Russia / Ukraine Watch

[Jack]

Putin explained it all a few weeks ago. NATO or America to be more accurate promised they wouldnt put military bases on land that used to be in the Soviet Sphere of influence, Poland, etc, and they reneged on that promise, which makes Putin worried that Ukraine will also have USA military bases on too , in the near future.
You can see his point.
Ukraine is made up politically of some very very rght wing extremists, particularly in the east.
We are 'told' to hate Russia, but if they attack, im really not sure whose side im on.
Putin has good reason to do what he's doing

[Long slender neck]

Alright Hitler.

[RedDwarf 1881]

Putin explained it all a few weeks ago. NATO or America to be more accurate promised they wouldnt put military bases on land that used to be in the Soviet Sphere of influence, Poland, etc, and they reneged on that promise, which makes Putin worried that Ukraine will also have USA military bases on too , in the near future.
You can see his point.
Ukraine is made up politically of some very very rght wing extremists, particularly in the east.
We are 'told' to hate Russia, but if they attack, im really not sure whose side im on.
Putin has good reason to do what he's doing

I agree. Every time a country joins NATO/EU one of the first things to happen is we station missiles there pointing at Russia . I fear in the end Russia will push back with force,

[Currywurst and Chips]

Heard the same on a very well balanced news channel called RT earlier today.

[Dunners]

Why do Russia want to invade? Just a land grab?

It's called strategic depth. They want to extend their sphere of influence and be a regional power broker, and they want to extend the miles between Moscow and their border with geopolitical rivals as much as possible. Russia has historically tried to extend its control across the European plain so that it can hunker down behind some kind of geographical defence, such as the Dnieper river or the Carpathian mountains.

They also want a land bridge to their only warm-water port in Kaliningrad. That will mean occupying a corridor of land known as the Suwalki gap. But to do that, they need to extend from the city of Grodno in North West Belarus up to the edge of the Kaliningrad Oblast, which means invading and occupying the sovereign land of Lithuania and Poland. But that's a very big step, and one they'll only consider depending on how Ukraine goes.

That's if they invade Ukraine, of course. It could still all be a big bluff. But they ain't half worrying everyone.

[Mistadobalina]

They have a warm water port in Sevastopol, after annexing Crimea. Hth.

Mental that Kaliningrad is part of Russia when you think about. Was one of the most important German cities with essentially no russian ties whatsoever.

[Dunners]

They have a warm water port in Sevastopol, after annexing Crimea. Hth.

Mental that Kaliningrad is part of Russia when you think about. Was one of the most important German cities with essentially no russian ties whatsoever.

Doh, of course- how did I forget that?

Although ships leaving Sevastopol still need to pass through Turkish waters before accessing wider sea lanes and that's before they have to deal with us at the Gibraltar Straits. While Kaliningrad has a similar issue with Sweden and Denmark the Russians would still prefer to have that option.

[StockholmO]

Nothing from the Stop the War Coalition. Guess if Russia invade they’ll organise a march Against Putin.

[Currywurst and Chips]

Good luck with that, they condemned protestors outside the Russian embassy when Russia was bombing Syrian hospitals and schools

[StockholmO]

Some interesting stuff here. Russia is being very closely watched.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/massive ... er-europe/

[Dunners]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Russian Embassy.

[Dunners]

Biden's comments last night seem bizarre. While he hasn't exactly given Russia the green light, it could be interpreted as amber. He's conceded that NATO is not unified and his words (despite the White House trying to pull back) could yet have severe and tragic consequences.

The joint Russian-Belarussian exercises are supposed to last 10 days. Wives of Russian troops are being reported as saying that they've been deployed for 10 months.

If it happens then there's a growing view that it could coincide with the end if the Beijing Olympics. That also coincides when landing craft from the Baltic and Kola fleets are due to arrive in Crimea.

[StockholmO]

U.K. gifting 2000 NLAW anti tank weapons over the past three days shows just how serious the U.K. is taking the threat of Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

[StockholmO]

[RedDwarf 1881]

It does raise the question of what the hell the West could/would do if Russia did invade (another) sovereign state. Putin knows that his oil/gas reserves are a major joker in his pack, but I wonder what total economic sanctions against Russia would do?all Russian asserts in the UK would be frozen which wouldn’t go down well with a lot of very wealthy Russians…

All we would do is use harsh words and sanctions. A shooting confrontation with Russia is unthinkable. We all know how that could end up.

[Adz]

Why don't Russia join NATO and then they can influence it properly?

[Orient Punxx]

Just don’t get why Russia would wish to invade and occupy a country of 40 million people and then be cut off from the rest of Europe as a result.

[Adz]

Just don’t get why Russia would wish to invade and occupy a country of 40 million people and then be cut off from the rest of Europe as a result.

I don't think they do, it is just a show of strength to say if NATO put weapons there we will invade.

[Orient Punxx]

Sounds good to me. Ok with that sorted time to get the Orient promotion done.

[Dunners]

Just don’t get why Russia would wish to invade and occupy a country of 40 million people and then be cut off from the rest of Europe as a result.

I don't think they do, it is just a show of strength to say if NATO put weapons there we will invade.

I don't think they do either. But it is more than a show of strength. I think they're prepared to invade and smash the state, not occupy.

[Orient Punxx]

Ok they’ve shown their strength, let them have their Cuba moment and we promise not to let Ukraine join NATO/EU or arm them up to the hilt. “Simples” Then perhaps the World can get on with fighting climate change, the pandemic and getting Os promoted this season.

[Dunners]

It wont stop with Ukraine. If it did then we wouldn't be sending in weapons and training personnel.

They also want NATO to kick out Romania and Bulgaria. Even if NATO did that, it would effectively undermine the security pact of the whole alliance. Putin has form for demanding that NATO go back to its 1997 position. Those states that did join NATO did so out of fear of Russia.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Assume Russia are involved somehow in the shitshow in Yemen as well?

[Dunners]

Yemen is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. But Iran does have a working understanding with Russia, as neither want Turkish dominance in the Caucuses or Kurdish regions. And Turkey has been a key player in stirring the sh*t in Ukraine by supplying drones which were used to attack Russian military positions in the occupied Donbass region.

It's all very messy.

[Currywurst and Chips]

Yanks wont let Ukraine join NATO anyway. They keep knocking them back under the guise of corruption while being chill about Albania being a member

It's a win win win for Vlad as creating a crisis he can exploit, destabilising neighbours and sabre rattling for popularity at home are all key tenants of his foreign policy.