Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

Rachel Richardson said:It feels like a lost war—likely just a pretext for establishing a dictatorship here at home.

Exactly. Even among those who watched him, there are people ready to follow him blindly, and he knows it.

It’s true; the "cross at the Hagia Sophia" has been a century-long project.

I have argued from the start that we should offer Erdogan a 100-year lease on Crimea for just one dollar, provided he liberates it himself. He would dance for joy. 😍

(To be clear, I am joking—though it would certainly be a win-win for humanity if the Sultan and Putin went at it.)

Regarding the application for NATO, I am praying this was coordinated with the Americans and will actually lead to something. Perhaps not full membership, but some kind of formal agreement ensuring NATO stands 100% behind Ukraine, rather than letting equipment trickle in drop by drop.

Nancy Gomez26 said:The rhetoric is merely a symptom of massive pressure on the ground. The situation for Russia grows more dire by the hour. It seems Putin has finally realized the absolute mess he’s made of his country, and these delusions are just desperate attempts to justify his catastrophic miscalculations to the public. He knows he’s responsible, so now he resorts to sheer nonsense. It’s like a child caught in a small lie—once the parents push back with a few questions, the kid starts doubling down, spinning increasingly elaborate fabrications like a snowball gaining momentum down a hill. The difference is, this particular fool holds the levers of power and decides who lives and who dies.

We need to send an unmistakable message to that fool in the White House: if nuclear weapons are used anywhere, the West will respond in kind.
The Ukrainians will handle everything else on their own.
We didn't have the guts to enforce a No-Fly Zone back then, but we better find some backbone now and tell him "no nukes."

lp

John Ramos45 said:I suspect Zelenskyy isn't acting as a lone wolf here. If Ukraine joins NATO, it implies the USA is planning to push Russia out of the territory much like how Saddam Hussein was forced out of Kuwait during Desert Storm. In a head-to-head conventional conflict, the Russians simply don't stand a chance against the modern machinery of NATO.

If the Russians didn't have nukes, US airpower would be absolutely shredding them all over Ukraine, but since they do, that's never going to happen.

Elizabeth Wells2 said:I'm aware. It was purely hypothetical; I was simply curious about how Russia might react to such a move by NATO.

😁

If Ukraine joins NATO, then NATO is forced to intervene because an ally is being attacked by a foreign power, which would ultimately end in nuclear war.😁
No way. Americans aren't suicidal, and neither are Europeans.

Russ won't touch nuclear weapons over the situation in Ukraine; doing so would essentially be a suicide pact for them.

Zachary Jackson4 said:https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/09/30/7369807/

Putin dismisses nuclear threats: We have no interest in pursuing this topic

I suppose he received some pretty clear signals through backchannels that the "decaying" West isn't going to sit idly by if nukes actually get used.

John Ramos45 said:Russ won't touch nuclear weapons over the situation in Ukraine; doing so would essentially be a suicide pact for them.

Seriously, are you actually listening to Putin?
The guy is determined to succeed even if he has to smash his head against a wall to get there. His ego just won't let him fail—he’s obsessed with being etched into history as the next Peter the Great.
To Putin, Kherson, Donbas, and Zaporizhzhia are now part of Russia, and he’d defend them with everything he's got, including nukes, if NATO tries to step in.

So, Ukraine launched several strikes against Russia today.

Now that the Donbas is back under Russian control, they’ve gone ahead and burned Ukrainian books right in front of a school in Mariupol 😠. They've also hung Russian flags everywhere and put up posters of Zakharchenko. It’s basically the same old story they've been playing out for centuries—trying to strip Ukrainians of their identity by banning their language, their culture, their schools, and their history...

steelheron25 said:Do you honestly believe this was some spontaneous, independent decision made in a vacuum? Isn't it far more likely they received a quiet signal from NATO leadership beforehand to pull this exact lever?

Yeah, I actually believe this is entirely his call. I'd love to be wrong about it—I'll happily eat my words if it turns out otherwise.

John Ramos45 said:I suspect Zelenskyy isn't acting as a lone wolf here. If Ukraine joins NATO, it implies the USA is planning to push Russia out of the territory much like how Saddam Hussein was forced out of Kuwait during Desert Storm. In a head-to-head conventional conflict, the Russians simply don't stand a chance against the modern machinery of NATO.

Having every member parliament ratify Ukraine joining NATO would basically be like signing a declaration of war under Article 5.
The Czech Republic comes to mind immediately as a place where that definitely wouldn't fly. Honestly, I doubt it would pass here either; the Republican Party would likely wash their hands of the whole thing. And don't even get me started on Italy, Canada, Spain, and the rest.
It's all just pure speculation.
Who else has ever walked into a parliament knowing they were potentially signing up for a nuclear conflict?

Thomas Sankara said:The soldier has this rope over his head like he was just dragged out there and executed on the spot. I mean, you gotta assume they did the same thing to the others, maybe someone just had half a brain cell left and took the ropes off.
If this was all staged for some video, anyone with a pulse would be disgusted, regardless of which side they’re on.

I don't even know how to look those two kids in the eye—they're the children of an American soldier who just watched a Russian precision missile strike his own doorstep, killing his wife and his mother in one go. It's just... man. The Russians basically started this whole horrific cycle of death, from the atrocities in Bucha to the mutilated soldiers, the bombing of prisoners, and now these tragedies hitting everywhere from the Dnieper River to Zaporizhzhia, or what happened recently in Vinnytsia Kremenchuk. Like, how am I supposed to stay sane or care about the Geneva Conventions when people are shamelessly slaughtering everyone, breaking every single rule of international law, destroying everything in sight, and then—get this—having the nerve to talk about the "will of the people" wanting to join Russia? They're citing some poll where 655 votes supposedly represent 12% of something—so maybe 5,000 people?—but Kherson has a million people, so if half could vote, that's 500,000. So, I guess the "will of the people" is actually 98% of 1% of potential voters. Whatever. And the Kremlin is celebrating this total farce today while this father, this son, this husband is just left grieving his entire family because of some lunatic who thinks he's God, deciding who lives and dies for the whole nation.

gentlestag15 said:Seriously, are you actually listening to Putin?
The guy is determined to succeed even if he has to smash his head against a wall to get there. His ego just won't let him fail—he’s obsessed with being etched into history as the next Peter the Great.
To Putin, Kherson, Donbas, and Zaporizhzhia are now part of Russia, and he’d defend them with everything he's got, including nukes, if NATO tries to step in.

Just mindless rambling for his inner circle of sycophants. As if he or his billionaire oligarchs would ever face any real consequences—they'll be set for the next five centuries. At this point, bluffing Russia has become nothing more than a bad joke.

Annexation Concert:

http://www.twitter.com/maxseddon/sta...DSicriy94rAAAA

The pro-annexation concert on Red Square is in full swing. Ivan Okhlobystin, the star of the Russian version of Scrubs, is saying that Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and other cities in "Russian Ukraine" are next to be annexed

The concert is in full gear—and apparently, all those other cities in "Russian Ukraine" are on the chopping block too.

I guess this is exactly what Putin will be demanding during those negotiations he’s been talking about.

Terry Green3 said:Yeah, I actually believe this is entirely his call. I'd love to be wrong about it—I'll happily eat my words if it turns out otherwise.

Having every member parliament ratify Ukraine joining NATO would basically be like signing a declaration of war under Article 5.
The Czech Republic comes to mind immediately as a place where that definitely wouldn't fly. Honestly, I doubt it would pass here either; the Republican Party would likely wash their hands of the whole thing. And don't even get me started on Italy, Canada, Spain, and the rest.
It's all just pure speculation.
Who else has ever walked into a parliament knowing they were potentially signing up for a nuclear conflict?

Aside from the USA and the UK, the Czech Republic, along with Poland and the Baltic states, has been the most significant military supporter of Ukraine. Italy is also largely aligned with providing aid, as is Spain. The only outliers left are the loudmouths like Viktor Orbán and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose allegiances shift as easily as the wind.

Look, there's zero chance everyone in NATO is going to be pulling for Ukraine—it’s just not realistic. Honestly, it makes sense if you think about it. You can't just invite someone into the club when their borders are a total mess.

Matthew Booth said:Look, there's zero chance everyone in NATO is going to be pulling for Ukraine—it’s just not realistic. Honestly, it makes sense if you think about it. You can't just invite someone into the club when their borders are a total mess.

Exactly what I was getting at. It’s unrealistic to expect every single parliament and ruling coalition within the member states to vote in favor of a deliberate war with Russia. Doing so would essentially mean we’re formally recognizing Ukraine within its invaded borders.
Article 5.

Christian Torres3 said:Exactly. Even among those who watched him, there are people ready to follow him blindly, and he knows it.

Now the losses are starting to mount; if nothing else, this has just paved the way for Crimea Ukraine to be returned.

And within a year, we can expect at least one attempt at a coup in Russia...

In the end, the FBI will likely step in to replace Putin with someone new who can actually broker a peace deal. Crimea might stay or go, but regardless, everything else eventually returns to Ukraine.

Terry Green3 said:Exactly what I was getting at. It’s unrealistic to expect every single parliament and ruling coalition within the member states to vote in favor of a deliberate war with Russia. Doing so would essentially mean we’re formally recognizing Ukraine within its invaded borders.
Article 5.

Not necessary. Ukraine is doing just fine holding its own against Putin's Russia.

John Ramos45 said:In the end, the FBI will likely step in to replace Putin with someone new who can actually broker a peace deal. Crimea might stay or go, but regardless, everything else eventually returns to Ukraine.

Yeah, right. As if.