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

granitebison said:Please don't bother engaging with such nonsense. Attempting to link physical traits to psychological makeup is nothing more than blatant primitivism.
It’s the kind of logic found in Roald Dahl stories or those cliché Disney villains who are always depicted as scarred, deformed, or physically "different" to signal their evil.
Both Napoleon and Hitler stood above average height. There is absolutely no scientific research suggesting that physical appearance dictates one's character or decision-making abilities.

In Putin's case, he isn't physically imposing, yet he carries this massive arrogance—this sense of superiority over those he deems weaker. How should we interpret that? Is it the standard interpretation most people jump to? I call it an inferiority complex, or perhaps just a byproduct of his height. It's clearly something he struggles with.

Since he couldn't possibly pull off what his army is doing in Ukraine on his own, feel free to philosophize all you want about how his physique doesn't affect his decisions. Honestly, I’m curious—how would he fare in a one-on-one fight with a Ukrainian or a Russian man of average height? Someone who talks big about rats and cornered animals? Brrr, I'm shaking; I'm terrified. I just wonder how cold his eyes would look if, standing at 6'2", I grabbed him by the head at shoulder level. Would he still act so arrogant and powerful while issuing threats to Finland, Sweden, and everyone else from some basement under the Kremlin?

The moment his subordinates sit or stand ten yards away from him, you know exactly what time it is. It is incredible that people here still fail to grasp the reality of the situation based on examples like this. It isn't just that they fear him; he fears them too. That tells you everything you need to know about the actual dynamic at play.

Tyler Jones6 said:The proposed $6.4 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine appears to have both Democratic and Republican backing.

Out of that $6.4 billion total—I suppose we should look at the breakdown—$3.5 billion is earmarked for military aid via the Pentagon, while the remaining $2.9 billion is intended for economic and humanitarian support.

Way to go, America!

The White House asked Congress on Friday to provide $ 6.4 billion to Help Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion, according to multiple reports.

The funding would be divided—with $3.5 billion directed to the Pentagon and $2.9 billion allocated toward security assistance, humanitarian relief, economic stabilization, and regional initiatives—an administration official told Axios.

"As The President and bipartisan members of Congress have made clear , The United States is committed to supporting The Ukrainian People as They defend their country and democracy," Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.

Man, Americans just print money like there's no tomorrow and throw it around everywhere like the future doesn't even exist! 🙏

bluepuma9 said:Sure, but who actually has the cash flow to bankroll three or four months of combat these days? It’s not like the old days. Back then, a single cruise missile might run you a few million bucks, but now? Just look at the price tag when you start dumping hundreds of them onto the field.

They're building up all these stockpiles, but I mean, every single one of those missiles has an expiration date. Maybe it’s just cheaper to use them up than to let them sit there rotting.

If you look at how things played out in Syria and then compare it to what’s happening in Ukraine, it becomes painfully obvious what "the West" actually means when they talk about "democracy."
The constant stream of propaganda and fake news being pumped into the airwaves—and the endless denials that follow—isn't just noise. It's a calculated media war designed to shape public opinion and justify their colonial ambitions.

Between the staged scenes on Snake Island, the convoys of charred remains coming out of the Azov region, and the actual reality on the ground...

Ukraine is doing everything in its power to drag the whole of Europe into this conflict, but more importantly, they want to pull the neutral Ukrainian population along with them.
To pull that off, they need civilian casualties. They need those classic propaganda pamphlets—think of the chemical attack narratives used in Syria—and an army of internet trolls to flood the web with lies.

Putin’s biggest challenge here is resolving this crisis without sacrificing neutral Ukrainians and actually returning Ukraine to the Ukrainians.
It’s a localized conflict that is costing the Russians lives, but if this turns into a full-scale confrontation, we’re looking at a massive restructuring of borders—maybe even a literal takeover of Ukraine, depending on how many Ukrainians decide to side with Russia.

And predictably, the usual script from Ukraine: "We’ll retake Crimea, we’ll liberate Donbas, we’ll defend Kyiv."
Crimea is Russia, Donbas is Russia. Let's just keep watching...

urbanotter said:If that's the case, I don't quite follow why there is such a massive standoff over meeting Putin's demand regarding NATO membership, especially if they have no intention of joining in the first place.
It feels like a bit of a logical knot to me, 🙄

It’s not actually about what they want to do (though we could debate that!), it's more that NATO wouldn't take Ukraine in for several reasons—mostly because those borders with Russia are still such a mess.

Lola 27 said:Seriously, not a single woman—doesn't matter if she’s five-foot-nothing or a literal giant—has ever sparked a conflict on an epic scale, yet these absolute clowns have been out here causing chaos for hundreds of years.☕Look, I’m telling you, when it comes to scale, size actually matters. It's not just some random detail you can brush off.☕

Look, buddy, just take the hint and walk away from this thread. This isn't really your scene. Why don't you go take some selfies for Instagram and focus on chasing likes instead?

Richard Wilson4 said:Okay, this is total nonsense.

Western media is full of it. First, they were saying Kyiv had already fallen, and now suddenly Russia is out of weapons...

Honestly, it's all just heavy propaganda...

Right now, things actually look good for the Ukrainians;

https://i.ibb.co/ctYMP0t/Webp-net-gifmaker.gif

It looks like the Russians have found themselves some cheap cannon fodder—the Chechens!

briskheron said:Russ is playing dirty.
They’ve really gone too far this time. From what I can gather, they'd be facing the death penalty in any US state for doing something like this.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ukrainain...41987808993295

brightheron64 said:What an incredibly strange arsenal they have piled up right there in front of them. 🤔

A few pages back, amidst all that general paranoia, they actually managed to trap their own...🤦

Rachel Allen55 said:Sanctioning Russia just makes them feel even more independent from everyone else. What are you even going to have left to use for sanctions next time?

Everything needs balance. Even this whole situation is a delicate balancing act. Do people honestly think Americans are ready to start seeing layoffs because of these sanctions? First, it’ll be direct hits on companies doing business with Russia, and then it spirals—indirectly, then again indirectly—as businesses in other countries shut down, eventually triggering a massive crisis within the West.

And don't even get me started on the refugee issue. You'll end up with representatives in government who will have plenty to say, much like the folks in Denmark, whether it's the New Citizenry types or that nutjob Paludan. If you could hear their ideologies... they spout all this nonsense about Aryan races and claiming you're only "true" American if your family tree is 80% local heritage, counting grandparents and all that.

Am I really supposed to want a lunatic or a party like that sitting in our Parliament just because of Ukraine? To me, Ukraine isn't worth that much; it's an oligarchic state where a handful of people run the show, corruption is everywhere, and they still have some glaring questions left over from the USSR era that haven't been cleared up.

If nationalism starts taking over in the West, both the EU and NATO are toast. You wouldn't find two countries within the EU that could actually agree on anything. And all of this just for Ukraine?

What has Ukraine actually contributed to Western prosperity? Seriously, what? Nothing.

Speaking as an engineer on the technical side, they certainly have more potential than, say, the North America. If you were even remotely technically literate, you would know that Ukraine once had a massive aerospace industry; in fact, European space rockets actually utilize Ukrainian rocket engines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RD-843

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/...n-ukraine.html

This is just one example of many things Ukraine offers. Since you're bringing up prosperity, it’s pretty obvious that a country like America would benefit far more by importing educated professionals from a nation like Ukraine than by taking in people like you from some godforsaken place where they were still using wooden plows to till the dirt.

Susan Jackson65 said:What would actually happen if a legitimately elected government in Mexico suddenly announced they were pivoting toward a communist regime and seeking a military and economic alliance with Russia and China?

How exactly would the USA respond to such a move?

Well, Mexico has basically already been there—they functioned under a one-party system for an incredibly long time. Maybe try doing a little more research. 🤣

Keith Morgan10 said:This whole propaganda machine feels a lot like what we saw with Armenia. It’s always "Armenia did this" or "Armenians did that," and then suddenly, one day, the Armenians emerge from their basements waving white flags, acting like they never even had an army to begin with.
I'm not saying Ukraine is the exact same situation, but I honestly think it's better to just stay patient and wait things out.

Look, I won't have any issues admitting that the Ukrainians and the media were actually right this time—they really did mop the floor with the Russians. But let's be real, the end doesn't look like it's anywhere near in sight.

I don't think there's ever been more propaganda than the stuff we've been dealing with since the Gulf War.

vividtiger72 said:I don't actually see any Z markings on those tanks—for all we know, they could be Ukrainian.

Those transporters and tanks are likely their own. They're far too close to be enemy armor, and they're moving with far too much confidence; if those were hostile tanks, an anti-tank team would have wiped them out long ago. Personally, I’d be wary of moving near one's own troops—you wouldn't want to be mistaken for the enemy. Those trenches along the road look much more appropriate for infantry movement.

Paul Patel95 said:So Zelenskyy is on Twitter claiming Erdogan is gonna shut down the Black Sea access for Russian ships?

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/stat...64078897774598

WW3

William Anderson5 said:It’s like you’re ignoring the fact that Europe is effectively at war. Everything changed on February 24, 2022. The fight against Russia is the only thing on the agenda now.

The EU isn't at war, nor is it going to be with Russia. Whatever is going down in Ukraine stays on Ukrainian soil.

Unless Zelenskyy decides to declare war on the EU himself. Putin definitely won't.

A street in Ukraine—it’s not just about the tanks and the gear, it’s about having pure heart.
Footage shows intense close-quarters combat, plus those Javelins are doing their job.

Charles Fox said:👍

Ninety percent of people are thinking like five-year-olds, yet we’re all going to feel the sting of this conflict firsthand.
Prices are climbing every single day. People are going to lose their jobs, and who knows what else is coming down the pipeline.
No war has ever yielded anything good. (Except for the profiteers.)

Yes, unfortunately. I find myself agreeing with every word you wrote. At best, we'll be dealing with the financial fallout (which is just what we need after two years of living through a pandemic), welcoming refugees, and there's even the possibility that we might find ourselves as refugees once again.

I recently wrote something regarding the situation with Afghan refugees about how you can never truly know what lies ahead, and how easily we could find ourselves forced to flee too. At the time, I didn't quite grasp just how high the probability was that things would escalate this quickly.

Paul Patel95 said:tweet

The US is seriously looking at hitting Russia's central bank with sanctions. We're talking about $634 billion

NEWS: I'm hearing the US is eyeing sanctions on Russia’s central bank, a massive move targeting most of the $643b in reserves Putin has hoarded

No final call yet, but the administration wants to coordinate with European allies to make sure this hits as hard as possible.

Blacklisting Russia's central bank would be without precedent for an economy this size

This would be absolutely "devastating" for Russia, according to
@tashecon
“We would see the ruble crash.”

Vladimir Putin is contemplating nuclear escalation against the Fed, yet the Russians were the ones who initiated the aggression first, so how does one interpret that? They are acting like savages... completely irrational.

Does anyone here honestly expect the Russians to simply sit there and take it while their economy is being dismantled without any counter-measures or retaliatory sanctions? It is a rather absurd expectation.

One should not issue threats unless one is fully prepared to execute them and risk a broken hand or a black eye in the ensuing brawl.

The Russians tend to deliberate extensively before making a move, but once they commit, they are unstoppable; the more sanctions applied, the harder they strike. When they finally decide to act, they don't stop to calculate the cost or hesitate—they see things through to the end regardless of the price, so I certainly wouldn't advise trifing with them,, and no person of sound mind would engage them in such a manner.

Naive, gullible fools need to wake up from their fairy tales and face reality; otherwise, they will end up wailing just like the Ukrainians are doing now, asking "how could this happen?" or "why us?" and begging for comrades to help.A collection of useless "allies" is nowhere to be found when it actually matters.

Look at what happens when people fight back like the former Georgian president did; what kind of support did Georgia actually receive from those useless allies? They ended up with a broken state and zero actual assistance. Or consider the "allies" in Afghanistan, wandering aimlessly through the country while the women in ninja units are left to thank those useless Western powers for their "support."

These so-called allies only offer support as long as there is a clear financial incentive or an opportunity for extra profit; the moment real costs begin to mount, they suddenly become deaf, blind, and invent all sorts of excuses to claim they bear no responsibility.

Kyle Nelson2 said:I honestly think this could escalate way further than any of us realize

☕

It’s absolutely possible, provided they don't get to the negotiating table soon enough.

Besides, even before his motorcade started rolling, Putin seemed incredibly on edge. Having a nervous man in control of a nuclear arsenal is a recipe for disaster.

The Americans are already salivating at the opportunity. 🤦

Thomas Nelson25 said:Look, the message is all about the war context.

Read between the lines... they're just running propaganda (intimidation tactics) aimed at both Ukrainians and regular folks in Russia.

To me, it’s perfectly clear what kind of message is being sent by bringing up the death penalty right now.

It's also just as obvious to me that America doesn't need to be sending out messages like that.
Just for the sake of comparison, I guess.