Are we going to end up having a war.?

[sqiudgames]

All this going on - do I need to be worried about a war coming ? With Russia ?

@Notonthestairs

I suspect in order to control a country from outside you need a downtrodden frightened population - so you hit them and their services and armed forces. It's not enough to simply remove politicians. They need to be grateful for when the shelling stops and a puppet government installed and basic services resume.

Yes I'm appalled.

Yes you raise a valid point there.

I want to say I hope that bald bastard gets taken out in the conflict but it won't happen, just thousands of innocent lives lost.

Devastating.

@Dinosaurs1991

Very worrying developments indeed.

I'm not very politically aware so won't pretend I am, but one of the things that piss me off the most about these types of conflicts is how innocent civilians are always the first to lose their lives.

Russia are a powerful country with powerful military and an arsenal of technology. Why do they need to waltz in, balls swinging, and terrorise the civilians. Why can't they focus their grievance on the politicians/leaders themselves?

If Russia or anyone else for that matter decided they had a problem with the UK, they wouldn't be dropping bombs on no.10 downing street it would be some poor unsuspecting fuckers house / estate / shopping centre.

Why do they do that? Why can't they target the politicians/leaders and them only?

I agree, and we the civilians are so helpless.

If WW3 breaks out none of us will survive. We will all be nuked. The end.

If WW3 breaks out none of us will survive. We will all be nuked. The end

And Putin isn't stupid enough to do that, so it is all bluff and bluster about the nuclear element. We should not pay attention this his idle threats, and focus on helping Ukraine protect their country.

I have no doubt it would stop at Ukraine, Russia has been testing our defence systems, doing hacking tests to disrupt our access to the network for years.

But the biggest point is that Russia has positioned itself as the main gas provider for Europe (we are buying gas from Norway but… we have not much gas in storage as in the past or as any other countries as the tories dismantled most of it) so… the only thing Russia needs to do is turn the gas off for a couple of months and Europe will be on its knees, as well as us as the prices will go up.

And Putin isn't stupid enough to do that, so it is all bluff and bluster about the nuclear element

I don't know, he's getting on a bit. He might not care what happens after he's gone. Just wants his moment of "glory" now.

• If that was supposed to say do I think anybody has the technology to go to war and be that selective - yes.

Look how precise the American drone strikes were when targeting ISIS key figures.*

Apples and oranges…but the TV footage made it look easy.

Fundamentally ISIS didn’t have an Air Force or control of the air..

To selectively take out individual figures you need a lot of surveillance often over a long period of time and in the context of ISIS that has usually meant things like drones loitering possibly for hours on end over areas/buildings of interest.

The Russian Air Force is going not to let foreign a drone or drones loiter over Moscow for hours on end.

one of the things that piss me off the most about these types of conflicts is how innocent civilians are always the first to lose their lives

and how it's always male politicians causing it. Look at Germany after WW2 and Soviet soldiers raping every woman they could find - I wonder if we can trust Russian soldiers not to behave the same way in Ukraine?

Really interesting article about how this is part of a wider pattern of behaviour by Russia to block NATO expansion. They create conflicts so that countries can not control their own borders and are therefore disqualified from from joining NATO.

www.france24.com/en/europe/20220222-moldova-then-georgia-now-ukraine-how-russia-built-bridgeheads-into-post-soviet-space

Putin has calculated that there won't be a meaningful military response to his invasion and proceeded on that basis. He would be more apprehensive about invading a country that is a nato member.

@Girlmumdogmumboymum

Given that Boris has issued sanctions to Russia and sent arms to Ukraine, yeah I think our nose is firmly in there.

What, so you think we should do a Munich and leave the people of Ukraine to their fate ?.

@spaceman1

Putin has calculated that there won't be a meaningful military response to his invasion and proceeded on that basis. He would be more apprehensive about invading a country that is a nato member.

Yes some expert on the news said the same this morning. They said though that putin isn’t a gambler so they were surprised by his actions. They did however think this could mean he restrains himself to the eastern provinces. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Banks could cut off IT systems to Russia but will they?

@TheBigDilemma

I have no doubt it would stop at Ukraine, Russia has been testing our defence systems, doing hacking tests to disrupt our access to the network for years.

But the biggest point is that Russia has positioned itself as the main gas provider for Europe (we are buying gas from Norway but… we have not much gas in storage as in the past or as any other countries as the tories dismantled most of it) so… the only thing Russia needs to do is turn the gas off for a couple of months and Europe will be on its knees, as well as us as the prices will go up.

Yes. We need to divest from fossil fuels ASAP.

No. Russia does this with Ukraine regularly. IF and I mean a big fat if, America and France start fighting, then maybe we should worry slightly. Until then, definitely not. Look at Russia compared to Ukraine. If they really wanted to take over Ukraine, the wouldn't be firing warning shots, it would've been done years ago. The media are running with the story and doing what they do best, igniting fear into us all because it sells.

@Keepyourheadscrewedon

I think it needs to be much bigger than sanctions or anything else.

The reaction needs to be big, swift and unified. Sanctions are not going to work, so it is time for something much stronger I agree.

Your post is insane. What on earth do you think the consequences of "big, swift and uniformed" will be? You want all out war? With Russia and China?

Force will not work.

Sometimes who is right is not important, sometimes what matters is getting the right end result. And you won't get that with force.

@Joystir59 in the grand scheme of things, right now, no it won't. But the point is that language has been used for years to undermine the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine. Kiev is the Russian name for the capital, 'the' Ukraine a way of thinking about the country as a region in much the same way as we refer to 'the' Lake District. These things have been important to Ukrainians for years, and if we're not thinking about what's important to Ukrainians now then we're missing the point.
No need to go around calling people twats.

@spaceman1

Putin has calculated that there won't be a meaningful military response to his invasion and proceeded on that basis. He would be more apprehensive about invading a country that is a nato member.

I hope so.

@Keepyourheadscrewedon

If WW3 breaks out none of us will survive. We will all be nuked. The end

And Putin isn't stupid enough to do that, so it is all bluff and bluster about the nuclear element. We should not pay attention this his idle threats, and focus on helping Ukraine protect their country.

I think he may be mentally unwell. He could literally do anything

He needs 'taking out'

If we do get involved, it has to be on an "all-in" basis. The UK v Russia is absurd.

Yes he does need 'taking out' before he causes even more harm to the world. We have to learn lessons from the past.

Putin does not have support for this invasion, not from his own people nor even his inner circle if that recording is anything to go by. We stand some chance of meaningful peace, and a peace treaty without millions of lives being lost. We are 'at war' so anything goes now as far as I can see, including the removal of another dangerous dictator and liberate Russia at the same time.

I think to many people have been watching the likes of Jason Bourne and/or Homeland and as a result have some nice quaint ideas about “taking” somebody like Putin out…meanwhile in the real world:

Drones won’t do it - nice deep bunkers, Moscow/Russian Air Defence System.

One way mission, for that is what it would be, for SAS/SBS/Delta teams ? Good luck with that given the resources Putin will have surrounding him.

Other options: Best bet would be an inside job but even if you could “Take him out” right now what would be the popular response in Russia, and what would be the POV of his successor???

This will be resolved in Ukraine, and diplomacy if it gets a chance not by a hit job on the Kremlin, certainly not in the near future.

Surely the rich Russians don’t want this?