good, this will mean no matter what peace is arranged no one is going to be investing there in decades
As long as Putin is in power and Russia is still in Ukraine, the sanctions will still be on Russia. UK was saying they expect the Russian sanctions to last a decade. Russia will be like North Korea levels of isolation by then.
Not the poster you are replying to, but I want to chime in.
Here is what is confusing to me, and what Kasparov posed the other day during a talk. How does anything you said compute if you suppose that russia does attack a NATO country?
What does NATO do then? Because the fear of a nuclear war is precisely the same as it is if NATO were to intervene now, defending a non-NATO country.
This is the confusing part. It's not like when a NATO member is attacked, the aggressor's nuclear arsenal disappears. Therefore, the distinction between defending a NATO member or a non NATO member looks arbitrary.
That is a theoretical question because with the issues and losses Russia is taking in Ukraine, they won't have the ability to risk a situation with other countries of similar strength let alone risk something involving nato.
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In a roundabout way, it was an attack on NATO. A few of the demands Russia had to avoid war were things that only NATO could decide on and were beyond Ukraine's control. Russia wanted NATO to remove itself from post-Soviet countries and promise no further expansion. Even though the war is physically in Ukraine, the ideological component is an attack on NATOs right to decide their path.
Still, I don't think you can risk a nuclear war over it. It is a very tricky situation to be sure.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Not to nitpick, buy do you mean Cyrillic? Or do you guys call "Arabic" everything that isn't Latinic?
The weapons console is in Arabic because the system was originally meant for export to the middle east, but Ukraine is using it even without switching the readout. I think most folks can tell the difference between the major alphabets.
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Wanted to give a final update on my wife's situation:
Spoiler!
Yesterday her and her 2 companions made their way to the UA/PL border crossing at Korczowa - Krakovets. They were dropped off on the road leading to the border and it was an expected 22ish hour wait by foot. Luckily, they came across another couple driving an SUV that was headed to Poland and this couple offered all 3 of them a ride, therefore allowing them to ride into the passenger vehicle queue line, which was only about 7 hours long.
I would like to say that CP member Lego Man stepped up HUGE to pick me up in Krakow, drive to the border and get sent in multiple directions, wait at a meeting point, and REUNITE my wife and I together after almost 3 weeks of pure stress and hell. This is by far the biggest and most important favor I have ever asked of anybody and I cannot thank him enough for doing what he did, for his wife and kids letting a complete internet stranger take time away from them, to do this.
It was a pretty emotional ride home as my wife was telling us some stories of her time around Kharkov. How her parents and family were still there with no power, internet, heat and small food supplies. How her friend who was with us, her 23 year old classmate (mother of 2) was shot by a 'brave' Russian soldier and died. How soldiers were shooting at people trying to fix the power lines to get light in their houses. How her step dad drove over bodies to drive the girls to Kharkov train station to get them to safety. I was honestly at a loss for words as she spoke about these events.
There's a long road to recovery and healing for these 3 as they will be staying with us before my wife and I move to Canada in 8 weeks. My landlords are being extremely helpful by finding us the social assistance programs and donations points in our city and offering to drive them anywhere they need. It will be tough, but they are safe and sound.
I am forever grateful to those who offered support on CP, made small talk by PMs, put me as a 'surprise' guest in one of the Flames' pregame Puppetman videos, and especially Legoman for driving us. I will never for that. Also hoping to an end sooner than later for this bitter, needless war.
So incredibly happy to hear that you have reunited HW!! Unbelievable harrowing events your wife had to go through and I feel for her that she has loved ones still in the line of danger. I can believe that someone from CP stepped up to the plate for you because of course, LEGOMAN you’re a gentleman and a scholar for stepping up like that. What an emotional ride your posts have been HW, big hugs my friend.
In a roundabout way, it was an attack on NATO. A few of the demands Russia had to avoid war were things that only NATO could decide on and were beyond Ukraine's control. Russia wanted NATO to remove itself from post-Soviet countries and promise no further expansion. Even though the war is physically in Ukraine, the ideological component is an attack on NATOs right to decide their path.
Still, I don't think you can risk a nuclear war over it. It is a very tricky situation to be sure.
Bad take.
NATO is a defence treaty, not a declaration of entitlement.
For those who have a PBS subscription or have the ability to watch PBS, the show Frontline is going a special report on Putin's Path to War.
They have done several must watch shows on Putin and his ways over the years. The one on the 2016 Election and his interference on that was excellent. Bottom line it was a FU to America and to democracy as a whole. End of story. The fall of the Soviet Union in his mind was the largest and most tragic political event in history.
There are some extremely well versed and intellectual honest interviews that have been done with experts on this topic and it's going to be an eye opener.
I know I am in the extreme minority in this forum about the western world dealing with Putin and dealing with him now. His balls and his wings need to be clipped before we are down a path that we all regret. The West and NATO need to start drawing their own redlines and pushing the offensive back, it's not just Putin driving here because he has passengers onboard the insanity train. We have Iran with a potential nuke threat, we have North Korea and we have China. How the democracies of the world deal with this will be vital as it will either show the other powers what our response will be or what they will be allowed to get away with.
Every single thing that this man has done over 22 years in power, nobody thought he would do. Nobody ever suspected it was possible and he keeps pushing and pushing and pushing some more. Now that he is embarrassed, isolated, scared, paranoid, humiliated and a whole host more, we are suppose to just sit around and take his multiple nuclear threats in the span of 2 weeks as what? Empty? Apple, Netflix and Visa sanctions will do it? Does he need a phone and the ability to buy lunch?
One of the best interviewers who has been reporting on Putin as a Russian/American journalist for years. The youtube channel has some more interviews that are excellent.
Bayraktar BT2 drones are since 2019 a somewhat collaborative project between Turkey and Ukraine. Very likely Ukrainians have trained with the exact same interface in their own language, so it's not that hard to understand why they can use the turkish language version with little trouble.
(Plus it's far from impossible to learn a few key words in turkish if you're motivated.)
This is amazing. CP brought Legoman and HW together who otherwise wouldn't have known each other. Because of CP, Legoman was able to help HW reunite with his wife fleeing a literal warzone.
Is this the greatest moment in CP history?
In all seriousness, could we put the chronological updates from HW in one thread. This real story from the ground is so impactful, I know I shared with many others. Such a great job HW did exposing the live emotion and reality. It truly something everyone should read.
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In all seriousness, could we put the chronological updates from HW in one thread. This real story from the ground is so impactful, I know I shared with many others. Such a great job HW did exposing the live emotion and reality. It truly something everyone should read.
Here's a link to all his posts in this thread, start at the bottom:
