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Post by Captain Obvious on Feb 28, 2022 8:50:08 GMT -4
They showed a Russian convoy destroyed this morning, seems like the Russian army was not prepared for the first or the amount of resistance from the Ukraine army and citizens. We are seeing big protests throughout the world and especially in Russia with hundreds of thousands out in the streets, wayyy too many for them to arrest. That plus heavy sanctions is collapsing the Russian economy...there was talk that Putin could be the subject to a coup but he is apparently very well protected.
News the last 2 days that many countries are sending jets, anti armor missiles and other ammunition from Europe and the US.
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Post by yesisaiditfirst on Feb 28, 2022 8:55:41 GMT -4
This is awful for the Ukrainian people and for the west. Now, as western support mounts the man is trying to remind the world he has nuclear weapons. NATO will not get involved directly for this very reason, but I understand why people want to. It is uncomfortable to say the least watching the Russian bear poking its teeth at the border of Kiev to remove a democratically elected government. Putin is deranged. And we need be careful not to say the wrong things. Could be rhetoric but if he loses his cool he will do something stupid. We can only hope there are people around him that will refuse to follow his orders. When someone like that gets backed into a corner they might follow through on those threats. I don't want to find out.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 28, 2022 9:11:08 GMT -4
Never have we seen larger economic sanctions. Hell we're basically banning Russian people from leaving Russia while devaluing their dollar to be worth nothing globally.
But still Putin keeps marching forward. Nukes on stand by. It's insanity.
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Post by Captain Obvious on Feb 28, 2022 9:48:39 GMT -4
/photo/1
If only Malkin and Ovechkin got off the Putin Team...
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Post by hal on Feb 28, 2022 9:55:52 GMT -4
Some Russian Billionaires are now calling for the Invasion to end . Along with several Russian Celebrity Entertainers and Athletes ......Stay Tuned .
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Post by jimmy on Feb 28, 2022 10:04:21 GMT -4
This is awful for the Ukrainian people and for the west. Now, as western support mounts the man is trying to remind the world he has nuclear weapons. NATO will not get involved directly for this very reason, but I understand why people want to. It is uncomfortable to say the least watching the Russian bear poking its teeth at the border of Kiev to remove a democratically elected government. Putin is deranged. And we need be careful not to say the wrong things. Could be rhetoric but if he loses his cool he will do something stupid. We can only hope there are people around him that will refuse to follow his orders. When someone like that gets backed into a corner they might follow through on those threats. I don't want to find out. Putin is a bully - I don't think that can be argued ... you can make a convincing case that he is evil (albeit that is from a Western perspective) ... but one thing that he is not is stupid. That is what scares me the most. Putin is playing a high level game of chess, and the likes of Biden and Trudeau are playing checkers (with some pieces missing from the set LOL). I don't know what Putin's end game is ... but I can't help but think he is several steps ahead of our Western leaders.
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Post by Captain Obvious on Feb 28, 2022 10:10:06 GMT -4
Putin is deranged. And we need be careful not to say the wrong things. Could be rhetoric but if he loses his cool he will do something stupid. We can only hope there are people around him that will refuse to follow his orders. When someone like that gets backed into a corner they might follow through on those threats. I don't want to find out. Putin is a bully - I don't think that can be argued ... you can make a convincing case that he is evil (albeit that is from a Western perspective) ... but one thing that he is not is stupid. That is what scares me the most. Putin is playing a high level game of chess, and the likes of Biden and Trudeau are playing checkers (with some pieces missing from the set LOL). I don't know what Putin's end game is ... but I can't help but think he is several steps ahead of our Western leaders. Unless his end game is global annihilation, I don't see this as a winning strategy. I don't think he is as smart as he thought, he miscalculated a lot of things... -the readiness of the Russian army -the readiness of the Ukrainian army -the willingness of Ukrainian citizens to fight -the will of the rest of the world to give aid and put hard hitting sanctions on Russia maybe like Trump, he surrounded himself with yes men and hasn't gotten all the facts.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 28, 2022 10:14:13 GMT -4
Putin is deranged. And we need be careful not to say the wrong things. Could be rhetoric but if he loses his cool he will do something stupid. We can only hope there are people around him that will refuse to follow his orders. When someone like that gets backed into a corner they might follow through on those threats. I don't want to find out. Putin is a bully - I don't think that can be argued ... you can make a convincing case that he is evil (albeit that is from a Western perspective) ... but one thing that he is not is stupid. That is what scares me the most. Putin is playing a high level game of chess, and the likes of Biden and Trudeau are playing checkers (with some pieces missing from the set LOL). I don't know what Putin's end game is ... but I can't help but think he is several steps ahead of our Western leaders. The American far right is eating it up and putting support behind Putin. Now Belarus is helping Russia. Both about to get tossed out of the IIHF. I dont even know if checkers and chess works here. Its like Putin is playing Risk and we're playing connect 4. The EU is where any major response has to come from. It's their backyard being torn up. It's their values being attacked as much as ours. It's their countries bringing in the refugees.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 28, 2022 10:21:31 GMT -4
Putin is a bully - I don't think that can be argued ... you can make a convincing case that he is evil (albeit that is from a Western perspective) ... but one thing that he is not is stupid. That is what scares me the most. Putin is playing a high level game of chess, and the likes of Biden and Trudeau are playing checkers (with some pieces missing from the set LOL). I don't know what Putin's end game is ... but I can't help but think he is several steps ahead of our Western leaders. Unless his end game is global annihilation, I don't see this as a winning strategy. I don't think he is as smart as he thought, he miscalculated a lot of things... -the readiness of the Russian army -the readiness of the Ukrainian army -the willingness of Ukrainian citizens to fight -the will of the rest of the world to give aid and put hard hitting sanctions on Russia maybe like Trump, he surrounded himself with yes men and hasn't gotten all the facts. I don't think he looks at global annihilation the same way we do here in the West. He's taking back the USSR. Global annihilation would mean someone trying to stop him. If these little countries are left to their own defence he'll take what he can...he'll die...and the next dictator will pick up and in 250 years or so they'll have their territory back. I honestly think the Russians are trying to play a long game here and the leaders could not care less about their own people and the financial situation they're being left in. The threat of nukes kind of indicates this. He knows NATO has nukes. Ukraine gave up their nukes in 1994. That's looking like a pretty shitty decision today. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine#:~:text=Formally%2C%20these%20weapons%20were%20controlled,of%20Nuclear%20Weapons%20(NPT).
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Post by yesisaiditfirst on Feb 28, 2022 10:21:58 GMT -4
Putin is a bully - I don't think that can be argued ... you can make a convincing case that he is evil (albeit that is from a Western perspective) ... but one thing that he is not is stupid. That is what scares me the most. Putin is playing a high level game of chess, and the likes of Biden and Trudeau are playing checkers (with some pieces missing from the set LOL). I don't know what Putin's end game is ... but I can't help but think he is several steps ahead of our Western leaders. Unless his end game is global annihilation, I don't see this as a winning strategy. I don't think he is as smart as he thought, he miscalculated a lot of things... -the readiness of the Russian army -the readiness of the Ukrainian army -the willingness of Ukrainian citizens to fight -the will of the rest of the world to give aid and put hard hitting sanctions on Russia maybe like Trump, he surrounded himself with yes men and hasn't gotten all the facts. "yes" men Unequivocally on record that I am not one of these yes men I think he has underestimated his military readiness and I think he has a scared army not really into this. I think there are Russian army purposely sabotaging equipment as a way to not have to ride it to the battle. Also in the propaganda war the only people Putin can fool are rank and file Russians who he cuts off from the other side of news. The oligarch (elite of elite) see what we see, some are spread around the world but you can bet if they are in Russia are accessing the real story and it will be hard to not have "rumour" spread even to the army people how bad this going.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 28, 2022 10:24:14 GMT -4
Some Russian Billionaires are now calling for the Invasion to end . Along with several Russian Celebrity Entertainers and Athletes ......Stay Tuned . Did those folks line up to try and prevent this? Their own freedom is being limited by the financial and travel sanctions but does Putin actually care? It doesn't seem like it or else this all stops 72 hours ago. As the sanctions pile up, he doesn't seem to be backing down.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 28, 2022 10:27:09 GMT -4
Unless his end game is global annihilation, I don't see this as a winning strategy. I don't think he is as smart as he thought, he miscalculated a lot of things... -the readiness of the Russian army -the readiness of the Ukrainian army -the willingness of Ukrainian citizens to fight -the will of the rest of the world to give aid and put hard hitting sanctions on Russia maybe like Trump, he surrounded himself with yes men and hasn't gotten all the facts. "yes" men Unequivocally on record that I am not one of these yes men I think he has underestimated his military readiness and I think he has a scared army not really into this. I think there are Russian army purposely sabotaging equipment as a way to not have to ride it to the battle. Also in the propaganda war the only people Putin can fool are rank and file Russians who he cuts off from the other side of news. The oligarch (elite of elite) see what we see, some are spread around the world but you can bet if they are in Russia are accessing the real story and it will be hard to not have "rumour" spread even to the army people how bad this going. There's like 16,000 guns handed out in some of the major cities. Russians should expect a pushback. But I think some Russian troops know they're fighting a lost cause and are not quite as motivated by people fighting for their country and their own lives. It's just disgusting that we watch it all unfold on CNN as if its entertainment when people lives are literally being taken as we speak in a democratic country being invaded by a dictator.
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Post by Captain Obvious on Feb 28, 2022 10:33:03 GMT -4
Unless his end game is global annihilation, I don't see this as a winning strategy. I don't think he is as smart as he thought, he miscalculated a lot of things... -the readiness of the Russian army -the readiness of the Ukrainian army -the willingness of Ukrainian citizens to fight -the will of the rest of the world to give aid and put hard hitting sanctions on Russia maybe like Trump, he surrounded himself with yes men and hasn't gotten all the facts. I don't think he looks at global annihilation the same way we do here in the West. He's taking back the USSR. Global annihilation would mean someone trying to stop him. If these little countries are left to their own defence he'll take what he can...he'll die...and the next dictator will pick up and in 250 years or so they'll have their territory back. I honestly think the Russians are trying to play a long game here and the leaders could not care less about their own people and the financial situation they're being left in. The threat of nukes kind of indicates this. He knows NATO has nukes. Ukraine gave up their nukes in 1994. That's looking like a pretty shitty decision today. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine#:~:text=Formally%2C%20these%20weapons%20were%20controlled,of%20Nuclear%20Weapons%20(NPT). Not sure what long game gets them to a good place. In today's world, economies are global and not regional or national. By isolating themselves like NK with new sanctions, they risk making their country much poorer, not richer. They won't "win" Ukraine because 85-90% of their people don't want to be Russia and the West won't let them keep it long term. As we can see with huge protests in Moscow and St.Petersburg we can see Putin isn't pulling the wool over his own citizens eyes, a lot of them 40? 50? 60%? know they have no good reason to attack and their friends, family, neighbors are getting sent to a war they don't need. I don't see a situation where the old USSR is put back together, most of those countries want no part of Russia running their affairs, a few are "in bed" with Putin but some are part of NATO, most want their independence.
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Post by yesisaiditfirst on Feb 28, 2022 10:33:51 GMT -4
Some Russian Billionaires are now calling for the Invasion to end . Along with several Russian Celebrity Entertainers and Athletes ......Stay Tuned . Did those folks line up to try and prevent this? Their own freedom is being limited by the financial and travel sanctions but does Putin actually care? It doesn't seem like it or else this all stops 72 hours ago. As the sanctions pile up, he doesn't seem to be backing down. It's a fine line for the great entertainers and athletes to have to walk. For themselves as they are now becoming more enlightened they are likely horrified, but cozying up to the regime has rarely been a choice for them. The ones that are just in Russia have no plan B. The ones that live in America etc as long as their family is not in Russia can break away. But to turn back on motherland (as the PR spin will be) is cutting nose off despite their face. One thing we know about Putin is likes to be liked and seen with these athletes and entertainers. They all need to give him the cold shoulder. He has always piggybacked on them and created this great vision of a great Russia that includes the leaders in Russian culture. However they have influence on the people. Most are revered in their homeland.
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Post by Captain Obvious on Feb 28, 2022 10:44:47 GMT -4
Did those folks line up to try and prevent this? Their own freedom is being limited by the financial and travel sanctions but does Putin actually care? It doesn't seem like it or else this all stops 72 hours ago. As the sanctions pile up, he doesn't seem to be backing down. It's a fine line for the great entertainers and athletes to have to walk. For themselves as they are now becoming more enlightened they are likely horrified, but cozying up to the regime has rarely been a choice for them. The ones that are just in Russia have no plan B. The ones that live in America etc as long as their family is not in Russia can break away. But to turn back on motherland (as the PR spin will be) is cutting nose off despite their face. One thing we know about Putin is likes to be liked and seen with these athletes and entertainers. They all need to give him the cold shoulder. He has always piggybacked on them and created this great vision of a great Russia that includes the leaders in Russian culture. However they have influence on the people. Most are revered in their homeland. Some of the oligarchs are part of the structure that keeps Putin in power. If they see their fortunes impacted, some have the power to get him killed and put somebody more moderate in place. Russia's government is basically a huge mob syndicate with Putin at the helm. Elections are a big sham. imrussia.org/en/opinions/3067-the-result-of-20-years-of-putin-russia-as-a-mafia-state
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