The invasion has begun

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Russia has begun it's invasion of Ukraine. Who knows where this will end.

apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1

@Roundeartheratchriatmas

Not sure if this has been asked but is there anywhere to donate to that will specifically help the people of Ukraine ?

I’m not sure I would have confidence in any donations being distributed appropriately so early on. Until there is a better understanding of the impact on the Ukrainian people, charities are going to have to assess how they can help and in what capacity.

@Gotmyprincecharming

Terrified for the people in Ukraine..DHs parents and sisters live there. They were terrified during the morning when it started and had to find a safe place in Kyiv..they obviously are not getting any information about what's happening so asked us to keep them updated. DH gone to work crying with worry. We feel so helpless. I feel sick, I can't even begin to imagine the fear they feel.

How frightening and distressing, I am so sorry. I have been feeling sick with dread about this. I don’t understand why Putin has done it.

I remember a thread at the start of covid, people asked "How and when will covid end" and a poster said "War", others jumped on her and told her she was being ridiculous.
I bet she's saying told you!

I remember that thread too! I freely admit I thought she was bonkers at the time, but here we are.

Putin surely wouldn't want a nuclear war. He might be crazy but not crazy enough not to understand that that would be a war he couldn't win. He's a strategist, he'll keep pushing till he's stopped. But he wouldn't want to go nuclear. He understands the concept of mutual assured destruction.

How could he enjoy all his billions if the world was wiped out. .

@Roundeartheratchriatmas I don’t think there’s anywhere specific set up yet but medicine sans frontier and the international committee of the Red Cross are generally good organisations to look to for donating to provide help in conflicts.

Keep an eye on their websites for specific appeals.

@PerkingFaintly

I never thought I’d give Trump credit but I genuinely don’t think this would have happened if he’d still been President.

Eh? Sorry, that's mince.

Trump has just been praising Putin for declaring the invasion.

Trump praised Putin's justification to invade Ukraine as 'genius' and 'savvy'
www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-ukraine-invasion-justification-genius-savvy-2022-2?r=US&IR=T

That's after Trump said in 2016 he believed Putin's personal word above US intelligence – because it was personally convenient to him.

Trump sides with Russia against FBI at Helsinki summit
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44852812

Trump was fatally susceptible to flattery, and Putin knew how to play him perfectly.

Fair enough maybe better he’s out

@bultaoreune do you know what I thought the same thing this morning can't they just send the sas in to putin...be done with it

The double standards of global outcry is staggering here. Trump, discusses the option to build a wall to keep people out of his country and global protests and mass condemnation of his barbaric words.

Putin literally invades a county, and not one person marching the street burning a Russian flag.

Say what you like about Trump (not for me personally) but during his office, not one war. People knew he was a live wire, and as such did not push him.

@GallopingHighRoad

‘ The amount of Russian money that has been invested into London real estate (and into French property also) is staggering. This is not all owned by oligarchs close to Putin. Nobody knows the full extent because it mostly comes through layers of offshore trusts and companies in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Switzerland. There is little sanction that will be brought against real estate, because in practice it does not have the immediacy that blocking $100m in a deposit account does. There will be little appetite to block personal funds for the reason that it alienates those who may hold different ‘

But they will counter argue that they will withdraw their money from real estate, etc if we impose any sanctions on them. The money in our infrastructure is so crucial to our economy now, isn’t it? Or have I got that wrong?

My thought is that if someone imposed a partial sanction on a Russian in London all they have to say is ‘fine, I’ll just stop funding x, y and z’ whilst I’m at it.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

*I remember a thread at the start of covid, people asked "How and when will covid end" and a poster said "War", others jumped on her and told her she was being ridiculous. I bet she's saying told you!*

I remember that thread too! I freely admit I thought she was bonkers at the time, but here we are.

I remember this as well.

I think at this stage and what that poster was inferring is the only ‘ending’ to Covid will be the amount of headline space it was get particularly now war looms.

The virus itself is still out there, we’re just choosing to ignore it. For now.

[quote nottoday3000]@bultaoreune do you know what I thought the same thing this morning can't they just send the sas in to putin...be done with it [/quote]
You think that not a single person in the Russian government, armed forces and business leaders supports Putin? (let alone individual “ordinary” Russians?)

He’s not just one renegade arsehole that the rest of Russian leaders would breathe a sigh of relief over, if he were assassinated.

There is not going to be a nuclear war (although I agree the references to it this week are very alarming).

Russia, the US, France and the UK all have what's called second strike capability. That means that even if they are nuked, enough of their own nukes will survive and would immediately be launched at the attacker. So anyone who starts a nuclear war knows that their own capital and other important targets will be nuked in return.

It can't be ruled out 100% of course, as long as these weapons exist they might be used, but it is extremely unlikely.

We haven't been distracted from this though, the warning signs have been around for ages. People ignore them. Like the film ' Don't Look Up'. There was a similar thread a week or so ago and people who were worried about a Russian invasion of Ukraine were almost sneered at by many who dismissed it out of hand, stating Putin will never invade Ukraine.

History shows over and over again that societies ignore clear warning signs and almost sleep walk into disasters and wars over and over again.

Moldova is not Russian territory. In fact its current government is more pro-EU.

The eastern strip of Moldova (bordering Ukraine) is a separatist region called Transnistria, there you do have a small Russian force (not enough to take the rest of Moldova).

@Cocomarine ..no..but it's a great place to start...

Yes, it started waaay back before 2014 didn’t it @SudaneseHipHopFan

And the downing of MH17 which they never admitted.
Ukraine haven’t ever retaliated as of yet though?

Such an awfully sad chain of events 😢

Russian soldiers are something else. At the end of WW2 a lot of German women committed suicide rather than be raped to death by the invading Russians. They are barbaric.

[quote nottoday3000]@Cocomarine ..no..but it's a great place to start...[/quote]
I don’t think it is. How much will Russian public opinion be with you if you assassinate an elected leader of a world power?
You’ll just be dealing with the same issue, with another person leading the show with the same aims, against a backdrop of assassination.

I do think that Putin is a very specific, personal threat - he’s no puppet, and some of his aims are his own fucking megalomaniac personal ambitions. But go look at the mineral wealth of Ukraine (for a start) and tell me he’s the only one in his party who wants this - even if for a different reason.

On the donations topics.

The most efficient fund is "Come back alive".

savelife.in.ua/en/

@SudaneseHipHopFan

We haven't been distracted from this though, the warning signs have been around for ages. People ignore them. Like the film ' Don't Look Up'. There was a similar thread a week or so ago and people who were worried about a Russian invasion of Ukraine were almost sneered at by many who dismissed it out of hand, stating Putin will never invade Ukraine.

History shows over and over again that societies ignore clear warning signs and almost sleep walk into disasters and wars over and over again.

Yep give it 3 years and we'll be speaking Russian if we keep just ignoring this. And let's face it, our pm is going to do fuck all about this. He'll probably hand over britain if putin asks.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered world war 1. Taking out even one prominent individual can have enormous repercussions, so they can't just go around assassinating problematic individuals.

The ex UK ambassador on sky this morning was clearly, very clearly in the pocket of Putin. Another one living in Cambridge on blood money, not the first or the last.

I have never heard such pro Russian sentiment live on air, clearly paid to do so. This has been so revealing and I am sure there are others. We have to pay attention to the information war being played out as well as the tanks on the ground. Russia are wrestling with getting their narrative out, the only problem with it is the rest of the world know full well that Ukraine is an innocent and civilised country of peaceful means, there was no reason on God's earth to invade, NONE, so we all know who the aggressor is. Does it even fucking matter what Putins' so called reasons are?! You don't invade a country and kill innocent people just because you don't agree with democracy/a wish to feel more secure in an alliance etc. No normal sane leader or human being does that. So no matter how Russia spins and spins its bullshit, and talks of 'peacekeepers' rolling in with ballistic missiles it will never work.

This is a disaster for Ukraine, but it is going to be a bigger disaster in the long term for Russia. Putin has ruined the lives of generations of his own people, and lets hope they finally find their anger and rise up. Because if they can't do it now, when?
If I were Russian I would be up in arms and finding a way to STOP this terrible war - I would be doing whatever I could - at some point the young in Russia are going to revolt and stand up for themselves and reclaim their country from Hitler/Putin once and for all.

My question was if Moldova could be next.

Sanctions will not stop this.

Read this - it’s translated, very long but it makes it quite clear this is only the start.

en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67828

What a time to be alive

@Gotmyprincecharming

Terrified for the people in Ukraine..DHs parents and sisters live there. They were terrified during the morning when it started and had to find a safe place in Kyiv..they obviously are not getting any information about what's happening so asked us to keep them updated. DH gone to work crying with worry. We feel so helpless. I feel sick, I can't even begin to imagine the fear they feel.

I hope they will be ok