Will Russia invade the Ukraine?

[Taipan]

Putin sounds like Pietin. Hmmm

Is Shandyman planning all this?

@Taipan needs locking up.

Today the Ukraine. Tomorrow The Canaries!

[Felix]

Today the Ukraine. Tomorrow The Canaries!

Is the Canaries not quicker had you went East?

[JackyJoll]

The rush towards renewable energy, while turning their back on nuclear, may come back to bite them in the very near future, while France has become the largest exporter of electricity in the world thanks to its nuclear capacity. Even Bulgaria manages to produce a large electricity surplus from its nuclear plants.

Say what you like about nuclear power stations, but they do generate electrical power.

[Yorick]

Putin sounds like Pietin. Hmmm

Is Shandyman planning all this?

@Taipan needs locking up.

Today the Ukraine. Tomorrow The Canaries!

We don't sell shandy. Or jellied eels.

[Yambo]

As the West imposes sanctions on Russia for not invading but doing what I suggested would happen on page 1 of this thread, China was asked if they would impose sanctions:

Beijing has never thought sanctions are the best way to solve problems, its foreign ministry said, when asked if the Asian nation would join Western countries in sanctioning Russia over Ukraine.

China hopes relevant parties can try to resolve their issues through dialogue and remain calm and exercise restraint, ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.

Can anyone remember all that dialogue that the Chinese had with the Uyghurs or the extended dialogue they had with the US while pumping money and arms into North Vietnam. Oh and lets not forget North Korea.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/2 ... -move-live

[Hoonercat]

Got to laugh at Putin's take on Russian-Ukraine history, how they have always been 'brothers'. He seems to have completely forgotten the man-made genocide known as the Holodomor which was forced upon Ukraine, (a decade after the country was forced to become a part of the Soviet Union), which resulted in an estimated 3.9 million Ukranians starving to death.
The short version:

At the same time, Stalin ordered the collectivization of agriculture. The majority of Ukrainians, who were small-scale or subsistence farmers, resisted. The state confiscated the property of the independent farmers and forced them to work on government collective farms. The more prosperous farmers (owning a few head of livestock, for example) and those who resisted collectivization were branded kulaks (rich peasants) and declared enemies of the state who deserved to be eliminated as a class. Thousands were thrown out of their homes and deported.

In 1932, the Communist Party set impossibly high quotas for the amount of grain Ukrainian villages were required to contribute to the Soviet state. When the villages were not able to meet the quotas, authorities intensified the requisition campaign, confiscating even the seed set aside for planting and levying fines in meat and potatoes for failure to fulfill the quotas. Special teams were sent to search homes and even seized other foodstuffs. Starving farmers attempted to leave their villages in search of food, but Soviet authorities issued a decree forbidding Ukraine’s peasants from leaving the country. As a result, many thousands of farmers who had managed to leave their villages were apprehended and sent back, virtually a death sentence. A law was introduced that made the theft of even a few stalks of grain an act of sabotage punishable by execution. In some cases, soldiers were posted in watchtowers to prevent people from taking any of the harvest. Although informed of the dire conditions in Ukraine, central authorities ordered local officials to extract even more from the villages. Millions starved as the USSR sold crops from Ukraine abroad.

At the same time, Stalin had thousands of Ukranian intellectuals imprisoned or executed due to his fear that Ukraine was developing its own culture. Those peasant farmers who starved to death were replaced with Russians, at which point the grain aquisition quotas were greatly reduced.

[Taipan]

Putin sounds like Pietin. Hmmm

Is Shandyman planning all this?

@Taipan needs locking up.

Today the Ukraine. Tomorrow The Canaries!

We don't sell shandy. Or jellied eels.

Yet...

[irie]

One outcome of Putin's invasion might be that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO to prevent further Russian annexation of Ukraine ...

[irie]

Interesting article today in EU centric media.

https://www.politico.eu/article/how-ger ... o-ukraine/

How Germany helped blaze Putin’s path into Ukraine

Berlin gave the Russian president the benefit of the doubt until it was too late.
...
From the Georgian invasion to the annexation of Crimea, the downing of MH-17 and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, Germany has always found a way to forgive its friend to the east..
...

[slowsider]

One outcome of Putin's invasion might be that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO to prevent further Russian annexation of Ukraine ...

How would that work, given the common defence aspect? All the members declare war with Russia?

[Hoonercat]

One outcome of Putin's invasion might be that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO to prevent further Russian annexation of Ukraine ...

NATO has pandered to Putin for too long where both Ukraine and Georgia are concerned and have shown themselves to be utterly toothless. If Ukraine were a member of NATO (as agreed by NATO 14 years ago) there's a very high probability that it wouldn't be in the current situation with Russian troops entering its territory.
I'll say it again, the whole 'NATO on our doorstep' is just a pretext. Putin knows his actions will push more Baltic nations towards NATO, as well as NATO forces increasing in the region in response to his invasion of Ukraine.

[Mussels]

One outcome of Putin's invasion might be that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO to prevent further Russian annexation of Ukraine ...

I think it's a bit late for that.

[Yambo]

FlightRadar 24 down for me here in Turkey and ADS-B exchange showing the sky over most of Ukraine completely empty.

*edit* Make that all of Ukraine with empty skies.

[Mr Moofo]

FlightRadar 24 down for me here in Turkey and ADS-B exchange showing the sky over most of Ukraine completely empty.

*edit* Make that all of Ukraine with empty skies.

No shit ...

[irie]

One outcome of Putin's invasion might be that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO to prevent further Russian annexation of Ukraine ...

I think it's a bit late for that.

I meant whatever is left of Ukraine after the parts that Putin wants have been annexed.

[slowsider]

One outcome of Putin's invasion might be that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO to prevent further Russian annexation of Ukraine ...

I think it's a bit late for that.

I meant whatever is left of Ukraine after the parts that Putin wants have been annexed.

Yeah we get that, but you still haven't answered my question. If membership of NATO is intended to deter aggression because 'if you attack one, you attack all', what scenario do you anticipate if a country under attack is drawn into the fold?

[JackyJoll]

From some previous unpleasantness.

[irie]

[rant]

All these indignant words spouted by Ursula Van Der Luyen and the Brussels elite is hilarious. Putin's laughing behind his hand at these ignorant dumbf*cks, led by Germany, who have for decades slowly been corrupted by their greed. Now the Piper must be paid. Courtesy of Brexit we are able to watch these Muppets from outside the EU.

[/rant]

And breathe.

[Trinity765]

I've just popped out and there are queues at the petrol stations.

[Skub]

I've just popped out and there are queues at the petrol stations.

People are nuts.