WWIII - Who's playing? What's the End look like?

The Garage
#21

If re-unification of the Soviet empire is Putin’s desire… then Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania must also be getting worried? They broke off over a hundred years ago… but it would shore up his European border to reclaim them.

And given the response so far from the West, assuming these sanctions have little/insufficient effect… (And, one has to assume he would have expected sanctions being imposed) You have to expect him to feel pretty invincible right now.

I’m thinking the best hope here is if Ukraine are able to continue to resist long enough to see a high number of Russian deaths - maybe Putin will face enough internal backlash to halt him? I see 1,400 protestors were already arrested… that’s 1,400 very brave people to protest against Putin in Russia!

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#22

If Putin does move on Moldova (or even the coastal end of it) then it will totally landlock what remains of both Moldova and whatever is left of the Ukraine stopping most supply routes into both countries.

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#23

Oh and another point. I recently watched a video showing several civilian ships, an oil tanker a bulk carrier and a mixed cargo vessel that have been attacked off Ukraine since the conflict started. It could be that Russia are enforcing a de facto blockade to stop supplies reaching Ukrain by sea already even if they’re going into Moldova.

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#24

I gather now there’s also talk about China seeing this as the time to take back Taiwan… and god knows what other disputed turf they have as well.

We’re basically seeing the two dominant communist powers from the end of WWII potentially taking on the rest of the world. That’s a lot scarier than just Russia…

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#25

I see the Ukraine have asked Apple to cease any trade with Russia. Interesting that they’ve directly called on a company and not just countries.

Apparently with the US having suspended trade with a lot of Russian banks, it’s closed most channels for people in Russia to trade with Apple anyways.

Also noted that Tim Cook has made a post about supporting Apple workers in Ukraine, and humanitarian support.

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So Morrison has joined Germany (and other Nato countries?) in now agreeing to supply “lethal” military support. Have to wonder exactly what Putin had in mind when he said anyone who supports Ukraine will suffer consequences… though I do feel this is the right thing to do.

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#26
#27

He’s playing an incredibly dangerous game…

Article I was reading today noted that although it’s secret, Russia likely has something like 4,500 nuclear weapons, which is about 1/10 what they had during the Cold War.

Of course - that’s more than enough to target every major city in “the West”…

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#28

It’s not a game to him. H’s a power seeking narcissist and really does not care one whit about his own people, or anyone else. He leads from behind. He’ll see the world decimated before he gives up.

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#29

I believe he has kids and grandkids - I would have hoped that he would want to leave a world that’s at least liveable for his own descendants.

#30

I actually felt compelled to look it up.

He officially has 2 daughters in their late 20’s/early 30’s or there abouts.

There’s also rumours of illegitimate kids.

Not sure on grandkids.

He’s always kept his family out of the limelight - doesn’t talk about them etc etc.

Cos… yeah… my thought was - any leader who goes to war, should be forced to put their kids on the front line.

For example - here’s 3 that should have gone into Iraq 20 years ago…

(Yeah - I know - probably crossing the line… but - see how quickly wars end…)

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#31

You’d hope so but remember this is a guy who has people shot if they criticise him

#32

Yes… over 5,000 very brave protesters now arrested.

#33

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Source:

#34

Hopefully Volodymyr has studied it well!

#35

The UN General Assembly votes in favour of resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 141 for, 5 against, 35 abstain. The only nations to vote no in support of Russia were Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria, with long-term Russian allies Cuba and Venezuela joining China and 32 others in abstaining.

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#36

It’s a good thing to see that so many voted to condemn… but is there any practical side to this?

Hopefully the sanctions are going to have an impact at the “right” spots, putting internal pressure on Putin… but where things go from here are so up in the air.

Whilst I think most were expecting “Russia’s might” to have squashed Ukraine, the fact it’s dragging on, and comments I’ve seen about the Russian armies being undisciplined etc… makes me worry that - if Putin can’t rely on his armed forces to do - whatever it is he has planned - maybe that will push him to escalate matters…

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#37

Considering this guy’s background, I just simply see him as a hero of this whole nasty affair. To come from being a comedian/actor, to ruling a country, and now facing down Russia… and not running away.

Hero.

#38

I was curious about Putin’s “explanation” for invading Ukraine - that of wanting to “de-Nazify” the country.

Have just read a few online sources (pinch of salt, but they tended to agree on most parts) that accept that there’s been a lot of aggression over the past 100+ years toward Jewish people living in that area of the world, but these days it is essentially no worse than other places, and more to the point - people living in Ukraine, Jewish or not, have more rights and freedoms than people who live in Russia.

Whilst there hasn’t been to my knowledge any major Nazi-based violence here in Australia, we have had Nazi groups pop up in the past couple of years, and… yeah I’m gonna go there - Clive Palmer has even allegedly purchased one of Hitler’s personal cars recently (from a Russian, no less), so - it’s not like we’re without Nazi elements here either.

#39

So - basically the largest nuclear power plant in Europe has had parts of its compound damaged, active fighting taking place. The plant has now been fully shut down - but even in a shut down state requires cooling, powered via the external power grid, or diesel generators. If those power sources are cut - we’ve potentially got 6x Chernobyl…

The lady in the video above is very passionate about the subject! As well she should be.

If the plant goes into meltdown… I could see that as being a catalyst for action from the US / Europe, given there are more nuclear power stations in Ukraine that could face the same problems.

#40

Signs of hope? Interesting article, that makes me feel a lot more hopeful. Maybe Putin has just shot himself in the foot with this war. Seems it’s a case of - so long as Ukraine can withstand Russia long enough (and - of course this will be at terrible cost :frowning: ), pressures from within may well take Putin down.

I am having a lot of trouble lately with capitalism, which tends to go hand in hand with democracy, but I do hope the people of Russia gain freedom from him.

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