Ukraine and Russia: Answering common questions and issues

[WhatsGoingOn2022]

Hi, I am starting this thread due to the amount of misinformation and speculation I have seen on the boards around what is happening with Russia's war on Ukraine.

While I am by no means a leading specialist, I have a master's degree focusing on the defence and economics aspect of international relations, I work today in politics and have a lot of links in the area. Anything I can't answer I can at least point you to the people who can-- I naturally follow this incredibly closely.

I thought it might be helpful if myself and others with specific knowledge in this area could help to answer any questions you have, on anything from the war, to sanctions, to Russia's actions, to the fallout.

OP, do you think Putin might try to invade Finland?

@Tigersonvaseline

Let me sleep interesting posts.

But the presentation of the wicked us trying to draw Ukraine away from Russia...

And? Russia is essentially a giant prison camp under a dictator who takes over whatever countries he want's And how he wants.

Russia as a culture etc could never be removed from Ukraine just as the UK will never stop being European just because we left a trading block.

I'm not getting it because if3 Russia was a proper democracy and not in the grip of pirate gangsters plundering it's wealth for themselves... then we really would not be in this position.

I don't disagree with you about Russia. But it should not take $5 billion to explaine to Ukraine what democracy is. The $5bln did not go on hospitals, schools and welfare system it ended up in a fee people's pockets. Those people are the ones deciding the country's future. This cannot be right either.

Hence my position of both the US and Russia need to keep out and that would be the only way for Ukraine to be democratic.

Let me sleep I'm really taken aback by your comment that the US won't see any" direct" fall out from this.

Shall we just tell them to send their vast enormous army home? In those uniforms are someone's husband and sons??

Millions of them holding the line all around the world?

Let's tell them to leave all their bases from South Korea, Japan , Taiwan, Cyprus etc And let's see what happens to the world.

I'm sure the US would be very happy to have it's citizens back safe on US soil.
They would save an eye watering amount of money not funding whole armies all around the world.
I actually think it's embarrassing how much we all rely on them.

I felt it was only fair to highlight that the OPs answers were inconsistent with facts and information from official sources.

That's exactly what many of your posts are.

Obviously it's an anonymous forum so I take what you said with a pinch of salt, but your posts are rather surprising coming from a British Ukrainian.

Let me sleep.. it's all a moot point because we wouldn't be having this conversation if Russia was a free, democratic nation.

[quote lifesnotaspectatorsport]@letmesleep123

all I wish for to be honest is for both tge US and Russia to get out of my country and allow it to be democratic without puppet governments from both sides.

I feel for you and everyone with connections to the region, but surely Putin is never going to accept a free and democratic Ukraine on its border? Democracy implies the right for the country to choose its own path, and it seems to me that the ousting of Yanukovych and later the election of Zelensky in a landslide (no one's disputing that election afaik) suggested the majority of Ukrainians did not want to be in Russia's orbit.

Ukraine's government is clearly not without its faults in the disputed regions. But it was democratically elected and without the support it's currently receiving from the US and more directly the EU, it would be on its knees. Instead the country is still fighting, and I find it hard to accept that Russia and the US are as bad as each other in this scenario. (Other conflicts, maybe, but we're talking about this one.)

[/quote]
Unfortunately it's more complicated than this. The Eastern breakaway region were not allowed to take part in any elections since 2014 (3 mln people). The only real choice in the last two elections was Poroshenko vs Zelensky, both pro-US. The video I linked to above was pre-2014 elections and so was the 5bln injection by the US.

So was the 2014 and subsequent elections fair? On the surface of it yes (if you disregard the 3mln people not being allowed to vote) but dig deeper and it becomes a much greyer area.

I agree with you, however, that Russia being a neighbour will always make true democracy difficult for Ukraine (if such a thing exists).

Remaining neutral, however, should be possible.

So how is this war to be ended if not through negotiation?

I've partly answered this before, but let me summarise.

Continue with harsh sanctions - force Russian society to rebel - coup - new powers in Russia - new world order, Ukraine and all Russia's neighbours in NATO - sanctions remain for Russia for the foreseeable albeit lighter than now.

Peace talks will only lead to one thing and that is sacrificing Ukraine like a lamb, as well as possibly other neighbouring countries. The West has form for this type of 'solution' historically. That is not acceptable to sovereign countries in Europe though. And this is why there's a strong criticism of the likes of Corbyn and his crowd. Peace talks with a view to keep sovereign Ukraine, free of Russian interference are entirely unrealistic. It's a shallow, idealistic view that cannot happen with Russia in practice. Peace talks with a view to sacrifice Ukraine and possibly more countries are realistic but this is an enormous hypocrisy as these people would fight for their independence for years to come. There would be no peace. There would be peace for Corbyn in his cosy bedroom, for the Western nations yes. But none for us. So this view is very dangerous, whichever way you look at it because it's either unrealistic or hypocritical, whereby peace is a relative term.

No, the OP very clearly stated in their first post that " I am by no means a leading specialist".

In other words, they're not setting themselves up as an expert, but offering the level of knowledge they have in order to understand the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

That's a CRUCIAL difference.

@DownNative

No, the OP very clearly stated in their first post that " I am by no means a leading specialist".

In other words, they're not setting themselves up as an expert, but offering the level of knowledge they have in order to understand the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

That's a CRUCIAL difference.

Exactly, I’m very grateful to the op for this thread. Even taking some of her opinions as her personal view it’s far more informative than anything else I’ve read.

Keep coming back op please.

Personally preferred this thread when it had an AMA feel from OP alone. Felt like some calm and order among many many chaotic Russia/Ukraine threads.

I accept that some things are OPs opinions and am fine with that. It was still highly informative in a way which I can actually understand.

May I remind everyone that all OPs posts are just OPs opinion. We have no way of verifying the OPs credentials bit patronising, we aren't stupid.

Can someone offer proof that Zelenskyy is a 'US puppet'? As someone above says, he was elected by a landslide in a fair democratic election. Is it because of the Trump/Hunter Biden thing?

Brilliant thread OP - thanks for it

@goliaths

Personally preferred this thread when it had an AMA feel from OP alone. Felt like some calm and order among many many chaotic Russia/Ukraine threads.

I accept that some things are OPs opinions and am fine with that. It was still highly informative in a way which I can actually understand.

Agree. Any AMA is just one opinion. Hoping OP will come back!

Thanks for this thread OP, really interesting info. Please return!

Particularly interested in the viewpoint on sanctions, I hadn’t much hope they would work but sounds like they may have some impact. Would like to see some other prominent western companies pull out though.

I also agree the AMA format worked well and OP does know what she's talking about well. I wouldn't have bothered engaging at all otherwise.

Sorry @WhatsGoingOn2022 if I've got too involved, I've tried to address comments related to what I've said before only but I'm getting carried away now as it's a topic very close to my heart too and some opinions I firmly disagree with have made its way onto this thread.

To reiterate, I agree with you on pretty much every point. You've made a great effort here and please continue, I'm reading (and agreeing) quietly.

@Aristalese your contributions have been just as good as the OP’s. Please continue 🙂

Mind you ThroughThick&Thin01, the OP did state:

"I thought it might be helpful if myself and others with specific knowledge in this area could help to answer any questions you have..."

My area of knowledge is terrorism, security and counterterrorism, especially that in Northern Ireland.

But the skills are transferable to other conflicts.

Following

Thank you @RoseRedRoseBlue.

Just on the final note regarding UK's far left and Ukraine conflict, as someone asked me earlier - this summarises their dangerous ignorance:

www.google.com/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1575729/diane-abbott-putin-russia-war-nato-russia-ukraine-war-michael-crick-twitter/amp

Abbott can't distinguish between Ukraine and Croatia either, which she proved this week too, but that's just a cherry on top of the already distasteful cake.

(FWIW, I am neither Conservative nor Labour supporter, and in fact do not identify with any political party in the UK so there's no hidden agenda criticising just Labour. I've huge words of criticism for Johnson and Patel too for handling this so far but that's a topic for a completely separate thread).

Thank you for an interesting thread @WhatsGoingOn2022

Aristalese words fail me.
How did She ever get so close to main stream politics.

@WhatsGoingOn2022 thanks

Also I echo what others have said. Us seasoned MNers know what MN is. I think the OP was humble in he approach in terms of saying I’ll try to back up with links. It is our own individual responsibility to read around the subject and to be cautious of what we read on MN.

But I’ve been given some things to think about, stuff I was naive about - sport washing for example. I’m not a sport fan so know nothing about this world.

Well that's me

Yes!! Sport washing! I'd never heard of it.

@Tigersonvaseline Yes, unfortunately I agree with you. I think you've asked me up the thread, sorry I have only got to it this morning.