“Insensitive” am I ?
Well let’s at least get some of the facts right please !
(Link is Green Writing)
Woah, Exxon is withdrawing from Russia. Apple suspending all product sales in Russia. Volvo and sister companies are also leaving.
This will only get worse for Russia.
It was an interesting video and I am sure a lot of what he says, especially at the beginning is correct. But it is always worth remembering the famous saying that:
“the first casualty in any war is truth”
Whilst it is almost certain that Russia’s ambition is to install a puppet regime in the region and create a joint buffer with Belarus, (just a look at a map of Europe shows the geopolitical benefit of that), it is no longer true that Russia is not also attacking civilian and infrastructure.
He also suggests that Russia does not want to turn the Ukraine nation against them by attacking civilian targets. But I don’t think there is a great nation love of Russia even before this all started. The Ukraine government is not dictating in which direction the hoards of refugees should go, and where are they heading? Towards the West or towards “mother Russia”?
It is all very well criticising the Ukrainian authorities for arming the populace against Russian soldiers - but those Russian soldiers should not be there in the first place. But I think it is stretching the “truth” a bit far to suggest that the Ukraine government is evil and “wants” to sacrifice its own people by arming them. Any government has the right and obligation to protect its population against a foreign intruder and that is what they are doing.
During the second World War the “dad’s army” in the UK was armed and trained in the same makeshift way - but no one, I think, accused the UK government of deliberately trying to get these people killed by the Germans if they invaded.
Truth has many faces nowadays. But I think the main need now is to look beyond the current local crisis in Ukraine and visualise what kind of world we will have once this crisis is settled - which will no doubt happen in the next few weeks.
Whilst the Ukraine situation will be settled soon one way or another, will the world ever be able to trust anything that Russia says again? How can anyone “negotiate” or deal with a partner that says one thing with one hand whilst simultaneously stabbing you in the back with the other?
If that is the result then in what manner will the globe function from now on? I am concerned that the answer is “not very well”.
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The west will in time revert to trade, travel and cultural relations with Russia. But these will be at a price which reflects the increased risk arising from Russian political/diplomatic unpredictability.
Leftists will in the meantime, after the war, criticise Russia’s isolation and suggest that it raises the probability of further war, while sanctions hit the poorest of the Russian population harder than the richest. The same groups will portray the restoration of trade links with Russia as immoral.
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I would agree with that as very likely if the Ukraine intervention is a one-off isolated objective for Russia. But there are serious arguments that Ukraine is only one more step in a long term ambition to reinstate Russia’s dominance. If the latter is the case then the sanctions will continue and even increase - and maybe even reaching a point of military showdown with NATO.
This is the whole point here. Nothing is as it was before and it is not possible to assume that a return to “normality” will follow historic precedents. It is indeed significant what Russia is not saying at present as well as what is being said and done… confusion and uncertainty instead of clarity and reassurance.
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Indeed. Its very possible we won’t revert to the historical status quo, but I still think historic divers will remain powerful forces. A logical early next move by the EU (by the EU’s own logic) would be an invitation to Russia to join the EU, with the Ukrainian application for membership tied to this as a road-map towards peace in the region.
Interesting proposal!!! And with Mr Putin as the next EU President! Wow, now that would really stretch everyone’s imagination! 
Anything and everything is possible…
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So - is your experience of shooting - with rifle or shotgun !
Conscription, or drafting, requires no previous military experience. Why then should voluntary enrollment of people/patriots wanting to serve their own country against an unwelcome aggressor be any different? It’s kind of a weird slant on that to accuse the Ukraine government of wanting to kill their own kin!
Thats what I thought - Learning to shoot takes a lot of time, instruction and practice - and dishing out AK47s to all and sundry does nothing except make those carrying them TARGETS !
Actually that is not true as you clearly don’t understand. My personal military service training is irrelevant to this thread, but learning to handle an AK47 is not actually very complex at all. Street fighting is, however, a very different issue and that certainly does require more than just a weapon and ammunition.
Wherever you look in the world, wherever there is conflict, there are also civilian fighters. That is the unfortunate norm. Of course it results in heavy casualties, but to infer that a government is somehow encouraging such losses as a direct policy is an incredible insult to those who are willing and ready to try and defend their families and relatives and home land.
Russia is also now clearly hitting non-military targets like university and government buildings and residential areas.
I understand that there is another negotiation meeting tonight, with little expectation of significant results, and, as expected, there has been a big escalation in attacks from Russia preceding these talks.
Actually I shoot both rifle AND shotgun rather well - and it IS true !
Good for you! Have you actually pointed them at another person with a readiness to pull the trigger? Maybe you have.
I am sure those in Ukraine taking up these weapons are also ready to actually pull the trigger. Although there clearly are signs of reluctance on both sides, as mentioned in that video. Wars are always horrendous affairs with untold amounts of human tragedies on all sides, but maybe none are as sad as civil wars, and I get the feeling many Russian/Ukrainians feel a kindredness that makes this situation even worse.
Whatever the motives behind arming civilians/patriots/homeguards, the existence of such hand-to-hand warfare is abominable. But for many there is no choice - even if handling a weapon is a challenge in itself.
On the other hand, is it any worse than the use of thermobaric bombs, cluster bombs, and carpet bombing of complete towns - all of which are now predicted to be in the next Russian tactics…
Our masters are Very good with the “Predictions!” - Note Covid and Global Warming - and when the “predictions” fail to materialise - well they just come up with new (and usually more horrific ) Predictions !
Fools believe “Predictions” - especially “Predictions” from those with a vested interest 
[Edit - Remember "Weapons of mass destruction "? ]
And some some fools ignore them.
Ultimately, how one responds to predictions depends on the seriousness of the outcome if it happens - which, of course, some predictions do. I am sure there are many Russians now who wish they had converted their roubles into USD when this all started.
Predictions cover many things, whether one should take an umbrella when one goes out for a walk, whether one should invest in this or that company, whether one should sell or buy a property now or later, whether a country should join NATO or remain neutral, whether I should vote conservative or labour.
Most decisions in our lives are based on predictions and expectations of where things are going. Some are routine and some are major. But others even represent major crossroads. Brexit is maybe a good example of many predictions, some proved correct, some didn’t. Some predictions were deliberately misleading, others were genuine but other unknowns entered the equation - and others are still open cases.
One has always, ultimately, got to hang one’s hat on a belief structure, otherwise life just stagnates. All we can ever do is research as much as is possible and make our decision. There is always a risk and a probability, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t - but that is life, one just has to get used to it and move on.
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Actually I wrote ;
But I hear your “belief” system ;
I suppose if you believe "one side is good - one side is evil"
Ultimately I cannot change your mind by discussion - so if you have an overwhelming need to “Change stuff” - at any cost,
I’ll leave you and your certainties to comfort each other for now
Putin is using our own weakness against us !
Hopefully a product of this action will be to bring the West to it’s senses !
Links are green writing
"Boris Under Pressure To BACK Mogg’s Proposal - YouTube
"2) Italy Set To REOPEN Coal Plants - YouTube
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Why should you even feel the need to???
You believe in your opinions and others believe in other opinions. That is why people discuss things.
Or maybe you are just claiming absolute ownership of the “absolute truth” and that everyone has to just accept your truth? That, Mr Falstaff, is dictatorship - just like Mr Putin. 
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The Russians and the Ukrainians are going to be negotiating again tomorrow. I really hope some agreement is reached and this horror stops.
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Absolutely! But there does not seem to be much chance of an agreement yet. Russia’s demands are too much and virtually amount to a total (power) surrender rather than a peace agreement.
It seems Russia wants to turn Ukraine into another puppet regime just like its northern neighbour, Belarus.
But this is now becoming such a horrendous humanitarian disaster, the likes of which Europe never believed it would see again. The targetting of civilian areas and, even worse, locations where lots of civilians are located, such as railway stations, is beyond anyone’s definition of acceptable war damage.
It is good to see the ICC starting investigations into possible war crimes, but that is a long term process and does not help those suffering right now.
It is becoming harder and harder for the rest of Europe to just stand by and not physically interfere. But the real and credible risk of escalation into a full-blown European war is just too high. All other means of deterrent have to be tried first. We have tried diplomacy and we have tried economic pressures - where do we turn to next…
But one thing is certain, we will not forget, we will not forgive. This simply is not the way the civilised world acts and no one is going to accept being sucked into this same regime.
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