The Ukraine War, implications, outcome?

[loop101]

Looks like Russia is invading Ukraine now. I wonder how far this will go.

 

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[Itizn]

Once the west does the expected nothing..

China will realize they'll have the greenlight to take over Taiwan.

 

[loop101]

Once the west does the expected nothing..

China will realize they'll have the greenlight to take over Taiwan.

That's what I expect, too. Hope we don't need anymore computer chips.

 

[Ismail941]

Put invaded Crimea in 2014, so it's not a surprise that he would Ukraine too!

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

It’s not looking good. Like @Itizn said, Taiwan is in danger as well.

Xi and Putin are friends. A China and Russia relationship seems likely.

While the west argues over who can use which bathrooms, those countries are rolling tanks through cities and blowing shit up.

 

[RoadTrip]

Who knows what Putin and Xi have been cooking up. Ukraine and Taiwan may be first. What’s their plan after that?

 

[Xeon]

I was initially siding with the Russians seeing how the US keeps adding fire+fuel to the situation, but Putin's actions (invading of Ukraine) has made me very disgusted and disappointed. I hope they're only taking out the military bases and not mass bombing the civilians.

 

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[Hadrian]

Anyone who has ever played the board game Risk will know that Russia was always going to take Ukraine.

I was in Latvia last week and got to see how complex this buffer region actually is.

The Russian influence is very strong there... From what I saw more people speak Russian than Latvian... the actual young Latvians are leaving as they know the country is a buffer country and wont know any stability caught between Nato and Russia. In the countryside where I was its a harsh existence... few jobs and limited or no government assistance via social welfare or charities... Many miss the Soviets as everyone had jobs and they created food houses for the poor and cultural community centres...

That being said if we don't stand against Russia today, we will fall to China tomorrow, and as a History teacher I believe China represents a greater evil than anything we have seen before whether Nazism, Communism or Zionism.

 

[originalMJT]

It’s not looking good. Like @Itizn said, Taiwan is in danger as well.

Xi and Putin are friends. A China and Russia relationship seems likely.

While the west argues over who can use which bathrooms, those countries are rolling tanks through cities and blowing shit up.

Makes a change from the USA and UK blowing shit up.

 

[Kybalion]

Anyone who has ever played the board game Risk will know that Russia was always going to take Ukraine.

I was in Latvia last week and got to see how complex this buffer region actually is.

The Russian influence is very strong there... more people speak Russian than Latvian... the actual young Latvians are leaving as they know the country is a buffer country and wont know any stability caught between Nato and Russia. In the countryside where I was its a harsh existence... no jobs or social welfare or charities or help... they miss the Soviets as everyone had jobs and they created food houses for the poor and cultural community centres... now they have nothing!

That being said if we don't stand against Russia today, we will fall to China tomorrow, and as a History teacher I believe China represents a greater evil than anything we have seen before whether Nazism, Communism or Zionism.

That's an interesting assessment. I don't know any Latvian who misses the Soviets. More people speak Russian than Latvian only in 2 cities (which to be fair are the biggest ones). I come from countryside - from a tiny, tiny city (1k population) and everyone has a job and social welfare is there for those who do not. We have cultural community centres as well. Did you visit the same Latvia that's next to Estonia or are we talking about two different countries?

 

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[originalMJT]

Anyone who has ever played the board game Risk will know that Russia was always going to take Ukraine.

I was in Latvia last week and got to see how complex this buffer region actually is.

The Russian influence is very strong there... more people speak Russian than Latvian... the actual young Latvians are leaving as they know the country is a buffer country and wont know any stability caught between Nato and Russia. In the countryside where I was its a harsh existence... no jobs or social welfare or charities or help... they miss the Soviets as everyone had jobs and they created food houses for the poor and cultural community centres... now they have nothing!

That being said if we don't stand against Russia today, we will fall to China tomorrow, and as a History teacher I believe China represents a greater evil than anything we have seen before whether Nazism, Communism or Zionism.

China just wants Taiwan, and to build a road from china to Europe to ship their goods faster. They de facto own large parts of Africa mining metals for our iphones and computers. China wants to sell goods

 

[Hadrian]

That's an interesting assessment. I don't know any Latvian who misses the Soviets. More people speak Russian than Latvian only in 2 cities (which to be fair are the biggest ones). I come from countryside - from a tiny, tiny city (1k population) and everyone has a job and social welfare is there for those who do not. We have cultural community centres as well. Did you visit the same Latvia that's next to Estonia or are we talking about two different countries?

Good answer. To be fair I was only there for 4/5 days with my Latvian girlfriend and was out in two different countryside areas visiting her parents... so can only speak from what I heard and saw last week, granted a small sample. I do hope you're right Kybalion... but the Russian influence is def. stronger the closer you get to the Russian border. It was sad to see our hotel receptionist didnt speak Latvian, only Russian and English. I would love to see the E.U. pumping money into the countryside areas as its pretty bleak out there... and my girlfriend was shocked at how quiet even Riga was since she was last there 6 years ago... Rural Ireland wasn't much different 50 years ago... so if Nato can secure the Baltic states and create a strong border against Russian then Latvia could flourish!

What we're not being told is whether the populations in these areas in Ukraine actually want to be part of Russia or Ukraine...

 

[MTF]

Maybe I'm too paranoid but I'm wondering if I should move somewhere else while it's still possible. I'm in Poland which is way too close for comfort.

 

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[Kybalion]

Good answer. To be fair I was only there for 4/5 days with my Latvian girlfriend and was out in two different countryside areas visiting her parents... so can only speak from what I heard and saw last week, granted a small sample. I do hope you're right Kybalion... but the Russian influence is def. stronger the closer you get to the Russian border. It was sad to see our hotel receptionist didnt speak Latvian, only Russian and English. I would love to see the E.U. pumping money into the countryside areas as its pretty bleak out there... and my girlfriend was shocked at how quiet even Riga was since she was last there 6 years ago...

Those are totally valid observations, however I am not sure if they apply across the board. The Riga thing can be explained by winter + Covid restrictions. With that being said this morning I am considering leaving as well. We're having an energy crisis here, the prices are going up and people might become desperate/polarized enough to a point where they want access to cheap resources - which Russia conveniently has. This is not a safe place to be in the long term.

 

[Tony100]

Maybe I'm too paranoid but I'm wondering if I should move somewhere else while it's still possible. I'm in Poland which is way too close for comfort.

How close are you to the Ukraine border?

 

[MTF]

How close are you to the Ukraine border?

Thankfully not that close. A few hundred kilometers.

 

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[kristkaa]

It sucks to have Russia as a neighbor.

Looking at the map of Europe. If I were a lying, murderous Russian autocrat trying to expand it's influence/borders, and I've had already checked out Belarus and Ukraine. Where would I go next?

Really hope the Ukrainans are organized and will not let Russians advance too easily there.

 

[c4n]

Maybe I'm too paranoid but I'm wondering if I should move somewhere else while it's still possible. I'm in Poland which is way too close for comfort.

Poland is a NATO member so that's a whole different level game than Ukraine. Not sure what the economic consequences will be though, especially with EU importing a lot of gas, oil and coal from Russia.

 

[MTF]

Poland is a NATO member so that's a whole different level game than Ukraine. Not sure what the economic consequences will be though, especially with EU importing a lot of gas, oil and coal from Russia.

In theory, yes. In reality, Covid was supposed to be over in two weeks.

I hope it won't come to that but it's not impossible.

 

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[c4n]

@MTF I though you liked Discomfort

 

[Smuggo]

Maybe I'm too paranoid but I'm wondering if I should move somewhere else while it's still possible. I'm in Poland which is way too close for comfort.

Same for me, but honestly I don't even know where I could move.

 

[MTF]

@MTF I though you liked Discomfort

LOL I knew somebody would say something when I wrote the words "too close for comfort."

Liking voluntary discomfort and preferring not to suffer involuntarily in life are two different things, though.

 

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[MTF]

Same for me, but honestly I don't even know where I could move.

If any real military tensions begin between NATO and Russia, my first plan is to drive to Switzerland. I can get there in 12 hours. Switzerland has been neutral since 1815 so it's the safest option in Europe.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

This is all the West’s fault. If I were US President I would not allow Putin a single inch. How dare he dictate terms? I should dictate the terms to him, and he BETTER obey if he cares about his life.

But the Western philosophy is “OMG we don’t want to start a WW3, so we have to be careful” — because they have NO BALLS whatsoever. (Something that Putin knows, which is why he is doing this in the first place)

Instead what Biden should have done is said that ONE Russian soldier over Ukraine’s border means war with America. And for what Putin did last night he should’ve sent stealth bombers to take out certain key targets in Moscow. Directly. No questions asked. With the clear message that if he doesn’t pull back, it will look ugly for him, no matter the cost.

But again, the West has no balls. We telegraph to Putin that we’re not willing to pay ANY price to stop him.

 

[Hadrian]

This is all the West’s fault. If I were US President I would not allow Putin a single inch. How dare he dictate terms? I should dictate the terms to him, and he BETTER obey if he cares about his life.

But the Western philosophy is “OMG we don’t want to start a WW3, so we have to be careful” — because they have NO BALLS whatsoever. (Something that Putin knows, which is why he is doing this in the first place)

Instead what Biden should have done is said that ONE Russian soldier over Ukraine’s border means war with America. And for what Putin did last night he should’ve sent stealth bombers to take out certain key targets in Moscow. Directly. No questions asked. With the clear message that if he doesn’t pull back, it will look ugly for him, no matter the cost.

But again, the West has no balls. We telegraph to Putin that we’re not willing to pay ANY price to stop him.

We may be soft, pampered and spoiled but many of us Europeans are ready and willing to fight... but our leaders are corrupt and divided, with Russian Oligarch money filling many pockets.

Very Sad to see most foreigners joining the fight seem to be going to the Russian side.

The Forgotten Front: Dutch Fighters in Ukraine - ICCT

In this perspective, the authors look at the understudied phenomenon of Dutch individuals travelling to Ukraine to join the conflict.

icct.nl

Foreign Fighters Vow to Support Ukraine Against Russian Invasion

KYIV, Ukraine — At a base on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital city, members of the Georgia National Legion gathered for an afternoon of combat training. The soldiers — five Georgians and one Albanian — snaked through an overgrown, abandoned industrial area.

coffeeordie.com

Foreign Fighters in Ukraine

In-depth coverage and investigations on the Balkan citizens fighting in east Ukraine’s bloody war.

balkaninsight.com

 

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[c4n]

If history is a great teacher, one thing is for sure: this war will last way longer than anyone currently expects.

 

[Timmy C]

Maybe I'm too paranoid but I'm wondering if I should move somewhere else while it's still possible. I'm in Poland which is way too close for comfort.

Seems to close to a war zone for me.

 

[David Fitz]

This is all the West’s fault. If I were US President I would not allow Putin a single inch. How dare he dictate terms? I should dictate the terms to him, and he BETTER obey if he cares about his life.

But the Western philosophy is “OMG we don’t want to start a WW3, so we have to be careful” — because they have NO BALLS whatsoever. (Something that Putin knows, which is why he is doing this in the first place)

Instead what Biden should have done is said that ONE Russian soldier over Ukraine’s border means war with America. And for what Putin did last night he should’ve sent stealth bombers to take out certain key targets in Moscow. Directly. No questions asked. With the clear message that if he doesn’t pull back, it will look ugly for him, no matter the cost.

But again, the West has no balls. We telegraph to Putin that we’re not willing to pay ANY price to stop him.

It's not as simple as that. Russia has a strong army too. This war will be different to anything we've ever seen if more countries get involved. Russia could easily drop bombs in US and US could do the same with Russia.

The European army is weak. If China has Russia's back then the west will be depending on the US who was the one of the weakest and incompetent leaders on the planet.

 

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[StrikingViper69]

Has anyone seen reports of Ukraine's armed forces resisting? So far Russia seems to be going in unopposed.

 

[p0stscript]

The European army is weak. If China has Russia's back then the west will be depending on the US who was the one of the weakest and incompetent leaders on the planet

I think the armies of Europe as not so much weak as mix match of differing levels and nationalities with no real head to lead.
Regarding your statement about the US having one of the weakest and incompetent leaders on the planet, it is concerning who we have in the UK now at times like this.