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

frozencobra50 said:Oh, they damn well love him. The average Russian knows perfectly well that both he and his kids are going to suffer because of Putin's policies, but whatever. This guy is a ruthless player and he sure as hell isn't going down without a fight. He's built such a rigid hierarchy within Russia that he's practically untouchable...

It doesn't even have to be an immediate ousting. Just enough to make the ship wobble—enough to turn protests into a constant distraction.
That's plenty to start with

rustywalker42 said:🤣

The guy’s been leading one of the three biggest powers on the planet for 22 years, but hey, you forum experts clearly know way more than he does.

Russia’s been under sanctions for years now. They’re completely self-sufficient in every sense of the word. Period.

Honestly? The world needs Russia, not Russia needing the world.

Yeah? And?

You really think that would do anything to Russia?

Infrastructure-wise? Russia has everything built with total redundancy. They've got backups for their backups. Always.

Well, why don't you just pack your bags and move to Russia then, since you clearly love and respect them so much.

Dennis Davis8 said:Petro Poroshenko stands there in front of a CNN camera acting like some kind of legendary hero—it’s honestly a joke. Just a total soap opera.
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If you look at the secret Jewish agenda laid out in The New York Times, the whole goal becomes crystal clear: they’re trying to establish a second Jewish state, which explains why the political chaos in Ukraine is spiraling the way it is. Basically, there's this push to reclaim an ancient homeland. They've got full backing from the US, with Victoria Nuland pulling the strings from within the State Department. The US is essentially telling Vladimir Putin to back off and just let Russia maintain its historical ties with that people—ties that lead straight to modern-day Israel. Even Obama basically went on the record admitting that the regime change in Ukraine was orchestrated; Yanukovych was forced out under intense pressure from the CIA, the CIA, and Israel just to clear a path for the Jewish billionaire Petro Poroshenko. According to the reports, Jewish money and military hardware are flooding through Ukraine while the local Ukrainian Christians—the non-Jews—get slaughtered and wiped out, all while their property gets snatched up by Jewish oligarchs. Everything else? It's just theater for the masses who don't know any better.
https://hamdocamo.wordpress.com/2016...-ne-zna-nista/

I feel like I read this exact same nonsense a few years ago.

Carol Newman2 said:But Germany is pushing back.

New post. Canada was the last one left in the EU opposing this, and even they changed their minds just thirty minutes ago.

Jack Kelly5 said:I mean, NATO is basically just words on a page, and in reality, it's more like an alliance that works for whatever the biggest players want.
Maybe we're all just extra sensitive because this is happening right here in Europe, but honestly, there have been way worse wars scattered across the globe over the last 20 years or so that most of us barely even blinked at. And no, I don't think Putin is just going to suddenly stop in Ukraine—heaven forbid—but I guess I'm just worried that the world we're living in is undergoing some pretty deep, fundamental changes.

In which of those wars did a non-NATO country actually attack a NATO member?

Sure, NATO is basically an American sphere of influence. But if they failed to react to an actual attack on a member state, that whole sphere would collapse instantly because it would prove membership is meaningless.

So, it’s actually in the interest of the "big players" to step up when that happens.

Tyler Jones6 said:How exactly is Russia being threatened by NATO? I mean, isn't their F-22 Raptor supposed to be the most advanced and superior fighter jet out there? Isn't their Abrams tank supposedly the best in the world? And don't they possess invincible hypersonic weaponry? I thought their F-15 Eagle could simply fly past a US warship and send it scurrying away from the Black Sea like a total coward.

No, apparently the Su-24 is....

Kate Gonzalez11 said:The reporting on our local news networks... what a complete joke.

Go check out the comment sections on major US news sites; you'll find everything from political rants to ridiculous memes of Putin looking like he has Hitler's mustache.

We haven't seen anything quite like this in the American media landscape before. It feels like Ukrainian news outlets are much less inflammatory in their coverage. I'm just trying to wrap my head around the ultimate goal of this kind of propaganda.😉

Is Ukraine just trolling now with those captured Russian tanks?

https://twitter.com/christogrozev/st...95Google

Michael Davis10 said:Well, if you actually have proof they aren't, then go ahead and show us.

The proof is right there in the fact that you're dropping Telegram links.

I'm watching you. ☕

Grace Bennett6 said:Great, let's just pin everything on the USA while Russia carries out a genocide in Ukraine. Way to go, guys. 🙏 A peace mission?

That’s exactly how Mexicans used to talk. It's all the USA's fault. They claim Americans were just manipulated into breaking away.

Man, this is just the tip of the iceberg; they’ve only been doing recon for like two days now https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFoota...he_tos1_heavy/
And if you haven't got a clue what kind of hardware we're actually looking at here, check this out

The cowboy era has officially begun.
https://twitter.com/Caucasuswar/stat...xDZQwDT8w&s=19

Larry Walker24 said:Why is everyone freaking out over the proposal to kick Russia off SWIFT?

https://news.example.com/economy/details-5716718

I mean, let's be real—Americans are just as terrified that cutting Russia off from SWIFT might actually end up giving China's CIPS a massive boost. 🙂

Are there any actual alternatives to SWIFT?

Well, Russia has already gone ahead and built its own workaround by developing its own messaging service: the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS). Currently, about 400 Russian banks are plugged into SPFS. According to Fitch Ratings, roughly 20 percent of their domestic payments have been processed through this system so far.

That said, international banks rarely touch the thing. Ever since it was launched back in 2014 as a response to the situation in Crimea, Russia has been trying to link Chinese and Iranian banks to it.

Another option is the Chinese payment system, CIPS. But even then, banks use it for international transfers significantly less than they use SWIFT. However—and this is the kicker—Fitch emphasizes that banning Russian banks from SWIFT could actually accelerate the development of CIPS and other SWIFT alternatives.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics.../28106964.html

Paul Patel95 said:And what about those Swedes? They gonna speak up once they're done packing their helmets?

The Germans were actually one of the few who acted smart here. I liked that move with the helmets, and even Milanović's initial statement about not sending troops over there was a decent call, which surprised me.

Putin is basically turning Russia into an XXL version of North Korea. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a massive wave of people fleeing Russia for the West once this all settles down...

frozencobra50 said:Oh, they damn well love him. The average Russian knows perfectly well that both he and his kids are going to suffer because of Putin's policies, but whatever. This guy is a ruthless player and he sure as hell isn't going down without a fight. He's built such a rigid hierarchy within Russia that he's practically untouchable...

Perhaps. But when you're living under a tyranny, you can't exactly speak your mind. Yet, you see plenty of people admiring him; here in the States, we have the freedom to discuss it openly, which leads some to openly express support for Putin.🤦

A putin bullet might be the only cure. It makes me wonder again—where exactly will this Hitler figure stop in Europe? America created chaos on a global scale, and now NATO seems to serve little purpose.

They are cut from the same cloth. Honestly, Marshall was a genius for coming up with the Non-Aligned Movement.

Michael Davis10 said:It’d be pretty interesting to see how NATO reacts if Putin, say, wiped out Amsterdam since the Dutch don't have nukes.
Would someone like Biden or Macron actually risk London or Paris by hitting back at Moscow?

If Putin actually went after New York City with nukes, the war would already be at a stage where a retaliatory strike on London or Paris would be practically inevitable.

In that scenario, we’re talking about a preemptive strike—basically NATO hitting Moscow with everything they've got.

Millions of Europeans would lose their lives, but honestly, life is cheap. People have been dying for ages; it’s just how things go.

Rachel Allen55 said:The Polish Football Federation pulled out of the World Cup qualifiers because they refuse to face Russia. According to ESPN

Honestly, this is starting to feel like a total joke to me🤦

Russia is going to be isolated in every single sphere, and you just have to accept that reality.

silentsurfer3 said:It’s the exact same bullshit we saw during the whole COVID era—you get a handful of trolls (probably just clones of the guys who hold partial shares) with maybe a hundred or two posts under their belt, and suddenly they think they’re some kind of geniuses.

Who actually gives a damn about Telegram? If there’s anything more unreliable than Twitter, it’s definitely Telegram. There’s zero oversight, zero rules... just total chaos.

And then all this news in the media... it's all just coming from Twitter or Telegram anyway.
I guess which journalists actually go out on the front lines?

electricstag9 said:Once Putin finally wraps this up, he’s going to end up just like that other guy from the North America—the one who marched into neighboring countries claiming he was protecting people from "genocide" and Nazis, only to end up as an occupier himself.

Buried under a willow tree? In the Russian playbook, it’s more likely going to be a birch.