The start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Part 1)

So, Stoltenberg is calling Finland and Sweden to join NATO... right at a time like this?

It feels like the Anglo-Saxons are really pushing for WW3 to break out.

Absolute bottom-feeders.

Matthew Rodriguez9 said:So, Stoltenberg is calling Finland and Sweden to join NATO... right at a time like this?

It feels like the Anglo-Saxons are really pushing for WW3 to break out.

Absolute bottom-feeders.

Smart move.

You have to fight fire with fire. Use threats to counter their threats...

William Clark86 said:Does anyone else here think the happiest outcome might be for Ukraine to become an independent nation, perhaps with some autonomous regions similar to how Scotland functions within the UK or Catalonia does in Spain? They could join the EU but remain neutral by staying out of NATO. Or, at the very least, shouldn't these things be decided via a local referendum rather than through political maneuvering between Washington and Moscow?

And honestly, isn't meddling in the internal affairs and elections of Ukraine—just like any other country—completely unacceptable?

😕

Yeah, for sure—this has been floated here plenty of times before... it’s a logical take, it's just... a little too little, too late.

Brenda Taylor13 said:This is actually a pretty solid read—it lays out the whole timeline regarding NATO expansion and all the messy fallout from moving into former Warsaw Pact and USSR territories. Now, look, this doesn't justify Russia’s invasion or their aggression against Ukraine by any means, but it does try to dig into the "why" behind it—basically explaining why Putin feels like Russia got totally played and betrayed by the West.

And honestly, this is the root of Putin's rage: back in the 90s, the U.S. Secretary of State promised Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO wouldn't expand a single inch east of Germany. From their perspective, it was a total bait-and-switch.

The current clash between Russia and the West is fueled by a ton of grievances, but the big one—the absolute kicker—is the belief in Moscow that the West stabbed the former Soviet Union in the back by breaking those end-of-the-Cold-War promises from 1989-1990 about NATO not expanding eastward. In that famous speech he gave back in 2007 at the Munich Security Conference, Vladimir Putin went off on the West, accusing them of ignoring those guarantees and basically leaving international law in the gutter.

If you ask me—and I've been thinking about this a lot—it feels like Putin has had this planned since 2007. He just spent the intervening years playing the long game, focusing on beefing up the Russian economy and, more importantly, building a military that could actually pull this off. When you look at how much they've modernized and pumped money into their armed forces since then, it all starts to click. He laid out his stance in 2007, and then spent the next 15 years rebuilding a military that was basically a total wreck after the fall of the USSR.

They aren't going to stop expanding and just sit there while Russia tramples over other countries. If the moment ever comes where Russia starts making demands of those nations and they say "no," we already know how that story ends. Besides, nobody in Europe is interested in communism anymore. These countries are hungry for freedom and want to call their own shots.

Leman_Russ said:Has it even crossed anyone's mind that the Ukrainians might just blow up those gas pipelines themselves if they realize the game is up? Maybe it’s some EU revenge tactic because they're total cowards, or maybe it’s just about hitting Russia where it hurts—cutting off their cash flow.

And then, obviously, since there's no gas flowing anymore, Russia loses one of its biggest bargaining chips.

I mean, looking at the data here, half of it moves right through Ukraine.

But clearly that isn't what happened, seeing as the Ukrainians have been complaining for months about how little the Russians are actually pushing through their territory.

Ukraine is crumbling by whispers. The question remains: where will the momentum grind to a halt this year?

William Anderson5 said:Smart move.

You have to fight fire with fire. Use threats to counter their threats...

You really think that's a smart move???

No comment

Sam Wright21 said:Ukraine is crumbling by whispers. The question remains: where will the momentum grind to a halt this year?

Honestly, this whole mess was stirred up by even bigger monsters...

If you want to find the people who actually built this disaster, go look in Silicon Valley.

Sam Wright21 said:Ukraine is crumbling by whispers. The question remains: where will the momentum grind to a halt this year?

Where exactly are you seeing Ukraine fall?

Andrew Martinez8 said:Honestly, I'm not interested in getting dragged into hypothetical scenarios with someone who thinks it's perfectly fine for Russia to block Sweden from joining NATO. 🤣

Russia invades a sovereign nation, and now the conversation has shifted toward justifying it based on the actions or perceived intentions of Ukraine.
That's nonsense; it just doesn't hold water. 🙂

Sovereignty😁🙏
it seems like you don't quite grasp how the world actually works. 🤦

Matthew Rodriguez9 said:Honestly, this whole mess was stirred up by even bigger monsters...

If you want to find the people who actually built this disaster, go look in Silicon Valley.

They brought it on themselves. 😁

So calling him a "mess" implies he isn't one? 😁

Come on, get a better comeback than that. 😁

Matthew Rodriguez9 said:You really think that's a smart move???

No comment

You have to play Putin's game.

Poland should move troops to the border with Belarus and lay down specific terms for Lukashenko. If he doesn't meet them within a set timeframe, then Belarus faces the economic and military fallout...

Poland has every right to protect its own interests.

There's no stopping this fool unless you start playing by his rules...

William Anderson5 said:You have to play Putin's game.

Poland should move troops to the border with Belarus and lay down specific terms for Lukashenko. If he doesn't meet them within a set timeframe, then Belarus faces the economic and military fallout...

Poland has every right to protect its own interests.

There's no stopping this fool unless you start playing by his rules...

We need to start calling for Russian soldiers to stage a mutiny against the regime in Moscow.

I honestly don't get how they're reporting on (Telegram) that some thermal power plant in Kyiv was wiped out when all we have there is a hydroelectric dam....

There’s such a ridiculous amount of armchair experts here—fans who don't have a clue about history or geopolitics, yet somehow convinced themselves they're geniuses just because they skim Imbex or other "prestigious" outlets. Honestly, watching them try to lecture everyone else is nothing short of hilarious. I bet Imbex could find a massive talent pool right here for recruiting the kind of bottom-tier journalism junkies they hire through those student internships.

As for the actual topic—nobody actually asked the Ukrainians what they wanted. Someone in Davos, Washington, London, or wherever else decided long ago that they'd be nothing more than cannon fodder, and that was that. Anyone thinking Zelenskyy is actually calling the shots in Ukraine is more naive than a wide-eyed tourist.

For the tiny minority that actually uses their brain and understands the gravity of what's happening: do yourselves a favor and pick up Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book, "The Grand Chessboard"—specifically the section on "Ukraine." Brzezinski might just be the chief architect behind that psychopathic neoconservative ideology that took hold when Bush Sr. was in office. Now, look, Russia isn't exactly a "flower," but they are being geostrategically encircled (and therefore attacked) in this mess—even if most people here are too blind to see it.

Kyle Nelson2 said:I honestly don't get why, say, the EU countries haven't just agreed to offer asylum to any Russian soldiers who decide to lay down their arms.

Maybe even give all the commanders who do it some real estate somewhere...

Money's moving, I guess.

Yeah, then we'd see them all over the map. They’d be halfway across the globe fighting wars on our behalf and "spreading democracy"...

Back in the 90s, you had plenty of deserters from those North American conflicts heading straight to Germany to live off the social safety net.

mistybadger2 said:Looks like the power just cut out in Kyiv _?!

I wouldn't say:

Keith Williams3 said:If you and I were neighbors and I bought three lions and brought them into my apartment, you’d call the cops on me for being a threat, right? Even though it's my own place.

On a global scale, there isn't a police force or a court system to step in; it's basically anarchy where might makes right. In that scenario, it's just us. We either reach an agreement, or we fight until someone wins.

Exactly. International politics is just a constant struggle for survival.
Survival and security are achieved by increasing power.
You only have as many rights as you have the power to defend.
For any nation, security is the absolute priority.
Everything else is just how Marica imagines global politics should work.

The Democratic Party in Kyiv is running at full capacity
https://www.unian.ua/war/vibuhi-na-k...-11718481.html

Electricity and heat are being fully supplied to Kyiv, according to a statement given to UNIAN by Mykola Povoroznyk, the first deputy head of the Kyiv City Administration.

"We aren't looking at any risk of blackouts. Everything is up and running. There’s really no threat of disconnections here. Yeah, there were some explosions near the Tetz-6 plant, but the power station itself didn't take any hits. We've got another shift on duty right now. Everyone's clocked in and making sure the city keeps its lights on and stays warm." - he said.

There were a few smaller blasts nearby, but the thermal plant is doing just fine.