To admit I have no idea wtf is going on with Russia and the

[Dustlandcinderella]

I follow the news and can see that There is a lot about Russia and the Ukraine. But I can’t quite figure out what is happening , what the background is, and what the truth is (bearing in mind in any war there is propaganda on each side).

Am I the only person who doesn’t actually understand what’s going on

If Putin is allowed to carve up Ukraine at will, what is to stop him doing the same to Finland, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Latvia etc etc

Utter sensationalistic rubbish, Putin does not have a military capable of overwhelming and then holding these countries, especially so as most of these are Nato countries.

Of course you can not ever allow tin pot dictators the opportunity to land grab at will! I am amazed this is not obvious or were you just joking? Hard to tell

So fine for us to invade Afghanistan & Iraq ? bomb Libya back to the stone age....

what exactly have we done about land grabs by China? or is that all ok because they make our Iphones?

hopefully he will have a change of heart

what is happening with Georgia?
has he had a change of heart there?

@Whammyyammy

Ukraine not part of NATO. UK not part of the EU Not our problem 🤷‍♂️

This is exactly how World War One and World War Two started when Germany started annexing neighbouring countries it was initially ignored, as it was "German" counties. If we don't stop this now it would be difficult to see where it could end.

Putin does not have a military capable of overwhelming and then holding these countries, especially so as most of these are Nato countries

Putin has a million strong army that is well funded, a population with no power whatsoever to stop him - backed by a bunch of cronies that literally quiver live on air when talking to him and nuclear weapons.

The bigger question is why wouldn't he want to take the rest?

Who the fuck does he think he is! Seriously the guy is a lunatic and a dangerous psychopath and yes we have seen this all before with Hitler.

It will end terribly for Russia, because the world is not going to stand idly by and let him continue. So it is on all of us to stand by Ukraine and be prepared for what comes next.

I am worried about World War III. I am already looking at my 14 year old DS and wondering if he’ll be conscripted at 18.

In order to avoid WW3 we need to be much stronger and stop him, he only responds to action and does not care about his own population becoming destitute with sanctions. He will only respect real solid opposition.

I never thought I would say this, but it is times like this when I wish we had Trump in the White House, he would not be standing for this nonsense and Putin recognises a fellow psychopath when he sees one.

Putin has a million strong army that is well funded, a population with no power whatsoever to stop him - backed by a bunch of cronies that literally quiver live on air when talking to him and nuclear weapons

You are just over egging the pudding & sensationalising Putin, there is no comparison with Hitler, who by 1939 had a standing army of almost 4m troops, excluding air and navy, with the most modern equipment too, far better than anything anyone else had.

Russia has an army of under 300k, the rest are navy/airforce, no where nr enough to go against the USA's infantry of 480,000 alone or hold territory.

On military spending, Russia spends a similar amount to the UK alone, according to the UK Govt, their economy is similar in size to Spain.

I never thought I would say this, but it is times like this when I wish we had Trump in the White House, he would not be standing for this nonsense and Putin recognises a fellow psychopath when he sees one

You sound like those WW1 generals who loved sending young men to die in their millions.

Keep as much as. trump should never ever have been allowed near power dd did point out trump was unstable and unpredictable just like Putin.i.dont think for one second Putin would be trying this on with trump.

How old is Putin!!

Well you can play his capability down alexandra but I don't think the rest of us will be! A million soldiers, ballistic missiles being trucked over the border as we speak. Yep, I don't think they are going for a tea party do you?

We ALL know his intentions, we are all aware of his goals to reunite the USSR 'statelets' back to the motherland. There is no interest in diplomacy or real solutions. He believes Ukraine was 'torn away' from Russia and it rightly belongs to Russia, despite 90% of citizens voting for indepedence when the USSR collapsed.

This is going to get very very ugly, and you can play down the 190,000 troops moving in across Ukraine, you can say its nothing - but we all know the truth. Yes if the US and EU finally have to wade in, it will be a very different story but lets hope the idiot finds a way to row back from his position before it is too late for him, and too late for Russia.

Alexandra , I didn't read the comments like that rather like my own.

Trump was so unstable and predictable that Putin would not have dared Risk this with him ie.

Would not have made this move.

No war.

I cringed during biden speech! It didn't make sense in many parts!

Putin is almost 70 - although some have said he is older than his 'official' age. He is apparently terrified of covid, so one can only hope of a massive outbreak in Moscow right now.

Keep I agree.

Ordinary Russians must be terrified

I think ordinary Russians must also be horrified, they are not stupid and will see the propaganda for what it is. They will know precisely what Putin is doing and are largely helpless to stop him.

I have Russian friends here in the UK and they are unsurprised by his actions. He does far worse to doctors/activists etc every day. People are regularly pushed out of windows or are involved in accidents because they express even the smallest dissent.

Care needs to be taken when simply comparing number of troops, size of armies etc, country by country….it can be very poor metric to use when you are trying to work out relative threats and capability.

For an invasion/incursion it’s generally thought you (and that’s a generic you) just need an overwhelming advantage in numbers at the point where you decide to use them, if you decide to use them…

And as an aside whilst many of the Russian troops are not well treated many units in the other bad news is that Russian forces are now often equipped with some very very capable and advanced equipment.

@Keepyourheadscrewedon Cool heads are required, not insane idiots like Trump or people comparing Putin to Hitler.

Hasn't Putin got a sex tape of Trump being pissed on?

190k are NOT troops moving across Ukraine, most are still in Russia, your talking rubbish again.

Where Ballistic missiles are positioned is irrelevant, they have ranges of 1000s of miles, though there is no evidence he has moved nuclear weapons into the Ukraine.

The EU isn't a military alliance, so i don't see why you think they are?

NATO has art 5, that will protect any NATO member threatened, which the USA/UK/France etc will honour, Putin knows this, which is why he is targeting Ukraine and not the Baltic states, which militarily would be a far easier prospect for Russia.

The UK needs to be acting on the Russian report, halting troop cuts and increasing defence spending, not least bring forward the Challenger 3 program.
Because though i disagree with your tone, i do agree that strength is what Putin understands but it has to be a two pronged approach, so diplomacy is vital, even at this late hour.

Cool heads? Do you not think that moment has truly passed?
There is nothing cool about Putin terrifying his ministers into agreeing with this action.
There is nothing cool about the potential loss of thousands of innocent lives - including children and babies.
There is nothing cool about starting a war in Europe.

Putin planned this invasion long ago, he has amassed the troops since May of last year, there is a clear and organised plan to carve up Ukraine bit by bit until they have taken over the country. The 'diplomacy' about NATO and the minsk agreement was just abit of light entertainment along the way for Putin. He enjoyed watching the leaders such as Macron clamouring to 'fix' it before ejecting their suggestions and solutions into obscurity publicly as he tore up the Minsk agreement.

Unfortunately Putin only responds to action and strength, so I strongly suspect that is whats going to need to happen to prevent the loss of millions of lives. We learnt a great deal from Hitler, the first and second time around, I doubt we will be making the same mistakes again.

Too many Cold War buzz words and cool phrases are being chucked into some of these posts and it’s probably frightening a few trying to follow this:

1. What ballistic misses are being trucked over what border?

1. The reality is many short range missiles are ballistic or have a ballistic element to their trajectory.

1. Most most importantly short range ballistic missiles being deployed, if they are, does not in any way shape or from inevitably equate with the deployment of nuclear weapons.

For example the Scud missiles used widely in the Gulf Conflict(s) and currently occasionally being chucked in the direction of Saudi Arabia are ballistic missiles…you wouldn’t want to be under one when it comes down but they are not nuclear weapons.

I know you don't like us comparing to Putin to Hitler for some reason, I would like to ask you what the differences are?

Putin has a thread of opportunity now to avoid that label. He has one last chance to stop now, and not be condemned to being another Hitler, but I somehow doubt he will take it, he has convinced himself he is taking back what is his, his rewriting of history gives us great insight into his thinking. He is not turning back and yes he just about to become a Russian Hitler, the world will hold him to account.

Does Putin want world war 3 or does he just want Ukraine? I don't find the comparisons to Hitler that helpful as he had a clear fascist ideology that he wanted to implement. I don't really know exactly what Putin wants.

We learnt a great deal from Hitler, the first and second time around, I doubt we will be making the same mistakes again

What did Hitler do twice? do you think he started WW1 as well?

Do you not know that the causes of WW1 and WW2 were completely different.

Its hard to debate with someone who has so little basic knowledge & seems to get their information from the 'express

This link will tell you all about the ballistic missiles being trucked into Ukraine, I read the full article this morning and it makes it very clear that the missiles now inside Ukraine can take out the captial:

www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/23/russian-military-hardware-war-torn-donbas-presents-ballistic/

No one has mentioned nuclear weapons on this thread so I am not sure if you have it mixed up with another. By whilst we talk about nuclear weapons this is something Putin has raised himself and is currently doing nuclear drills. Hardly encouraging.
Still, Alex thinks cool heads will prevail and a diplomatic solution will be found in a matter of hours/days so hopefully we will all sleep better knowing that despite the nuclear drills and ballistic missiles in the background.

Of course I know WW1 was started by Hitler and Germany declaring war on Russia but invading France

WW2 was started by Hitler by invading Poland.

Does this remind you of anyone in particular? Can you not see why people are making the comparison?

I am not sure why YOU don't know the basics.

Correction Hitler did not start WW1 just WW2. Germany was responsible for starting both wars.

Both world wars began by annexing and invading other European countries. Sound familiar? Or are you still claiming Putin is there for diplomatic reasons?

Or perhaps you are on a tea break finally alex?