Slava Ukraini

Dear Putin,

You had the power to make your country truly shine, truly great.
Instead, you have set back all the work done prior to your presidency, and even that of your own, for decades.
Trust is hard-earned and too easy to loose. Nobody is going to trust Russia again, for a long time.
Your country is going to face a recession after this, because of you.
Is it going to be worth it? If you win, fighting rebels everywhere while the rest of the world reviles you.
I hope that history remembers you as how you ought to be remembered - as a man who destroyed his country, by the power of his own megalomania.

Sincerely,
All who agree

@Violetta THIS. Russia has such great peole, culture and nature they could've used to make their country shine and now few idiots ruin it all.

'@Lumpex' Maybe.

The problem with taking power and making things better is all the compromises and cruelty you have to step through to do so. He climbed to the throne on a ladder made of corpses, but I'm not sure there were any better paths. And once you're soaked in that much blood and made that many deals with fellow oligarchs...how do you clean the things around you?

@Violetta You *do* realise he doesn't cares? He didn't care when he took away years of people's pensions, didn't care when sent soldiers to Syria, didn't care when his natguards beaten, tortured and occasionally murdered our own citizens, didn't care in 2014 when he threw weapons into Donbass, didn't care when four dozen children burned alive in "Winter Cherry" mall, didn't care in 2008 when he was a PM and army marched into Ossetia, he never cared. Not during Nord-Ost, not during Beslan, not when Kursk have sunk and surviving sailors needed help. "What happened? It sunk," said he with a slight smirk. He found it funny. He found funny dozens of people suffocating to death because he refused international help. He doesn't care, and never did. Whatever motivates him - it has nothing to do with motives of the sane, adequate, healthy people. And probably *never* did.

People suffering and dying, no matter who they are, is acceptable for him. Always was.

https://satwcomic.com/surprise-party

This has to end NOW.

@javier i agree

@javier Dude, the comic you linked to was made in 2014. THAT WAS EIGHT YEARS AGO. How outraged were you then, huh? Did you even notice the problems in the Ukraine back then? Ya'll should put your "This has to end NOW. " and shove it up Putin's ass where it belongs. Your misplaced sense of justice and outrage should maybe be redirected to the real culprit not some random comic artist on the internet.

@Mojo
I...don't think Javier was chastising the cartoonist.

@SeanR The first comment in this thread was someone saying they were glad the cartoonist did not use their usual chibi style for such a serious subject. The next comment was a link to a similar cartoon involving Russia and Ukraine from several years ago stating "this has to stop" I often read late at night and will not be the most clear minded, but you can understand where I thought so, yes? I stand by my statement of shoving something (preferably sharp) up Putin's arse.

Thank you for not using your standard ‘cute’ avatars in the comic. It’s too serious an issue.

Sometimes i feel like Putin should be a separate character (Another skin-blob), but then i remember that a lot of people from Russia believe and blindly trust him
And this is extremely scary. This is so terrible. It's just so fucked up. And the war itself is fucked up

God...

@Deuteromycota I mean, a lot of people also believe and blindly trust Trump.

Also I think it'd be kinda funny (and good for continuity, if one cares about that) if all real-world leaders were actually just skin blobs of their respective country.

edit: Alternatively, just have Sister Russia represent the part of the country that opposes the invasion

@Lord_Skata
I think Sister russia is currently explaining her arrival to a Finnish checkpoint operator.

Look close into their history and motives, and look again, but if they're clean, KEEP them. As I understand it, every western nation is suffering from a population decline, and the gift of a russian brain drain is a very nice gift indeed.

@Lord_Skata The difference is Americans change their leader every couple of years and have a free access to honest media (even if sometimes they chose to listen to propaganda).
Putin has been ruling for over 20 years now and during that time he made sure that there are no media that are not controlled by him.
Most of Russians have no idea what really is happening, because their media only feed them information about russian army "freeing" Ukraine from "neo-nazis".

@Arsen

I agree. Putin has one thing correct. There are large military forces inside Ukraine seeking to spread a fascist system but that's only because Putin sent them in. Which is not to say that this applies to the ordinary Russian soldiers, many of whom seem to be conscripts who had no idea what they were being sent in to do and hence seems to have surrendered or deserted in large numbers. However Putin is definitely channeling his inner Adolf.

'#9870675' the only likely difference between people who blindly trust Putin and you is your preference in figure of authority. As for scary and terrible, I guess you didn't happen to be near Chechnya in 1992 or 1996.

'@comrade'_Comrade You mean that time Putin launched a false-flag operation and murdered 300 people to kick-start a war and secure his position of power? Or the time Russia murdered the democratically-elected president? Or the Russian slaughter of civilians that were moving towards independence from the already-dissolved USSR for no discernible reason? Or when Chechens were falsely blamed for murdering anti-Putin journalists?

Oh, you probably mean when Russia had shot all the local leaders and was dealing with the absolute, VIOLENT anarchy *they created*. Yeah those were scary times, it's scary to set a house on fire while you're inside it.

'@boring7'' #9870744' ever heard about Shelkovskaya? Some of my extended family lived there. Must have been a really nice place in 1992, right?

'@comrade'_Comrade You mean when Russia set the nation on fire? Or perhaps when Russia may have poisoned children in 1999?

'@boring7' no, I mean Shelkovskaya in 1992. Not in your notes?

'@comrade'_Comrade Like I said, that period where Russia (metaphorically) set the house on fire before running in and being confused as to why they were getting burned. Russia fanned the flames of petty tribal tensions and then rolled in the tanks to try and make sure Russians 'won' the bigotry battle.

Chechnya wasn't going to suddenly become a nice place on its own and EVERYBODY there had dirty, blood-caked hands but the Russian Federation Government did it's best to make things *worse* as an excuse for conquest. Everybody knows it except the certified victim-card players like you.

Try to remember we were talking about "war being bad" and your response was, "after 2 Moscow-backed coup attempts failed things were really bad in Chechnya (implicit: so that makes it all right to commit war crimes in Ukraine)".

To say nothing of 300 dead russians murdered by FSB agents. But that was long AFTER the brutal brand of "peace" that did nothing but increase the fighting. Yeah bringing up Chechnya basically proves the point that you're just a programmed little goober; obeying the propaganda of a government that wants you to hate and fear everyone and trust them because of it.

'@boring7' "Try to remember we were talking about "war being bad" and your response was, "after 2 Moscow-backed coup attempts failed things were really bad in Chechnya (implicit: so that makes it all right to commit war crimes in Ukraine)". "
Coup organized by Dudaev and systematic terror designed to expel or kill ethnic Russians took place well before anything done by Moscow.
So what we're really talking about is how you really don't know nothing on the topic and end up trying to use wikipedia salad in your head to justify terror, mass murder and rape based on ethnicity (aka ethnic cleansing) in 1992 with something from *1999*.
Even on a second attempt you can't get your timeline straight, but you just have to double down and call me a propaganda bot, while best you can do is to find something that happened in 1994. Keep digging.

'@comrade'_Comrade Apparently I know more than you, since I know about the Moscow-backed '92 coup attempt you seem to think was in '99.

I'm kidding, of course, you KNEW that you just made dishonest and deceptive statements to avoid it. Just like you know that the victims of terror, mass murder and rape were Ukrainians, Armenians, Chechens, and Russians and the perpetrators of terror, mass murder, and rape were Ukrainians, Armenians, Chechens, and Russians. Everyone was murdering everyone every chance they got. You claim victim status because "your side" (mistake to choose a side) didn't have the numbers and was losing.

Chechnya was a terrible mess then, the Russian government did not move in to stop the killing, they moved in to make sure Ethnic Russians had the highest "score". It's that way in a lot of former Soviet Blocs; both the ethnic violence and the Russian government involvement. You claim sole victim status because you are either ignorant of the facts or a liar. You defend the Russian Federation's participation in ethnic cleansing as "peacekeeping" when it was actually just "accelerating".

Keep digging, keep acting ignorant. It doesn't actually help your case, it just makes you look like a controlled little tool. A human programmed by a culture of lies.

'@boring7' first thing first:
"Just like you know that the victims of terror, mass murder and rape were Ukrainians, Armenians, Chechens, and Russians and the perpetrators of terror, mass murder, and rape were Ukrainians, Armenians, Chechens, and Russians."
Funny how you try mention ethnicities and missed the ones that were third, fourth, and fifth most represented in places like Shelkovskaya, not to mention Naurskaya. You really are talking about something you don't know. Doubling down on the lie doesn't make it true, particularly for someone who had relatives in the region.

"since I know about the Moscow-backed '92 coup attempt"
It was only "Moscow-backed" in statements of Dudaev's "foreign ministry". That's even below "9/11 was an inside job" level.
There was zero participation from what remained of Russian-controlled military that was still there and was withdrawn few months after the event. If Moscow would back anyone in that internal political clash, they wouldn't be wiped out by Basaev as easily.
The one that _could have_ been sponsored by Moscow happened much later, even certain boxing enthusiast allegedly bought by Grachev didn't come into play until a couple years later.

As for "perpetrators of terror", I'd like to see some evidence of your idea that "Chechen housing plan" was carried out by someone other than Chechens. Although you're accidentally right, some people from UNA-UNSO participated on Chechen side in 1994-1996.

"Chechnya was a terrible mess then, the Russian government did not move in to stop the killing, they moved in to make sure Ethnic Russians had the highest "score""
In 1994, after multiple attempts of negotiations, and absolutely permissive attitude towards Dudaev's illegitimate government up to a point when even aviso debacle became possible?
Or before that, when state of emergency was declared and practically failed in less than two days MVD personnel was _disarmed_ and Yeltsin just pretended that nothing happened?

'@comrade'_Comrade I was going to let your nonsensical conspiracy theory pass but since you insist. No, Moscow backed several coup attempts. They failed. That's just how it went down, no matter how that makes you feel.

But there we have it all. Any victim that wasn't Russian didn't matter or didn't exist. Any terrorist that was Russian didn't matter or didn't exist. All the evidence of Moscow backing coups or ethnic russian militias committing atrocities are "conspiracies" and all conspiracies are interlinked with Chechens and Ukrainians and NATO all being one giant entity. Ukrainians and Armenians fleeing their homes in nation after nation are irrelevant but Ethnic Russians are proof that everyone is against them. Local governments are "illegitimate" or "legitimate" based entirely on their obedience to the Russian Ethnostate. Genocide doesn't count unless it's happening to Russians.

In your mind Ethnic Russians are perfect, flawless creatures who can do no wrong and ALL other groups are absolute monsters who can do no right. Simple, childish, black-and-white thinking that says Russia is alone and must destroy or enslave EVERYONE who isn't Russian 'in self-defense'. This is why the Russian Federation finds itself isolated, it CHOOSES to declare everyone an enemy no matter what they do or don't.

Grow up.

'@boring7' " I was going to let your nonsensical conspiracy theory pass but since you insist. No, Moscow backed several coup attempts. They failed. That's just how it went down, no matter how that makes you feel. "
Mr. Expert forgot that _after_ the coup he was talking about Grachev left to Dudayev a huge chunk of remaining military equipment, including some that was in Grozny at the time of the "coup". At least another coup after that was by Dudayev himself, that one must have been sponsored by Moscow too. Missing things like this happen when you start with what you've skimmed off the wikipedia article and then begin looking for anything that justifies your position once your obvious mistake was pointed out.
Of course it is convenient when you take Dudayev's opinion that coup against him was directed from Moscow, and then take his opposition's opinion that Dudayev's coup was directed from Moscow.

And of course Mr. Expert doesn't know that events in spring 1992 in Shelkovskaya were directed against non-Chechens, with Russians being one of two biggest groups, second of which Mr. Expert doesn't seem to know. Mr. Expert should have gone to Mozdok or Ordzhonikidze, and explained that fleeing people were full of crap and it was probably other Russians who terrorized them in Grozny or put those heads on fences in Shelkovskaya. Of course, Mr. Expert soundly defeated the original suggestion that people who knew about ethnic cleansing, industry of hostage- and slave-taking, and random acts of terror less than two hours by car away from them lived in greater fear than those who only see snippets of Syria-like war on Youtube or Telegram.

You think you're scoring some points here, in reality you're just retracing step by step process, by which a lot of liberal journalists and human rights activists discredited themselves in Russia. Once you start using 9/11 truther-level theories to justify the scum that was ISIS-before-ISIS just, you can continue looking credible only to Westerners who still have propaganda porridge in their heads, or younger liberal Russians who just hate the government and will take any opinion against it as a fact.

Maybe if he would be still around, Dzhokhar would give you a shiny medal for this like he did it to another guy who then spent so much time denying that he was talking on that radio. That particular event did wonders for his career and public image.

'@comrade'_Comrade lol, and yet again you get angrier and hurl more insults because I pointed out your own hypocrisy and hate. "Mr. Expert" because even the really BASIC facts prove you wrong. I'll remind you again even if your 30 years of propaganda and convoluted conspiracy theories were true, it wouldn't make Chechnya RELEVANT to Ukraine, just another strawman. Normally a straw-man fallacy involves you creating a false argument and then pushing it down, but you can't even do that right and make a false argument that defeats you instead. "9/11 truther" accurately describes the porridge in your head.

But of course facts don't matter. Only your hate matters. Only your rage. Only your desperate desire to kill everyone who isn't your tribe and equally desperate desire to believe you're the victim. So you happily support the bombing of hospitals, the shelling of evacuating civilians *after agreeing not to*, the transport of arms and ammunition in ambulances, the attacks on nuclear facilities endangering you as much as your hated enemies. All for blood, all for hate, all for you.

So glad not everyone in Russia is like you, hope they take power someday. Until then we'll watch and wait. Can't do much else.

'@boring7' "and hurl more insults because I pointed out your own hypocrisy"
It's ok only when you do it? Tough luck, Mr. Expert.

" it wouldn't make Chechnya RELEVANT to Ukraine"
Quote the original statement you latched on to.

"But of course facts don't matter. "
You don't have any. Name all the coups that happened in Chechnya since 1990, with dates and major participants. Point out which ones were directed by Moscow and provide some proof.
Can't do that? Oh well, try reading my mind, that might help.

'@comrade'_Comrade "It's ok only when you do it? Tough luck, Mr. Expert."
-I don't bother with the personal attacks, slugger. It just feeds your victim complex.

"Quote the original statement you latched on to."
-More projection. But it does remind me of the irony that if Chechnya "never was" (i.e. no 'legitimate' government) then you're whining about Russians murdering Russians. Hey I can be almost as dishonest as you.

"You don't have any. Name all the coups that happened in Chechnya since 1990, with dates and major participants. Point out which ones were directed by Moscow and provide some proof."
-Already did. You rejected it because it didn't fit your hate.

"Can't do that? Oh well, try reading my mind, that might help."
-And more victim-complex and personal attacks because you shamed yourself earlier. Because your emotions clouded your judgement and you spat out foolish statements you couldn't retract.

Because again, that's what this is all about. You're just baying for blood. Desperate in your hate. It doesn't matter what the rest of us do, as long as we're alive you'll be out to kill us. And if we're dead you'll turn on your neighbors. It's how you define your life.

'@boring7' "You don't have any. Name all the coups that happened in Chechnya since 1990, with dates and major participants."
Point out which ones were directed by Moscow and provide some proof.
"-Already did. You rejected it because it didn't fit your hate. "
You never did. If you think you did, you missed at least three.

Pathetic, even for you.

'@comrade'_Comrade Weaksauce kiddo. Your game's all shook up.

'@boring7' so you know nothing more than something you've read in the wiki article, and all your huffing and puffing is a false bravado of pathetic little hate-filled troll who embarks on internet crusades to protect the "oppressed" to project his insecurities on everyone around him.

Bye, Mr. Expert.

'@comrade'_Comrade The deeper you get in fallacy and the further off-script you get the more you just repeat what other people say.

Remind me, how DOES your false history of Chechnyan genocide justify the various war crimes being committed right now?

'@Deuteromycota' Like skin-blob Trump, Putin is waaaaay more popular than he should be because of stupid, stupid voters.

@boring7
Not stupid, but human. In one case, there were other things to consider and in the other, enforced ignorance.

In the US, Trump managed to swing a coalition of people who disliked the Other Side. Yes, some want to make him a saint, even today. Some, including myself, only voted against the other guy. (I find Biden's position regarding guns terrible, and FAR more immediate than Trump's tendency to see Eminent Domain, for enriching cronies, as a Good Thing. Frankly, I dislike Trump and think Biden might make a good neighbor...I just don't want him in charge of whether or not I get to keep a firearm. Incidentally, Trump was no "friend" of gun owners, either. Just less of a boogeyman than Biden is, and the Democrat party, in general, has become.)

In the case of russia, putin has held that nation's media in a chokehold for years. The russian people are inundated with his lies. They don't have a choice to turn off CNN and turn on Fox, (or, if you prefer, turn off Fox, and turn on CNN). They get to hear what he wants them to hear.
The human mind is a remarkably poor judgement machine. It tends to assume that where there is smoke, there is fire. Blame someone often enough, and some of that will slip through and color their view of that someone, even if they later learn the original blame was all a lie. In the early stages of the war in Iraq, the Dixie Chicks, a rising Country Music group, spoke out against Bush's decision to prosecute war against saddam hussein, and move to have him removed. Although I don't think it was CALLED "cancel culture" yet, the Dixie Chicks were canceled. Far more people agree with their position NOW, but, while they're still performing, they didn't exactly get their old popularity back. They are no longer an A-lister and probably never will be again. Something of the decision to "cancel" them, based upon a position that is now more popular, stuck, despite that position now being more popular. We have always been at war with East Eurasia.

'@SeanR' Therein lies the problem, everything you worry about with Biden was created by Republican propaganda. And "Cancel Culture" consistently repeats the party line of the GOP.

@SeanR In general, in Russia there is as much freedom of speech as in the USA - very little.

@boring7

Yes.
But in ordinary Russians defence - it's actually hard to get any other information in Russia, then Putins propaganda.
While stupid Americans voluntarily chooses to feed on Fox News and worse propaganda.

So I'd say American voters still win the stupidity-contest.

(And that's not a dig against ALL Americans - becuase you are not ALL Trumpers, of course.)

'@Nisse'_Hult Can't argue with that.

@boring7 In the US, voters are either dumb (Trump) or dead (Biden). The United States has a unique democracy, where even the dead vote.

Ukraine will never give up

I do hope most of us can agree. Putin is a prick and a horribly human being.

'@Horsi' Why?

@Joggar Perhaps because he attack a country who has done him nothing?

@Horsi His fell deeds began long before Ukraine. He's a man with a microscopic penis, thus insecure no matter his position, mortally afraid of anyone disagreeing with him. That's why he has murdered, imprisoned, or exiled all of his political opponents, leaving only yes-men behind. Pretty much like his idol, Stalin, did. He has been turning Russia into a corrupt dictatorship with no civil rights or freedoms, causing a massive brain drain where the brightest of the people have had enough and move abroad. The Russian gdp per capita was developing very favourably for years, but Putin's decisions concerning Ukraine starting from the capture of Crimea crashed it. Now with the full war, it's going to suffer even more. This reveals Putin doesn't give a shit about the common Russian people. Just like the tsars didn't.

'@Louhikaarme' Let it never be forgotten he cemented his power by murdering hundreds of Russians in a false flag terror attack that was fumbled badly.

'@Horsi' Prove it. Go over the past ten years of Ukrainian international politics.

@Joggar Why? If you can't belive that Putin has started a war against a naigbour without a valid reason my time is wasted trying to prusaide you.

'@Horsi' Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I am merely asking questions, which you claim to have the answers to. Let's see if you are telling the truth.

'@Horsi' Ah, but they're such interesting politics...

In the last 20 years...

-Russia tried to assassinate the president (Yuschenko) with dioxin poison; shortly after he had thrown a nazi in jail.
-Russia managed to bribe their way into owning a president (Yanukovych).
-This was despite Yuschenko's poisoning stirring up a lot of resentment. Ukraine still did not unite against Russia yet.
-The puppet Yanukovych was so spectacularly corrupt and incompetent (and submissive to Russia) that the Maidan revolution happened.
-The Maidan revolution featured protesters fighting some particularly brutal (illegal) military police assaults and winning.
-Russia sent an army dressed in plain clothes (war crime) to 3 provinces which then "had uprisings" and "declared independence".
-They only actually WON in Crimea, since a slim majority of the actual locals liked the idea (and immediately began oppressing their non-Russian citizens).
-In Crimea, hilariously, they would have won their little trumped-up election with a slim majority (55%?) but decided to cheat anyway.
-Crimea was immediately economically crippled because they were too busy screaming hate at Ukraine to set up really basic trade deals like paying for the Ukrainian water they used to get for free.
-Ukraine, robbed of most of its pro-russian voting bloc and united against the robbers seems to have much smoother elections now.
-Russia spent the next 8 years sending their best military into Donbas and Luhansk with limited rules of engagement, which seems to have gotten them killed.
-Ukraine spent that time sending green troops to get combat experience, and apparently Ukraine is a lot better at fighting than Russia when neither side is committing the really big war crimes.
-Trump did his best to undercut all the military aid we sent to Ukraine.
-Trump got fired.
-Russia invaded in a panic with a lousy, rushed plan.

'@boring7' And not one source for any of that. Curious!

@Joggar You keep asking for valid points, but give not one in return to support your own opinions. Troll?

'@Violetta' Which opinions? What do you want to know?

'@Joggar' Didn't feel the need since it's all very public knowledge. I personally went off of memory but it's not hard to look up events based on the names I dropped. Honestly though my favorite part about the whole thing is in spite of rantings by propagandists there's no real evidence of involvement by US intelligence. After 70 years of malfeasance it's a mild comfort to watch events and feel fairly confident my tax dollars weren't murdering people there.

The fact that you're using the Ben Shapiro meme does certainly put your child-frame Russia-fellating into an amusing context though.

The real joke of this whole thing is that Russia is now spending uncountable amounts of money and lives because they tried to save money. See Ukrainian politics are pretty fractious and it was easy-peasy for a Russian-backed candidate to buy/bribe/bull*&%$ his way into office. He'd only win with 32% of the vote but because NONE of the other ethnic/religious/etc. factions could get along he's still *win* most of the time. But winning elections and then maintaining the bare minimum of national approval needed to avoid an uprising was just too much. Putin got tired of doing it with his puppets (and probably got tired of dealing with the people so corrupt they would agree to be his puppet). So he kicked over the card table, removed Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk from the voting public and ensured the remaining factions were united against him.

Selling his car to save money on gas and spending twice as much on taxi service; metaphorically speaking. It's actually funny as well as sad.

Anyways...
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=yushchenko+dioxin
Seems I mixed up some dates on the nazi prisoner https://lmgtfy.app/#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=ukraine%20tymoshenko%20yushchenko%20prison
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=yanukovych+record+setting+corruption
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=crimea+secession+outside+polling
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=trump+administration+undercut+ukraine+aid

And many more. Ukraine's a messy place with a lot of squabbly tribes. There's interesting history (and bloody, as history often is). But it is what it is. Moreover you don't seem to care for facts or logic. Just emotional attacks and shameless simping for a dictator. You'll do what you do, and I'll keep making fun of you. Because it's funny.

@boring7 I made an account to commend you on citing your sources but, unfortunately, search results are not considered valid sources. Please provide properly vetted sources for full mark. (c-)

'@ArtyG235' Sources don't matter to shills, but sarcasm is it's own reward.

This whole thing started a long time ago, the Crimea has been part of Russia for 100s of years, in 1954 when ukraine was part of the Soviet Union it redrew its borders anexing Crimea without a local vote which was against Soviet law, Russia let it slide as they were all part of the USSR,
We fast forward to 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine broke from Russia taking Crimea with it, the result was the Crimeans protesting the Ukrainian government to be returned to Russia. Control as the Crimea is a out 98% Russian speaking ethnic russians the other 2% is made up of ukranian and Slavs.
Between 91 and 2014 Crimea held no less than 3 referendums requesting their independence from Ukraine. Every time the vote came back with 97-99% in favour of independence, and every time the Ukrainian government refused the vote
This resulted in protests in 2014 where the Ukrainian government asked Russia to send in troops to assist in peace keeping efforts, resulting in snipers (later identified as ukranian police) shooting both russian personal and Crimean civilians, causing the revolution of dignity.

This resulted in the Crimean protestors overthrowing the ukranian government and declaring themselves independent. Russia refused to accept this as they saw it as an illegal coup, and demanded another vote be held after a new government was installed. Despite 97.5% of Crimeans voting for independence the new Ukrainian government again refused to accept the vote sparking again more protests, so the ukranian government cut off all power and water supplies to the Crimean peninsula.

Russia then moved in and hooked Crimea to its power grid and provided fresh water. On top of this they modernised the airport and repaired the roads and bridges.
The Crimeans then built a security fence and declared themselves independent, while it was accepted by Russia and many other countries the US and EU refused to acknowledge Crimean independence, causing it all to come to a head now with the current russian invasion which is on the behest of 3 regions of the Ukraine (Crimea and a can't remember the other two off the top of my head) asking Russia to help in their fight for independence.

TLDR: don't listen to the BS propaganda the media puts out, Russia has more legitimate reason to invade Ukraine than any war the US has fought in the last 30 years

@Horsi

Don't waste to much time answering Joggar - he's cleary a troll or worse.
I hope the moderators will ban him and a few others like him that have shown their ugly faces here, as all they do is spread lieas and try to defend Putins indefencible war.
I've been reporting some of their posts but you usually have to read more then a single post of theirs to see the pattern, becuase they deploy their poision in small doses, trying to avoid detection.

@Nisse_Hult
People can easily get around bans by making new accounts and continue under those.

An effective solution to this problem would be IP banning, but that's outside the area of things I can do.

@EricTheRedAndWhite

Aha, too bad.

But there are a number of people who've been showing up here, trolling - or worse.
I'm not sure if you have the time to read all the post, but I've reported a few at least.

It's to bad you can't write any comment as you report a post - maybe that possibility should be added?
Because some of these people are clearly trying to avoid being banned, by not stating their opinion clearly in any one post - but if your read a number of them, you understand that the person is in fact spreading a propaganda narrative.

It could be good to be able to point that out, when you report a post, as the singular post you report - in it self - might not be so incriminating. But viewed in the wider context it becomes clear what the posters intent actually is.

@EricTheRedAndWhite
One answer to that is to have an age-of-account limit for certain types of posts, or posts in particular discussions.

Like a Wikipedia article becoming semi-protected, restricting edits to those who have full accounts, and not just anonymous (IP) edits.
Or select subreddits on Reddit not allowing posts, OR replies, from accounts that have some combination of being too young and having too low a karma score, (sometimes further divided into too low a comment karma or too low a new post karma).

There are ways around these as well, of course, but they require more work, and the cost of losing an account to a moderator ban becomes more expensive.

@SeanR
I'm afraid that anything technical is out of my hands. The site administrator Dayvi would be the man for it. But even he is not as active anymore as he used to be.

'@EricTheRedAndWhite' Also banning me for not being in lockstep with the prevailing opinion in this particular comment section would just prove my point. And you never explained why you deleted any of my posts.

@Joggar
This forum has rules. So if a comment is reported, and we find that it breaks a rule, then it gets deleted.

'@EricTheRedAndWhite' And, you never explained why.

@Joggar
I have not seen you ask for an explanation until now. I do remember having deleted a comment of yours, but I don't remember what it was about.

'@EricTheRedAndWhite' So what about it? You should always explain. Unaccountable power will always be abused. And how do you expect it to stop if you don't let people know what they did "wrong"?

@Nisse_Hult I am done replying to him. I just wrote it. I am not interested in a cross fight with a dummy.

@Horsi

Good for you.
I hope he gets banned and disappears from here soon enough anyway.

I have been so waiting for your cartoon on this.
First Go Ukraine.
Zelenskyy you appear to be truly a servant of the People.
My father a US Air Force sergeant served in Canada and Germany with NATO. I was a US Army Signal Corps served with NATO. So I too understand why NATO exists. There those in my country that ignores the fact with the rare exception that whatever conflict we were involved in there were our allies in NATO and elsewhere.
Strength in numbers. We have our differences in them there lies strengths. I hope Sweden and Finland both join as that looks to be a possibility. The countries are small in size. History shows you don't mess with them. And I never ever want to get on the wrong side of Finland.
It annoys me many in my country support Putin and calling the End of NATO. as former President Trump does. It is a shame.

@MichaelTownsend Yes, I know how you feel. My uncle is a hardcore Trumper and he agrees that Putin is a genius. I wanted to drive to South Dakota and punch his ass into Mount Rushmore. What a moron. Anyone supporting the murder of children is disgusting.

@miryasan85 It's baffling Trump could find anything smart in Putin's actions of late. Although Trump's flaws and ill deeds are many and his positive contributions few, one thing he did try to do was to get more investments and business into the USA (with very varying success, as you might expect from Trump). It also makes sense considering Trump's background in relatively big business. However, Putin basically destroyed the whole economy of Russia. Why would Trump respect that? Perhaps nobody has told him about it.

@Louhikaarme

I think part of it is that Putin is the sort of character that Trump dreams of being. Both are extremely narcissistic sociopaths and as such the only thing that matters to them is their personal desires. Their extremely autocratic and have the attitude they give orders and others obey them. However while Trump had the 'disadvantage' of being in a democracy Putin was able to destroy a faltering and weak democracy and get the sort of autocratic state that as far as he's concerned only exists to meet his needs. Unlike Trump who was removed after 4 years Putin has been in untrammeled power for 20+ years and steadily built up his personality cult and personal power and wealth and Trump admires that.

'@stevep59' "Removed"?

'@Joggar' After he lost the election. His "world's stupidest coup attempt" made it clear he was only going to physically leave the white house because he knew security would throw him out otherwise.

'@miryasan85' Russian children are no less innocent than anyone else.

@Joggar Yes, that's is true. Another sad part of this stupid war. Many Russian children will grow up with the world hating them. Those with common sense will realize that it was Putin and his cronies, not average Russians. Still, there is going to be so much Russian hate. I'm already seeing it. I live in the Bible Belt of the USA and of course people here are gullible and lack common sense. Anything with the word "Russia" is being removed from places. Maybe outside the Bible Belt there's more sense.

'@miryasan85' It was america and europe. We have no moral reason to side with one of them over the other.

NATO was formed to counteract Russian aggression. At the time it was Soviet Russia at the head of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, but at the end of things it was Russia, first and foremost, who was seen as the adversary. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, some people began to forget that fact.

Putin has reminded us all. Much like Hitler, he planned on a jittery and disunited West being unable or unwilling to fight him. He was wrong.

Slava Ukraini! Heroiam Slava!

We thought that the Russian army was the second most powerful in the world. This aggressive Russian invasion taught us that the Russian army is only the second most powerful in Ukraine.

@ImportViking
I would say its the most powerful army in Ukraine but definitely not the most competently led or best motivated. Ukraine still faces a considerable numerical disadvantage and problems with Russia having a lot of options they don't. Unfortunately, unless something happens to remove the basic problem - which might occur as I have heard he's going under the knife due to cancer - its likely that there is going to be a lot of death, suffering and destruction to come.

Although how a cancer can itself have a cancer I'm not sure.

@stevep59 No, there's no real question at this point that the Russian army is currently the second most powerful army in Ukraine. In the north, Russia has been pushed out. In the northeast, they're being pushed back to their own border. In the south, they're no longer a threat to Mykolaiv, and Ukraine forces have advanced to within artillery range of Kherson. I expect Izium and Kherson will be retaken within a month at the rate the Russian 'advance' is going. Russia has now lost more than 100% of the number of tanks they'd originally intended to commit to this war. Ukraine has more tanks than they did at the start. Most of Russia's tanks were stored in conditions that mean they're unusable without significant refurbishment that Russia is incapable of doing without parts that they cannot get. And they've lost over 28,000 troops, with about 200 more dying every day, wounded and out of the fight typically triples killed.
Russia has effectively already lost this war. The only question is how messy it's going to be. A dead Putin would likely end it sooner.

@VictorMortimer

We're talking about definitions of power. I was talking about the fact that Russia has markedly more of just about every metric other than manpower as Ukraine has pretty fully mobilized and Russia hasn't - which is I suspect due to Putin not daring to admit its needed. However the Russian forces have proved far less efficient, largely in human factors such as motivation and training and also because of abysmal leadership and decisions from above. Coupled with substantial military aid from the west that's why Ukraine withstood the initial storm and also [so far] the 'offensive' in the Donbas. However its suffered a lot of damage itself and while its winning in terms of not being defeated and managing to liberate some areas it could still be a long and very bloody cost to liberate all the areas occupied since this last round of fighting started, let alone the areas occupied in 2014. Coupled with the massive level of destruction inflicted by the Russians Ukraine will be economically weaker for probably at least a decade or more even if the war ended tomorrow and the west was willing to follow up military aid with the economic aid the country needs and which would be a hell of a lot more expensive. I hope they would get that although I have doubts. Russia is also going to be weaker but may not lose all its gains, let alone the issue of the ethnic cleansing that has occurred in many areas it has occupied.

Ukraine doesn't have more tanks than it started with. It has captured a lot of Russian tanks but many of them are not in working condition and would need a lot of work to get operational again, even if that was cost efficient. Plus that would also mean Ukraine would need spares and other equipment as well as trained men to operate and support them. They have not yet, to the best of my knowledge gotten any significant numbers of tanks from the west although some lighter combat vehicles have I believe already arrived. Furthermore of course its not tanks that are the decisive factor but the combined arms 'package' and how they are used, which is where the Ukrainians are coming out on top.

I agree that Putin's death, which could happen in an internal coup or due to his worsening health which by some reports is pretty serious, might be the easiest way to end the conflict quickly. However that would depend on who took charge and under what circumstances. A new dictator - and there's very little change of a democratic government emerging in the near run - could feel obliged, to avoid weakening his hold on power, to demand a ceasefire that keep substantial territorial gains. Or things could go totally to hell with either a civil war inside Russia or the possibility of nuclear use against Ukraine. As such Putin's death/removal from power, which might be necessary for peace wouldn't necessary solve all the problems and there's a possibility it could make things far worse for the Ukrainians or even the wider world.

As such I stand by my previous definitions. The Russian forces are more powerful in terms of sheer equipment numbers

@stevep59 Ukraine is not fully mobilized yet. We still haven't run out of volunteers. Well, we can only speculate why Russia does not start mobilization, but I believe the key metric is defection rate.
"Ukraine doesn't have more tanks than it started with."
Actually, we do. We've managed to set up upgrades and repairs at a decent rate. Not alone, of course.
"As such I stand by my previous definitions. The Russian forces are more powerful in terms of sheer equipment numbers "
Alas,this is totally accurate,

@VictorMortimer that thread did not age well.

@ImportViking Got'em.

I wonder why Putin doesn't walk on crutches yet...?
...as how much he shoots himself in the foot recently...!

Tries to stop NATO expansion
Result: Ukraine, Finland and Swenden want to join NATO

Tries to Anschluß 2.0/Ukraine heim ins Reich
Result: Ukranian resistence stiffens more and more

Threatening with nukes
Result: Even SWIZERLAND (!) joins the boykott

Spreads lies and fake-news how evil EU and NATO are
Result: More and more countries want to join EU and NATO

I wonder where - if he survives ,and dosen't shoot* himself in the Füh... äh i mean Kremlin's President-Bunker - where will he go for exile...?
China ?
North-Korea ?
Belarussia ?
Mar-a-Lago ?

*most likely he won't shoot himself, he's more the poisening-type...!

@Packless1 Got it in one with Mar-a-Lago. Donnie would jump at the chance to have his boyfriend live with him.

@Packless1

I think the most likely good ending is going to be Putin having sudden health issues - a serious case of lead poisoning that tends to happen to dictators that f**k things up - and his replacement deciding Russia is better off getting out of the pit that he dug it into. Even then there will be a lot of dead and injured and Ukraine's going to need a hell of a lot of aid to help repair the damage.

After 20+ years as supreme ruler I doubt he has the clearness of vision to realise that he's losing and hence needs to run. Plus that would really need a lot more pressure on Russia to make those around him want to make his position untenable. If he did I suspect he would run if he got the chance. Probably to China as that's the only fellow dictator that would be both strong enough and [possibly] has the will to resist Ukraine/western pressure for him being handed over for trial.

@Packless1

I understand that both Elba and Saint Helena are decent places to stash a dictator.
Of course, historically, they also don't work.

@SeanR

Yes, Elba proved a little close, but Saint Helena did work - Napoleon died there.
But that was way more remote back then, then it is today with modern communications.

I'd recommend sending Putin on a one-way trip to the moon.

@Nisse_Hult [NASA PPO commits seppuku]

https://sma.nasa.gov/sma-disciplines/planetary-protection

@Nisse_Hult

Replying to myself here as it seems someone else have taken my suggestion and run with it...

Jupiter works for me too.

https://livecenterimagesnorth.azureedge.net/lc-images-2021/lcimg-a80f7cd4-b7fb-4b99-b3db-e79011f9e523.jpg?bypass-service-worker&

@Packless1 When even switzerland join the opposing side, you know you messed up