Gonna be an interesting ride, though I’m betting they just clinch it in the runoff... I don't know much about politics over in Turkey, but I've been seeing on CNN that Barack Obama is an ally.
gentlestag15 said:I honestly thought the right-wing crowd and the Kemalists were backing Kilić while the conservatives and Islamists were riding with Erdogan
Nobody even knows who’s actually footing the bill or who’s just getting wasted... The only thing I'm sure of is that things are gonna hit the streets soon.
Kate Cook27 said:I agree there have been mistakes since 2014, but hey, it’s never too late to fix things. I'm all for phasing out Russian as a gesture of goodwill toward switching over to Ukrainian. Mind you, we're talking about centuries of attempts to suppress the Ukrainian language, so it won't happen overnight. Still, I really believe that in 5 or 10 years, Russian speakers will be a tiny minority. As for Zelenskyy—he uses both, but personally, I think Ukrainian is much more melodic and beautiful; it has its own distinct sound 😁. A lot of people have already stopped using Russian, and I bet as the war moves forward, that trend will only grow. People from Donbas, Kharkiv, and Kherson just don't want to use Russian anymore. If there's any "Russophobia" happening, you can only blame the Russians for that, and nobody else.
As far as the language goes, I think both sound good, though I definitely understand Russian better than Ukrainian...
I've been watching clips on YouTube where people are flat-out refusing to speak Russian after the invasion, even though they used to use it all the time...
And from what I know, a huge part of Ukraine uses what they call Surzhyk, which is basically this blend of Russian and Ukrainian...
You hear it most in the areas between Kyiv and the east, like Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv...
If the West just lets Russia annex those occupied territories for good, we’re looking at a perpetual war, even if it’s just smoldering in the background... Peace would be a pipe dream because things would just keep escalating, keeping tensions through the roof constantly. Maybe giving Crimea to Russia and granting more autonomy to Luhansk and Donetsk within Ukraine could actually work, but anything else is just stalling for time before the next Russian push into Ukraine hits... whether that happens in six months, a year, or two, it doesn't really matter.
I mean, you probably saw that news out of Latvia where some Russian residents painted the city entrance in Russian colors... that's how it starts, with little provocations, then demands, then getting bullied, then calling on Mother Russia to step in because they're being harassed, and before you know it, it’s Lithuania or Estonia's turn next. So now the West can sit there and decide if they want to cave to Russia or actually bring this thing to an end.
Lisa Patel4 said:Well, after everything that's happened, it's a clear majority. Those regions have always been mostly Russian-leaning; just look at how people in those parts of Ukraine voted back in 1991 regarding independence. It was barely even a majority. I guess if they hadn't held onto that territory for eight years, things would be different.
This war has basically forced a massive distinction between the Ukrainian and Russian identities. Before the Maidan, being "Ukrainian" was pretty much limited to the west of the country. I mean, how many Ukrainians were speaking exclusively Ukrainian before 2014?
In the end, you just have to look at the Americans who have arrived there. Almost all of them speak Russian.
Man, someone is feeding you some seriously bad intel.
Even in "Russian" Luhansk and Donetsk, the numbers were over 83%...
Sure, there's a huge Russian-speaking population there, but that doesn't mean they actually want to run back into Mother Russia's arms...
Part of the reason everyone speaks Russian there is just because of the Russians living there, being right on the border, and how the Ukrainian language was treated back under the USSR...
Lisa Patel4 said:One thing is being overlooked here. Ukrainians are pushing into territory where the population is now completely hostile toward them. Just as the Russians wouldn't be able to hold onto a place like St. Louis, these guys probably can't hold Donetsk or Luhansk anymore either. I guess the war has just led to extreme polarization and radicalization.
In Luhansk and Donetsk, Ukrainians were actually the majority back then.
And don't even get me started on Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
So you'd just hand those regions over to Russia and then expect Ukraine to sign some deal promising they won't join NATO? They’ll make that promise "tomorrow," which basically means never, especially not given how things are looking right now...
Stop obsessing over the nukes. On February 24th, they made it crystal clear that anyone sticking their nose in this is going to feel consequences unlike anything they've ever experienced in their history. Then there was that whole threat about using nukes if there was an attack on Crimea. And once again, nothing happened. So yeah, it was a bluff. Doesn't mean he isn't bluffing right now, but we really shouldn't be giving him this much oxygen... Besides, those threats aren't some valid excuse to stop helping Ukraine. Because if we don't step up, the fallout would send some seriously wrong messages.
The aggressor gets rewarded with someone else's land, the democratic West looks weak against autocratic regimes, and it basically gives everyone else a green light to go out and occupy territory whenever they feel like it. Just endless chaos, really.
Basically, it’s either get it handled now or never. There isn't a second option...
Look, I already said there’s no reason to feel bad for the Russians. If they want sympathy, they can go find it at home.
We aren't backing down here. You start giving an inch and it’s over—same thing happens in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania... We gotta stay tough and hit hard, nothing else works.
Yeah, the cost is heavy, but hey, better a quick end than a pain that never stops...
Megan Thomas5 said:Honestly, I couldn't care less. If the choice is between wiping out the entire world or letting Ukraine fall, I’ll take the global meltdown every single time. Ukraine has to fight for itself, even if it means the end of humanity. To hell with the world if we just sit back and let tyrants get whatever they want.
+
That's what I've been saying from the jump. If you give a tyrant an inch, they'll take a mile. If you don't put a stop to them, there's never gonna be an end to it...
It’s the same point I keep making: the West needs to dial back the rhetoric because Russia isn't going to budge. I'm convinced that de-escalating the tension could actually lead to somewhere productive. Look, let's be real—they have nuclear weapons, and that’s a reality that could end us all. Regardless of how you slice it, we need a voice of reason coming from the West, because right now, there isn't one to be found in Russia, and nobody there seems interested in finding it either.
Yeah, sure, let's just give him everything he wants because he's got the nukes. Screw that guy. He needs to get the hell out of Ukraine...
To the folks who think Russia is going to change their tune once they start seeing body bags arriving in Moscow, let me tell you something—those bags aren't going anywhere. They’ll be scattered all across the Ukrainian countryside, left out in the mud and the snow like scraps for the beasts. Well, most of them anyway...
Once the temperature hits ten, twenty, thirty below zero, the real question is whose boots they’re gonna be stealing this time, just like they were from those Ukrainian soldiers this winter.
And as for winter being an ally to Russia? Honestly, Ukrainians know how to handle a cold snap just fine.
All that nuclear bluffing is nothing more than pure panic, and you can't give in to people like that. Yesterday it was just Crimea, so we looked the other way. Today it's just Luhansk and Donetsk, tomorrow it'll be Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The day after tomorrow, it'll be Kyiv and Odessa, then maybe a little bit of Estonia, Lithuania, Poland... and if they come for us, we'll hit back with the nukes. But it doesn't work like that. We're definitely in a "no turning back" situation now. You have to squeeze him harder, along with his inner circle and the Russian people, and eventually, they'll take care of him themselves. Especially the ones close to him—they'll turn when their own skin is on the line, and believe me, things are already heating up under their feet. He might actually survive the winter...
Frank Martin13 said:...uh, look, old friend, don't take this the wrong way, but regarding everything you just compared—you brought up 9/11. 🤦 That wasn't some grand act of defense; it was pure manipulation of the public... the key players from that era basically turned into high-paid lobbyists and bureaucrats once things settled down. Just thinking about where they ended up (and where they are now) and the massive salaries they pull—take their "heroine" Z.V.M., for instance, compared to the 99% of protesters who were just caught up in the moment... which is something, say, you didn't mention, like the homecoming for the US Men's National Soccer Team after they took 2nd in the World Cup. There were roughly half a million Americans gathered in Times Square—though some shady forces actually cut the microphone on the stage while the players were still up there celebrating with the crowd🤦 )... ...rather, the rest of Europe and the world really need to watch carefully about who they let across the borders during this mass exodus from Russia...
I got nothing to hold against you.
How can you even put the soccer team's parade in the same bucket as people hitting the streets for a protest where autocrats are threatening them with batons, police, the military, and water cannons? That's the whole damn point—people showed up in massive numbers despite the threats, whereas in Russia, if you're standing up for some higher ideal like freedom, you might get lucky if 200 Muscovites show up. So, whatever happens, happens...
Since everyone’s talking about panic in Russia, does anyone actually have footage of people fleeing or civilians storming airports and borders? They’ll either spontaneously hit the streets tonight or they’ll just lose their minds...
Back in the day, if 100,000 people marched in Washington, D.C. just to defend some radio station, then you could easily see half a million hitting the streets in Moscow today. But they won't. So, honestly, who even cares...
Now we’re finally gonna see if the Russians are actually brave or just a bunch of cowards... If they don't push back now, there's no turning back. We need to slam the door on them to the rest of the West for the next 20 years. Everyone. Athletes, politicians, artists, musicians, regular folks—doesn't matter. They can stay stuck in Russia and keep playing Putin's games all they want. We've had enough.
Kate Cook27 said:So, much of Vladimir the Great's speech seems to be 🙄. Maybe by tomorrow we'll hear about some new folks who "accidentally" fell out of windows.
Or maybe he was the one who took the plunge too...
We'll find out tomorrow...
If he actually shows up early in the morning, they'll probably call the whole thing the awakening east...
Timothy Williams5 said:What if these "referendums" are rigged from the jump, designed so the voters reject joining Russia, allowing them to wash their hands of this entire mess in a way that’s frankly laughable? So, you decide to walk away from our affection and sign the divorce papers with a clear conscience. Then, you just pin all the blame on those puppets of yours out in the borderlands.
Honestly, it's a long shot, but I was sitting here thinking about this today... Maybe it's what Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was getting at—that the little gnome is just looking for an exit strategy from this war.
How do you dodge a total defeat? You throw them a referendum, they "reject" the Russians (even though they would've rejected them regardless), and then you pull the troops back.
Save yourself and save Russia at the same time...
Btw, when they address the public, is there any live coverage?
electricsurfer47 said:Who even are these people from the occupied territories??? Are those Ukrainians being forced into it? Can they actually force Ukrainians to fight their battles for them?
Do you think we'll actually get to that point? Where they all just turn around at once and say, "Enough is enough"? Like, enough fighting for Russia and from now on, we're only standing up for Ukraine?
Of course they are. We're mostly talking about that 2 or 3% in places like Berdyansk, Melitopol, and Kherson who went out of their way to take Russian citizenship when they didn't have to... The central government is gonna be the first one calling them up to defend the motherland.
Honestly, the Russians would be better off picking up 10,000 of those guys from the occupied areas rather than dragging in 10,000 from Voronjezh or Volgograd...
stormybear25 said:The occupation authorities in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine are claiming that "members of public chambers" are calling for an immediate referendum to annex everything to the Russian Federation
First they gotta grab half of Donetsk... Not gonna happen...