Is Russia just about to invade Ukraine?

[Horse]

Quick Google finds:

Rome's top 1% controlled 16 percent of the wealth, compared to modern America where the top 1% controls 40 percent of the wealth.

Although ...

what we see as the glory of Rome is really just the rubble of the rich, built on the backs of poor farmers and laborers, traces of whom have all but vanished. It’s as though Rome’s 99 percent never existed.

Of course, when considering that wealth distribution change over time, wealth of religious groups will have changed too. For example, the RC church was '0' in Roman times, but will have built up a bit.

[Hoonercat]

It was all about NATO, honestly comrades...

Russia now controls at least $12.4 trillion worth of Ukraine's energy, metal and mineral deposits, report says
Moscow controls 63% of Ukraine's coal deposits, 11% of its oil, 20% of its natural gas, 42% of its metals, and 33% of its rare earths.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/new ... AAtMre2ijM

Let's not mention that Ukraine has Europe's 3rd largest untapped energy reserves, behind Norway and Russia, which has the potential to not only allow it to be fully independent of Russian energy, but also to become an alternative supplier to the European market, given that the pipeline infrastructure already exists.

[slowsider]

Quick Google finds:

Rome's top 1% controlled 16 percent of the wealth, compared to modern America where the top 1% controls 40 percent of the wealth.

Pfft

The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion —at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day— during the first two years of a pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty.

“If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet,” said Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher. “They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.”

[Mr Moofo]

^ who's up for revolution /

[Hoonercat]

^ who's up for revolution /

We'd just going round in circles...

[DEADPOOL]

Let's not mention that Ukraine has Europe's 3rd largest untapped energy reserves, behind Norway and Russia, which has the potential to not only allow it to be fully independent of Russian energy, but also to become an alternative supplier to the European market, given that the pipeline infrastructure already exists.

I seem to recall that was the motivation to build Nord Stream 2; to stop Ukraine from becoming a major supplier in Europe.

[DEADPOOL]

It was all about NATO, honestly comrades...

Thought you said earlier NATO was "a completely seperate (sic.) subject to the invasion"...

Again, I asked you in what way you felt NATO didn't take Putin seriously with regards to Ukraine joining NATO. That's a completely seperate subject to Russia invading Ukraine - in his speech attempting to justify the invasion, he made no mention of Ukraine joining NATO.

So if Putin wants to take control of Ukraine, how is he going to do that if Ukraine becomes a member of the EU and subsequently NATO?

Would Putin invade a NATO country?

There are many ways to subvert power in nation states you wish to control. These are most often by nefarious political means (much like Putin would suggest Ukraine became more "westernised" when we installed a friendly leader). That is a long game but ultimately less expensive than a costly invasion. I think that was the game plan for Putin but when he received no firm assurance that Ukraine would not ultimately join NATO, he went for plan B.

There was talk early on during this military action of Ukraine being granted accelerated membership of the EU. Complete tosh of course, they're not "woke" enough for softy European tastes so it was just clutching at straws. But it does indicate the possibility for Europe to deliver a political coup d'état and nab all that lovely Russian** oil/gas/farmland for ourselves...


**oops I mean Ukrainian....

[Hoonercat]

It was all about NATO, honestly comrades...

Thought you said earlier NATO was "a completely seperate (sic.) subject to the invasion"...

I was referring to the conversation we were having, not the situation itself. If I'd used the word 'conversation' instead of 'subject' that would have been clearer.

[DEADPOOL]

It was all about NATO, honestly comrades...

Thought you said earlier NATO was "a completely seperate (sic.) subject to the invasion"...

I was referring to the conversation we were having, not the situation itself. If I'd used the word 'conversation' instead of 'subject' that would have been clearer.

I thought we were having a conversation about the situation?

But yes, using the correct words in the right order would help.

[Hoonercat]

Would Putin invade a NATO country?

There are many ways to subvert power in nation states you wish to control. These are most often by nefarious political means (much like Putin would suggest Ukraine became more "westernised" when we installed a friendly leader). plan B.

Agreed, Bulgaria this year being a prime example of how Russia still has its hooks in the country. Gazprom's decision to stop gas supplies to BG was seen by many analysts as an attempt to destabilize what was perceived as an anti-Russian/pro-EU government. Two months later the coalition govt collapsed directly because of the Gazprom issue, the pro-Russian president appointed an interim govt who replaced the head of the national energy company, only accepted one of seven LNG delivery offers from the US (despite them being priced lower than other EU countries were paying), began giving mixed messages over the certification of the new gas pipeline from Greece (it should have been running by now) before declaring they intended to open negotiations with Gazprom as Bulgaria wouldn't have enough gas for winter otherwise The interim govt only has another few weeks in power, yet seem intent on not only overturning all the work the previous govt did to make the country independent of Russian gas, but also destroy Bulgaria's legal case against Gazprom.

[Hoonercat]

Thought you said earlier NATO was "a completely seperate (sic.) subject to the invasion"...

I was referring to the conversation we were having, not the situation itself. If I'd used the word 'conversation' instead of 'subject' that would have been clearer.

I thought we were having a conversation about the situation?

But yes, using the correct words in the right order would help.

My bad, I've become so used to not having to spell everything out for everyone else that I forgot to make an allowance for you. I'll stick to the other Russia thread from now on, I can see why it gets far more engagement

[DEADPOOL]

Would Putin invade a NATO country?

There are many ways to subvert power in nation states you wish to control. These are most often by nefarious political means (much like Putin would suggest Ukraine became more "westernised" when we installed a friendly leader). plan B.

Agreed, Bulgaria this year being a prime example of how Russia still has its hooks in the country. Gazprom's decision to stop gas supplies to BG was seen by many analysts as an attempt to destabilize what was perceived as an anti-Russian/pro-EU government. Two months later the coalition govt collapsed directly because of the Gazprom issue, the pro-Russian president appointed an interim govt who replaced the head of the national energy company, only accepted one of seven LNG delivery offers from the US (despite them being priced lower than other EU countries were paying), began giving mixed messages over the certification of the new gas pipeline from Greece (it should have been running by now) before declaring they intended to open negotiations with Gazprom as Bulgaria wouldn't have enough gas for winter otherwise The interim govt only has another few weeks in power, yet seem intent on not only overturning all the work the previous govt did to make the country independent of Russian gas, but also destroy Bulgaria's legal case against Gazprom.

What is surprising is how little time much of Europe has before we run out of gas. The average appears to be hovering around Feb/March.

I'll be out the back chopping up logs and fixing up the old generator. Not seen the numbers for the UK but I'll be doing everything I can to avoid funding Shell during their multi billion pound profit bonanza.

[DEADPOOL]

I was referring to the conversation we were having, not the situation itself. If I'd used the word 'conversation' instead of 'subject' that would have been clearer.

I thought we were having a conversation about the situation?

But yes, using the correct words in the right order would help.

My bad, I've become so used to not having to spell everything out for everyone else that I forgot to make an allowance for you. I'll stick to the other Russia thread from now on, I can see why it gets far more engagement

Yes, make it personal then run away when you lose the argument.

[irie]

I thought we were having a conversation about the situation?

But yes, using the correct words in the right order would help.

My bad, I've become so used to not having to spell everything out for everyone else that I forgot to make an allowance for you. I'll stick to the other Russia thread from now on, I can see why it gets far more engagement

Yes, make it personal then run away when you lose the argument.

But yes, using the correct words in the right order would help.

That's ^^^making it personal

[weeksy]

Behave children.... next time it won't be a 24 hour lock, it'll be a thread deletion and a bit of time in solitary

[David]

Watch it....weeksy has the slipper out!

[Screwdriver]

This Wagner nonsense is an interesting analogy to "news" and scientific theory. We have some observations, some information (which may or may not be true) and we try and "model" a theory to explain these behaviours. It is very easy to create a narrative or a model which fits with the "facts". So easy, I am going to have a go myself.

Prigozhin: Your generals are crap, they don't know what they're doing. We are giving you all of these victories.
Putin: Whatever. That's what you're being paid for. You have to do what you're told.
Prigozhin: Not if you're using my troops as cannon fodder. This isn't a suicide mission.
Putin: OK fuck it. You know what, you are now conscripted into the Russian army. Do as you are told.
Prigozhin: Fuck you. I'm outta here.

Russian forces accidentally bomb the crap out of Prigozhin's rear guard with what appear to be targeted missile strikes.

Prigozhin: Right that's it. I'm coming after you motherfucker.
Putin: You wouldn't dare.
Prigozhin: <strolls into Russia, wanders over to the nearest military base. captures it.>
Putin: Fuck, fuck, fuck. Ok. err, if you call it off, how about I offer you all an amnesty? Let you go, no repercussions. Like it never happened...
Prigozhin: Full pardon for me and all my troops, no conscription?
Putin: Yeah yeah. Promise....

It's easy to overthink and clearly there is a ton of stuff we don't know and a ton of stuff we think we know which is false. I think the "strategy" being to have Prigozhin form a new front line in Belarus falls into the latter category. If they were going to do it, there's no need to make such a song and dance about it. Nor would Prigozhin telegraph his intentions to "occupy" Belarus if the plan was for a coup d'état.

If nothing else though, it might interrupt the American efforts to just keep this money train on the rails...

[Screwdriver]

In recent news: " Putin said. "You will be able to conclude a contract with the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense, return to your families or go to Belarus. I will keep my word," he lied. Err, "said" I mean...

So basically, Prigozhin has fucked up big time. It seems like the story is not too dissimilar to my fantasy commentary. Work for us, go home or fuck off to Belarus.

Prigozhin is a nasty piece of work of course. Ex people smuggler (mostly young girls), mercenary, thug you name it and if he is daft enough to go to Belarus, he's gonna wake up dead sooner rather than later. Putin will wait for the wave of popularity to subside then have him quietly thrown out of a window.

[Screwdriver]

A sobering commentary.



Tucker Carlson Talks To Colonel Douglas Macgregor About The Ukraine War

[Yambo]

A sobering commentary.



Tucker Carlson Talks To Colonel Douglas Macgregor About The Ukraine War

I don't know what the Americans are being told about the Ukraine war effort and I don't read much from the UK media either but I know quite a few Ukrainians, some very well and one friend who is in Zaporizhzhia.

I know that the war is not going well for Ukraine. I know that they suffered enormous losses around Bakhmut (as did the Russians), far more than they have allowed the world to know about or that they want to admit to.

But, they don't want to be a part of a greater Russia and they'll die to not be. The way it seems to be going is that Russia wants to absorb a wasteland and don't seem to care that the people that are left may well be a problem for another 50 years. It won't be Putin's problem. There'll be no real end to this war, Ukraine can't win and Russia's short term gains will be minimal.

Will the US join in? I don't think so. Even Biden's string pullers must know that they also could not win - they could certainly give Putin a bloody nose but there'll be no winners in WW3 cos that's what'll happen.

It's a pity that they couldn't get someone a bit more senior for the piece. Colonel's are 10 a penny in the USA.