Lacessit

You can say America provoked Russia all you want. It's still a fact Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, and the Donbas in 2022. No one was invading Russia. If Putin had not miscalculated in about half a dozen ways, by being told only what he wanted to hear, he probably would have got away with Crimea. The Donbas was a bridge too far for Europe and America. Disagree, Russia created its own problems.

Non sequitur rides again.

I'd be concerned if they had nukes. Tell me who in Eastern Europe did, after the Soviet Union fell. Only Ukraine, who gave them up in 1994. From the viewpoint of countries such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria. Romania etc. they did not want to be under the Russian jackboot again, with everything siphoned off to Moscow. The NATO pact was quite moribund, until Putin invaded the Donbas. Another of his miscalculations. Russia can bitch to sympathetic ears like yours, cuts no ice with me. A self-inflicted wound.

There are huge gaps in the Russia defenses against invasion. 9 of them. When the Soviet Union existed, they were all plugged. Now only Belarus remains. Finland made it worse by about 1500 km of added front, joining NATO. Putin may well wax lyrical about the shared roots of Ukrainians and Russians, deporting children from captured regions in Ukraine gives the lie to that statement. But then, everyone who is not delusional knows Putin lies like a pig in sh!t. Simple fact - Ukrainians hate Russians. Given what the Tsars and Stalin, now Putin have done to them, who can blame them? IMO the Russian leadership is focused in entirely the wrong direction. NATO is a defensive pact, although of course the Kremlin does not see it that way. History shows the invasions that inflicted the most damage on the Russian psyche were by the Mongols and Tartars, from the east. Comparatively speaking, Russia gave as good as it got with Napoleon and Hitler. I am predicting when China thinks Russia is sufficiently weakened, it will be annexing eastern Siberia. It has had every opportunity to observe the incompetence of Russian logistics over a mere 50 kilometres. The Xi-Putin friendship pact has as much value as the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact did.

Ukraine is constitutionally a democracy. Obviously, it's a bit difficult to hold elections when fighting for survival.

Oh yes, I saw this policy speech by Trump........... You're on about Kamala cackling? Look in the mirror.......

I don't know you can equate the two. Noriega was a drug trafficker and dictator, Ukraine is a democracy. Russian "interests" are in getting the Soviet Union back, Putin has repeatedly said so. That ship sailed long ago.

You are not much of a history student. Russia probably would have collapsed if not for the Atlantic supply convoys, and the opening of other fronts by the Allies. Stalin had purged the entire officer corps in 1936. He was planning to retreat behind the Urals. After the war was over, Russian soldiers captured by the Germans committed suicide rather than be sent back to Russia. They knew what was awaiting them. This time, it's corruption. It's estimated Shoigu has pocketed a lot of the military budget. Trucks with rotting tires, soldiers with flak jackets made out of cardboard. Morale is terrible. The excursion is smart, not silly. It gives Putin a propaganda black eye, diverts troops needed on the front lines, and the Ukrainians can play merry hell with logistical hubs.

There are things called polls.

Like Trump is trying to hide behind Fox?

I guess they are not supporting a felon, sexual predator, fraudster, misogynist and racist whinger whose only policies are division and retribution. Or his weird couch-humping side-kick. I see you still haven't realized laughing at your own lame jokes is moronic.

Calling me Mr. Biased is just argument ad hominem, illustrating your own bias. So when 100 Russians are released in a swap, do you think they will be greeted as heroes, shot for cowardice, or sent to the meat grinder?

TBH, the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys are somewhat damp squibs. IMO National Guards in most states would make mincemeat of them. If Trump loses, and starts chuntering on about stolen elections again, Harris might do well to order him confined to Mar-a-Lardo until the trials play out. After all, she would have Presidential immunity, wouldn't she?

There's a number of hypotheses. One would be to weaken the Russian front near Kharkiv. The other would be to humiliate Putin with the Russians themselves, which has already succeeded. Apparently 100 Russian troops have already surrendered to the Ukrainians near Kursk, which doesn't say much for their willingness to fight and die for Mother Russia.

Don't you mean, assaulting the Russian separatists who were transplanted there by Stalin, after killing off the indigenous Ukrainians in the Holodomor?

When he has people in his own tent telling him to quit whining, it's a sign they are reading public sentiment better than him.

Like Vance did?........

What's really happening outside Trumpworld..........

Fake news.......

Correct. Trump's foreign policy appears to be one of alienating allies, and cosying up to dictators. I'm harking back to the days of De Gaulle, when the new American ambassador was introduced. Not a career diplomat, a rich contributor to the ruling party. Something he said said or did offended De Gaulle, who quietly remarked to an aide " Qui fait entrer ce cochon?" ( Who let this pig in?) I'm guessing that line might get repeated if Trump is elected.

Many of us can't vote in the US elections. We are aliens, a term which has always amused me. So far, I have resisted the temptation to ask where I should park my spaceship. Our interest stems from the knowledge whoever gets into the White House has huge ramifications for the rest of the world.

Masochists love a good flogging.

The Irish gene pool is relatively homogeneous. There is no genetic evidence Irish people with darker skin and eyes came from Africa, shipwrecked Spanish sailors, or Cromwell's soldiers. The DNA difference would stick out like a sore thumb if they did.

He's a Kiwi. It's often said New Zealanders are more British than the British.

Why would a new GOP candidate pardon Trump? IMO they'd be more inclined to bury him.