The War starts Putin announces "Military Operation" in Ukraine. Explosions heard in Kyiv

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Originally Posted by Rjk

Gary Kasparov has been going on about Putin for years.
Of course he tried to stand as a political opponent to him briefly, but corruption meant that he was prevented from doing so.

This isn't a problem that has emerged overnight, the west's continual weak responses to increasing aggression has emboldened putin

Kasparov's book "winter is coming" published back in 2015

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...nter-is-coming

Foresaw a lot of what was happening, and lays the blame at the west

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Decent Chess player as well

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Originally Posted by Elwood Blues

I will discuss this with you elsewhere but not on this thread

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We have had Russian money in our systems since our bankruptcy position after WW2 , Russian didn't want any associations with the USA banks after the war , the money actually helped us build back , Germany is the real bad boy in all this not bloody Boris .

There is only £25 billion sloshing around , its the finance /investment companies investment we need to go after and freeze those so Russia cannot build anything .

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Originally Posted by life on mars

Decent Chess player as well

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pretty good yes

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Originally Posted by Doucas

That's all well and good saying that but our government just unleashed pathetic sanctions against Russia. Our government impose worse sanctions against its own population ffs. Weak sanctions will continue because they receive donations from that country. It's about time those who voted for this realise what they've voted up and be shamed because me and the majority of young people are fed up of the anchor that is the elderly in this country and their voting patterns.

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It would be interesting to find out if you have the same opinion of the elderly if and when you reach a grand old age. I think not.

As has been said, the responsibility for the current situation lies with one man, Putin. Not the Tories, Brexit or anything or anyone else, just the Russian President.

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Originally Posted by Moodybluebird

It would be interesting to find out if you have the same opinion of the elderly if and when you reach a grand old age. I think not.

As has been said, the responsibility for the current situation lies with one man, Putin. Not the Tories, Brexit or anything or anyone else, just the Russian President.

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Doucus would blame Huddersfield's two late goals on the Tories, it really isn't worth engaging, unfortunately.

The irony being, that he parrots precisely the kind of disinformation that people like Putin thrive upon and in many cases pump out into twitter in the first place.

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Originally Posted by Elwood Blues

There are of course questions to be answered about Russian influence

But there are other more suitable threads to criticise the government

Can we please keep the petty comments about Brexit etc out of this thread. Elsewhere fair enough, let's try to keep this thread free of party politics. It is not about that

Innocent people will be dying in the Ukraine in the next few days and weeks.

Only one man bears respnsibility for that. The Russian President

Let any criticism in this thread be saved for that bastard

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Language Timothy! Lol

I expected Putin to carry out a Crimea-style annexation of the majority ethnic Russian eastern areas of Ukraine, alongside a unification with Byelorussia now the opposition have been suppressed.

But the very recent rhetoric and some of the attacks today suggest a much bigger ambition.

RT is running loads of old 'news' clips (from 3-4 years ago mainly) of alleged attacks on ethnic Russians in the Donbas region - backing up his 'genocide' claims. But the focus is ramping up on the legitimacy and political character of the whole Ukraine - repeating his public statements from years back that Ukraine was subject to a 'fascist' coup and the regime is backed by neo-Nazi militias (the Azov Battalion and others). That is also the theme of state-media coverage within Russia itself, and what the Russian public are soaking up.

Biden was more on the ball than other western leaders in predicting this latest stage, but it feels like all of them (US, UK, EU, NATO) have been caught by surprise. Was Putin's comment (very Trump-like I thought) about retaliation against outside interference a nuclear threat? So far there has been a kind of logic and rationality to his moves - but that (even just a vague threat left hanging) would be pure madness.

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Originally Posted by Monster munch

Of course Russia will roll in and "win" - they are one of the biggest armed countries in the world.
However what Russia has done is invade a country which hasn't been hostile to them, alas when Saddam invaded Kuwait.
They have broken every rule within the UN so sanctions and wrecking them financially will have to happen first. The Russians will be prepared for this surely though so what effect it has who knows. Then where does it stop, does Western europe and America form a coalition military wise (already NATO) as they did with Iraq in 1991 as surely invasions like this can't just happen without consequences. As soon as that happens Putin starts firing ICBM's towards us all then as he sees outside alliances attacking Russia.
The man is mad but he's doing it. He's called everyone's bluff, surely the Russian people don't want this.

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My guess and hope is that Putin knows just to what extent he can get away with his incursion into Ukraine and will not breach tacit red lines in the expectation he will get his way with the diplomacy which will inevitably follow. If that's his game then there will be no military action performed by the West.

However, if what some commentators are saying is true then the situation may become very grave. It's reported that Putin is now more concerned about his legacy and wants to reset the status quo. It's thought he is not entirely in command of his thought processes and could be prepared to go further than common sense dictates.

Should he feel bold enough to launch an attack on a NATO state then the repercussions could be awful. If he feels emboldened by his action in Ukraine who knows he might just decide to annexe the Baltic States for example. The potential for utter disaster is clear to see.

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Originally Posted by jon1959

I expected Putin to carry out a Crimea-style annexation of the majority ethnic Russian eastern areas of Ukraine, alongside a unification with Byelorussia now the opposition have been suppressed.

But the very recent rhetoric and some of the attacks today suggest a much bigger ambition.

RT is running loads of old 'news' clips (from 3-4 years ago mainly) of alleged attacks on ethnic Russians in the Donbas region - backing up his 'genocide' claims. But the focus is ramping up on the legitimacy and political character of the whole Ukraine - repeating his public statements from years back that Ukraine was subject to a 'fascist' coup and the regime is backed by neo-Nazi militias (the Azov Battalion and others). That is also the theme of state-media coverage within Russia itself, and what the Russian public are soaking up.

Biden was more on the ball than other western leaders in predicting this latest stage, but it feels like all of them (US, UK, EU, NATO) have been caught by surprise. Was Putin's comment (very Trump-like I thought) about retaliation against outside interference a nuclear threat? So far there has been a kind of logic and rationality to his moves - but that (even just a vague threat left hanging) would be pure madness.

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It was intended to be a thinly veiled threat, coupled with the test-firing of intercontinental ballistic missiles a few days ago. But I doubt even Putin is THAT mad to actually carry out the threat.

https://mobile.twitter.com/JulianRoe...9ieSzWfmw&s=19

Not being funny, but get some cash under the mattress. There will definitely be cyber attacks on banks and infrastructure if the west turn the financial screw.And look what happened under a pandemic..No bog roll and pasta.

Hopefully cut Russian organizations from SWIFT.

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Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue

Hopefully cut Russian organizations from SWIFT.

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It seems that Germany and some other European countries are against this

I am not his biggest fan, and thought he should have gone during party gate. But does anyone else feel satisfied with Boris managing this situation. Listening to him speak today, this is his type of politics and what seems to spark him into life. Much like his hero Winston, maybe not the best peacetime leader, but comes to life when a strong hand is needed.

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Originally Posted by chris lee

I am not his biggest fan, and thought he should have gone during party gate. But does anyone else feel satisfied with Boris managing this situation. Listening to him speak today, this is his type of politics and what seems to spark him into life. Much like his hero Winston, maybe not the best peacetime leader, but comes to life when a strong hand is needed.

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You’re joking, right?

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Originally Posted by chris lee

I am not his biggest fan, and thought he should have gone during party gate. But does anyone else feel satisfied with Boris managing this situation. Listening to him speak today, this is his type of politics and what seems to spark him into life. Much like his hero Winston, maybe not the best peacetime leader, but comes to life when a strong hand is needed.

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Im not sure if this is serious but no.

The sight of Raab , Dorries etc alongside makes it worse.

His speech at 5pm in parliament was pretty good and I like the bit of Ukrainian language at the end.

Geopolitics is definitely something that interests him more. Whether hes good at it is another thing, but it does fire up his passions.

Ukrainian minister was on radio 5 earlier specifically thanking the UK PM for a speech the other day. We shouldn't be afraid to offer praise where it's due.

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Originally Posted by Hilts

Im not sure if this is serious but no.

The sight of Raab , Dorries etc alongside makes it worse.

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I can't see the conservative party having a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister in the current circumstances

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Originally Posted by JamesWales

His speech at 5pm in parliament was pretty good and I like the bit of Ukrainian language at the end.

Geopolitics is definitely something that interests him more. Whether hes good at it is another thing, but it does fire up his passions.

Ukrainian minister was on radio 5 earlier specifically thanking the UK PM for a speech the other day. We shouldn't be afraid to offer praise where it's due.

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He's in his element when there's something to distract him from the mess being created under his watch within our own borders.

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Originally Posted by JamesWales

His speech at 5pm in parliament was pretty good and I like the bit of Ukrainian language at the end.

Geopolitics is definitely something that interests him more. Whether hes good at it is another thing, but it does fire up his passions.

Ukrainian minister was on radio 5 earlier specifically thanking the UK PM for a speech the other day. We shouldn't be afraid to offer praise where it's due.

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this is the point I was trying to make, you worded it much better :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by chris lee

I am not his biggest fan, and thought he should have gone during party gate. But does anyone else feel satisfied with Boris managing this situation. Listening to him speak today, this is his type of politics and what seems to spark him into life. Much like his hero Winston, maybe not the best peacetime leader, but comes to life when a strong hand is needed.

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Hilarious.

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Originally Posted by chris lee

I am not his biggest fan, and thought he should have gone during party gate. But does anyone else feel satisfied with Boris managing this situation. Listening to him speak today, this is his type of politics and what seems to spark him into life. Much like his hero Winston, maybe not the best peacetime leader, but comes to life when a strong hand is needed.

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Bit early to be on the piss isn’t it?

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Hilarious.

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Did you listen to his speech to parliament at 5pm? What would you have said differently?

An up and dap with Russia and our bloke running the show is called Boris.....you couldn’t make it up.

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Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

You’re joking, right?

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Agreed. Must be some form of humour?