tgw

border disputes can't be a reason unless they are very major disputes, because almost every country has border disputes.

yes, my point is Putin doesn't have anything to attack with ???? but I quoted the wrong post 555

erm ... attack with what ?

I like this post. You demonstrated the link between Putin's war in Ukraine and why Putin has been using covert media, fake news and manipulative covert advertising to influence right wingers.

Asovstal is the last remaining pocket - why are they still bombing outside of the steel plant ?

has been doing for years.

I will assist Mac Mickmanus a bit and say "the right to do something" is irrelevant here. It's about strategic interests in a cold war logic, there is a logical argument to be made to argue why Russia indeed would have a strategic security interest to do that. And I say that argument is made by Russia and its supporters in bad faith, because "buffer states" and the distance to Moscow has become more and more irrelevant in the past years. I don't see how NATO in Ukraine is more threatening than NATO in Poland. The difference in flight time to Moscow of a ballistic nuclear missile must be around 3 minutes.

but Russia demonstrated that they could and would do something like that. so it forces Finland to join NATO.

so what ? you mean that gives them the right to attack Finland ? if anything, it's a good reason for Finland to join NATO and build up its military.

well, it wasn't threatening to invade Ukraine either ! it even said it wouldn't !

Technically, NATO can remain at peace while one or several of its members conduct a "special peacekeeping operation" on the ground and the sky of Ukraine. BUT the problem is not that. The problem is to determine where it the operation should stop. Stopping at the pre-invasion controlled territories of Ukraine would amount to de-facto recognize the separatists and the Crimea landgrab. Going beyond that would be to give Russian people a reason to call for war. So Ukraine will have to do this alone to win back its territories. That's what Putin bets on. That calculation of his is correct. Where he grossly miscalculated, is that he didn't give Ukraine and the rest of the "free world" an acceptable concession he would be able to sell at home as a win. That's where I guess he has some kind of mental condition that prevented him from anticipating this. So we have a situation: - where Putin is with his back to the wall (i.e. increasingly desperate and dangerous). - Russia's word and assurances, signatures in international treaties is worthless - Ukraine can't accept any scenario Putin could sell as a win

Putin and likeminded successors.

my opinion is that the best chances of avoiding or at least postponing WW3 for a long time is to stop Putin right now. Giving him Donbass would be a win for Putin. Not only would this encourage Putin and his successors to pursue that kind of tactics (hello Transnistria, the rest of Georgia, Kasakstan, etc. ) but other countries will take note of the West's weakness and act accordingly (hello China in Taiwan, hello North Korea ...). So Putin needs to be stopped now, he must not get Donbass, not pass go, not collect 200$. Only the go to jail card is for him. And although I'm scared f*ckless, I increasingly think that the West should risk it.

64th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade The 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (Military Unit Number 51460) is a motorized infantry brigade of the Russian Ground Forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64th_Guards_Motor_Rifle_Brigade Vlad's message to Russian troops : rape, murder civilians, pillage and get rewarded !

I live in Pattaya too. Price doesn't increase when I log in. it does increase too

maybe the roubles stopped pouring in because of the sanctions ...

I replied to that kind of argument earlier:

Mykolaiv Oblast governor reports shootout between Russian troops, Russia's proxies in neighboring region. According to Vitaliy Kim, shooting between the Russian military and forces of the Russian-occupied territories in Donbas took place in the Russian-occupied city of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, on April 16. https://kyivindependent.com/ good news. if they start shooting each other among themselves, it will be less work and spare many lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-04-17-22/h_c2789afaa290f5311aee5f14371ab176 Putin believes he’s winning the war, Austrian chancellor says “I think he is now in his own war logic. He thinks the war is necessary for security guarantees for the Russian Federation. He doesn’t trust the international community. He blames the Ukrainians for genocide in the Donbas region. So, um, well, he is now in his world, but I think he knows what is going on now in Ukraine," Nehammer said. so that confirms that Putin has some kind of a mental condition. "not batting off a full wicket" would some British friends say.

I am really in no position to recommend anything. But I remember this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ilovaisk https://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/14/battle-ilovaisk-details-massacre-inside-rebel-held-eastern-ukraine-282003.html https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49426724 also known as the "massacre of Ilovaisk" Russians can be 100% trusted to not respect any agreements.

Russia is already in breach of the Geneva conventions of which it is a signatory: - attacks on civilians - attacks on civilian infrastructures - forced deportations - torture - executions - looting / pillage - rapes - banned ammunitions: cluster, vacuum, thermobaric the list of breaches by Russian troops is long, very long

https://kyivindependent.com/ (live feed) Russians making witnesses disappear ?

very good. if they could depose that joke of a Patriarch on grounds of immorality would be even better. https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/15278/orthodox-priests-call-for-patriarchs-to-depose-kirill "The petition accuses Kirill of heresy in preaching the “Russian world” ideology, and of moral crimes in blessing Russian troops and their invasion of Ukraine. " Heresy. even better. the patriarch is former KGB : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Kirill_of_Moscow most of Russia's power structures are rotten.

it really depends on the rules and their enforcement. some rules are really stupid. and others are stupidly enforced.

which controls only a portion of all the passports in the world, and regulates only what UK officers do within the borders of UK.