Vladimir Putin and Russia

[Monkeys Fist 42458]

12 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

It’s tempting to get swept up in the optimism and this Ukraine advance is almost unbelievable but Putin isn’t the type of psycho to back down.  

I don’t doubt that, but what’s he going to fight back with? 
Any troops who aren’t already in Ukraine will know that their mates are taking an absolute shoeing, they’ll mostly be stationed on border patrols and other permanent military bases. 
The invasion force was apparently mostly new conscripts, he’ll have a job on his hands getting enough new cannon fodder for any kind of retaliatory force, and that’s just the bodies needed- he’s clearly not got anywhere near the hardware everyone thought he had, and what he does have is old and fucked. 
 

It’s not looking great for Wor Vlad, and it doesn’t look like he ever thought he’d be in this position. 
 

 I read something a while back about how he’s been surrounded by yes men for years, who are afraid to tell him the truth or advise against his proposals, so this will be an almighty, unexpected kick in the balls. 
 

You love to see it. 

[Rayvin 5223]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/08/we-have-already-lost-far-right-russian-bloggers-slam-kremlin-over-army-response

 

The Russian far right blogosphere thinks they've lost. Not saying that means anything but pressure is clearly building from Putin's fellow fascists and genocide enthusiasts.

[Monkeys Fist 42458]

7 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/08/we-have-already-lost-far-right-russian-bloggers-slam-kremlin-over-army-response

 

The Russian far right blogosphere thinks they've lost. Not saying that means anything but pressure is clearly building from Putin's fellow fascists and genocide enthusiasts.

[Gemmill 44894]

7 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/08/we-have-already-lost-far-right-russian-bloggers-slam-kremlin-over-army-response

 

The Russian far right blogosphere thinks they've lost. Not saying that means anything but pressure is clearly building from Putin's fellow fascists and genocide enthusiasts.

 

When they mention a "general mobilisation" in that article, are they talking about conscription? 

[Renton 21627]

Tactical nuke time?

[Gemmill 44894]

Renton always goes straight for the nukes. Whatever happened to foreplay? 

[Dr Gloom 21924]

Tactical nuke is the nickname he gave his johnson 

[Gemmill 44894]

 

Mine's WOPR. 

[Gemmill 44894]

Let's play Global Thermonuclear War. 

[Toonpack 9427]

11 hours ago, Dr Gloom said:

I hate to piss on the parade but with the Putin era in Russian politics, the emphasis is on always taking the long view. So don’t expect any sudden changes. The only thing for sure is that the war will continue.

 

This is a good read

 

 

 

[ewerk 30616]

11 hours ago, spongebob toonpants said:

Got to feed the MIC

I see Truss is upping the "defence" budget to 3% of GDP

Yes but when you factor in the Tory economic destruction it’s actually a massive real terms cut to defence.

[Toonpack 9427]

Another canny read

 

 

 

[wykikitoon 20153]

I've not really followed any of this tbh but was chatting to a mate about it. 

 

He was pretty much saying Ukraine has a president that's the US puppet and really if he wasn't there Putin wouldn't be that interested. But Vlad is threatened by the US. He was saying how Putin and Russian don't really have much beef with Europe but with the yanks having so many bases around Russia in Germany etc its basically poking them. 

 

Do the US want to see the EU broken up? Is it really a beef between the US and Russia and not putin just having a hard on for the former Ussr states? 

[Holden McGroin 6587]

Some heavy deep state conspiracies flying out of Wykiki's mouth now that he can't slag Longstaff off for a weekend.

[wykikitoon 20153]

10 minutes ago, Holden McGroin said:

Some heavy deep state conspiracies flying out of Wykiki's mouth now that he can't slag Longstaff off for a weekend.

😂 It's what my mate says. I'm just not read up enough tbh. He was stationed in Germany for 10 years so knows a little more but tbh think the mustard gas has got to him 😂

[ewerk 30616]

28 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

I've not really followed any of this tbh but was chatting to a mate about it. 

 

He was pretty much saying Ukraine has a president that's the US puppet and really if he wasn't there Putin wouldn't be that interested. But Vlad is threatened by the US. He was saying how Putin and Russian don't really have much beef with Europe but with the yanks having so many bases around Russia in Germany etc its basically poking them. 

 

Do the US want to see the EU broken up? Is it really a beef between the US and Russia and not putin just having a hard on for the former Ussr states? 

Theres probably an element of truth in some of that. Putin definitely doesn’t want bordering countries joining NATO and in recent times he has seen former Soviet states leaning more towards the West and moving away from the Russian sphere of influence. Ideally he wants a group of surrounding countries subservient to Russia and Ukraine weren’t that. Add in the fact he views the break up of the USSR as a National shame there’s definitely an ideological angle to his invasion. 
 

From an economic POV the US aren’t big fans of the EU as they view it as a protectionist organisation but from a military perspective they need a strong, united Europe to keep Russia at bay which was evidenced in Putin’s meddling in the Brexit referendum.

[Toonpack 9427]

39 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

I've not really followed any of this tbh but was chatting to a mate about it. 

 

He was pretty much saying Ukraine has a president that's the US puppet and really if he wasn't there Putin wouldn't be that interested. But Vlad is threatened by the US. He was saying how Putin and Russian don't really have much beef with Europe but with the yanks having so many bases around Russia in Germany etc its basically poking them. 

 

Do the US want to see the EU broken up? Is it really a beef between the US and Russia and not putin just having a hard on for the former Ussr states? 

your mate was talking utter shit frankly

[PaddockLad 17277]

2 minutes ago, Toonpack said:

your mate was talking utter shit frankly

Without subscribing to any conspiracy theories whatsoever the yanks have been influencing what goes on in Ukraine for 30 years. That doesn’t justify in any way the invasion but it is undoubtedly the reason it happened 

[Renton 21627]

2 hours ago, ewerk said:

Yes but when you factor in the Tory economic destruction it’s actually a massive real terms cut to defence.

 

Aye, a bigger piece of a smaller pie. Also obviously less money for everything else. 

[Renton 21627]

59 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

I've not really followed any of this tbh but was chatting to a mate about it. 

 

He was pretty much saying Ukraine has a president that's the US puppet and really if he wasn't there Putin wouldn't be that interested. But Vlad is threatened by the US. He was saying how Putin and Russian don't really have much beef with Europe but with the yanks having so many bases around Russia in Germany etc its basically poking them. 

 

Do the US want to see the EU broken up? Is it really a beef between the US and Russia and not putin just having a hard on for the former Ussr states? 

 

This is mainly horse shit. I highly recommend watching Winter on Fire on Netflix which explains the origin of the war and is extremely moving. 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4908644/

 

The war arose because Ukraine's democratic right to join the EU was blocked by its authoritarian leadership. Nowt to do with the US, who at the time were fairly ambivalent to the EU, and hostile to it a bit later under Trump. Nowt to do with NATO.

 

I'd make an educated guess your mate is a Brexiter. Regardless, justifying Putins actions like this, and that's what it is, is canny appalling. Ukraine's fault, victim blaming. 

[Toonpack 9427]

23 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Without subscribing to any conspiracy theories whatsoever the yanks have been influencing what goes on in Ukraine for 30 years. That doesn’t justify in any way the invasion but it is undoubtedly the reason it happened 

Sorry don’t agree at all, Putin sees himself as a great Russian hero, reclaiming what he believes is his/mother Russia’s - see Georgia, Chechnya. Ukraine was just the next domino he thought would fall. He’ll be in Belarus next if his client president falls, if Ukraine doesn’t do for him..

[PaddockLad 17277]

The US in the guise of NATO was a major factor in the invasion of Ukraine. Why did the US & UK take the decision to start training and arming them in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea in 2014?  It’s not that I have a problem with that, it’s that to me people are failing to recognise what happened and why Ukraine in particular was helped when Putins other incursions were largely ignored by the West… 

[wykikitoon 20153]

23 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

This is mainly horse shit. I highly recommend watching Winter on Fire on Netflix which explains the origin of the war and is extremely moving. 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4908644/

 

The war arose because Ukraine's democratic right to join the EU was blocked by its authoritarian leadership. Nowt to do with the US, who at the time were fairly ambivalent to the EU, and hostile to it a bit later under Trump. Nowt to do with NATO.

 

I'd make an educated guess your mate is a Brexiter. Regardless, justifying Putins actions like this, and that's what it is, is canny appalling. Ukraine's fault, victim blaming. 

Thanks I shall check that out. Thankfully I don't have any brexiter friends. Only family 😂 

[Christmas Tree 4725]

5 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

Thanks I shall check that out. Thankfully I don't have any brexiter friends. Only family 😂 

😥

[Billy Whitehurst 895]

‘Prisoners of Geography’ is a good (and fairly accessible) read. It doesn’t just focus on Russia but the chapter on Russia is quite interesting.

 

While NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe and The Baltic States doesn’t justify Russia’s invasion in to Ukraine, it does explain why Putin feels increasingly threatened. While, Putin is quite clearly in the wrong, it is not as black and white as the Western media makes out.