rudi49jr

Privateers were quite common in those days, it's one of the reasons how a small country like The Netherlands could become the most powerful nation on the planet for quite a while. But that was 400-500 years ago, times were a little different back then. Torturing prisoners to extract a confession was quite normal, for instance. Life was very cheap. Times have changed since then, however. The death penalty has been abolished in a lot of countries, torturing prisoners (or anyone else, for that matter) is frowned upon and going to war because a wannabe fascist dictator has delusions of grandeur is something most civilized countries strongly disapprove of. Apparently Putin doesn't care about all that, though, and wants to go back in time a couple of centuries. I feel sorry for Russia for having such an insane leader, and such a kleptocratic elite who care about nothing and no one, only about themselves, the size of their bank accounts and their giant ego.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1652045/putin-news-russia-ukraine-wagner-group-prisoners-murderers-troops-defence-latest "Recruiters show interest in those convicted for murder and robbery. Those inmates in prison for drug and sex offences are normally not selected."

I read somewhere that there are (at least) 5 million yaba addicts in Thailand. How are you going to win the war on drugs with 5 million yaba addicts alone? Because that’s not even counting all the other addicts hooked on hard stuff like heroine and such.

Not just any convicts; they are specifically looking for murderers.

This is the grim reality of Russian occupation in Ukraine. Mass grave with more than 400 bodies found in Izium. How anyone in the West - or on this forum - can keep defending this Russian invasion is beyond me. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-mass-grave-found-izium-where-russians-ousted-days-ago-2022-09-15/

What an absolute selfish moron. Glad he came to his sensen and restored it to its original state.

That seems to be par for the course in Thailand: they just won’t stop, not even when they see someone crossing and know they’re going to crash into that person. Even when there are traffic lights, many still won’t stop. If the Thai authorities really want them to stop at zebra crossings, the only thing that would probably work is a barrier, like at railroad crossings.

And another one bites the dust, they’re dropping like flies. Apparently, over the last six months or so, it’s been very unhealthy for some people to belong to Putin’s inner circle: https://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-sungorkin-dead-death-putin-ally-komsomolskaya-pravda-1742913

Jeez dude, stop with the deflection already. Russia is the aggressor here, the one that invaded Ukraine and the one committing all the war crimes. And also the one acting like a fascist nazi country.

Even more proof (not that we need more proof by now) of Russian army’s depravity.

Indeed. I was born not long after WWII, and I had plenty of relatives who were there when the allied forces liberated The Netherlands, and I heard plenty of stories from them how they welcomed the (mostly Canadian and English) soldiers and they partied for days, knowing that their ordeal was over, after being occupied for five years by the Germans, who became increasingly more brutal and repressive as the war dragged on. Fortunately the Ukrainians in Charkiv Oblast didn’t have to wait that long, but I can very well imagine how immensely glad and relieved they must have felt when their towns and villages were liberated from Russian occupation by the Ukrainian army. I hope they can keep up their momentum and keep pushing the Russians back further and further.

I read the same stories, of Russians torturing people with electricity, people being kidnapped/deported, people being summarily executed, women and children getting raped, Russians stealing everything they could lay their hands on before fleeing. Absolutely horrible and appalling. Seems to me that this is not just random stuff, this is either orders coming from higher up, or the Russian army has a serious problem with discipline. Or maybe both.

Russian energy boss dies after ‘falling overboard’. His predecessor died earlier this year from a ‘stroke’. Nothing to see here, folks, just move along…

CNN: ‘See what Russians left behind after being run out of city’. https://youtu.be/wT_8HXAHZXE

It’s never a good idea to adopt the brutal methods (i.e. war crimes) of your opponent, and I’m sure those in command in the Ukrainian army will do anything to prevent that from happening. Show the world, and Russia in particular, that you can take prisoners of war and treat them according to the Geneva convention.

If these maps are accurate, then Ukraine is making real progress in kicking Russia back to where they came from.

Which one? This thread is crawling with them, never seen so many before on this forum.

The Russian 1st Guard Tank Army (1GTA) had to retreat from Charkiv Oblast over the last week. 1GTA was intended to lead counter-attacks in the case of a war with NATO. It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability.

As expected, after having to retreat with their tails between their legs, the Russians show themselves to be petty and sore losers and resort to acts of sabotage and terrorism. No wonder they are fleeing in such large numbers, it’s because they know they are despised by the Ukrainians and fear reprisals.

7. You forgot to mention that Crimea most certainly did not ‘choose’ to go with Russia, as that poster claimed. 8. Ukrainians most certainly didn’t/don’t welcome the Russians. On the contrary, I would say, as anyone can witness on a daily basis.

If seeing sense is looking the other way when a fascist bully state invades a democracy and commits the most atrocious war crimes on a daily basis in the process, then the Thais are indeed seeing sense. Nothing to be very proud of, though.

You admire some real whackjobs: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Brian_Gerrish https://www.indy100.com/politics/who-is-george-galloway-batley-spen-b1876914

Maybe you should read this! https://fullfact.org/online/great-reset-conspiracy-theory/

Anything that confirms their warped sense of reality is an ‘independent view’ to these people. Anything that does not fit their warped sense of reality is fake news or propaganda. Go figure.