Putin is first and foremost cunning. You can tell by looking at his fox eyes. A real fox is far better.
Former Prime Minister Abe was also foolishly tricked into giving up Sakhalin's LNG investment permit, pretending that he might return Japan's Northern Territories.
Putin believes from his background that he can control everything with direct force, phony and terrorism. But Putin can't grasp the minds of the people, because he's no different from the mafia or gangsters. Few people in the world would follow him, except for some stupid, medieval Russians
Very interesting to note that as of this moment all the invasion in Ukraine is the Invasion of the Donbas Peoples Republics by the heterogeneous forces of Kiev.
For eight years they've fought in the trenches to keep Kiev away and they've still not succeeded.
It is interesting how the world has been conned into seeing this situation and believing that the reverse is the truth: that Kiev Ukraine is invaded by Donbas Ukraine.
Similarly every Donbas Ukrainian who owned land or property STILL owns it. His Republic still stands and his rights are respected. The only Donbas Ukrainian who's lost has lost to Kiev who've taken and plundered. Might even have taken his life.
Yet the world - at least the gullible stupid western world - believes somehow that Kiev Ukraine has lost land and property.
The truth is that ALL Ukraine STILL belongs to Ukrainians. The only places with doubtful situations are where Kiev has invaded.
Yet somehow the western world believes Ukrainians have suffered some great loss.
The only great loss they have lost is their integrity and reason. Both surrendered to the USA.
And the lives and health of hundreds of thousands.
Somehow, in this stark reversal of truth and blatant insanity it is believed that further progress down this same track will somehow remedy these losses.
More deaths and injuries will somehow replace land and property that hasn't been taken.
More deaths and injuries will somehow replace the dead and injured to date.
The USA objective is clear and they make no bones about it: Destruction of anyone and anything that could possibly be a threat to their profits. This means principally Russia, then Europe and Ukraine itself is positively inconsequential, merely a handy tool.
The Kiev objective is equally clear and unambiguous and they make no bones about it: conquest and occupation of the Donbas Oblasts and of Crimea, too.
This is a clear civil war of ethnic cleansing.
What a prize for the brave Kiev soldiers to work and fight towards!
They can exterminate all their Ukrainian brethren, hand their lands and property over to the State, meaning the politicians and criminals in Kiev and then disband from the army and go back to their fields and towns and look for a job and work the rest of their lives trying to rebuild and pay off the American loans.
A Kiev Ukrainian would be a fool not to be totally entranced by such a future and we see that few of them are fools, they all subscribe to it totally.
I note only one thing: no one calls for peace. No one sees peace as an answer. No one care for the lives of Ukrainians. Not even Ukrainians. Who knew? They are all poets and dreamers. Willing, keen, eager to die for 'glory' and 'honour' and 'the state'. Die and leave family and friend bereft. How noble. Only right. What a beautiful picture, tearful relatives and friends around the grave of the noble hero who died for 'The State'.
I am crass. Mercenary. Cowardly. Materialistic. Pragmatic. Etc. I would rather live. I would rather my friends and family live. If the State organises things such that thousands of us die and thousands more suffer and property is destroyed everywhere I say time to dispense with the State or leave the State.
You see with your own eyes how little Russian speaking Kherson and Kharkiv wanted the Russians. I assure you that Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk were the same.
Yet you continue to accept the Russian propaganda with regard to how much the People's Republics and presumably Crimea welcomed the Russians. They did not. The citizens everywhere but the two cities, Donetsk and Lugansk, with little to no support from Kyiv, pulled themselves together well enough to resist the Russian-backed thugs attempting to take over. So long as we disagree on these basic facts, we will disagree on everything.
Please continue posting. You have every right in the world to be wrong. Which is what you are.
I don't see it, Graham, with my own eyes. No. If the evidence is plain to see I don't see it.
What I see is one solid year of solid fighting by Donbas militia. You'd hardly get that without popular support.
I see the mad comic pledging that every man jack will die if necessary before he gives an inch and I take that as proof positive he's entirely in the wrong.
Mainly I see no reason for thousands of men to die.
And that's really all I attempt to post about: Stop the war.
Whether people want Russians or don't want Russians, whatever the mixes are, let it work out in some other way.
After a bit of study about the complex history of the Donbas, I disagree with your viewpoint. The mix of citizens there have many disagreements with Kiev, that is true. But the area has dual languages to accommodate the citizens and there has been general live and let live until the Russians tried to exert influence starting about 2014 when they rightly perceived the weakness in Kiev. They created unrest among the citizens. The Azov Brigade was firmly anti-Russia, a legacy from WW2. They were the only fighting force that could respond. The intermittent clashes were possibly the reason Putin decided he could invade. But Ukrainian citizens responded and here we are. Ukraine will not allow a partition despite the huge damages to their nation. Frankly I don't have any idea why Putin continues this senseless war aside from his own ego.
Yes well I am simply a man. I feel authorities can never grant me any more rights than I already have - i.e. they can only limit my freedoms and they do. Witness Covid.
So what does that mean? It means I don't really care who I live 'under', I just try to find the optimal place for me and my family.
Any place wherein the govt allows hundreds of thousands to be killed or maimed and the whole infrastructure destroyed and plunges the nation in generations of debt - and swears to continue that course to the last man if necessary - would have me running aghast for the exit as soon as I became aware of it.
To me in such a situation the choice is clear: which regime do I suffer under?
The current situation would be self evident: get out from under.
But discussing the situation in some cafe far removed the question would come up as to the rationale prior to the outbreak of hostilities.
All the airy fairy rhetoric and 'national pride' and such blah put to one side it would boil down to essentially the living conditions offered by each 'side'.
And those supporting this theoretical conflict I'm proposing would claim it had to be because the 'other' side if they were the govt would impose such a horrible state of affairs that it simply could not be allowed.
I simply do not accept that any such situation existed nor anything remotely like it.
Just before i sign off I'll point out that the Donbas Republics attempted to stay with Ukraine, I know that full well. They very much wanted to be Ukrainian. But Ukraine rejected them. They either were wholly subject to Ukraine or nothing.
And that is the overall tenor of this right now: 'All or nothing'. That's extremism. That's intolerance. That's counter productive. That's unrealistic. That's, in fact, mad.
I imagine myself a Ukrainian worker. As I've been a worker all my life and can trace back generations of workers and soldiers used by the State, destroyed by the State in my family.
I wouldn't give much of a damn who governed me: they'll all exploit me.
And in today's situation there's not a shred of doubt which side will exploit, damage and destroy me the most. Not a shred.
I suspect neither of us can speak for the Ukrainians who do have a dog in this fight. The blame belongs to Russia who is in violation of the promises made in 1991. The citizens want to have a government more local to their concerns - something we all wish for.
Yep. I certainly can't speak for anyone. I speak quite boldly and blatantly as what I am: an ordinary man. Very 'ordinary'. My only claim for any right to speak in these conversations at all being that, surely, the mind of the 'ordinary man' should be known, represented, considered.
That's my big beef with the world right now.
The ordinary man (and woman) is completely discounted. Utterly.
And I grant that's largely their own fault: they simply do not participate in the democratic process.
But still....
I don't see 'blame' being of any help whatever and I do see it as a mutable and subjective quality. So I won't comment on 'blame' and associated 'violations'.
But your last line is very relevant isn't it? Strikes to the heart of the matter as I understand it.
The Donbass people want a government more local to their concerns. And should be able to have it.
Rather than this 'govt' if it can be dignified with such a name:
Putin is first and foremost cunning. You can tell by looking at his fox eyes. A real fox is far better.
Former Prime Minister Abe was also foolishly tricked into giving up Sakhalin's LNG investment permit, pretending that he might return Japan's Northern Territories.
Putin believes from his background that he can control everything with direct force, phony and terrorism. But Putin can't grasp the minds of the people, because he's no different from the mafia or gangsters. Few people in the world would follow him, except for some stupid, medieval Russians
Very interesting to note that as of this moment all the invasion in Ukraine is the Invasion of the Donbas Peoples Republics by the heterogeneous forces of Kiev.
For eight years they've fought in the trenches to keep Kiev away and they've still not succeeded.
It is interesting how the world has been conned into seeing this situation and believing that the reverse is the truth: that Kiev Ukraine is invaded by Donbas Ukraine.
Similarly every Donbas Ukrainian who owned land or property STILL owns it. His Republic still stands and his rights are respected. The only Donbas Ukrainian who's lost has lost to Kiev who've taken and plundered. Might even have taken his life.
Yet the world - at least the gullible stupid western world - believes somehow that Kiev Ukraine has lost land and property.
The truth is that ALL Ukraine STILL belongs to Ukrainians. The only places with doubtful situations are where Kiev has invaded.
Yet somehow the western world believes Ukrainians have suffered some great loss.
The only great loss they have lost is their integrity and reason. Both surrendered to the USA.
And the lives and health of hundreds of thousands.
Somehow, in this stark reversal of truth and blatant insanity it is believed that further progress down this same track will somehow remedy these losses.
More deaths and injuries will somehow replace land and property that hasn't been taken.
More deaths and injuries will somehow replace the dead and injured to date.
The USA objective is clear and they make no bones about it: Destruction of anyone and anything that could possibly be a threat to their profits. This means principally Russia, then Europe and Ukraine itself is positively inconsequential, merely a handy tool.
The Kiev objective is equally clear and unambiguous and they make no bones about it: conquest and occupation of the Donbas Oblasts and of Crimea, too.
This is a clear civil war of ethnic cleansing.
What a prize for the brave Kiev soldiers to work and fight towards!
They can exterminate all their Ukrainian brethren, hand their lands and property over to the State, meaning the politicians and criminals in Kiev and then disband from the army and go back to their fields and towns and look for a job and work the rest of their lives trying to rebuild and pay off the American loans.
A Kiev Ukrainian would be a fool not to be totally entranced by such a future and we see that few of them are fools, they all subscribe to it totally.
I note only one thing: no one calls for peace. No one sees peace as an answer. No one care for the lives of Ukrainians. Not even Ukrainians. Who knew? They are all poets and dreamers. Willing, keen, eager to die for 'glory' and 'honour' and 'the state'. Die and leave family and friend bereft. How noble. Only right. What a beautiful picture, tearful relatives and friends around the grave of the noble hero who died for 'The State'.
I am crass. Mercenary. Cowardly. Materialistic. Pragmatic. Etc. I would rather live. I would rather my friends and family live. If the State organises things such that thousands of us die and thousands more suffer and property is destroyed everywhere I say time to dispense with the State or leave the State.
Keep your organ music and your tearful funerals.
I'm off.
I wouldn't fit in Kiev Ukraine. Not one bit.
You see with your own eyes how little Russian speaking Kherson and Kharkiv wanted the Russians. I assure you that Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk were the same.
Yet you continue to accept the Russian propaganda with regard to how much the People's Republics and presumably Crimea welcomed the Russians. They did not. The citizens everywhere but the two cities, Donetsk and Lugansk, with little to no support from Kyiv, pulled themselves together well enough to resist the Russian-backed thugs attempting to take over. So long as we disagree on these basic facts, we will disagree on everything.
Please continue posting. You have every right in the world to be wrong. Which is what you are.
I don't see it, Graham, with my own eyes. No. If the evidence is plain to see I don't see it.
What I see is one solid year of solid fighting by Donbas militia. You'd hardly get that without popular support.
I see the mad comic pledging that every man jack will die if necessary before he gives an inch and I take that as proof positive he's entirely in the wrong.
Mainly I see no reason for thousands of men to die.
And that's really all I attempt to post about: Stop the war.
Whether people want Russians or don't want Russians, whatever the mixes are, let it work out in some other way.
After a bit of study about the complex history of the Donbas, I disagree with your viewpoint. The mix of citizens there have many disagreements with Kiev, that is true. But the area has dual languages to accommodate the citizens and there has been general live and let live until the Russians tried to exert influence starting about 2014 when they rightly perceived the weakness in Kiev. They created unrest among the citizens. The Azov Brigade was firmly anti-Russia, a legacy from WW2. They were the only fighting force that could respond. The intermittent clashes were possibly the reason Putin decided he could invade. But Ukrainian citizens responded and here we are. Ukraine will not allow a partition despite the huge damages to their nation. Frankly I don't have any idea why Putin continues this senseless war aside from his own ego.
Yes well I am simply a man. I feel authorities can never grant me any more rights than I already have - i.e. they can only limit my freedoms and they do. Witness Covid.
So what does that mean? It means I don't really care who I live 'under', I just try to find the optimal place for me and my family.
Any place wherein the govt allows hundreds of thousands to be killed or maimed and the whole infrastructure destroyed and plunges the nation in generations of debt - and swears to continue that course to the last man if necessary - would have me running aghast for the exit as soon as I became aware of it.
To me in such a situation the choice is clear: which regime do I suffer under?
The current situation would be self evident: get out from under.
But discussing the situation in some cafe far removed the question would come up as to the rationale prior to the outbreak of hostilities.
All the airy fairy rhetoric and 'national pride' and such blah put to one side it would boil down to essentially the living conditions offered by each 'side'.
And those supporting this theoretical conflict I'm proposing would claim it had to be because the 'other' side if they were the govt would impose such a horrible state of affairs that it simply could not be allowed.
I simply do not accept that any such situation existed nor anything remotely like it.
Just before i sign off I'll point out that the Donbas Republics attempted to stay with Ukraine, I know that full well. They very much wanted to be Ukrainian. But Ukraine rejected them. They either were wholly subject to Ukraine or nothing.
And that is the overall tenor of this right now: 'All or nothing'. That's extremism. That's intolerance. That's counter productive. That's unrealistic. That's, in fact, mad.
I imagine myself a Ukrainian worker. As I've been a worker all my life and can trace back generations of workers and soldiers used by the State, destroyed by the State in my family.
I wouldn't give much of a damn who governed me: they'll all exploit me.
And in today's situation there's not a shred of doubt which side will exploit, damage and destroy me the most. Not a shred.
I suspect neither of us can speak for the Ukrainians who do have a dog in this fight. The blame belongs to Russia who is in violation of the promises made in 1991. The citizens want to have a government more local to their concerns - something we all wish for.
Yep. I certainly can't speak for anyone. I speak quite boldly and blatantly as what I am: an ordinary man. Very 'ordinary'. My only claim for any right to speak in these conversations at all being that, surely, the mind of the 'ordinary man' should be known, represented, considered.
That's my big beef with the world right now.
The ordinary man (and woman) is completely discounted. Utterly.
And I grant that's largely their own fault: they simply do not participate in the democratic process.
But still....
I don't see 'blame' being of any help whatever and I do see it as a mutable and subjective quality. So I won't comment on 'blame' and associated 'violations'.
But your last line is very relevant isn't it? Strikes to the heart of the matter as I understand it.
The Donbass people want a government more local to their concerns. And should be able to have it.
Rather than this 'govt' if it can be dignified with such a name:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AwB5bHbJok