Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

Zelenskyy has apparently asked Bennett to act as an intermediary between him and Putin




Not sure if I believe this bit....

 
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Zelenskyy has apparently asked Bennett to act as an intermediary between him and Putin




Not sure if I believe this bit....



The brainwashed segment of Russian society must be confused. What's an Israeli Jewish leader dealing with a Nazi Jewish Ukrainian? Putin the Great is a genius.
 


Why the half measure? It will make Putin equally mad as having a no fly zone for the whole Ukraine. It will also disappoint Ukrainians because USA will be signaling that they should abandon half of their country. It doesn't make sense.
 
I get what you mean but if you are a company with Russian based plant and high margins, and on top of that sizeable portion of your profit is in Russia, you may have a tough decision to make. When your operations in Russia are mostly reliant on importing goods manufactured elsewhere and/or your revenue there is relatively small, it is a very easy decision to make. Reputation plays a big part of course, but the relative risk v reward is going to be crucial. You don’t want to stay in the market that doesn’t give you profit when it’s also bad for your reputation, but you may need to think twice about staying in a market that is not great for your reputation but offers large profit.

McDonald’s seems to have had almost 10% revenue in Russia and Ukraine, and I would imagine most of their products are locally sourced. For them to leave the market has to be mostly about reputation.
Yes and no. The never end of pursuit of profit is what got us here in the first place though.
 
Why the half measure? It will make Putin equally mad as having a no fly zone for the whole Ukraine. It will also disappoint Ukrainians because USA will be signaling that they should abandon half of their country. It doesn't make sense.

Presumably because whatever the outcome of the conflict, you're ending up with a divided Ukraine one way or another. There needs to be victory claims from both sides and gained territory by Russia/secured and guarded Western Ukraine could be that.

Zelenskyy has apparently asked Bennett to act as an intermediary between him and Putin




Not sure if I believe this bit....



Israel are probably one of the only democratic state with good relations with both Ukraine and Russia outside of mainland Europe. They are also in need of open communication with Russia due to Syria/Russia controlling the airspace there, but will naturally support it's closer ally in Ukraine due to ideological and diplomatic reasons.
 


Given Biden has tried to get a relationship going with Venezuela again, maybe he'd consider discussing more than just nuclear stuff with Iran if these "allies" won't help? If Iran can see Russia losing its influence in the Middle East and the possibility of selling oil to the west and some/all of their sanctions being lifted then it would have to be very tempting to consider. Probably never happen due to the Israelis and the elites in the US likely being heavily invested in UAE but strategically a power shift like this might be exactly what the Middle East needs.
 
Given Biden has tried to get a relationship going with Venezuela again, maybe he'd consider discussing more than just nuclear stuff with Iran if these "allies" won't help? If Iran can see Russia losing its influence in the Middle East and the possibility of selling oil to the west and some/all of their sanctions being lifted then it would have to be very tempting to consider. Probably never happen due to the Israelis and the elites in the US likely being heavily invested in UAE but strategically a power shift like this might be exactly what the Middle East needs.

The country that controlled the voting machines? Qanon, Trump will have a field day on this.
 

There’s going to be continual escalation between Putin and the West until he goes. I think history shows that it would be naïve to think it finishes here. It’s just a question of whether it is days, weeks, months or years.
 
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It's like the unfolding of a narrative cooked up during those 40 meetings between Xi and Putin in recent years.

China has accused Nato of pushing tensions between Russia and Ukraine to “breaking point”.

At a daily news briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian urged the US to take China’s concerns seriously and avoid undermining its rights or interests in handling the situation in Ukraine and ties with Russia, reports Reuters.


More reading out of agreed upon narrative talking points.



Wherever Putin goes with this, China will and has to follow and support. Still, leader writers are saying China is 'concerned' or being made to feel 'awkward'.
 
Not sure if I believe this bit....



The diplomatic route that should have been taken already to save lives. Although going by this thread Israel must now be communist putin apologists to dare suggest any deal.
 
Israel are probably one of the only democratic state with good relations with both Ukraine and Russia outside of mainland Europe. They are also in need of open communication with Russia due to Syria/Russia controlling the airspace there, but will naturally support it's closer ally in Ukraine due to ideological and diplomatic reasons.

What ideology would that be?

Israel is best described as an ethnocratic state, not a democratic one. But inside the ethnocratic system, they have a functioning system with "free" elections, "free" speech, and independent justice, that is more advanced than its counterpart in Ukraine.

Ukraine's flawed democracy is totally different. All the ethnic groups are treated equally. And they are slowly building a real liberal democracy.
 
The diplomatic route that should have been taken already to save lives. Although going by this thread Israel must now be communist putin apologists to dare suggest any deal.

Yea, Israel, those masters of conflict resolution.
 
The diplomatic route that should have been taken already to save lives. Although going by this thread Israel must now be communist putin apologists to dare suggest any deal.
Good luck having a neutral Ukraine once you have lopped off Crimea and Donbas. Russia wants to have its cake and to eat it. They want to take Crimea away from Ukraine, make the DNR and LNR puppet states, and then to also still have a Ukraine that is amenable to their meddling. Look at the electorate that will be left if that comes to pass. They'll have created an entirely European-facing, anti-Russia country right on their doorstep. Support for policies of ever greater European integration will be an absolute given... and we will revisit this in a few years time and wonder why Putin is suddenly crowing about the security threat of Ukrainian nationalists on their border.
 
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The brainwashed segment of Russian society must be confused. What's an Israeli Jewish leader dealing with a Nazi Jewish Ukrainian? Putin the Great is a genius.
Not really. The term Nazi isn't really associated with hating jews in Russia. It much more simply means soneone opposing the Russians. Was the case from the beginning, as the Nazis considered the Russians to be a lesser race (not as extreme as the jews, but still bad enough to let them feel massive racism) and only increased to be used more broadly since then.

The perception that Nazi’s are just killing jews is a western thing, as there was a much bigger difference how most people were treated and how the jews were treated. That difference just wasn't that big in Russia.
 
Good luck having a neutral Ukraine once you have lopped off Crimea and Donbas. Russia wants its cake and to eat it. They want to take Crimea away from Ukraine, make the DNR and LNR puppet states, and then to also still have a Ukraine that is amenable to their meddling. Look at the electorate that will be left if that comes to pass. They'll have created an entirely European-facing, anti-Russia country right on their doorstep. Support for policies of ever greater European integration will be an absolute given... and we will revisit this in a few years time and wonder why Putin is suddenly crowing about the security threat of Ukrainian nationalists on their border.

We'll await the actual details on if it's true and whether it ends up agreed. If Israel are mediating towards that route they'll have done so with US backing.

It's a case of weighing lives against a longer term strategic position, how many victims is acceptable? To achieve what?
Even if what you say is true it's saving lives today whilst Putin might not even be there in a year.
 
What ideology would that be?

Israel is best described as an ethnocratic state, not a democratic one. But inside the ethnocratic system, they have a functioning system with "free" elections, "free" speech, and independent justice, that is more advanced than its counterpart in Ukraine.

Ukraine's flawed democracy is totally different. All the ethnic groups are treated equally. And they are slowly building a real liberal democracy.

I was referring to their ideological and cultural similarities (business, liberal social stances, etc) more with the West in general, rather than a direct comparison with Ukraine. The labelling of Israel as an ethnocracy is probably best levied at their politics in practice, rather than the government systems they have in place - which does follow the parliamentary democracy model.

Whilst there are valid reasons behind your assertions, I do think it's worth noting that the last general election in the country did bring about something new and collaborative in Israel, which has given space to voices and groups that a few years ago you would simply have thought would exist on the periphery of Israeli politics. But equally the lines between ethnocracies and democracies is sadly blurrier than we'd like to think - one can quickly lead to the other, just look at the GOP's attempts to manipulate votes in key states during the last election as an example.
 
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Usual nonsense from the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman but at least she's now saying they would prefer to resolve the conflict by peaceful means.
 
Usual nonsense from the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman but at least she's now saying they would prefer to resolve the conflict by peaceful means.
None of it is sincere. The entire briefing is discussing complete unfounded claims of US-funded chemical weapon labs on Ukrainian soil. They are talking about specific diseases being used such as cholera.

People really need to stop taking selective claims from Russia at face value in a sea of sensationalist crap. This is nothing but escalation from the Russian side.
 
We'll await the actual details on if it's true and whether it ends up agreed. If Israel are mediating towards that route they'll have done so with US backing.

It's a case of weighing lives against a longer term strategic position, how many victims is acceptable? To achieve what?
Even if what you say is true it's saving lives today whilst Putin might not even be there in a year.
And exactly this is where Putin has the upper hand because he flat out doesn't care about lives being lost, in fact he seems more than happy for lives to be lost in the 10s of 1000s if he achieve his aims.
 
None of it is sincere. The entire briefing is discussing complete unfounded claims of US-funded chemical weapon labs on Ukrainian soil. They are talking about specific diseases being used such as cholera.

People really need to stop taking selective claims from Russia at face value in a sea of sensationalist crap. This is nothing but escalation from the Russian side.

Wouldn't actually be that uncommon for a sizeable lab to have cholera. They're obviously spinning bio-research into weaponry. Typical nonsense propaganda.

Hopefully it's them writing a saviour narrative as it could mean they're trying to make up face saving wins.
 
Wouldn't actually be that uncommon for a sizeable lab to have cholera. They're obviously spinning bio-research into weaponry. Typical nonsense propaganda.

Hopefully it's them writing a saviour narrative as it could mean they're trying to make up face saving wins.
It's far more likely they are establishing a pretext to justify using chemical weapons themselves.
 
It's far more likely they are establishing a pretext to justify using chemical weapons themselves.
Russian fabulations and news slants are being coordinated with the Chinese. It's for both domestic audiences, who are trapped in an unfolding 'pushback war against the West' media narrative.
 
Not really. The term Nazi isn't really associated with hating jews in Russia. It much more simply means soneone opposing the Russians. Was the case from the beginning, as the Nazis considered the Russians to be a lesser race (not as extreme as the jews, but still bad enough to let them feel massive racism) and only increased to be used more broadly since then.

The perception that Nazi’s are just killing jews is a western thing, as there was a much bigger difference how most people were treated and how the jews were treated. That difference just wasn't that big in Russia.

Thanks. You learn something new everyday!!
 
That woman on BBC just now asking the Ukrainian guy about where he is getting their weapons from, he said he isn't answering that.

So she goes and asks the same question again using different words, but he is smarter and tells her he isn't answering that question.

It's insane that even the BBC are happy to potentially risk the Ukrainians just to have some kind of story.

It's really a poor show from them.
 
This happened a few days ago. You couldn't post links to the damage at the time here as there were too many bodies.

 
Manchester United announced they're sending DVDs
That woman on BBC just now asking the Ukrainian guy about where he is getting their weapons from, he said he isn't answering that.

So she goes and asks the same question again using different words, but he is smarter and tells her he isn't answering that question.

It's insane that even the BBC are happy to potentially risk the Ukrainians just to have some kind of story.

It's really a poor show from them.
She should be a football journalist
 
That woman on BBC just now asking the Ukrainian guy about where he is getting their weapons from, he said he isn't answering that.

So she goes and asks the same question again using different words, but he is smarter and tells her he isn't answering that question.

It's insane that even the BBC are happy to potentially risk the Ukrainians just to have some kind of story.

It's really a poor show from them.

Well at least the Ukrainian guy knew how to act. And well done to him.
 
you think they don't want democracy because they haven't voted for someone else (which would need to be done democratically)

I am saying not enough people in Russia want democracy, to see it established. As @GlastonSpur pointed out this may well be because, the country does not have a history of democratic government rule, but of 'strong men' ruling Tsars, Stalin, Dictators etc.

I couldn't have wished for a better worded example.
Thank you, many people actually living in democracies don't understand about the democratic process either, how it is established and how it is maintained, and what or who is sacrificed in the establishment of a democracy.

which somehow suggests that the people of a country have the Governments and establishment that they desire and deserve.
Take out the word 'desire', because obviously different people desire different things... and otherwise that statement is essentially correct.

The reality is that in any country the majority of people tend to 'settle' for a governmental system rather than seek to change it, if enough of the population of any country does oppose its governmental system, at some stage it will change. That is not to say Governments themselves don't change, because even in non-democratic governments, there are changes of government, and government personnel, etc... but rarely do governmental systems change, without massive upheavals in the population and/or usually where the very constitution of the country comes under pressure, King John, the Magna Charter etc.

This post is fecking ridiculous.

"You might thinks so...I could not possible comment" ( quote :Francis Urquhart)