Official Russia vs Ukraine War Thread

If you think the most corrupt country in Europe has clean elections you're a moron.

So are we pro-russia now?

Sending billions of American tax dollars to a foreign country with ZERO benefit to the United States isn't as pro-American as you people think it is.

The ONLY reason in the world for the US to be paying the majority of the cost for a European war is to make corrupt people rich.

Europe's economy is the same size as ours. They should be paying more than we are. They are not.

Thank you for confirming that the US didn’t overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine in 2014 and that the referendums in Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson were not clean and can be summarily disregarded.

Nice non sequitur.

Kim Jong-Un was "democratically" elected.

Elections in hopelessly corrupt countries like Ukraine are meaningless. The oligarchs run everything regardless of which puppet is put in the chair.

Everyone agrees that Germany needs to do it’s part and give Ukraine tanks then.

Without these tanks this war is just a curry without 🌶, bland and without force

aljazeera.com

Germany heads for showdown over tanks for Ukraine

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin meets new German defence minister a day before allies meet to discuss military aid.

Open link

You say elections in Ukraine are meaningless. This means that the morons in this thread claiming the "US overthrew the democratically elected president" in 2014 and that the referendums on annexation "reflect the will of the people" are wrong (I agree, they're wrong).

Are you also saying that Ukraine is so corrupt that it wasn't close to joining NATO, so Putin was lying when he used that as a rational for invading Ukraine?

Germany largely paid for Russia's military with their gluttony for Russian energy. Germany is the largest economy in the EU. Germany is still providing more to Russia than they are to Ukraine and the war is a year old.

The Russian puppet that was overthrown was just as "democratically elected" as the western puppet that replaced him.

If Russia overthrew Mexico's government and installed a pro-Russian regime the US wouldn't just shrug its shoulders and accept it.

Anti-air defense are appearing on Moscow federal buildings… wonder why?

I 40% want Wagner to turn on Putin and I 60% think we're actually better off with Putin in control of the nukes. It's a lose-lose.

But this has to be noted. Definite friction between Putin and Wagner. Which has to be terrifying for Vlad. Expect more purges to ensure loyalty in the RU army to try to head off insurrection.

ISW
@TheStudyofWar
#Prigozhin and other notable voices in #Russia, such as prominent milblogger Igor Girkin, are carving out a new space to criticize Russian President Vladimir #Putin without fear of retribution. Putin has so far decided to not censor these voices.

It is no surprise that the people that are stupid enough to believe that Putin is waring in Ukraine to rid Ukraine of corruption just so happen to be the ones that voted for Trump because he was going to "drain the swamp' of US gov. corruption.

agip, if you're going to clutter the thread with on-topic posts, why don't you start your own thread?

Nicely done

heh

this thread is by far the biggest thread I've started. Anyone remember how it came to be? There was a prior thread on the war but it devolved into being about US politics so it was given the heave-ho by the moderators. I saw an opportunity and I took it. The royalty checks are going to fund my retirement. Once they start appearing.

What signs are those that we are weakening Russia?

Ruble up vs. dollar since sanctions.

You don't mind getting tens of thousand or more Ukrainians and Russians killed to weaken Russia? Creating millions of refugees?

"..a land grabbing, murderous, thieving, election-interfering, criminal refuge like Russia"

Couldn't the same thing be said of America? Times ten?

russia is in a deep recession while the rest of the world is doing well.

MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Russia's economy is set to shrink by 2.5% next year, on top of a 3% contraction in 2022, a Reuters poll suggested on Friday, with stubbornly high inflation giving the central bank only limited room to cut interest rates.
Russia's economic landscape changed drastically after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, triggering sweeping Western restrictions on its energy and financial sectors, including a partial freeze of Russian reserves, and leading scores of companies to exit the market.

reuters.com

Russia's more gradual economic contraction to extend into 2023

Alexander Marrow

Russia's economy is set to shrink by 2.5% next year, on top of a 3% contraction in 2022, a Reuters poll suggested on Friday, with stubbornly high inflation giving the central bank only limited room to cut interest rates.

Open link

inflation is RU is quite bad. Which explains the strong ruble - you can get 20% for your savings in RU apparently. Which attracts a lot of ruble buyers. Not really a case for the economy's strength.

Reuters:

Inflation, one of the key concerns among Russian households, is expected to accelerate to 12.1%, from 8.4% in 2021, according to the poll. Russia targets inflation at 4%.