Russian invasion of Ukraine

Yep, Ian Paisley Jnr made the point on R4 earlier that seeing Sinn Fein win today is not a result that thrills him but it is along way from the troubles and everyone should celebrate the success of turning from violence to politics over the last couple of decades

people who are saying that Putin is right to regard NATO as a threat.

Putin does not regard NATO as a threat. Putin regards NATO as unlikely to intervene directly if he invades Ukraine, and has been proved correct.

His argument will be that he had to move into Ukraine to stop them joining NATO, in which case NATO would be duty bound to declare war if he invaded Ukraine. There's a logic in there somewhere.

My post simply points to multiple US agencies within the last 18 hours confirming US Intel helped locate and confirm the location of the Moskva to which Ukraine acted upon by sinking it. I have a gut feeling this will really piss Putin off, on top of all his previous butt hurt 'they're picking on us' rants.

Putin used NATO expansion as a pretext for invading Ukraine, wheras if he really thought NATO had any teeth he would have been scared off. If he'd thought US / NATO intelligence would cause him to lose the MOSKVA he would have thought twice.

His argument will be that he had to move into Ukraine to stop them joining NATO, in which case NATO would be duty bound to declare war if he moved into Ukraine. There's a logic in there somewhere.

His invasion has directly brought about the strengthening and expansion of the NATO alliance. He's reached his position of power by clearly being a smart / ruthless operator, but totally thrown it all away with this massively misjudged war.

Reports of another Ukrainian Neptune missile strike on a Russian ship,
the frigate Admiral Makarov.

Putin uses Nato expansion as a pretext for invading Ukraine, but EU membership and democratic elections are the real threat. A dictatorship with a poor standard of living cannot survive if its neighbours are prosperous democracies with free and fair elections.

East Germans started kicking up a fuss when they saw West German tv and realised their “Worker’s Paradise” was anything but.
Putin can't have his serfs getting uppity.

Donated, thanks for the link.

Yeah. Look at the NATO and EU thing from both military and economic context; the commercial deals you can strike with members get worse as the membership and its implicit power grows. On a long enough timeline, it's be like us* or wither and die.

* i.e. become a modern, libertarian democracy

Yes. It's timely to remember that. I'm sure Putin hasn't forgotten. A year before the wall came down I went through Checkpoint Charlie for a stroll around East Berlin. What a grim, shabby, joyless place. It made Huddersfield look like St Tropez. Parts of Moscow are very glitzy these days, but most Russians never see that kind of sophistication. This vlogger's stuff is worth a watch. She's from Khabarovsk in the far east https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWf43GShTqMDdJN9pICYd2Q

I travelled across eastern Europe in mid 80s....boy were some places grim, as you have mentioned, but none so as those small cities in the countryside of East Germany. Like the soul was sucked out of them....arriving to East Berlin was liberating, but not until you crossed into West, that you understood what grey really means.

Bono goes busking in the Kyiv subway or some such bollocks, he's just the worst.

Bono? Who?

Haven't they suffered enough?

OMG.

Russian state TV has switched to saying that they are militarily weak. Wtf?

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1523036461595242498

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1523334839851577345

Isn't this part of 'we are the poor victims here, NATO is bullying us' narrative?

Probably to start to pivot the narrative for general mobilisation.. save your country, our great army has been sabotaged by the west, we now need you etc etc

One of the clips says mobilisation would be impossible

Putin’s ‘Victory Day’ speech just whining and hot air. No mobilisation announcement, no declaration of war, no nuclear threats. He’s got nothing.

Russian Air Force flypast cancelled due to ‘inclement weather’. Ok…

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Ukraine going in hard on Snake Island, possibly related to rumoured russian frigate being destroyed:

https://nitter.mstdn.social/JonHallin/status/1523473935269961735?cursor=LBkWgsDUpaqDvKQqJQISAAA%3D#r

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• 8Nfc2pBWPzWIkSvA.mp4

David Attenborough style voiceover for a destroyed Russian tank.

https://twitter.com/ItsBorys/status/1523664324950036480