Well thanks. It certainly cheered me up and I really want to believe it. And if it is propaganda then it’s fairly sophisticated in the way it cross-matches with other pictures and info that have been cropping up. Kind of plausible that a kleptocracy supplies its troops with rubbish gear, not least because it arrogantly assumes it will win.
True, there’s a real flavor of of course the mugger is to blame for the violence, but if the West didn’t want to get mugged, they should not have been walking in that neighborhood after dark.
The current Kharkiv footage is incredibly grim.
Guap
4922
Why would the Ukraine negotiate with a self proclaimed leader of a self proclaimed nation? That gives an illegitmate government legitimacy. The negotiations should be with the seperatist forces. Who in Kyiv cares what Putin’s opinion is of who they should negotiate with? It’s their country. The point of these negotiations is to stop the violence, not recognize them.
Sorry, I felt that the question required a longer reply and didn’t want to go into details. I’m not sure what you mean by “territorial ambitions”. Do I think that Russia is going to annex any territories from its neighbors? I don’t think so. Do I think that NATO should consider this as a possibility? Absolutely, and they already do so. I think that the most likely scenario of Russia sending its troops outside would be “under the pretense of defending Russian-speaking minority”, and the most likely place, in my opinion, would be Kazakhstan, not Eastern Europe. It’s not a “chill out, nothing to worry about” message. It’s “the situation around Ukraine was boiling for years, and the invasion, while unexpected to many, is not a game changer”. My 2 cents.
Guap
4924
The Ukrainian citizens of Crimea may disagree with this.
Very true, I meant it more conceptually. Of course the act of moving around huge amounts of a good or currency directly influences the price, too.
I’m sure this has been talked about elsewhere (probably in this thread, too) but I gotta wonder how BTC looks to the Russians these days (both ordinary people and their central bankers).
So what people among the separatist forces did Ukraine have talks with?
All these analogies are terrible so far.
To me it’s more like a junkyard dog that’s already strung out, and every now and then you walk by to poke it with a stick, or move near its food bowl, or take its favorite blanket. Then the dog bites you.
Sure, it’s the dog’s fault. But you’re supposed to be the level-headed responsible one.
Of course Putin is a murderous savage. What is the course of action we could have done – and more importantly, can do now – to best manage the situation? And even more importantly, will we find it with the current level of discourse? A decade or three ago, there was a greater range of allowable options within the debate.
I’m not getting my hopes up, but I’m still confident it won’t be full-blown nuclear war at least. So I’ll let everybody do their thing on this one.
Do you mean any more territories, excluding those they’ve already annexed in Ukraine and Georgia?
Honestly, I’m not sure there is much for us to talk about. Peace.
There might be something to it:
Guap
4930
The wikipedia article we are referencing says that there have been 29 ceasefires negotiated since 2014. Ceasefires don’t happen accidentally, they exist because two sides sit down and talk. I don’t know what front line commanders the UKR has negotiated with, but clearly they have engaged them in dialog in order to negotiate. Can we agree on that?
Other OSINT account less sure:
He ain’t listening amigo.
What Putin does doesn’t look a crisis resolution to me. He escalated the crisis, not resolved it. What I’m saying is that for every problem there is a solution that is simple, neat—and wrong. It’s not my original thought, but I don’t know to whom it should be attributed.
“This maxim has been attributed at various times to Mark Twain, H. L. Mencken, and Peter Drucker as a wake-up call to managers who mistakenly think that making a change in just one part of a complex problem will cure the ails of an entire system.”
There Is Always a Well-Known Solution to Every Human Problem—Neat, Plausible, and Wrong – Quote Investigator.
After seeing those munitions in Kharkiv I’m beginning to think much less logically about no-fly zones and declarations of war. That is simply the most barbaric thing I’ve seen ever (and obviously there have been a number of very barbaric things we’ve seen in our lives via the media).
It’s Scotty!
“I canna give ya more territory, Gaspadyín Prezidyént!”
:-D
