Putin has isolated himself for two years and only sees people who reinforce what he wants to believe. This is a man who gets his own way 100% of the time. It doesn’t really matter what Russians in general believe, it’s what Putin believes that is important. He has been told, most likely, that this will be a piece of piss. When it proves not to be, will he lash out? Possibly. He doesn’t need a reason/excuse to level towns and cities, we know that already. This is the nature of megalomaniac paranoia. It’s interesting that we are seeing absolutely no propaganda from the majority Russian speaking areas in Ukraine ‘liberated’ by the Russian military. Might be on RT I suppose, and could be that the mainstream media has suppressed footage of the celebrations…… In my opinion.
Yes, the airline pilot analogy may be frighteningly correct, hence the West playing it cool. Right and Left all sounds a bit passe now, doesn't it? Certainly in the West with identity politics coming in, EU arguments etc. At the end of the day, extreme right and extreme left end up with unaccountable dictators, and so have a lot in common
RT was reporting gains of 30km in territory by the separatists in the East of the country. Had a few reports of crying grannies displaced by shelling etc but like most media, almost certainly slanted in some way. Thanks for your input
We should go at least as far with sanctions as the EU has. There are dozens of individuals sanctioned by the EU, but not by the UK - Abramovich a prime example. As for refugees, we are talking big ('leading the way' ) but refusing to waive visas, thereby ensuring that it would be weeks, if not months, before any could get here.
Interesting, Xi and his bunch of cronies have stopped blaming the Ukraine invasion on the US, said they are very concerned about civilian casualties, talked to the Ukrainian foreign minister and offered to help mediate in ceasefire discussions……if they walk away from Putin he’s going to feel very isolated indeed.
There was big outrage up in Orkney as a Russian crude oil tanker was due to dock to collect fuel destined for Russia and there was nothing they could do about it. They'll be pleased at this news
Putin has been using the Chechens as a private army for years - In Syria as well as Eastern Ukraine. They're a nasty bunch of ****s
The Chechen war was truly brutal from all sides. Hope that doesn’t upset some on here who want good guys to cheer on. On another note......anyone who really wants to expand their mind and possibly have their views changed on some conflicts really must listen to the podcast Conflicted, recommended by Steels/Raving. I’ve today had my views changed somewhat on the whole Yemen conflict, which I for ages have followed the usual Left Wing narrative of Saudi, Western backed aggression against the glorious Houthi rebels.....should have realised...it’s never that simple.
