Good point Bobby……I think we’ve gotta take it that our media is spreading just as many mistruths as the Russian side
Older Russians like a Stalinesqe leader. They seem to have the same mentality that Germans did in 1933.
Are older people generally more patriotic? I would typically agree with this in my own experiences. Its like the brexiters being older and more patriotic. Do i believe they approve of ukraines invasion? No idea but if we dont believe the populace can vote freely in russian elections why would i think they are free to voice openly about russia invading ukraine (they cant thats why they have been rounded up). I can see why we have taken this approach to overthrow putin but i wouldnt be so sure about the info that majority of people are for war
This is not patriotism, it's nationalism at its worst. Try Googling "Do the Russians support Putin?". You will find evidence that they do. As I say, there is a parallel with Nazi Germany. Fanatical nationalism based on falsehoods and government propagada.
Interesting Goldie. Debunks my hope that through sanctions the Russians might have a popular uprising and depose the madman. I’m thinking sanctions, though done with the best intention, might inadvertently cause the Russian people to retreat more into their corner and strengthen the support for conflict. Not good. Do you also not think that Russians, and to that extent many Eastern European countries, might be more nationalistic due to the fact that throughout the years they’ve been invaded so many times ? Possibility?
Putin just passed a law to stop anyone spreading what he describes as false information - i.e.anything contradictory to the government line. Fifteen years for anyone found guilty.
But as Goldie pointed out…..his popularity seems to have risen since this all started. Something I hadn’t realised
To be fair mate, why wouldn’t they ? He’s the one person who made their club what it is today and seen as a hero. I reckon if it were us, many would probably do the same
Yes, I think some of the East European countries were politically and socially living in the past, but most are catching up fast, if retaining a few antiquated ideas over racism, gay rights etc. I think the answer for the West over Russia is to play the long game. Chip away at Russian resolve by maintaining the hardest sanctions, arming the Ukraine resistance, removing Russia from the UN security council etc, so Russia starts asking itself whether its all worthwhile. A new iron curtain is about to go up. It will eventually come down like the first.
I see your thinking but I really don’t know if we are gonna allow it to go on that long…..or even if Russia will allow it to go that long before he does something mad like go into one of the Baltic states or even Finland. Worrying times
Sorry goldie just out in town so responding without researching but judging from the comments its some polls on putin becoming more popular? I barely trust our own polls when it says labour is more popular than tories (with multiple polls out there all the time with contradictory notes) let alone stuff supplied from google about russia
Russia is struggling on a geo-political level. It has no access to a warm water port anymore, and it's access to the Black Sea can be cut off at any moment by Turkey (NATO). Defensively, it's northern borders are secure because the ocean is frozen most of the year, it's eastern border only a madman would invade from as you would have to go through all of Siberia to get anywhere. To the south it's borders are protected by mountain ranges. So Russias weak point is it's western border, hence they built up a big buffer zone with the Eastern European states - this buffer being chipped away at by NATO. Putin is worried that NATO are going to be camped on his doorstep, and he's trying to rebuild his buffer zone. Ukraine is his first, and "easiest" target. He feels it's a legitimate campaign due to the history between Russia and Ukraine, which extends back centuries. If the Russian population believe his rhetoric, then they'll be behind him (with state run TV pumping out his point of view 24/7, what else are they going to believe), but it'll be the younger generation that will hopefully see through his bullshit as they have wider access to news sources (although Putin is censoring Facebook, Twitter etc). Is Putin crazy enough to launch nukes - who knows? The worrying thing is that the nuclear arsenal he now possesses is far more scary than most people think. For the last ten years, the Russians have given up on matching the US in the arms race due to the success of the US air defence systems. They have instead been working on new ICBMs that are supersonic, and therefore can elude the air defence - we're talking about missiles that can travel in excess of 3000kph - that's scary but you think that's the worst weapon in his arsenal? Nope....they've also developed unmanned, nuclear powered torpedoes that carry a warhead up to 100Megatons....Hiroshima was a 15Kiloton bomb. These torpedoes go about silently in enemy waters, almost untraceable as there's no diesal engine and no manpower on board. If Putin decides to hit the button, we're all ****ed - so let's hope that some common sense prevails here and he gets removed from power ASAP
Reading an article about the volunteers who have made their way, or planning to make their way over to Ukraine to fight is quite sad. Can’t knock them for it but can’t help feeling the ones out there who haven’t had any military experience could be in for a horrible shock. It ain’t gonna be a paintball game where you hold your hand up and walk away after being hit.
I'm seeing a lot of posts on LinkedIn by ex-forces guys who are heading over there, so plenty of experience going. Also saw another guy asking all ex-squaddies to go through their garages/lofts/basements to find any old military kit they have and donate it to the cause - unfortunately my stuff is so old it'll likely fall apart before it got there!
Men like that wouldn’t be the problem mate….like yourself, they’ve been there, seen it and worn the t-shirt. However the ones with no experience and equipment just bought from Amazon my have a very rude awakening. As you and I know, death and suffering ain’t a nice thing….it really ain’t like the movies.
Obviously anti-Tory (not that it’s a bad thing) but quite interesting. I’m sure Blair and his mob did the same
