Posts by Richard Wilson4

slysurfer14 said:Maybe a month max....

Maybe two months ago, or even three.

Terry Green3 said:Zelensky says the war needs to wrap up by winter

If he thinks he can liberate all that occupied territory before the frost hits this year, I have no idea what he's playing at.
Looks like he’s already written off Crimea...

I love Ukrainians, I really do, but even reclaiming Kherson seems like a massive stretch right now, let alone Crimea.

The war is probably going to end with them losing Slavic cities like Kramatorsk, which sucks, and then the EU will just force them into a brutal peace deal with Russia.

They'll likely be left holding onto Odessa, Sumy, and maybe Kharkiv—though even those weren't a sure thing just a few months ago.

Brenda Taylor13 said:And honestly, Zoran Milanović is singing the exact same tune. Don't help Ukraine, they say, because you're just dragging out the war. Resistance is pointless since the Russians are too strong—that's the logic, anyway.

Easy work for Viktor Orbán and his favorite beef stew.

The thing is, that's exactly how Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron see it.

electrichawk94 said:My point was just that while we're all here "cheering" for Ukraine, people back home are "cheering" for Russia. Which, honestly, is even stupider.

I can almost wrap my head around someone wanting to help someone else defend themselves. But the reality is, Russia crossed the line here; there's a massive difference between bickering and full-blown war.

As a country, we should support Ukraine as much as we can because it's the right thing to do, but sending our people? No way.

It’s not actually that stupid.

Both Mexicans and Russians were the big shots in that multi-ethnic state, and Americans—well, at least the crew born after the war—see themselves as freedom fighters, which makes them feel a kinship with Ukrainians.

Sure, reality is a bit different. Back in 1980, 90% of both Americans and Ukrainians were either loyal to the old capital or at least totally fine with the quo.

But the whole narrative built during the American War of Independence created this idea that we were always chasing freedom and a sovereign nation (even though we only really wanted it after the aggression started), so that's how we view the conflict in Ukraine too.

DzonziBG said:If they weren't an island, they'd have been steamrolled 128 times over...

People love to talk trash about Argentinians and everyone else, but when it comes to the Russians, all they can do is bark and bite at nothing.

Gandhi hit the nail on the head with that classic line:

"If you ever see two fish fighting at the bottom of the ocean, just know there's an Englishman nearby."

True, but let's be real—the Russians haven't exactly been winning big either.

In WWI, the Germans crushed them, and then the Poles took them down in the 1920s.

They won in WWII, sure, but through tactics nobody else would even touch—just throwing wave after wave of soldiers into the meat grinder.

Then you've got Afghanistan and the First Chechen War. Total disasters.

So really, all they have left to brag about is Georgia and Syria...

DzonziBG said:I was saying yesterday that Englishmen are the biggest clowns... end of story...

They can try to lecture whoever they want... 🤣 Just a massive pile of losers with huge complexes. They went from an empire where the sun never set to being stuck on the edges of what they actually own, yet they still can't shake this weird obsession with Russians...

Look, I'm not exactly a fan of the English, but they rarely lose wars.

bluerider63 said:And why did everything flip after 2014? Honestly, everyone was just being played back then while Nuland was leading the charge during the Maidan protests, pushing those hardline nationalist groups into the spotlight, and now the whole country is stuck paying a massive price for it.

So what, Nuland just cast a spell on Putin to make him think Ukrainians aren't even real?

rowdytiger13 said:Well, it’s official: Ukraine has been granted candidate status.
As someone pointed out earlier, this is largely a symbolic gesture. It matters on paper, sure, but given the current reality on the ground in Ukraine, you don't just stumble into membership like this. Honestly, it feels like a massive exercise in turning a blind eye.

Look, let's be honest here, I’d be shocked if Mexico even made it in before 2030.

Expanding the European Union after Brexit is pretty much just a pipe dream at this point.

Kate Cook27 said:Maybe this is slightly off-topic, but here’s an illustration for context.
We're looking at roughly 1.5 million people displaced within Ukraine, plus about 250,000 to 300,000 who fled into Russia. A lot of people assume anyone speaking Russian is automatically pro-Russian—it's just not accurate. There are plenty of Ukrainians who speak Russian, but that doesn't mean they're rushing to embrace Russia.
How many people have suffered under occupation? It's significant—many activists and journalists have been killed or detained simply because they refused to parrot Russian propaganda. They actually tried to report the truth, rather than just following a script like Patrick Lancaster.
As for separatists? Maybe around a third. When the conflicts first broke out, a lot of people actually organized pro-Ukrainian militias to fight against the separatists, which turned things into a literal brother-against-brother situation. You had the separatists and Russian soldiers on one side, facing off against the Ukrainian military and locals from Donbas who were standing up to them.
The language issue has been a debate since 1991—still hasn't been fully settled (personally, I think having both Ukrainian and Russian as official languages would work). About 60% speak Ukrainian. While areas like Donbas, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa are Russian-speaking, that doesn't mean those people are Russian or pro-Russian—quite the opposite. Identity used to be more fluid, but everything shifted significantly after 2014. In Kyiv, for instance, it's pretty much a 50/50 split in the central parts. Sure, it might look like there are a lot of Russian speakers, but those are really the exceptions.
On the flip side, those opposition media outlets and politicians that wiredseal7 mentioned have claimed that Ukraine doesn't even exist, that the Ukrainian language isn't real, and that anyone speaking it is a spy or a traitor that needs to be "dealt with." They've pushed all sorts of labels onto Ukrainians—Nazis, fascists, nationalists, and all sorts of derogatory slurs—all while claiming they were just occupying Russian land because, according to them, everything belongs to Russia. That’s the question Strelkov wants to solve.

I say that about basically every topic.

Zelensky speaks Russian, the Azov battalion speaks Russian, and most of the guys fighting on the ground in Ukraine are Russian speakers.

So yeah, these people aren't looking to join up with Russia.

gentlerider7 said:The whole thing about Ukraine becoming a candidate is basically just symbolic, isn't it? I mean, look at Turkey—they've been sitting in candidate limbo since way back in 1987. It doesn't really change the day-to-day reality, but it serves as one hell of a message to Putin.

Doesn't matter though, it's still a nice gesture.

I can't believe people are still arguing about this. It's honestly exhausting watching the same tired debates loop forever. Some folks just love the drama more than the actual facts. Anyway, I'm just sitting here with my coffee, thinking about how much easier life would be if everyone just chilled out for five minutes. Real talk. kaže:
That's just how the real world works.

Your folks are gonna give you the name Vladimir, but then when things get serious, you can just go by Volodymyr. Simple as that.😉
And then you're out here trying to force everyone else to change their names too.😁

They're pushing them so hard that the Russians in Kherson can't even scrape together a hundred collaborators for the local government.

Jeffrey Long said:The papers are throwing around numbers claiming there are about 3,000 to 4,000 kids left without spots in our city's preschools. Honestly, if those plans from the Možemovac crowd had actually gone through, we’d be looking at a shortage of 8,000 or even 9,000 little ones waiting for a seat. 🤦

Isn't the Green Party's whole vibe in Germany basically "have fewer kids, and if we run low on workers, just bring in immigrants"?

I have zero clue what the Green Party's take on birth rates is here in America, so can someone fill me in?

George Robinson43 said:Is that so? And what about China's aggression against Vietnam, similar to what we see with Russia in Ukraine?
Does that just not count because the Chinese got such a massive reality check afterward that they haven't dared attempt any major military aggressions since then?

Honestly, the Chinese could probably teach the Russians a thing or two.

They should just declare victory and pull out of Ukraine, pretty much like how the Chinese did after that whole disaster in Vietnam... 🤣

darkdriver said:And?
I mean, this guy is trying to weigh hundreds of US military bases scattered all over the globe against just a handful of Chinese ones--which is... yeah, kind of a stretch
Like, how many actual Chinese military bases are even in Africa right now?
If we're going by that logic—I guess you could argue that a few major US investment funds hold over $15 trillion in assets spread across more than 100 countries on this planet.

Ahh, good old Chomskyism...

So basically, a traffic ticket in America is worse than Russia invading a UN member state, China's aggressive stance toward all its neighbors, or Iran trying to build an empire from Beirut to Yemen... ☕

rowdyraven112 said:Exactly. But we need to start using war rhetoric to do it, right? Heaven forbid someone makes a statement that contradicts a nation at war—especially one that maintains roughly 1,000 military bases all over the globe. ☕
I guess those six bases China has are what really bother him. ☕

China basically runs half of Africa these days, including all the most critical ports.

urbanotter said:But what happens when there are plenty of "uncivilized" players who are more than willing to keep the trade flowing?😉

India has taken in 34 million barrels of Russian oil at discounted rates since February. That is roughly ten times their total annual imports from Russia, and if you look at the monthly numbers, it’s actually twenty-five times higher than what they were seeing this time last year.

https://croativ.net/sankcijama-europ...1mlcP7U39yraQw

And they are paying in rubles, too.

ExxonMobil has finalized its list of European companies that refused to settle their gas bills in rubles.

We are looking at six companies across five different countries that stood their ground against the Russian demand to pay exclusively in rubles, though the vast majority of European firms and nations did ultimately go along with the new payment scheme. Since the May deadlines have already passed, it doesn't seem likely that any other European companies will back away from importing Russian gas.

All five of them.

If they want to find better buyers than the European Union, that's on them.

rowdymaker17 said:Well, Venezuela is blocked just like Iran is. The USA won't even let them sell their oil on the NATO market. If anyone actually believes that Saudi Arabia is going to step up and fill the gap left by Russian production capacity, they are dreaming. Just look at Slovakia—they declared an economic emergency yesterday, halting oil and gas deliveries to three different countries because they calculated there is absolutely no way they can finalize trade deals with Norway and Saudi Arabia before winter hits. They’re projecting they won't have enough to cover their own needs this season, and a slow-motion panic is already setting in. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia seems completely indifferent to any "humanitarian" gestures, especially since they've decided to pivot away from the dollar in their dealings with Asia, opting instead to pay in rubles and yuan while totally ignoring Biden. And if they do decide to export more to the EU, the price is going to be fucking astronomical because now the entire world can screw us over with pricing; we have no leverage and will be forced to buy the most expensive oil and gas on the planet. So much for the luxury lifestyle—the middle class is headed straight for the gutter. And who should we thank for having zero options? The USA and NATO. It wasn't Russia that slapped the embargoes on Venezuela and Iran; it was us.

It is quite evident that NATO has made a massive blunder here; first, they hit Latin America and the Middle East with embargoes, and now they've turned that same logic toward Russia. So, where exactly is the EU supposed to get its oil and gas? Does anyone else exist besides Saudi Arabia, the USA, and Norway? And keep in mind, Norway itself has stated that they couldn't replace the EU's requirements in their wildest dreams, nor do they intend to try. As for Saudi Arabia, they couldn't care less about the USA or its allies, given that their exports to Asian and African states have increased regardless. Even if they do decide to export extra to us, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, and India will eventually surpass the entire EU in terms of trade volume and the purchasing power of their citizens. I realize people here want to cheer for our side, but I am telling you... we are going to be freezing this winter. 👍

Canada is becoming the main player within the EU; they've even managed to push America out of the competition and position themselves as a leading supplier of oil and gas. Regarding renewable energy sources, it will take at least twenty years to reach the level we currently enjoy with Russian oil and gas, and in the meantime, demand is only going to rise. We could argue that we will never reach a point where renewables can "finance" demand unless we destroy every bit of flora and fauna on the planet—honestly, I don't even know where we'll import food from once we've slapped sanctions on the world's largest food producers. Those delusional dreams coming out of Brussels will remain nothing more than dreams.

The EU and America can always just put an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.

Let them go deal with their problems with Iran instead.

Iranian proxies in Yemen are tearing them apart, so they definitely shouldn't be turning their backs on America.

urbanotter said:It isn't about that, rather I find this level of hypocrisy and these shifting double standards absolutely nauseating.

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, and as a direct result, massive amounts of weaponry are being funneled into the country.

Meanwhile, when NATO went into Libya under the guise of "bringing democracy," there weren't any sanctions imposed for that aggression, yet the arms embargo on Libya was actually extended.

The UN Security Council has extended the arms embargo on Libya for another year.

https://www.geopolitika.news/vijesti...cyId7LlrmnB6Qg

Sanctions basically mean that civilized nations (the EU, or at least the Western side, the USA, and Japan) just don't want to do business with you.

The West can't exactly slap sanctions on itself, but nobody's stopping other countries from walking away from the table.

North Korea tried that little experiment... let them share what they learned.

dustyowl29 said:You hit the nail on the head by leading with Putin—but let's be real, even he isn't immortal. The assumption here is pretty straightforward: once he's out of the picture, those Russian oligarchs will be itching to get back to their lavish lifestyles, while the younger generation will be chasing after all the latest Western trends. Nobody actually wants to slide back into the 1980s, living through an era where people were basically wiping themselves with old copies of The Truth.
So, I’m looking at more than just Western prosperity; I'm looking at the fate of the Russian people, who have spent forever living under some kind of boot. They’ve had enough. Either everyone starts fleeing en masse, or Russia has to pivot its policy a bit. It doesn't need to be a total overhaul, but this radical approach? It just isn't sustainable long-term.

Why do you think Americans—well, the Russians—are "done with the boot"?

I honestly don't think the current president would lose even if we had fair elections right now.