There has been clear evidence of massive Russian and American cyber warfare in recent weeks or at least the preparation for it, they have been signing up to silly little forums like this one on both sides over and over and over probably to recruit some small amount of computing power to back their Denial of Service Bot armies, they can't compromise the site but they act like they must get something out of it or they would not be so persistent, it's not obvious what they get from using us and doubtless thousands of other sites but there has been a strong pattern of escalation this last 3 months in junk sign-ups. I spend a lot of time deleting users and I'm sure Dom and Rob are deleting loads of them as well every day.
Propaganda perhaps? Russia may want as many online sites/forums as possible to be able to exert influence?
Vladimir Putin, wanting to get on the good side of voters, goes to visit a school in Moscow to have a chat with the kids. He talks to them about how Russia is a powerful nation and how he wants the best for the people. At the end of the talk, there is an opportunity for questions. Little Sasha puts her hand up and says "I have two questions - Why did the Russians take Crimea? And why are we sending troops to Ukraine? "Putin says "Good questions," but just as he is about to answer, the bell goes off and the kids go to lunch. When they return to class, the kids sit back down and there is an opportunity for some more questions. Another young girl, Misha, puts her hand up and says "I have four questions. My Questions are - Why did the Russians invade Crimea? Why are we sending troops to Ukraine? Why did the bell for lunch go off 20 minutes early? and where is Sasha?"
In a way i hope your right..to avoid further deaths. But i think it will drag out to a long bloody mess. Putin cant back off.
I think you're right, could go on for weeks if not months. Then who's next country going to be under Russian's power?
There's a chance that he will just take over the eastern part of Ukraine to encompass the Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine and the bridgehead to Crimea.
This is the process of normalisation of a type of behaviour, Putin's done this so now it's ok for others to do this, we need to be worried about Taiwan next, at least China abstained in the UN vote had they openly taken Putin's side Taiwan would be about to happen soon but I think China has been taking a longer view they want to do this kind of thing but only once they are certain it will be straightforward and successful. The entire world is reliant on electronics manufacturing that is going on in Taiwan. This whole thing is not going to be contained.
Putin does not just want Ukraine, his ego wants his place in history even if there is no more history, he's another narcissistic Nero the scary thing is that unlike Trump who was and is little more than a dumb crime boss willing to burn down democracy for his own personal gain, Putin is highly intelligent and is embarking on this in a cold calculated fashion but it's still all about him. Putin is getting older he's not facing any obvious pressures in his own country, he personally could likely not crave any more personal wealth, he's not motivated by the things that concern the rest of us, security having a bit of luxury and peace in our lives, and like all of us getting older he can see more time behind him and less time ahead, I think he's at the point where he's like a solipsist he only believes he exists, so he's happy to embark on any insane path at the expense of the entire planet, another freaking insane Nero happy to sit there and watch the world burn down around him.
From Wiki: Kievan Rus' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27 The history goes back to the late 9th century. I have a feeling that regaining parts of Ukraine for Russia is what Putin wants. I was reading about "The Great Gates Of Kiev" (now Kyiv that is under attack in Ukraine) in the "Pictures Of An Exhibition" written by Modest Mussorgsky, who was a Russian. The history of Ukraine and Russia goes back more than 1,100 years At that time, England was being invaded by the Vikings.
In terms of immediate impact for members of this forum, almost all routes from the UK via Europe to the Philippines intersect Ukraine and or Russia, only the middle east carriers can skirt those regions flying around the south, that's going to bring direct misery to many on here including myself. British airways might be banned already but I would expect almost all European airlines to be excluded from Russian airspace for the foreseeable future.
Protests across the world in photos : https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/26/world/gallery/ukraine-protests-global/index.html
Well, replying to myself, here we go, there is no world line that you can draw from any point in western Europe to the Philippines that does not intersect Russia and Ukraine apart from the southern end of Greece, or Sicily or Malta, Turkish airlines could be a possibility with a transit in Ankara. Some worldlines from Europe can avoid Russia if they transit in Singapore but that is mostly routes from Southern France, Spain and Italy. The west will effectively be cut off from the Far East apart from via the Gulf states.
