2 Ukrainian army choppers shot down today but they took back a load of rebel checkpoints. Looks like the next couple of days may decide which way this all goes
And more then 30 killed when a Trade Union building was set alight in odessa, on the verge of civil war with major Russian interference.
With surface to air missiles - which all suggests that Russian troops are already in Eastern Ukraine despite Putin saying that they are not. We need to stop messing with Putin, a universal freeze of the assets of all overseas assets held by the Russian Government and all its known supporters (e.g Abramovich, the owner of Bournemouth) would be a good start.
Swiftly followed by Putin turning off the gas to Western Europe. Not even remotely possible.
2 Ukrainian army choppers shot down today but they took back a load of rebel checkpoints. Looks like the next couple of days may decide which way this all goes
And more then 30 killed when a Trade Union building was set alight in odessa, on the verge of civil war with major Russian interference.
With surface to air missiles - which all suggests that Russian troops are already in Eastern Ukraine despite Putin saying that they are not. We need to stop messing with Putin, a universal freeze of the assets of all overseas assets held by the Russian Government and all its known supporters (e.g Abramovich, the owner of Bournemouth) would be a good start.
Swiftly followed by Putin turning off the gas to Western Europe. Not even remotely possible.
Well, I'm not so sure about that. It depends how you do it. Do it quietly. Investigations into their tax status. Make it clear that they and their shady money are no longer welcome. That would hurt the Kremlin bigwigs personally, and would not be anything they can use in their domestic propaganda because most ordinary Russians despise the oligarch class too.
We really should do this, but we may not know for some time, if we have actually done it. Doesn't hurt to push for it though.
Yesterday was incredibly depressing. A terrible tragedy for the Ukrainian people and a frightening declaration of Cold War with very sobering implications for future peace and immediate prosperity.
I was however heartened at the protests in Russia but some brave people
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
Yesterday was incredibly depressing. A terrible tragedy for the Ukrainian people and a frightening declaration of Cold War with very sobering implications for future peace and immediate prosperity.
I was however heartened at the protests in Russia but some brave people
I can't imagine how brave you would need to be to go out on the street to protest a war in Russia. The time for strong sanctions against Russian criminal investment in the UK (for instance in the London property market) was a long long time ago, but hopefully the impact on Putin's friends of the sanctions now being imposed across Europe and the US will be such that they will depose him sooner rather than later. And by depose I mean assassinate.
blimey, it's interesting to read some of my old posts on this thread from 8 years ago when I was sat in Donetsk waiting for the Russians to invade, not too bothered about it. No way would I have been doing that this week, this is completely different from the original annexation, a lot of blood is going to flow
Yesterday was incredibly depressing. A terrible tragedy for the Ukrainian people and a frightening declaration of Cold War with very sobering implications for future peace and immediate prosperity.
I was however heartened at the protests in Russia but some brave people
Not sure it's a declaration of "Cold" war, just a declaration of war, I'm sorry to say.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
You don't understand, it's because someone put He/His on their email signature, that Putin's thugs are on the streets of Kyiv, and it's nothing to do with our politics being dripping with Russian money, deciding to destabilise Europe because of a campaign where the main players all have links to Russia, and America become protects in the extreme.
1) I really worry about a megolomaniac like Putin in charge, there is no smooth transition of power when a nation is built around one man.
2) If the invasion of Ukraine is unsuccessful, what weapons come next?
3) we are part of NATO who have agreed not to send troops in, what level of atrocities against civilians will swing that pendulum?
4) Many may be more aware of this than me, but Germany is incredibly anti nuclear which surprised me (please don't turn this into a nuclear debate). Germany have 13.3% of its energy from nuclear in 2021, from 6 plants, it has closed 3 now, and is closing another 3 this year to bring it down to zero. 12.2% currently comes from gas, 55% of which they get from Russia, and with them reducing nuclear their dependence will surely increase? For context, France gets 70% of its energy from nuclear.
5) I have a real worry about completely isolating Russia, for all I have written above, the entanglement of Russia in western Europe is probably one of the main things actually preventing WW3... The last thing we want is someone like Putin with nothing to lose...
If one thing comes from this, we need to have the ability to isolate Russia without them having massive leverage over the west.
But most importantly, I prey the next Russian leader isn't such a horrible sack of shit.
Fuck Putin, he deserves the same thing as Mussolini, Ceaușescu and Gaddafi. I hope it comes soon. The main problem is that so many of my points above contradict each other. It's a very difficult situation.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
You don't understand, it's because someone put He/His on their email signature, that Putin's thugs are on the streets of Kyiv, and it's nothing to do with our politics being dripping with Russian money, deciding to destabilise Europe because of a campaign where the main players all have links to Russia, and America become protects in the extreme.
Must be the reason why the world doesn't want to tackle a major superpower with enough Missles and Nuclear Weapons to level the entire world.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
So, the only options are do nothing or nuclear war?
At some point we will have to be prepared to oppose Putin with force, or he will just take what he wants. I mean, it's only lebensraum, right?
HoC has a thread on Russia/Ukraine, a thread on Russia and probably even a thread where you can spout garbled nonsense about the world today as if everything was better when you were a kid, if you want.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
So, the only options are do nothing or nuclear war?
At some point we will have to be prepared to oppose Putin with force, or he will just take what he wants. I mean, it's only lebensraum, right?
Maybe learn some lessons from History?
We aren't doing nothing. Pay attention to the news.
We are arming and supporting Ukraine with weapons and funds.
We are sanctioning Russia and certain significant Russian people that will affect their economy and make it harder for them to raise funds to pay for their wars.
We have beefed up security and sent NATO troops to NATO nations nearby and put them on standby.
There isn't much more we can do without boots on ground - which because of the Nuclear Weapons will never ever happen.
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Please please watch John’s Oliver piece on Critical Race Theory that was aired this week. I implore you to do so.
No idea if the below video is available to watch in the U.K. but I’m sure there is a U.K. version available with a quick search.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
You don't understand, it's because someone put He/His on their email signature, that Putin's thugs are on the streets of Kyiv, and it's nothing to do with our politics being dripping with Russian money, deciding to destabilise Europe because of a campaign where the main players all have links to Russia, and America become protects in the extreme.
I know that you are being flippant and intent on reductio ad absurdium, but I actually agree with you that the role of plundered Russian money in the west has also been part of the problem; money that was stolen from the Russian people that was then warmly welcomed in the west, not least because it effectively stimulated a boom in western economies after the fall of the Berlin wall.
It looks like we're going to have to get over this addiction to Russian cash sooner than we might have anticipated as current events are going to mean a powerful light shining into some very dark rooms in that respect and there are a lot of people with a lot of skeletons in their closets.
Still, I stand by my sentiment regarding how the west sees itself. We used to be confident that we were amongst the luckiest citizens on the planet by virtue of living in the west. Now the prevalent victim mentality and its requisite narcissism that is means that many of us are convinced that we are the most hard done by, because it is the west that is somehow uniquely evil. This encompasses both those on the left and right, I believe.
Christ knows what these people would actually do if they lived in somewhere like Russia....you know, an actual dictatorship.
I do hope that the Russian people are not judged by the actions of a dictatorial maniac.Having been hosted and entertained in their country many times,these people are among the most sociable and friendliest I have ever encountered.They do not deserve what is happening in the name of their country,but are virtually powerless to do anything about it.They do not want this,they do not want their sons,fathers and brothers brought home in bodybags just to satisfy the blood lust of this cretin.This may just be the final straw for the Russian people ,when the sanctions start to bite and the reality of what is happening strikes home,we may yet see a public rebellion.
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Please please watch John’s Oliver piece on Critical Race Theory that was aired this week. I implore you to do so.
No idea if the below video is available to watch in the U.K. but I’m sure there is a U.K. version available with a quick search.
Just did; all he does is give a biased hot take whilst somehow omitting addressing legitimate concerns about teaching racist conspiracy theories to children as fact.
This is why I never started a thread on the main site.
Too many people quick to use the Ukraine conflict to push their own worldview rather than actually be interested in what's going on and how we can help.
HoC has actually done this pretty well on the Russia/Ukraine thread.
Glad to see the worlds of sport (football, motorsport) & culture (Eurovision song) are not waiting for the politicians to come up with meaningful actions, but have already imposed their own sanctions on Russia. Hope this causes the ordinary people of Russia to look beyond their government's propaganda to find out why much of the world is treating them as a pariah state.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
So, the only options are do nothing or nuclear war?
At some point we will have to be prepared to oppose Putin with force, or he will just take what he wants. I mean, it's only lebensraum, right?
Maybe learn some lessons from History?
We aren't doing nothing. Pay attention to the news.
We are arming and supporting Ukraine with weapons and funds.
We are sanctioning Russia and certain significant Russian people that will affect their economy and make it harder for them to raise funds to pay for their wars.
We have beefed up security and sent NATO troops to NATO nations nearby and put them on standby.
There isn't much more we can do without boots on ground - which because of the Nuclear Weapons will never ever happen.
This will change nothing, and you know it. Or maybe I missed it when Putin decided to withdraw his troops back to Russia?
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Please please watch John’s Oliver piece on Critical Race Theory that was aired this week. I implore you to do so.
No idea if the below video is available to watch in the U.K. but I’m sure there is a U.K. version available with a quick search.
Just did; all he does is give a biased hot take whilst somehow omitting addressing legitimate concerns about teaching racist conspiracy theories to children as fact.
So, par for the course, really.
I'm so sorry, you're beyond help. I also don't particularly believe you watched the full 28 minutes if that's what your takeaway was. But perhaps that's not a surprise, it doesn't subscribe to your pre-confirmed world view.
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
This is nonsense and typical generational bias.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
So, the only options are do nothing or nuclear war?
At some point we will have to be prepared to oppose Putin with force, or he will just take what he wants. I mean, it's only lebensraum, right?
Maybe learn some lessons from History?
We aren't doing nothing. Pay attention to the news.
We are arming and supporting Ukraine with weapons and funds.
We are sanctioning Russia and certain significant Russian people that will affect their economy and make it harder for them to raise funds to pay for their wars.
We have beefed up security and sent NATO troops to NATO nations nearby and put them on standby.
There isn't much more we can do without boots on ground - which because of the Nuclear Weapons will never ever happen.
This will change nothing, and you know it. Or maybe I missed it when Putin decided to withdraw his troops back to Russia?
What do you suggest as an apparent foreign policy expert?
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Please please watch John’s Oliver piece on Critical Race Theory that was aired this week. I implore you to do so.
No idea if the below video is available to watch in the U.K. but I’m sure there is a U.K. version available with a quick search.
Just did; all he does is give a biased hot take whilst somehow omitting addressing legitimate concerns about teaching racist conspiracy theories to children as fact.
So, par for the course, really.
I'm so sorry, you're beyond help. I also don't particularly believe you watched the full 28 minutes if that's what your takeaway was. But perhaps that's not a surprise, it doesn't subscribe to your pre-confirmed world view.
But it does subscribe to your pre-confirmed worldview - sorry, you're beyond help.
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Please please watch John’s Oliver piece on Critical Race Theory that was aired this week. I implore you to do so.
No idea if the below video is available to watch in the U.K. but I’m sure there is a U.K. version available with a quick search.
Just did; all he does is give a biased hot take whilst somehow omitting addressing legitimate concerns about teaching racist conspiracy theories to children as fact.
So, par for the course, really.
I'm so sorry, you're beyond help. I also don't particularly believe you watched the full 28 minutes if that's what your takeaway was. But perhaps that's not a surprise, it doesn't subscribe to your pre-confirmed world view.
But it does subscribe to your pre-confirmed worldview - sorry, you're beyond help.
There is actually a lot of stuff I learned on the subject by watching that video so I firmly reject that accusation. A quick sample...
- 70% of people can't properly explain what CRT actually is - it's primary and initial purpose was to create an undercurrent in the Republican Party towards school choice in the US
Many other points that I'm sure you might learn if you want to watch the video too. It's there, you just have to click the link and let it play. You can even speed it up 2x in the settings if you're a busy man...
Unless Putin instructs his forces to cross into NATO territory this will end with the inevitable victory for Russian forces, even if that takes longer than he expected. Ukraine is lost. It’s been sacrificed. Going forward Putin has ensured that the defensive capabilities of every NATO country will be increased and be on a ready status. The fool knows that Russia cannot challenge NATO forces unless he is insane enough to use nuclear weapons. NATO will never be the aggressor so Putin would need to manufacture a war or make a preemptive strike. We’ve had our warning now and sadly the lessons we’ve learned have been paid for by the poor people of Ukraine.
Russian people protesting the war, despite the probable retaliations by Putin and his police. True bravery - if this spreads, and Putin loses the control of the people....... well you know what happened to Mussolini and Hitler.
Unless Putin instructs his forces to cross into NATO territory this will end with the inevitable victory for Russian forces, even if that takes longer than he expected. Ukraine is lost. It’s been sacrificed. Going forward Putin has ensured that the defensive capabilities of every NATO country will be increased and be on a ready status. The fool knows that Russia cannot challenge NATO forces unless he is insane enough to use nuclear weapons. NATO will never be the aggressor so Putin would need to manufacture a war or make a preemptive strike. We’ve had our warning now and sadly the lessons we’ve learned have been paid for by the poor people of Ukraine.
Long-term it will end up backfiring.
Ukraine will never forgive their occupiers and won't submit in to Russia. A very costly occupation will be ahead for Russia and potentially Ukraine split into two.
This will push 'neutral' countries around Russia's border towards NATO and will lead Finland and Sweden joining.
Current NATO nations will have beefed up security and military exercises for the next decade at least.
I think the pre Olympic presidential meetings in China must have played a big part in this being allowed to happen. What’s the quid pro quo ? Taiwan ? Keeping Russia afloat?
Elements of the soviet / nazi pact, which coupled with a relatively junior KGB officer wishing the rebuild and avenge the perceived humiliation of the Russian empire is strikingly similar to events pre WW2. The difference is an apparent lack of ideology (other than nationalism) and the question of where it will stop.
Comments
We really should do this, but we may not know for some time, if we have actually done it. Doesn't hurt to push for it though.
I was however heartened at the protests in Russia but some brave people
This is a defining moment, a tipping point, if you like. The west has moved towards becoming a post-colonial society whilst the Chinese-Russian axis has now entered their openly expansionist and imperialistic phase, which will sadly redraw the boundaries and shape the world of the future. And all the west can do is stand and watch; the alternative is war and we have no stomach for it - understandable given the western military disasters of the last twenty years. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for an ex-Soviet state or for Taiwan? That is what it boils down to and I'm not sure that many will be able to unequivocally answer 'yes'.
I found this comment encapsulates the situation very accurately:
'forces unleashed at the end of the Cold War have collided. One is the sense of Western betrayal and a humiliation of the USSR that has created a ruthless politics of cold and calculating intent. The other is the decline of the West as a serious political and cultural project and its trivialisation on every level as the ideological Kool Aid party has raged. If one headline says it all as the tanks and rockets strike, it is this one: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'stand with the people of Ukraine". Empty performative gestures against flint-eyed calculation is exactly what empowers those who use real violence to achieve their goals. But from our many splendid Never-Never lands inhabited by plastic people who live in a media fairy floss castles where words are violence and identity dragons lurk, such hubris only demonstrates how feeble and emasculated we have become.'
We in the west have educated our youth that we are are irredeemably evil due to our colonial and war-waging past, so few young people in the west even think that our democratic values and culture are worth fighting for anymore and instead think that our society needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in the vein of a naive student union wet dream. We are too busy fighting amongst ourselves, finding reasons to hate each other and obsessing over ourselves to even wake up to the realpolitik that is currently playing out in Ukraine and which will now inevitably roll out elsewhere in the not too distant future.
Meanwhile, Putin wages his personal war to regain a lost empire and we are powerless to stop him. It is hard to find words to describe just how evil he is - at this very moment, people are being killed due to nothing more than his bruised ego over the decline of the U.S.S.R. It will get worse. He has and is gaslighting his own population by telling them that Ukraine was full of nazis who somehow decided that it was a good idea to launch a kamikaze attack on their hugely powerful neighbour and that he is 'liberating' the people of Ukraine by way of retaliation. You can get away with that shit in Russia and China because they are effectively military dictatorships; the damage will be done before, or even if, they ever find out the truth.
Unfortunately, we don't have much option other than to hope that the Russian people rise up against this psychopath, but as has been said above, this will require enormous bravery and sacrifice and will only happen amidst a bloodbath and Putin does not care how many people are hurt or killed, as long as he remains in power.
This is the moment that we realise that we have made ourselves too weak in the west to resist the ruthless, murderous regimes of the east and that, sadly, democracy is on the way out and totalitarianism is going to win out over the next century.
Either the democracies of the world wake up and unite, then we are doomed. Even then, me might be too late anyway.
This is such a depressing time and I feel for the Ukrainians, who are to be a blood sacrifice in service of Putin's evil schemes.
Fuck you to the moon, Putin.
What is the alternative, a World War against a superpower with Nuclear Weapons on both sides? Let's see how that turns out.
Only the Russian people can get rid of Putin.
1) I really worry about a megolomaniac like Putin in charge, there is no smooth transition of power when a nation is built around one man.
2) If the invasion of Ukraine is unsuccessful, what weapons come next?
3) we are part of NATO who have agreed not to send troops in, what level of atrocities against civilians will swing that pendulum?
4) Many may be more aware of this than me, but Germany is incredibly anti nuclear which surprised me (please don't turn this into a nuclear debate). Germany have 13.3% of its energy from nuclear in 2021, from 6 plants, it has closed 3 now, and is closing another 3 this year to bring it down to zero. 12.2% currently comes from gas, 55% of which they get from Russia, and with them reducing nuclear their dependence will surely increase? For context, France gets 70% of its energy from nuclear.
5) I have a real worry about completely isolating Russia, for all I have written above, the entanglement of Russia in western Europe is probably one of the main things actually preventing WW3... The last thing we want is someone like Putin with nothing to lose...
If one thing comes from this, we need to have the ability to isolate Russia without them having massive leverage over the west.
But most importantly, I prey the next Russian leader isn't such a horrible sack of shit.
Fuck Putin, he deserves the same thing as Mussolini, Ceaușescu and Gaddafi. I hope it comes soon. The main problem is that so many of my points above contradict each other. It's a very difficult situation.
The nuance in modern education.
At some point we will have to be prepared to oppose Putin with force, or he will just take what he wants. I mean, it's only lebensraum, right?
Maybe learn some lessons from History?
We are arming and supporting Ukraine with weapons and funds.
We are sanctioning Russia and certain significant Russian people that will affect their economy and make it harder for them to raise funds to pay for their wars.
We have beefed up security and sent NATO troops to NATO nations nearby and put them on standby.
There isn't much more we can do without boots on ground - which because of the Nuclear Weapons will never ever happen.
No idea if the below video is available to watch in the U.K. but I’m sure there is a U.K. version available with a quick search.
https://youtu.be/EICp1vGlh_U
It looks like we're going to have to get over this addiction to Russian cash sooner than we might have anticipated as current events are going to mean a powerful light shining into some very dark rooms in that respect and there are a lot of people with a lot of skeletons in their closets.
Still, I stand by my sentiment regarding how the west sees itself. We used to be confident that we were amongst the luckiest citizens on the planet by virtue of living in the west. Now the prevalent victim mentality and its requisite narcissism that is means that many of us are convinced that we are the most hard done by, because it is the west that is somehow uniquely evil. This encompasses both those on the left and right, I believe.
Christ knows what these people would actually do if they lived in somewhere like Russia....you know, an actual dictatorship.
So, par for the course, really.
Too many people quick to use the Ukraine conflict to push their own worldview rather than actually be interested in what's going on and how we can help.
HoC has actually done this pretty well on the Russia/Ukraine thread.
- 70% of people can't properly explain what CRT actually is
- it's primary and initial purpose was to create an undercurrent in the Republican Party towards school choice in the US
Many other points that I'm sure you might learn if you want to watch the video too. It's there, you just have to click the link and let it play. You can even speed it up 2x in the settings if you're a busy man...
Russian people protesting the war, despite the probable retaliations by Putin and his police. True bravery - if this spreads, and Putin loses the control of the people....... well you know what happened to Mussolini and Hitler.
Ukraine will never forgive their occupiers and won't submit in to Russia. A very costly occupation will be ahead for Russia and potentially Ukraine split into two.
This will push 'neutral' countries around Russia's border towards NATO and will lead Finland and Sweden joining.
Current NATO nations will have beefed up security and military exercises for the next decade at least.
Elements of the soviet / nazi pact, which coupled with a relatively junior KGB officer wishing the rebuild and avenge the perceived humiliation of the Russian empire is strikingly similar to events pre WW2. The difference is an apparent lack of ideology (other than nationalism) and the question of where it will stop.