US has no good options in Ukraine

[Anonymous]

Is this the beginning of the end for Putin?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I hope this crisis, the Ukrainian’s will to fight, and much of the world’s solidarity with them is a turning point in America against Trump and his supporters. I hope that Americans now understand that given another chance, Trump would be another Putin and his followers would be his henchmen. If America doesn’t want that, we need to stand up now against these evil monsters!

How is this episode demonstrating that Trump would be another Putin? Trump wasn't really expansionist.

Heck, there were no new wars under Trump. There was a pretty strong peace process in the Middle East. I'm not sure why Trump is even
mentioned in this thread.

Clearly Putin read Biden is weak.

Just the opposite. Putin saw NATO gaining strength with Biden in office and panicked, so he rushed into this Ukraine invasion to try to intimidate r we everyone else into falling back in line.

Putin was also able to make a deal with Lukashenko. Being able to invade from Belarus, which is only a 2-hour drive from Kyiv, changed his calculation.

Putin thought this would be easy - that the Ukrainians would quickly capitulate as soon as the Russians were on Kyiv's doorstep, and he could install his puppet.

He had better luck in the US in 2016.

[Anonymous]

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Speaking of DWTS I’ve been following Maksim Chmerkovskly’s Instagram account since Thursday and IMO it’s pretty incredible. He’s stuck in central Kyiv at a hotel and I believe was supposed to fly out Thursday but then the war started. He posts regularly.

The importance of social media from him and from anyone else in Ukraine has never been seen before during a war conflict. The entire world can see, every person with a phone becomes a journalist.

I haven't seen that social media but the UK should shut down the London Laundromat for Putin cronies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/26/roman-abramovich-russia-sanctions/

Lots of fine stuff and money to add to UK and USA assets. Meanwhile a brewery in the Ukraine has a special edition product for sale https://www.pravda.beer/en/pravda/ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224940967928849&set=a.10211702079244906

A prior regime, the USSR, ran into major difficulty after hiding Chernobyl and a hideous 10 years in Afghanistan. Putin sent his own troops into Belarus through and into the Cherobyl exclusion zone.

Meanwhile under new NYC voting laws, will the G visa types in the Russian UN goon squad get to vote in local elections?

Good question.

And their children born here are automatically US citizens.

Are they? I know the regular diplomat kids born here are not automatically citizens. That is about the only person who is not automatically a citizen born here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Are they? I know the regular diplomat kids born here are not automatically citizens. That is about the only person who is not automatically a citizen born here.

My understanding is that while technically diplomat children are exempt, this is a gray area that is difficult to enforce. Basically as long as you don’t come to the hospital in a t-shirt that says “I am a foreign diplomat” the folks who process the birth certificate won’t know, and a SSN is issued automatically. Also there are a lot of adjacent professions at the embassies. See Vasily Strelnikov as an example.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would an acceptable, face-saving exit even look like for Putin?

Unfortunately there isn’t one. Means that a whole country has no future now. I know it can’t be compared to what Ukraine is going through but I also feel sad for the kids of Russia who have been deprived of their future.

This is what I am fearing. On CNN, they just said he will not take a loss and may resort to more violent/destructive means. Things may get ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Are they? I know the regular diplomat kids born here are not automatically citizens. That is about the only person who is not automatically a citizen born here.

My understanding is that while technically diplomat children are exempt, this is a gray area that is difficult to enforce. Basically as long as you don’t come to the hospital in a t-shirt that says “I am a foreign diplomat” the folks who process the birth certificate won’t know, and a SSN is issued automatically. Also there are a lot of adjacent professions at the embassies. See Vasily Strelnikov as an example.

Yes, exactly, and their staffers, drivers, etc all make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Are they? I know the regular diplomat kids born here are not automatically citizens. That is about the only person who is not automatically a citizen born here.

My understanding is that while technically diplomat children are exempt, this is a gray area that is difficult to enforce. Basically as long as you don’t come to the hospital in a t-shirt that says “I am a foreign diplomat” the folks who process the birth certificate won’t know, and a SSN is issued automatically. Also there are a lot of adjacent professions at the embassies. See Vasily Strelnikov as an example.

Yes, exactly, and their staffers, drivers, etc all make it happen.

Doesn’t even have to be “made to happen” - I personally know an ex Soviet diplomat family who had no idea their child had been issued a SSN and was a citizen till they came to visit the US more than a decade later and the border guards asked why they didn’t say that they had a citizen with them. It was a potential career issue for the father and it was a big family secret for many years till long after the collapse of the USSR.

[Anonymous]

Putin has put Russian nuclear forces on alert.

*Gulp*

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Honestly, explain to me how come no country ever sanctioned the U.S. when you bombed Serbia without NATO approval? Instead, Serbia was under sanctions? Or when the U.S. invaded Iraq? Or Afghanistan?
Bcs the U.S. holed the power in the world, politically, economically and militarily.
But, when Russia does it, oh, no? They are bad!

Russia is a shithole of a country and a bad actor on the global stage. It’s got a monstrous inferiority complex and always resorts to stirring up diplomatic BS just to attract attention and remind the world it exists.

Ok, and the U.S. is a great nation with millions of people living in poverty and in tents? And the U.S. is not full of BS?

US is ripe for criticism, for sure, but that doesn't mean Russia's murdering of innocent civilians isn't bad.

The U.S. kills innocent civilians all the time. Are you not aware of that?

I just said they're ripe for criticism, so yes, I'm clearly aware of that. But the US doesn't target innocent civilians. Innocent Ukrainian civlians are being targeted by Russia. You're trying to excuse it by saying the U.S. does the same thing, when it does not. Ylu are telling a reprehensible lie.

The truth is that admitting to what I am saying is not just embarrassing to you, it is also painful. You do not want to see the truth of your country BCS your identity and pride are directly tied to how you perceive your country. To admit that the U.S. is just as brutal and kills just as many if not more civilians, over the course of the years and in present, would tear down the very fabric of who you believe you are. It would tear you down.
You will not get any of what I wrote, you do not have the capacity to understand it, nor the education to get it. But, some pp here will get it and they know I am telling the truth. You find ways to omit from your consciousness some truths that are too painful to acknowledge. People like you are the very product of the nation's indoctrination and necessary to create the fighting force that will willingly die, for some nebulous higher purpose, such as "my country is good and the country they want me to fight is bad."

What country are you from?

Why does it matter. The statement's idiocy shines through on their own. Let's not associate this one person's extreme views with an entire nation.

Every "I am so smart person" thinks he/she is smart as can be. You know everything there is to know, I am an idiot saying idiocies. You have no idea how to even contemplate a differing opinion. A true sign of every stupid person is that he/she knows she is smart and knows everything. Hence your "brilliant" tearing down of my post, no intellectual knowledge backed debate from you, nope, I am stupid and a troll bcs you are smart and know everything.

Nothing wrong with different vantage points; even if you disagree with them. American ignorance and/or bias can be strong and lead to very shallow understandings of otherwise complex situations. Not saying that anyone would arrive at a different opinion, but a lot of analysis in this thread is shallow, with clear inflections of corporate media propaganda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Honestly, explain to me how come no country ever sanctioned the U.S. when you bombed Serbia without NATO approval? Instead, Serbia was under sanctions? Or when the U.S. invaded Iraq? Or Afghanistan?
Bcs the U.S. holed the power in the world, politically, economically and militarily.
But, when Russia does it, oh, no? They are bad!

Russia is a shithole of a country and a bad actor on the global stage. It’s got a monstrous inferiority complex and always resorts to stirring up diplomatic BS just to attract attention and remind the world it exists.

Ok, and the U.S. is a great nation with millions of people living in poverty and in tents? And the U.S. is not full of BS?

US is ripe for criticism, for sure, but that doesn't mean Russia's murdering of innocent civilians isn't bad.

The U.S. kills innocent civilians all the time. Are you not aware of that?

I just said they're ripe for criticism, so yes, I'm clearly aware of that. But the US doesn't target innocent civilians. Innocent Ukrainian civlians are being targeted by Russia. You're trying to excuse it by saying the U.S. does the same thing, when it does not. Ylu are telling a reprehensible lie.

The truth is that admitting to what I am saying is not just embarrassing to you, it is also painful. You do not want to see the truth of your country BCS your identity and pride are directly tied to how you perceive your country. To admit that the U.S. is just as brutal and kills just as many if not more civilians, over the course of the years and in present, would tear down the very fabric of who you believe you are. It would tear you down.
You will not get any of what I wrote, you do not have the capacity to understand it, nor the education to get it. But, some pp here will get it and they know I am telling the truth. You find ways to omit from your consciousness some truths that are too painful to acknowledge. People like you are the very product of the nation's indoctrination and necessary to create the fighting force that will willingly die, for some nebulous higher purpose, such as "my country is good and the country they want me to fight is bad."

What country are you from?

Why does it matter. The statement's idiocy shines through on their own. Let's not associate this one person's extreme views with an entire nation.

Every "I am so smart person" thinks he/she is smart as can be. You know everything there is to know, I am an idiot saying idiocies. You have no idea how to even contemplate a differing opinion. A true sign of every stupid person is that he/she knows she is smart and knows everything. Hence your "brilliant" tearing down of my post, no intellectual knowledge backed debate from you, nope, I am stupid and a troll bcs you are smart and know everything.

DP. You're the one who said I will "not get any of what you wrote", so you're the last person who can criticize an "I am so smart person". The thing is, you are trying to debate by drawing a false equivalency. And there really is no debate that what is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy, and a crime.

[Anonymous]

I think this is a video of Putin stating the nuclear readiness order.

[Anonymous]

The Russian President also said the sanctions placed on Russia were unlawful.

LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And this is how the world ends unless there is a Russian general with a sidearm willing to end this madness.