Rayvin
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Posts
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Everything posted by Rayvin
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Turkey now blocking Russian warships. It is starting to feel as if Putin will have to make Russia total pariahs to get this over the line. As for the notion: The Uk and the US have been criticised endlessly for decades following the Iraq war. Half of the country wants Tony Blair strung up as a war criminal. There is no way we will see another Iraq in our lifetimes because of how strong the criticism has been. The last time we got anywhere remotely close to it was Syria and our government was forced to back down due to public and political pressure - which consequently forced the US to back down too. So given that we have been so fiercely critical of our own war, why are we not in a position to condemn this one? We are in a position to, because we know it's wrong. It's not because they're white that the vast majority will be feeling compassion for them, it's because they're next door neighbours, and because we've seen the atrocities that these stupid imperialistic wars lead to. Russia has looked at Iraq and used it as a justification - we are looking at Iraq and using it reason to oppose this.
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Can you imagine if it was here? I'd pick up a rifle too. I guess all of us would.
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The article I think is intended to persuade left wing people who have been dismissive of the war specifically because of the 'far right' components within Ukraine, that they don't justify an invasion by Russia. So he's on our side of this IMO. That said, I find it stunning that anyone on the left thinks this could possibly be deserved. Or necessary. This is why I've always avoided (or tried to avoid) being 'far left' - there is no sympathy or compassion for people in the extremes of politics, they're all as bloody minded as each other. The human cost of the objective is irrelevant as long as the objective is achieved. And for Russia in Ukraine, the objective as far as the far left went was to criticise the US. 10,000 Ukrainian nazis. That's it, in a country of 42m. We have people saying that this is justifiable because of 10,000 people. I'd wager we have more nazis in the UK ffs.
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Hungary now falling into line on Swift. Looks like we'll get that over the line.
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I think it depends on what happens after he's killed Zelenskiy. Will Ukraine continue to function without a government, will it be able to coordinate an effective response? Also, we don't know that his goal is conquest, if it's just regime change then he will have secured an objective as long as he gets a puppet government in place.
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I have a colleague in the Ukraine who just checked in - old news really but he's confirmed that he's not allowed to leave the country for possible mobilization of men into the armed forces, and that they can't drive anywhere because the Russians are killing civilians at random.
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450 dead while Ukraine has been close to full capability though. I mean the numbers have seemed light on all sides for two forces supposedly trying to kill each other IMO.
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Putin has demanded that the Ukrainian army overthrow their leadership who are all "neo-nazis and genocidal" Meanwhile, The Council of Europe is has started proceedings to eject Russia.
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It does sound that way. No one is coming to save them though, we already know this. They know this. We are letting this happen.
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Naturally yes, I'd go so far as to say most of them. We need much better leaders than we actually have, seemingly right across the board.
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How is it on Frame rate? I want to try it but I'm a bit concerned on that front. Also stuck into Witch Queen atm for the next week or so.
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Ludicrous and weak response from those nations. Italy's stance (if true) is beyond words. If Putin invades Germany would they 'understand' if we sat there deliberating over a fucking sanction.
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Aye. The EU has been fucking useless on this. I can't believe I'm watching reports of Boris fucking Johnson trying to persuade Germany to do the right thing. Is that real? Is that spin from our side?
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Yeah he's not going. And yes, he may well be killed for it.
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He is, he's refused to leave as I understand it. Much will depend on whether the government can remain functional in some form or another, or how well the chain of command is preserved.
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Some commentators are saying Putin's grasp of reality has slipped altogether now, so on that basis we probably can't rely on him being a rational actor. I don't know if it's true though, this all seems very calculated to me.
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I've read some people saying that Ukraine isn't faring as badly as it seems - they're engaging in asymmetric warfare which effectively means they've recognised they're the weaker player and have ceded ground with only light resistance (which does map against the number of casualties being quite low). This means the likelihood is that the Russians take Kyiv, which is a sad day indeed, but from that point on they're going to have absolute hell on their hands. I suspect Putin would have preferred that Ukraine met him head on, but that doesn't appear to be what's happening. So either Ukraine is about to give up without much of a fight at all, or they're preparing for a long and protracted fight.
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Kremlin apparently acknowledging that Ukraine has expressed willingness to sign a neutrality pledge with guarantees that it will never join NATO. Also expects relationships with Western countries to return to normal after this... Putin looking for a way out?
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Guardian is reporting that Ukraine is forbidding men and boys aged 16 to 60 from leaving the country. Zelenskiy told his people that he called for help, but sees no one ready to stand with them. He says it looks dire but won't leave the capital. Ukrainian ship was destroyed along with every soul on board after being told to stand down by a Russian military ship. The Ukrainians told the Russians to go fuck themselves in response. Brave of them.
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Could Chernobyl be used to threaten Europe and others into letting this happen, with the threat that "assurances cannot be made of how safe it will be". Honestly if we've let that happen then we've all accepted that we're just going to lose Ukraine altogether.
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Retaliatory action in what sense, what is he gonna do other than cut them off, something everyone seems to have accepted anyway? Pathetic response.
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What actually did go on with you two anyway? Did one of you declare a war of self defence as a pretext for invading the other's back garden?
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I don't agree with all of this but I respect the view. I do agree with some of it. I don't think any of it changes my belief that whoever started this, it needs ending.
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Exactly. It doesn't matter at all if anything that we've pretended to be over the years is actually true.
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So am I, for what it's worth. But only one side is waving guns around in the face of Europe. If this was happening on America's doorstep I might see it differently, but it's not. It's happening right on the edge of the EU, the last bastion of hope for the civilised world in any sense whatsoever (IMO). We need to respond or he will keep going. People (maybe not you, can't remember - but people aligned with your view at least) were saying just a few days ago "oh he won't invade, it's posturing, he's living rent free in the US' head haha" and all that bullshit. Well he invaded. And he's gone for the whole fucking country. And I note that in those same circles, Putin is no longer the 'glorious madlad standing up to the US' but more of a 'well, you know, this is what happens... I hate it as much as you do, but we did ask for it". You and I have no idea if he will or will not stop here, but the very fact that he has done this at all means we have to assume he won't. We need to respond in the face of fascist totalitarianism. Against someone who fans the flames of said fascist totalitarianism the world over.
