circle of friends, colleagues and business associates are highly educated, mostly well-travelled St Petersburg and Moscow professionals. They are not representative of Russia as a whole, just as your average New Yorker or Silicon Valley employee has pretty much nothing in common with a resident of Greensburg in Louisiana apart from sharing the same nationality.
Ukraine has so much support from around the world yet Russia are still taking more land. Something isn't right.
Not sure what your point you are making. obviously noone benefits from War except Arms manufacturers. Again not sure what you are trying to say. There is plenty of balanced reporting. Many papers and BBC tend to go for human interest subjects much of which revolve around civilians caught up in the mayhem. Reasonable summaries of how the war is progessing militarily within the constraints of security issues, can be found on the internet. No one seems to be claiming Ukraine is winning and of course details of long distance defence systems being sent to Ukraine are clearly sensitive. There is plenty of video evidence of Russian breaches of Rules of War and War crimes. How would you expect reports of the recent agreement to allow grain exports being broken within hours by missile strikes? Are you saying that is propaganda and staged by Ukraine?
Victims don't usually get much out of being attacked. You don't ask a rape victim what she got out of it do you
