rabas

53 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Glad to see that you acknowledge that it’s the hope strategy. As for China invading Vietnam, no idea what you’re on about and it’s off topic anyway.

You should learn.  China-Vietnam is an excellent big bully beats up smaller neighbor parallel to Russia-Ukraine, many wars. Just like Russia, China had trouble accepting Vietnam is not China. Same same. Lots of book burning and brutal cultural cleaning, too. 

But for the last 1000 years, Vietnam successfully retained its sovereignty in spite of Chinese aggression and a few wars.

It's not about hope. it's about defending family, home, and culture, just like Ukraine. That suggests Ukraine may have a better ending than Russia. 

37 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Aren’t European farmers protesting about grain imports from Ukraine? Just imagine if the EU were to control it instead. It would be weaponised in the blink of an eye so I reckon the global majority would prefer if Russia controlled it.

Russian control = stealing and blowing up whatever it can, with real weapons.  The global majority surely wants a free Ukraine so grain is not destroyed.

Bloomberg:  [LINK]  Ukrainian grain Exports from the last season's harvest, Russia stole or destroyed 4.04 million tons of grain and oilseeds valued at about $1.9 billion in Ukrainian territories

BBC: Satellite images reveal damage to Ukraine grain ports

100s more. 

10 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 You are all about confirmation bias and no outside-the-box thinking.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68823399

Good god! I quoted the head of Russia's Central Bank herself! I even reference TASS (Russian state media). 

You label me and others narrow minded MSM junkies, then you quote a Western MSM clickbait article because you like it.
 

FACT. Russia's GDP anomaly was mostly due to a jump in war time spending that also follows a prior GDP crash (recession 2022) Not experienced by other countries. This was explained elsewhere.

More Russian economy

XM: Russian central bank vows to contain inflation as weekly prices soar

BI: Russia's top central banker warns of higher inflation as Putin's military draft tightens the labor market

TASS: Bank of Russia to take all measures for low inflation — Central Bank chief

"The dramatic cut of the key rate and unpredictable high inflation "are capable of destroying long-term lending," Elvira Nabiullina noted"

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Even a scoundrel can be right. There were no WMDS and IMO that war was based on a lie.

Not a scoundrel who's opinions swing wildly based on personal advantage, which was the point. Such people are never reliable and are not now. (Trust me bro, I won't cheat you again!) 

Jeffrey Sachs is not a scoundrel but also suffers from occasional opinion swing e.g., lab leaks. He is bright and means well but a bit blinded by his "America bad"  feelings.

Some WMD and traces were found but that's off topic.

5 hours ago, BobBKK said:

 I am very clear what a proxy war is - you are blind. Whatever negotiations will happen after Trump wins - Ukraine will give up land - game over.

Vision test...

Russia fought proxy wars in Ukraine prior to Putin's full invasion in 2022, after which it was no longer a proxy war.

Wiki: Allegations of genocide in Donbas

Altogether, about 14,300 people were killed in the Donbas War, both soldiers and civilians. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 6,500 were Russian proxy forces, 4,400 were Ukrainian forces, and 3,404 were civilians on both sides of the frontline.

Test results: ChicagoExpat has excellent vision.

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Hasn't RT been banned in some western countries? So much for free speech.

This is a quantification fallacy, an argument that makes unjustified claims about the scope of something. It's also a form of whataboutisam, perfected in Russian cold war propaganda.

"Look, someone somewhere banned something so mass state censorship is OK."

Here's what it's quickly becoming under Putin, which you won't criticize. He recently introduced a form you can fill out and get your neighbor locked up for years just for things like singing Ukraine supportive songs? No trial. OK, back to your evil USA. 

2 hours ago, BobBKK said:

 I think it fair that someone, at least, tries to offer balance, as 90% on here are happy to spew out the MSM BS.

You provided an unverified accusation with no reference or other info. (drive by shooting)

I provided 3 references that the cultural destruction is by Russia, there are 100s or 1000s of references from reputable sources and international organizations.

Google: Ukraine cultural destruction

Google: Ukraine cultural destruction books

... and choose. Russia is destroying books, libraries. book printers, and  cultural sites. It is deliberate.

Where is your evidence? 

44 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 Always two sides to every coin

And you always carefully mention only one. 

Why the sad Bob?  I only provided 3 links to reputable sources. Afraid of truth? 

FYI, I'm not the one giving you sads etc. 

And then there were none...

Russia had only one S-500 system, and that was experimental. It was recently moved to Crimea from protecting Moscow Putin. India in particular is in pain and cancelling multiple weapon systems purchases from Russia in favor of US hardware. 

(Note: click on image to see fire location at  image bottom)

1 hour ago, BobBKK said:

They indeed behaved the same in Donbas for many years - it was a form of genocide, of course - shutting the language down, burning books and lawless killings.

Just to clarify who 'they' refers to:

Reuters: Pro-Russian demonstrators burn books, storm buildings in eastern Ukraine (2014)

HRU: Blow to History: Ukrainian Literary Works Destroyed in Recent Incidents  'Russians continue to destroy the cultural heritage of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories.' (Feb 2023)

Russia destroys almost all Ukrainian literature in occupied Donbas, calling it ‘extremist’ (Dec 2023)

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Perhaps you can point out just how Ukraine is winning. Another counteroffensive on the horizon, perhaps, or how they saved Avdiivka from capture by Russia. If not that, how the F 16 is going to win the war for Ukraine, just like the Leopard did.

1. After the invasion, Russia captured an added 119,000 km2, of which Ukrainian has liberated 74,443 km². After that, change is peanuts. [link]

2. Ukraine has US$ 110+ billion on the way, now arriving from various sources.

3. Russia's civil economy is slowly collapsing as discussed earlier. China refused to and N Korea can't help financially.

4. Gazprom is failing financially, now a drain on the war effort.  

  link -> https://x.com/i/status/1805989796306911712

5. Russian military correspondent complains that Ukraine drones now outnumber Russia's by a huge factor.  

  link -> https://x.com/i/status/1805669707640643604

I doubt the war will end on the battlefield, it will likely end with Putin's fall as more Russian's count the internal damage to their country.  Putin remains a madman. 

Einstein once said  "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones".

I doubt he meant drones fighting each other with sticks. How does this work? The Ukraine drone uses a stick to break the Russian drone's propellers.

Video proof that the Sevastopol beach was hit by falling debris from a Russian intercepted ATACMS missile.  Note the 1 km² wide debris field shows the missile broke up at a high altitude, it did not target the beach. Also note Russia knew this from the beginning. Liars. 

There, I cluster posted.

But they all hit their targets successfully.

3 hours ago, BobBKK said:

 Whether accidental or targeted (we don't know which for sure), it was USA-supplied CLUSTER bombs, which are banned internationally. 

This is also false.

There is a voluntary convention on cluster munitions, there is no enforced international ban. Neither Russia, the United States, nor Ukraine have signed. 

The 16 countries that have not signed and who produce cluster munitions includ Brazil, China, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey and the United States.

The problem with cluster munitions is some don't explode. The U.S. has acknowledged humanitarian concerns and has pledged not to use any cluster munitions with a failure rate higher than 1 percent after 2018. [link] Russia has made no such commitment.

4 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Meanwhile, USA cluster bombs target holidaymakers on Sevastopol beach.

This is blatantly false, neither Ukraine nor the US intentionally targeted holidaymakers on Sevastopol beach. 

Russia does intentionally target Ukrainian civilians nearly daily, and you remain silent. Is that not the definition of hiprocacy?

3 hours ago, BobBKK said:

 

This is untrue. Ukraine signed a deal that included Russia withdrawing, and Russia withdrew, and Ukraine reneged on that deal. Russia is gaining more and more support. This is not good for anyone.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/features/2024-05-12/china-russia-iran-have-made-ukraine-a-world-war-against-us-europe

 

What deal, agreement did Ukraine officially sign, when, and when did Russia withdraw, from where? Do have have a reference to this event?