Stive Pesley

The casualties of war
Now the meerkats have been cancelled
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/28/comparethemarket-meerkat-ads-tv-ukraine-russian-aleksandr-orlov

Not all bad then?......

Personally I've enjoyed the spectacle of grown-men idolising a pensioner who spends most of his time looking like  he's trying to poo in a bucket

I'm not arguing against the notion that Moscow can be a pleasant place to live if you have enough money and you keep any divergent political views to yourself.  I'm not having a go at Russia the place, or the Russian people in general.  I'm criticizing Putin and the state  he maintains.
There is other data to look at to get a grasp on what sort of country Putin rules over.  There is the Reporters without Borders World Press Freedom Index which lists Russia 150th out of 180 countries....where it is revealingly surrounded by other countries ruled by dictators.
https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table
There is the  Democracy Index which gives Russia an overall score of 3.24 in 2021, which earns it the classification of 'Authoritarian Regime'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
Or there is the Human Freedom Index where Russia ranks 115th in the world...far behind any European country, even Belarus which is a country clearly run by a dictator.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/freest-countries

Yeah,on paper it might.
If you were Ukraine would you want to de-militerize after this?
Also, what would this neautality actually consist of?
What if, democratically, Ukraine rejects neautality?
How can self determination, as long as you don't determine something the big bear next door doesn't like, be self determination?
And, how much do we expect Russia to respect that neautality anyway?
 

I'm a firm believer in self-determination for nation states - via democracy. Although we've seen how divisive it can be when the results are close (Brexit and Scottish Indyref)
I've seen some commentators saying that the only logical workable conclusion is for Ukraine to remain an independent, but crucially agree to be a neutral state. That would satisfy both sides (on paper) 
 

I had an email from sergei@russiaFSB.ru saying he would put polonium on my knob if I didn’t vote leave.

Think your judgment in wanting to own roubles is misguided 

Brexit has been a contributing factor, not to suggest it was good, bad or otherwise but the with-held Russia Report does appear to suggest interference in the process by Russia. They did this to destabilise and weaken the UK, placing them in a compromised position to resist current events. Liz Truss pictured at 'ladies night' with Theresa May and the wife of a Russian oligarch with direct links to Putin, they took their 30 pieces of silver and are now challenged in how they can react (note the ridiculous first level of sanctions). The pandemic accelerated the weakening of all Western powers, including the US, and the timing has been set for Putin to act in a way that probably even he couldn't have imagined.
i agree with your point on the West being warned and choosing to ignore the warnings. Again, Putin's length of time in role has allowed him to maneouvre his pieces with a far more long term view than most Western powers.

In some ways it was win-win for Putin once we voted Brexit - it would either destabilise our economy and weaken a major European country, or it would go OK and therefore encourage the people of other EU countries to consider the same path, thereby beginning the collapse of the EU
 

Same here. One of my favourite cities on earth is Dubrovnik, and when I watch the 90s news footage of the siege, and see it being shelled, up until now I always thought I'd never see that again in Europe.
I doubt any of us would be surprised, given what we know of the US history of interfering in foreign countries
But by the same token - now Putin has gone "full tonto", I'm far less inclined to dismiss the reports of Russian interference in the UK elections and referendums. He's now proven that he had very good reason to take whatever measure he could to destabilise European countries

Same here. One of my favourite cities on earth is Dubrovnik, and when I watch the 90s news footage of the siege, and see it being shelled, up until now I always thought I'd never see that again in Europe.
I doubt any of us would be surprised, given what we know of the US history of interfering in foreign countries
But by the same token - now Putin has gone "full tonto", I'm far less inclined to dismiss the reports of Russian interference in the UK elections and referendums. He's now proven that he had very good reason to take whatever measure he could to destabilise European countries

Same here. One of my favourite cities on earth is Dubrovnik, and when I watch the 90s news footage of the siege, and see it being shelled, up until now I always thought I'd never see that again in Europe.
I doubt any of us would be surprised, given what we know of the US history of interfering in foreign countries
But by the same token - now Putin has gone "full tonto", I'm far less inclined to dismiss the reports of Russian interference in the UK elections and referendums. He's now proven that he had very good reason to take whatever measure he could to destabilise European countries

In some ways it was win-win for Putin once we voted Brexit - it would either destabilise our economy and weaken a major European country, or it would go OK and therefore encourage the people of other EU countries to consider the same path, thereby beginning the collapse of the EU
 

The Ruble looks to be collapsing this morning - this is bad news for the Russian people
I'm not sure I like the idea of Putin being cornered like this. I don't see him being the 'surrender' type
 

I have no doubt that Russia interfered in the election of Trump and Brexit, it is a tactic of modern 'warfare' on all sides. I guess my point was that it is on all sides. Indeed, while we are not the power we once were in all this you'd have to say that Johnson and his crew are mortally comprimised in all of this wrt the Russia report, party funding and other elements.
One of the clear benefits of having leaders in power for a very long time (Russia, China) is that they are able to execute long term plans - I'm not saying Russia intended to invade Ukraine in 2015 but Brexit was a more destabilising impact on the British economy (even the most fervent Brexiteers can see this) than almost any armed conflict would do. Strangely, if Trump was in power now we probably wouldn't have got to this as he had a relation with Putin that could have at least have allowed for discussion.

As an aside, I do believe the root cause of a lot of what became of Russia and former Soviet republics lies in how the end of communist rule was handled by the international community and the succession governments.
Ordinary people suffered under communism continued to suffer and riches and power went to those who had the will and the means to take it by any means they could.

The Ruble looks to be collapsing this morning - this is bad news for the Russian people
I'm not sure I like the idea of Putin being cornered like this. I don't see him being the 'surrender' type
 

The Ruble looks to be collapsing this morning - this is bad news for the Russian people
I'm not sure I like the idea of Putin being cornered like this. I don't see him being the 'surrender' type
 

Same here. One of my favourite cities on earth is Dubrovnik, and when I watch the 90s news footage of the siege, and see it being shelled, up until now I always thought I'd never see that again in Europe.
I doubt any of us would be surprised, given what we know of the US history of interfering in foreign countries
But by the same token - now Putin has gone "full tonto", I'm far less inclined to dismiss the reports of Russian interference in the UK elections and referendums. He's now proven that he had very good reason to take whatever measure he could to destabilise European countries

Same here. One of my favourite cities on earth is Dubrovnik, and when I watch the 90s news footage of the siege, and see it being shelled, up until now I always thought I'd never see that again in Europe.
I doubt any of us would be surprised, given what we know of the US history of interfering in foreign countries
But by the same token - now Putin has gone "full tonto", I'm far less inclined to dismiss the reports of Russian interference in the UK elections and referendums. He's now proven that he had very good reason to take whatever measure he could to destabilise European countries

A few things:
Putin's public annoucement he's put nukes on high alert - it's a bluff, and it's because he's losing. The ultimate "I'll set my dad on you"
Resistance from Ukraine has been awe inspiring.
Yes we can debate how well "the west" has responded, but it has been largely united and effective.
We can debate to an extent how we got here, but I'm not havin any of the "brought it on ourselves by not being nice to Russia who just wanted all it's former soviet republics to have pro-russian puppet governments"
This war is far more than i expected, i honestly thought he'd just annex two more of Ukraine's provinces (and that the west would let him). Putin might still get a ceasefire that gives him the 2 provinces, but to end with that after his rhetoric would be a massive defeat.
Having failed in their initial offensives, this could last a long time, and be very ugly. There is going to be a lot of suffering. Putin must be defeated. To not do so after this would be unthinkable. This is not an attack on territory, or about a regeme change. This is an attack on democracy, self determination, freedom and we have a duty to fight against that.
There are ways we can help Ukraine, humaintarian efforts or donations.
Glory to Ukraine.
 

One of the problems the western media have is that if they paint a broader balanced picture  - then they would have to offer a counter argument - and , by definition, that would have them appear to be justifying the hostile invasion of Ukraine and the needless slaughter and destruction that war brings
The media on both sides should just be pleading for diplomacy and begging for an end to war. It doesn't actually matter who is wrong or right. No one ever went to war and killed another man because they believed themselves to be the baddies

One of the problems the western media have is that if they paint a broader balanced picture  - then they would have to offer a counter argument - and , by definition, that would have them appear to be justifying the hostile invasion of Ukraine and the needless slaughter and destruction that war brings
The media on both sides should just be pleading for diplomacy and begging for an end to war. It doesn't actually matter who is wrong or right. No one ever went to war and killed another man because they believed themselves to be the baddies

One of the problems the western media have is that if they paint a broader balanced picture  - then they would have to offer a counter argument - and , by definition, that would have them appear to be justifying the hostile invasion of Ukraine and the needless slaughter and destruction that war brings
The media on both sides should just be pleading for diplomacy and begging for an end to war. It doesn't actually matter who is wrong or right. No one ever went to war and killed another man because they believed themselves to be the baddies