People in Britain who think they are governed by fools should take a closer look at the Russian and US presidents. Vladimir Putin is systematically ruining his country. His war of choice in Ukraine is an economic, financial, geopolitical and human calamity for Russia that worsens by the day. For his own murky reasons, Donald Trump, another national menace, offered him a lifeline last week. Yet Putin spurned it. These two fools deserve each other.
On the table in Moscow was a “peace” deal that, broadly speaking, rewarded Russia’s aggression by handing over large chunks of Ukrainian land, compromised Kyiv’s independence and weakened its defences against any future attack. The Trump deal, if forced through, would have split the US and Europe; ruptured Nato, perhaps fatally; reprieved Russia’s pariah economy; and probably toppled Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.
These are key Russian war aims. But Putin, suffering from neo-imperial fantasies and legacy issues, said “no”. He reckons he can get it all, and more, by fighting on. He has persuaded the idiot Trump that Russia’s victory is inevitable – and that scheming Europeans are the real warmongers. Yet his premise is fundamentally flawed. Hard facts confound him. Almost four years on, he’s still trapped in Donbas mud and ice. And at home, things fall apart.
Bullshit. They planned to conquer Kiev in 3 days. Here we are almost 4 years later. It’s surprising how weak they are.
And yet, there are pushing forward all over the front. Also take a look who is eager to strike a peace accord even when it comes at heavy price, and who is not interested in it at all.
They are legitimately moving slower than a snail’s pace, and Ukraine is even retaking territory in places. There’s no conceivable way this could be considered to be going well.
Yes, they’re pushing so much all over the front it will take 100 years to conquer Ukraine. Lol.
Lol, who? Donald Trump?
You do realize that the ground lost is most likely forever, unless something really bad happens to Russia which is highly unlikely, right? They don’t need to conquer entire Ukraine.
Hey Moron!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_of_Kherson?wprov=sfti1
They planned for Zelenskyy’s government to collapse. It didn’t. That doesn’t mean they’re unable to carry on the war indefinitely with a major advantage in manpower and war material.
They were already importing arillery shells, and they are out of Soviet reserves.
They won’t collapse, but they will drift even more into the Chinese sphere of influence, while they have already lost their own.
Point is, the West and China can keep Ukrainians and Russians killing each other as long as they don’t stop funding either side, which will then collapse pretty much immediately.
In any case, Russia is pretty much done as a world power, and the only two questions is whether the US and the EU will become independent world players after Trump, and when the killing will actually stop.
It’s a purely political question, because both China and the EU can keep this up forever.
If i was Xi I’d be invading Eastern Russia and annexing Siberia/Kamchatka/Vladivostok and seizing the oil reserves.
Why invade when they can colonise without invasion?
There is no point doing that as long as the Belt and Road takes over old Russian aligned states’ infrastructure and the kids of the Moscow elite start learning Mandarin, both of which is happening.
I expect when climate change melts the permafrost, the companies exploiting Siberia’s riches will be all Chinese. If Russia is luckier than most, they will at least employ Russians for the more menial jobs. As long as they can speak fluent Mandarin.
China wisely prefer s economic domination rather than military. And Russia’s still got nukes.
I don’t think it’s this simple. Russia is primarily relying on China as a buyer for its hydrocarbons. It has a large and developed military industrial complex. Ukraine has had to bootstrap its arms industry since the war started. Russia also imports artillery from North Korea. Europe has historically had a dearth of war material and industry, so Ukraine can’t just order a million shells from Germany or something, although maybe this is where we’re headed. Just because we don’t want Russia to win doesn’t mean they don’t have major military and economic advantages. Ukraine hasn’t gained any territory since the Kursk offensive, which was short lived, and they lose ground slowly every day. While I agree that this can go on indefinitely, I don’t think the sides are evenly matched.
They can’t and have neither. The soviet era equipment is a crumbling pile of junk and if they try to draft more soldiers Putin faces mutiny, something he absolutely doesn’t need right now. Russias economy is in shambles. After 4 years of war.
The best thing they can do is just pretend they are so strong that they can carry on in this war forever. So… just shut the fuck up.
Don’t be rude. We’ve been hearing of “crumbling Soviet equipment” and “Putin facing mutiny” for 4 years. It’s not unreasonable to be frustrated that though Russia has not advanced they also have not retreated and are continuing their war.
The evidence is there though.
What other developed military sends its troops to the front on motorbikes and camels?
Russia is sending its infantry into a grinder, on foot and on the back of animals.
The cupboard is bare, they just refuse to admit it
I’m not saying that Russia is a great military power - but they’ve been sufficiently powerful enough to maintain a position in Ukraine for longer than many people have said they should be able to.
You can laugh at their tactics, their weapons, their troops, etc. But they’re still there. So you might imagine it’s frustrating for people to hear “any day now - they’re gonna crack” without any sense that an actual tide has turned.
“They’re still there”.
Barely, in a country with a military that is tiny in comparison.
I agree, Ukraine might not have enough to remove them. But Russia with a population and military that was significantly larger is still unable to advance. They dont even have air superiority against an airforce that is at best 10% the size of the Russian one.
And yet, they are advancing. And while those tactics seems laughable, guess who is copying them. Yes, Ukraine is (haven’t yet heard of animals, though - but many others laughable tactics like nets over roads, wire cages on tanks and other vehicles, using motorbikes etc. Ukraine does, too)
They’re advancing by a few metres a day. And they’re losing ground in other places. I note how they havent dislodged Ukrainian troops in Kursk.
And yes, the russian tactics are laughable. A “mechanised” army using animals and civilian vehicles to transport troops to the front lines isn’t an army that is winning.
But they are advancing.
At the expense of at least a thousand men a day. And they’re advancing over fields, not through towns and certainly not through cities. What have they gained? A few km of empty land. That’s it.
So just a few more years to take Kiev? These tactics are brilliant, you’re right.
Yet we didn’t hear it from the beginning. In the beginning we saw the might of the second strongest military of the world ready to crush a smaller country in no time. 100 000s of troops, a fleet of battleships, fighter jets and tanks. We all remember this giant column of thousands and thousands of tanks on the way to Kiev. They’re were untouchable.
Where are they now? Where is the flagship of one of the worlds strongest militaries? Where are the men that first heralded the attack? Where are those untouchable tanks?
I’m generally rude to russian propagandists. What I can’t stand even less are useful idiots. What are you?
Technically the Moskva was the Black Sea Fleet flagship, not the overall flagship of the Russian Navy.
That’s the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov, which can’t even move under its own power, and its air complement couldn’t be replenished since the 80s.
I know, but I thought the details confuse him even more.
No - you’re just an asshole.
And you’re a coward, since you didn’t answered my questions.
This comment strikes me as incredibly out of touch and full of straw men. Nobody was impressed with the Russian military in 2022. That’s why they’ve been waging a hybrid war since before they annexed Crimea. Their economy is the size of Italy’s. Ukraine has a lot of land area for a power like that to conquer, and so it’s been adrawn-out war of attrition and slow gains. You’re asking where they are? Mostly the same place that they started, with half a million casualties and an occupied pile of rubble.
The useful idiots are the people who drag this conflict out, thinking that one side can win. We need a cease fire, the map has to be redrawn, and security guarantees need to be made to both sides regarding the region. Instead we’ll get another half million dead and a frozen conflict in the middle of the most fertile land in Europe. In the meantime we’ll keep hearing about how another 20 F-16s will turn the tide and Putin’s government is on the verge of collapse. And everyone who points out how absurd that is gets called a Russian propagandist.
Oh look, another one. Funny, I think your comment is fundamentally dishonest and contradictory.
That are many words for just saying Ukraine should surrender.
If you‘re so concerned about the people, maybe you should ask your dear leader to stop the war of aggression?
Do you hear yourself? What do you get out of this?
A world with one less dictator.