US has no good options in Ukraine

[Anonymous]

Watching the UN Security Council livestream - so far everyone I've seen has sternly rebuked Russia and called its actions a violation of the UN charter and of international law. UK just announced they are imposing sanctions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm French, and tonight I'm very depressed about Ukraine. I can well believe promises on NATO expansion were not kept and it sticks in Putin's craw, but that is not a reason to invade a sovereign country and destroy lives. It's sad that he's using this false "Ukraine belongs to Russia" idea. Russians don't particularly want Ukraine to be part of Russia, they'd be happy to have Ukraine as a good neighbor. There are many Ukrainians living in Russia who still have ties to their country. However pressures on state media will hide all the death and destruction from them, and they will never know the extent of the damage.

So why is Putin really doing this? Who knows. It's just sad.

Strategic depth.

Why does France conduct operations in Africa?

What on earth does that mean? There is no strategic depth, he already has access to the Black Sea and major ports. And the French tried to prevent civil war in Mali (unsuccessfully, but they were the only ones trying and they lost lives doing it).

Jesus - open a map, read a book.

You clearly don’t know what strategic depth is or why it is important from your response.

Very odd as this is a dc centric forum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To re-establish Donbas region is estimated to about 21 billion dollars. Russia don’t have the money. Let’s just see what will happen.

Read Adam tooze

Rússia has 650 billion dollars foreign reserves.

Can they actually touch this money?
I don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm French, and tonight I'm very depressed about Ukraine. I can well believe promises on NATO expansion were not kept and it sticks in Putin's craw, but that is not a reason to invade a sovereign country and destroy lives. It's sad that he's using this false "Ukraine belongs to Russia" idea. Russians don't particularly want Ukraine to be part of Russia, they'd be happy to have Ukraine as a good neighbor. There are many Ukrainians living in Russia who still have ties to their country. However pressures on state media will hide all the death and destruction from them, and they will never know the extent of the damage.

So why is Putin really doing this? Who knows. It's just sad.

Yes they’d be happy to have Ukraine as a good neighbor like it was before their latest coup. Yes Russia installed a dumb leader there but the whole maidan thing was uncalled for and it unfolded the chain of events we are witnessing now.
Yes I get it that it’s up to them to decide in theory but let’s be real they brought it on themselves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To re-establish Donbas region is estimated to about 21 billion dollars. Russia don’t have the money. Let’s just see what will happen.

Read Adam tooze

Rússia has 650 billion dollars foreign reserves.

Can they actually touch this money?
I don’t get it.

It’s all in BTC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To re-establish Donbas region is estimated to about 21 billion dollars. Russia don’t have the money. Let’s just see what will happen.

Read Adam tooze

Rússia has 650 billion dollars foreign reserves.

Sure it’s not millions?

Omg wtf.

So many wine moms on here that are so under informed.

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-68-putins-challenge-to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why in the hell is Joe holding off on these very serious sanctions they keep talking about?

Seems as if so far, they have only sanctioned people in Ukraine. What about the damn Russians?

My God, Robert Gates was right. He can't get anything right when it comes to foreign policy (or domestic policy, for that matter).

He can’t do it, everyone is dependent on Russian oil and the last thing they need before elections is gas prices skyrocketing
Unlike Ukraine that thinks too much of themselves, Russia knows what it is doing

[Anonymous]

How serious are the sanctions going to be? Diplomatic ties remain? Flights from the US to Russia? Anything else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A little bird told me that Putin has early Alzheimer's, and that this is hastening any military actions under consideration (remember that he's not a dictator, he's governing with an oligarchy, so there are several people deciding and maneuvering). Have you heard anything about that?

He does look sickly and slouches now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To re-establish Donbas region is estimated to about 21 billion dollars. Russia don’t have the money. Let’s just see what will happen.

Read Adam tooze

Rússia has 650 billion dollars foreign reserves.

Sure it’s not millions?

Omg wtf.

So many wine moms on here that are so under informed.

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-68-putins-challenge-to

Sexist much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How serious are the sanctions going to be? Diplomatic ties remain? Flights from the US to Russia? Anything else?

State owned banks and oligarchs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How serious are the sanctions going to be? Diplomatic ties remain? Flights from the US to Russia? Anything else?

State owned banks and oligarchs.

Nah, don’t care then. Oligarchs deserve it and state banks are atrocious- wouldn’t bank there anyway. Glad it’s not going to affect ordinary Russians that much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm French, and tonight I'm very depressed about Ukraine. I can well believe promises on NATO expansion were not kept and it sticks in Putin's craw, but that is not a reason to invade a sovereign country and destroy lives. It's sad that he's using this false "Ukraine belongs to Russia" idea. Russians don't particularly want Ukraine to be part of Russia, they'd be happy to have Ukraine as a good neighbor. There are many Ukrainians living in Russia who still have ties to their country. However pressures on state media will hide all the death and destruction from them, and they will never know the extent of the damage.

So why is Putin really doing this? Who knows. It's just sad.

Yes they’d be happy to have Ukraine as a good neighbor like it was before their latest coup. Yes Russia installed a dumb leader there but the whole maidan thing was uncalled for and it unfolded the chain of events we are witnessing now.
Yes I get it that it’s up to them to decide in theory but let’s be real they brought it on themselves

+1
The US didn't allow Ukraine to be a good neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why in the hell is Joe holding off on these very serious sanctions they keep talking about?

Seems as if so far, they have only sanctioned people in Ukraine. What about the damn Russians?

My God, Robert Gates was right. He can't get anything right when it comes to foreign policy (or domestic policy, for that matter).

+1 I cannot believe this bumbling idiot is the leader of the United States and is leading us into a war. It has to be so he can divert attention away from the economy, take us into military industrial complex level spending, and blame “Russian interference” for the primaries.

Sit down. Biden is dealing with more moving parts than you are capable of understanding.

No, I won’t sit down. Biden isn’t capable of dealing with moving parts. We all know he isn’t in charge here. Remember when Putin annexed Crimea under Obama? And remember when Obama told Romney he was stupid to think Russia was our greatest adversary? And remember when everyone was terrified Trump would get us into a world war and it never happened? Putin knows weakness when he sees it. He knows Biden will follow Obama era policy.

Which just means more Ukrainian land grab by the Russians. Don’t forget Belarus. Today, it’s not only Donbas region, but Belarus as well fell to Russia. The troops that are there, will now be there permanently, and it’s official. Well played, sad to admit. If it wasn’t for the diplomacy of the past weeks, more of Ukraine would have been grabbed (or may be it will in the next days).

Lukashenko is a staunch Putin supporter. A couple of years ago Minsk proposed a union with Russia.

[Anonymous]

And now let’s look back on what happened in Kazakhstan a little while ago - their president strongly signaled pro Russian stance and got spared.
My theory is that any country bordering Russia needs to be pro Russian, or else.
The Baltics may have escaped this just by virtue of getting out of an abusive relationship and “remarrying” early on