Russia invades Ukraine *** READ RULES IN POST 6 BEFORE POSTING ***

[CouchCoach]

Putin is betting that his enemies will try and avoid confrontation with the military because sitting out there on the sidelines are China, N. Korea and Iran, just itching for a facedown with the free world.

 

[Praxit]

..from your limited knowledge perspective and professional position, what would you do? I would give Putin an ultimatum.

If you dont act now, this guy will continue to plough the place and perhaps others.

 

[Praxit]

Already showing Russian people crowding up in lines to the ATMs to get their money out while they can.

..yep, stock plunging fast.

 

[Bobhaze]

In my view, the real reason Putin wanted to invade Ukraine is it is a healthy democracy with a free press, an open society, and a growing economy. All despots/dictators are threatened by democracies in their backyard. A free and open Ukraine threatens his vice grip on Russia. A threat to democracy anywhere is a threat to democracies everywhere. The world must make Putin pay a heavy price.

The rest of the civilized world must make Putin and his oligarchs a pariah to the rest of the world. This small group of Russian billionaire thugs are in cahoots with him. Here’s what the rest of the world should do:

• Freeze their financial assets outside of Russia.
• revoke their passports
• deport their kids from western universities
• seize their yachts, jets p, etc
• and post their faces on world wanted lists.
• Make them miserable and stuck inside Russia.

These thugs should not be allowed anywhere outside of Russia period. And withdraw Russia from the world community of nations. Isolate them and their economy.

 

[DasTex]

Taiwan and China conflict is next

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Already showing Russian people crowding up in lines to the ATMs to get their money out while they can.

Yep, the Ruble is collapsing.

 

[CouchCoach]

..from your limited knowledge perspective and professional position, what would you do? I would give Putin an ultimatum.

If you dont act now, this guy will continue to plough the place and perhaps others.

Who would issue that ultimatum? He has at least two agendas at work here. One is annexing, through the military, and getting back to what the USSR was but I think just as important to him is to put pressure on several countries with their own discourse within their own countries, like the US, UK, France and Italy.

This is the Cuban missile crisis and who is going to blink first?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

..from your limited knowledge perspective and professional position, what would you do? I would give Putin an ultimatum.

If you dont act now, this guy will continue to plough the place and perhaps others.

Giving him an ultimatum is like giving your teenager an ultimatum.

He has to be cut down using a variety of tools and hoping the people within Russia voice enough displeasure to force a change of attitude.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Who would issue that ultimatum? He has at least two agendas at work here. One is annexing, through the military, and getting back to what the USSR was but I think just as important to him is to put pressure on several countries with their own discourse within their own countries, like the US, UK, France and Italy.

This is the Cuban missile crisis and who is going to blink first?

Yeah, I do not believe an ultimatum is the answer.

 

[Reality]

Yeah, I do not believe an ultimatum is the answer.

Ultimatums against country leaders rarely work.

Once the line is drawn, if the leader acquiesces then they risk losing the faith of their military and high level leaders and possibly their people as well. Even if they wanted to back down they have no choice but to continue on.

That is why most statements from global leaders that sound like ultimatums are filled with qualifiers to soften the warning. In other words, it is like saying, "we will really really really, I mean REALLY, be mad at you but we still will likely not do anything about it"

 

[JoeKing]

Time is on the side of Ukraine. Russia taking portions of Ukraine are one thing, but keeping those portions is another. It's much easier to sabotage Russian planes and other assets on the ground than it is to shoot them out of the sky. This aggression against sovereign Ukraine will not stand. Waging war is expensive. Extended Russian military efforts will cause Russia to bleed to death long before NATO/Ukrainian opposing forces expire. So, this is most certainly a miscalculation by Putin.

 

[Reality]

Time is on the side of Ukraine. Russia taking portions of Ukraine are one thing, but keeping those portions is another. It's much easier to sabotage Russian planes and other assets on the ground than it is to shoot them out of the sky. This aggression against sovereign Ukraine will not stand. Waging war is expensive. Extended Russian military efforts will cause Russia to bleed to death long before NATO/Ukrainian opposing forces expire. So, this is most certainly a miscalculation by Putin.

My guess is he was thinking they would get in quick and take over before Ukraine was ready, but when the international community noticed invasion-likely preparation steps were being taken by Russia and announced it to the world, it forced him to start his invasion early.

That is why he kept denying Russia was going to invade right up until he did it because the longer he waited the harder it was going to be.

 

[JoeKing]

My guess is he was thinking they would get in quick and take over before Ukraine was ready, but when the international community noticed invasion-likely preparation steps were being taken by Russia and announced it to the world, it forced him to start his invasion early.

That is why he kept denying Russia was going to invade right up until he did it because the longer he waited the harder it was going to be.

You got it right. 100%

 

[MichaelWinicki]

My guess is he was thinking they would get in quick and take over before Ukraine was ready, but when the international community noticed invasion-likely preparation steps were being taken by Russia and announced it to the world, it forced him to start his invasion early.

That is why he kept denying Russia was going to invade right up until he did it because the longer he waited the harder it was going to be.

Yep.

The US kept stating what was going to happen next in order to help keep something like what Germany did to start WW2 by faking an attack by Poland on a German radio station from being used as a reason for starting this thing.

 

[terra]

The European Leadership was so weak that Putin is figuring he can gobble up a lot before they finally find the iron in the spine to do anything real about it.

Question is this the Sudetenland or is it Poland.

 

[Creeper]

The Ukraine-Russia conflict goes back hundreds of years. It is not new. 30% of Ukraine speaks Russian as their first language and considers themselves ethnically Russian. In fact, some of these "separatists" have occupied parts of Ukraine for some time. I am not arguing Putin is a decent human being. He is not, but this conflict is a little more complicated than just some new Russian aggression. The timing of this invasion is worth a discussion but I have no doubt Putin has been plotting this invasion for a long time.

And if Russia is successful in taking Ukraine and eventually soothing relations with the West, would that signal China that the timing is right to take Taiwan while the world is focused on Putin? It appears we are entering a very dangerous time in world history.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I am kind of curious if Ukraine would hand over those two areas occupied by Russian Seps who want to be a part of Russia...if that would get Nato to formally announce Ukraine as a member and Putin not dispute it.
I can understand a smaller portion of that country wanting to align with russia. I can understand the other portion not wanting to do so. However i don't think Putin wants to stop in those areas nor does he want the Ukraine to be a full member of nato.

 

[JoeKing]

The Ukraine-Russia conflict goes back hundreds of years. It is not new. 30% of Ukraine speaks Russian as their first language and considers themselves ethnically Russian. In fact, some of these "separatists" have occupied parts of Ukraine for some time. I am not arguing Putin is a decent human being. He is not, but this conflict is a little more complicated than just some new Russian aggression. The timing of this invasion is worth a discussion but I have no doubt Putin has been plotting this invasion for a long time.

And if Russia is successful in taking Ukraine and eventually soothing relations with the West, would that signal China that the timing is right to take Taiwan while the world is focused on Putin? It appears we are entering a very dangerous time in world history.

Disagree. It's no more complicated than these simple facts. Ukraine is a sovereign nation and has been invaded by Russia. Past events do not justify the current aggressions by Russia.

 

[rags747]

Let’s just say that Russia and or China all of a sudden become best buddy’s with Mexico or Canada and decide that they want to start building bases there with invitation from the Mexican or Canadian governments. I don’t think that would go over too well.

 

[DallasEast]

The invasion is an excuse for Putin to gain convenient access to the Black Sea. Russia is a top five oil producer. Increasing oil shipments directly through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal is a strong economic strategy. Putin is a dictator in every sense but he did not become a billionaire through conventional means either.