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Russia begins Invasion of Ukraine

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AfricanKing

Banned







MOSCOW/DONETSK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Russia faced the prospect of harsh new Western sanctions on Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and ordered the deployment of troops there, deepening Western fears of a major war in Europe.

Ukraine said two soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the east in the past 24 hours, and reported new hostilities on Tuesday morning.


A Reuters journalist saw tanks and other military hardware moving through the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk overnight, but no insignia were visible on the vehicles.

Western leaders are trying to work out what Putin will do next, and whether Russia plans a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after massing troops near the borders of its ex-Soviet neighbour and demanding a redrawing of security arrangements in Europe.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country may break off diplomatic relations with Moscow. read more

Russia's parliament was expected to ratify treaties with the two separatist regions on Tuesday, and rising fears of war pushed oil prices to a seven-year high on Tuesday, while safe-haven currencies including the yen rallied and stocks around the world tumbled. read more

Putin's announcement on Monday, and his signing of a decree on the deployment of Russian troops to "keep peace" in the two breakaway regions, drew international condemnation.


U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order to halt U.S. business activity in the breakaway regions and European Union officials met to discuss sanctions. The EU's top diplomat promised the first punitive measures on Tuesday. read more

"We've got to ensure that, whatever happens, Russia will feel the pain ... to make sure Russia has absolutely no incentive to go further," said Ireland's Europe minister, Thomas Byrne.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the description of the Russian troops as peacekeepers was "nonsense".

"We can, will and must stand united in our calls for Russia to withdraw its forces, return to the diplomatic table and work toward peace," she told reporters after an emergency meeting of the White House Security Council late on Monday

A senior U.S. official said the deployment of Russian troops to the breakaway regions did not merit the harshest sanctions the United States and its allies have prepared in the event of a full-scale invasion, as Russia already had troops there.
 
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Cyberpunkd

Member
As someone from Eastern Europe from a country that suffered for centuries under Russian hegemony:

I am baffled that the West tries to 'life hack' Russia, when it is really simple: Russia only values strength, it detests and exploits weak nations and countries. As painful as it sounds: Ukraine had since 2014 to do anything about Crimea.

I am equally surprised nobody tried to show Russia by rejecting the West they become more dependent on China.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Western leaders are trying to work out what Putin will do next, and whether Russia plans a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after massing troops near the borders of its ex-Soviet neighbour and demanding a redrawing of security arrangements in Europe.
Russian doesn't need to invade Ukraine, it wants the country in a fragile state and disorganized as a buffer zone with the EU and NATO.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
An all-out war seems very unlikely imo. NATO will do everything it can to avoid it but this is still some wild shit.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Howcome Russia is invading Ukraine?
What are they hoping to gain/achieve?
putin-riding-bear.jpg
 

FunkMiller

Member
This is one big game of how much can Putin get away with, against a west that has been mired in navel-gazing and self flagellation for the past three decades.

Hopefully they will actually grow a collective fucking backbone, and come down hard on the poison midget. NordStream being cancelled by the otherwise appeasing Germans is a good start.
 

Kraz

Member
Appears the West is trying its best not to annihilate Russia and let them exist in a civilized world. Imagine it sucks to be on the border with a goomba run nation like Russia. China did do an amazing job getting them off their border. Would take an organized effort of disparate nations to defang Russian military quick. Consider the way things have been going China would do a sight better job at managing north eastern Asia than Russia.
 
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FunkMiller

Member
I think We said the same thing about Germany and Poland right before WW2.

“I wouldn’t call it an invasion, but…”

A better parallel is the invasion of the Sudetenland. Germany was allowed to annex an entire swathe of Czechoslovakia with no reprisals. Cannot be allowed to happen here. There’s every chance at some point the west will have to start killing Russians to stop Putin. He’s full of piss and vinegar, but sits on an economy and a society that’s very weak. All it needs is a strong, proportionate response from the allied western nations. Will we get it?
 
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Dr.D00p

Member
Western governments of all political persuasions have allowed Putin to reach this position over the years. No reason this has to get political, because they’re all to fucking blame.

Well that's the fundamental weakness of democracies when dealing with scum like Putin, they have a natural tendancy to put their heads in the sand for as long as humanely possible and just hope they go away. When they don't, the shit show that ensues is always far,far worse than what would have been the case if they'd just faced the reality, sooner.
 
Obviously the problem is there is only so much that can be done about a country with enough nuclear weapons to glass large portions of the planet. I think we probably shouldn’t pretend to be foreign policy experts. All I will say is that I hope China doesn’t take this as a green light to roll over Taiwan.
 

The Cockatrice

I'm retarded?
Western governments of all political persuasions have allowed Putin to reach this position over the years. No reason this has to get political, because they’re all to fucking blame.

well we all rely on russia for one thing or another, some more than the others. gas in my country, other shit in other countries. Western leaders are a bunch of pussies tho and are just waiting for Americans to make a move.
 
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Kraz

Member
Obviously the problem is there is only so much that can be done about a country with enough nuclear weapons to glass large portions of the planet.
A fear that allows the cowardly to show their bellies. Might explain why they have to act tough against the vulnerable and those they perceive as weak.
 
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I don't think the economic sanctions will be as hard on Russia as the western powers think they will. I believe one of the major reasons why Russia and China strengthened thier alliance was to increase thier potential for global trade together. Putin has thought about this and calculated the risks.
 
A fear that allows the cowardly to show their bellies. Might explain why they have to act tough against the vulnerable and those they perceive as weak.
It’s a perfectly rational concern. Only a fool wouldn’t consider the possibility of nuclear war. Russia’s ability of project actual power is pretty limited. But their ability to cause nuclear annihilation is very real.
 

Star-Lord

Member
If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
 

TheMan

Member
Well they’ve already entered Ukraine now. Clever how they laid the groundwork years ago by posting troops in those separatist areas- now world leaders (including our own) won’t yet call this an invasion even though that’s what exactly what we’re seeing
 

Kraz

Member
It’s a perfectly rational concern. Only a fool wouldn’t consider the possibility of nuclear war. Russia’s ability of project actual power is pretty limited. But their ability to cause nuclear annihilation is very real.
Undoubtedly the possibility has been considered by everyone in their capacity to weigh the options and their courage and what they stand for made known.
 

DrAspirino

Banned
NordStream being cancelled by the otherwise appeasing Germans is a good start.
Germany won't ever do that. It would mean shooting themselves in the foot, as it would only mean more expensive gas and paying Ukraine the tax for the gasoducts there.

The EU desperately needs cheap gas, which is something the USA and its allies isn't able to provide, but Russia is via the Nordstream 2. That's the main reason they won't do shit against Russia in the short term.

If anything, I think Russia will occupy the Donbas region to insure Ukraine stays the same as it has always been since the fall of the USSR: a buffer zone.
 

Sybrix

Gold Member
Germany won't ever do that. It would mean shooting themselves in the foot, as it would only mean more expensive gas and paying Ukraine the tax for the gasoducts there.

The EU desperately needs cheap gas, which is something the USA and its allies isn't able to provide, but Russia is via the Nordstream 2. That's the main reason they won't do shit against Russia in the short term.

If anything, I think Russia will occupy the Donbas region to insure Ukraine stays the same as it has always been since the fall of the USSR: a buffer zone.

Germany has already halted the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
 

Wildebeest

Member
All I was hearing from US policy "experts" was how Putin was just bluffing for a better negotiating position and wouldn't move his army an inch.
 

DrAspirino

Banned
Germany has already halted the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Which is biting them in the ass right now (regarding gas prices).

I'm no fan of Putin (not in the very least), but you have to agree that what he's been doing is nothing short of brilliant, in geopolitical terms. For example, you can't technically call military troops movement an "invasion" if those troops are supporting a separatist region (Donbass in this case). It'd be like calling the argentinean liberating army that came to my country with San Martin "an invading force", when in reality we were trying to beat the spaniards to gain independence.

But in reality, we all know the Donbass thing was an invasion that was years in the making (via subversion first).

I really hope this is as much as things escalate and then we get back to normal, which means Ukraine being a "buffer zone" and Russia being Russia.
 
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jufonuk

not tag worthy
A better parallel is the invasion of the Sudetenland. Germany was allowed to annex an entire swathe of Czechoslovakia with no reprisals. Cannot be allowed to happen here. There’s every chance at some point the west will have to start killing Russians to stop Putin. He’s full of piss and vinegar, but sits on an economy and a society that’s very weak. All it needs is a strong, proportionate response from the allied western nations. Will we get it?
Run Away Nuclear Bomb GIF by Identity
 
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