Russia - Ukraine Conflict 2022 (148 Viewers)

Jun 16, 2020
12,435
I got to say, I am really impressed with the UK in all that. Even more than with the US. And I am impressed as fuck by the US.
There's now way Putin anticipated all these sanctions. He saved ~600b and he cant reach to 40% of it due to having it on foreign banks.

The West responded in a hard way, even Swiss who's always neutral. They even broke Germany's post-war trauma.
 

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Vlad

In Allegri We Trust
May 23, 2011
24,108
Putin, and Russia in general, are driven by fear, this has been true since WW2. Putin strong-man façade is just that, a façade.

He fears NATO expansion, simple as that. You can argue till end of times that he has no reason to, but reason is not what drives him. This is how, imo, all Russian actions should be looked at, with fear as the driving force. If you can accept that, then russia actions seem more logical, even "justified" (in their mind, before someone comes with the Putin apologist angle, again).

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:lol:
Putin isnt driven by fear but he does rule by spreading fear among Russians. The fear from the west, US, EU, NATO, domestic traitors, etc... There always has to be some enemy, thats the entire premise of his power over masses. What else can he offer to an average citizen? Strong economy? I see this around here, all over the Balkan, coming from the older generation of politicians, inventing some fictional enemy so they can shift attention from the real problems, like corruption, nepotism, economy, decaying healthcare, etc...
 
May 26, 2016
4,073
As I understand from yesterday the sky over Ukraine is totally controlled by Russia.
not completely true ( at least from what i have gathered so far): Russian fighter jets are indeed dominating the air space, mainly Sukhoi Su-57 , but the Ukranian Bayraktar TB2 drones and anti air craft defence are doing a lot of work: especially against Russian Tanks/ground forces/choppers. Ukraine still has Anti-Air defence that is being used to shoot down Russian aircrafts, but how long this air resistance will last is another question as they need to be resupplied asap.



as for the TB2 - it has pretty much changed this war completely: The drones are proving to be extremely succesfull
 

Tomice

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2009
3,024
Putin isnt driven by fear but he does rule by spreading fear among Russians. The fear from the west, US, EU, NATO, domestic traitors, etc... There always has to be some enemy, thats the entire premise of his power over masses. What else can he offer to an average citizen? Strong economy? I see this around here, all over the Balkan, coming from the older generation of politicians, inventing some fictional enemy so they can shift attention from the real problems, like corruption, nepotism, economy, decaying healthcare, etc...
Probably should clarify, when I say driven by fear i mean that in the broader sense, fear of democracy, fear of losing geopolitical standing, fear of the west encroaching on the former USSR sphere of influence. Not military fear from NATO invasion or that sort.

I don't think shifting attention of Russian citizens is a top priority for him, that's my opinion. I think he is powerful and arrogant enough to not worry about that at the level that would require taking such a massive gamble on Ukraine.

Again, just my two cents.
 

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