Putin is Ruining Russia

[Taz]

The final way to really put pressure on would be to ship natural gas to Europe from the US on tankers. If our stupid President wasn’t so anti-energy it would have been done quite some time ago and Europe would have more options than just corrupt Russia.
 
So our President didn’t only screw us the last few years but he screwed Europe as well. If there were more alternative energy sources (Greenies screwed Europe too) then most of Europe would tell Russia to go pound sand.

[TheBullRDR]

Russian market is huge for Europe to sell what it wants to Russians.
Trade. Have you heard of it at all?

Yep, I've heard of it.  And I understand it, which evidently, you don't.  See, with an embargo, you neither buy nor sell to the embargoed country.  So there's a strike.  As was already pointed out by Boe (thanks by the way) no EU country had significant  trade with Russia before all of this started.  So that's a pretty big strike.  I mean, if everyone is clamoring to trade with Russia because of this "huge" market, why weren't they doing it before?  And, since Russia isn't selling it's gas and oil, or selling it off very cheap, (one dimensional economy) then they don't really have anything to trade of significant wealth.  That is to say, they can't afford to buy anything from other countries anyway.  So that makes three strikes.  And all of this is due to your leader making some really bad decisions and gambling on the price of oil staying high.  Well, the gamble failed.  Prices fell like a rock, and now he's left holding the bag. He's embroiled in a conflict with a neighbor, which has pissed off everyone else and caused sanctions.  His decision.  He gambled on oil staying high.  It didn't.  His decision. I won't list all of the bad decisions, because I don't have the time or inclination to, but come on, you have to see that these horrible decisions are leading him down a very dark path that can end in a place where it will take the country decades to recover from.  Poor leadership


And yes Taz, you're right.  But the Gas companies will get their product over there, just wait. 

[Taz]

It is very obvious that Putin has backed himself into a corner in this situation. He is using Russian troops as much as he possibly can without being too overt to try and maintain the ruse that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine which every day is more exposed to be the lie it truly is and ALWAYS has been. He is now in a dangerous situation where he needs to try and save face. Each day the Ukrainian army is better prepared and and at less of a tactical disadvantage.


So what can Putin do? If he pulls out, the rebel terrorists will likely be overrun fairly quickly. If he sticks around too long loses mount on his side and more questions asked at home from mothers wondering why their sons died under mysterious training accidents. Longer it goes on and the more involved he is, the more the sanction screws will be tightened. These terrorist groups are getting harder and harder to control and their is more and more infighting and report of Russian troops assassinating some of the rebel commanders that didn't toe the Russian party line. He had to pull out Col. Igor Ivanovich Strelkov who claims that he (Strelkov) was personally responsible for keeping the war going. This guy is a Russian instigator all the way and clearly wasn't a Ukrainian citizen so why was he involved so early on in Ukraine? By the Kremlin's request of course.

See here for Strelkov's comments.

http://ukraine-truth.com/2014/12/russias-fsb-colonel-strelkov-responsible-war-eastern-ukraine/

Any person, including the blindly loyal nationalist Russians, can see that Russian is the shadow force here keeping this all going. The rest of the world has figured this out too. Emperor Putin has no clothes but nobody is will to tell him that his fat saggy heiny  is hanging in the wind. So now we have a wounded animal that will try and lash out until it is finally put down for good.

In the meantime thousands more will die and unfortunately it typically won't be the right people who die in the conflict if there is such a thing as a right person to die. For me it would be the person/people who started this conflict and continue to fan the flames. It would have died on its own sometime ago if not for Russia's continued covert and overt involvement. Now the chickens have come home to roost in Putin's yard and I hope they defecate everywhere they possibly can.

[Taz]

Time for a little humor. Did you know that all the signs showing currency exchange rates are being taken down in Moscow? Hmmm, wonder why. Could it be that it is a stark reminder how bad the ruble has crashed?


No, according to the government it is due to architectural laws that are being changed and the old signs aren't in "compliance" just like how all the McDonalds restaurants had issues as well...


This was the best laugh I heard all day (about the currency signs) being taken down. Apparently it was like rubbing the nose of a puppy in the feces they just crapped out on the carpet. Poor little Putin... Bad doggie, NO BISCUIT!!!!

[TheBullRDR]

Now that is funny as hell!  How can people not see exactly what he is doing?  Those signs had to come down, but I would bet 100-1 that there are other signs right next to them that can stay, and are 10 years older.  I'll still bet the brain washed public will buy the party line though.  They get more and more like North Korea every day! 

[Taz]

I was thinking more like the Palestinians in Gaza. The Russians are using civilians for human shields as well.


http://ukraine-truth.com/2014/12/pro-russia-rebels-fire-rockets-residential-areas-using-civilians-human-shields/

The sad part is I can't think of a single Russian argument I've seen that can't easily be refuted and proven false so far with just a little snooping on the internet or by my own personal experience there, yet the Russian sheeple fall for all this BS - hook, line and sinker.


I was in Crimea when the "little green men" showed up driving trucks with Russian license plates but no military insignias but clearly military in the manners and organization.

[TheBullRDR]

Dear lord.  Here is another one you may like to see

http://www.funker530.com/rebel-grad-rockets-target-ukrainian-checkpoint-bus-carrying-civilians-hit/

[Taz]

Sometime there is an occasional fond memory of the early stages of this conflict. I really enjoyed the "Ne Dai Russkomu" campaign started by Ukrainian women against Russian men. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the great work "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes set in the Peloponnesian War (between Athens and Sparta).  I am sure of our more erudite members will get the reference.


For the rest of you there is this link.


http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/560662/20140728/ukraine-sex-boycott-russia.htm

[TheBullRDR]

That is great.  I had never heard of that.  Thanks for the article.

[lordtiberius]

Dear lord.  Here is another one you may like to see

http://www.funker530.com/rebel-grad-rockets-target-ukrainian-checkpoint-bus-carrying-civilians-hit/

This woman is a fb friend.  Putin killed her husband in the Kursk.  Here is what she wrote:
Сергей Веселовский
ЖАЛЕТЬ НИКОГО НЕ БУДЕМ. ТЕРПЕНИЕ ЛОПНУЛО!
 Позвонил товарищу в аэропорт.
 - Расхерачили. Трупы укропские не считаем. Дохерища поляков из ЧВК покрошили. Теперь жалеть  никого не будем. И на блокпостах тоже. Заслужили нацики. За Донецк, за  Горловку, за автобус под Волновахой. Наше терпение лопнуло!..

I am concerned.  Thoughts?

[Taz]

Wow, that is pretty sad. Sounds like a lot of carnage. Truly sounds like she is at her wit's end with this. She made a typo regarding the hideous corpses but it  really sounds bad there. She can't take any more of it.


I was in Russia during the Kursk. They eff'd everybody on that sub!

[jone]

Taz,

You may be right, but it was a long shot even if they had called in help. 

The lies told by the Admiralty were foreshadowing the Big Lie we now get daily from the Russian media outlets and government spokesmen.

LT is the local historian on the Kursk.

[lordtiberius]

So many lies about the Kursk.  I am open to any new information anyone has.  Thank you

[Taz]

One of the saddest things about that sinking was Russia could have done so much more. One of the most bald faced lies I witnessed was a Russian soldier who was on the rescue ship sent to try and save the sub. On the sub was his son. For him to then say "We did all that we could" was a total lie. They were too worried to protect any secrets on that sub and were willing to let everyone die in order to protect the secrets.


I was in the a cathedral in St. Pete when a large body of upper Russian brass showed up to pay their respects along with all the news crew when they officially declared the sub a total loss. It was quite a moving moment but at the same time if felt very "staged" and as all for show. Don't quote me but I think it was the St. Nicholas Cathedral. Or it might have been the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. I was there with my mom at the time. It was really some time ago now that I think about it. I was staying on Stari Nevsky Prospekt at the time.


Anyway back to the war at hand so to speak. Here are some pretty solid numbers of how much Russia has built up their non-existent forces within Ukraine as well as how much they have perched on the edge. It is obvious they are trying to bully Ukraine and be prepare for a massive invasion if necessary.


See here


http://www.voanews.com/content/european-parliament-accuses-russia-of-acts-of-terrorism-in-ukraine/2600021.html?


Excerpts regarding Russian troop buildup


"Meanwhile, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov says separatist forces in eastern Ukraine now number 36,000 troops, including 8,500 Russian military servicemen, and they are armed with 542 tanks, 990 armored fighting vehicles, 694 artillery systems and 57 anti-aircraft missile systems.

He also said that there are more than 52,000 Russian troops in a state of "full combat readiness" on the Ukrainian-Russian border, along with more than 300 tanks, 1,800 armored fighting vehicles, 750 artillery systems and up to 360 warplanes and attack helicopters.Turchynov warned that "the renewal of hostilities by the enemy on a large scale," and with the participation of Russia's armed forces, could lead to what he called "a continental war on a large scale."

Despite what Kyiv and the West call incontrovertible evidence, Russia continues to deny any direct involvement in the conflict in east Ukraine."
Amazing that they are still no Russian troops in Ukraine according to Putin ...

[AC]

Excerpt from your link
"Meanwhile, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov says separatist forces in eastern Ukraine now number 36,000 troops, including 8,500 Russian military servicemen, and they are armed with 542 tanks, 990 armored fighting vehicles, 694 artillery systems and 57 anti-aircraft missile systems.

He also said that there are more than 52,000 Russian troops in a state of "full combat readiness" on the Ukrainian-Russian border, along with more than 300 tanks, 1,800 armored fighting vehicles, 750 artillery systems and up to 360 warplanes and attack helicopters."

I would say that Putler is likely planning a spring invasion. 

[Taz]

My thoughts exactly. All the troop buildups are indicative of an invasion force. They have been staging at the border for some time and doing training there. Look at the Ukraine @ war blog for a lot of the aerial photos.


Honestly at this point I have almost palpable disgust for all things Russian and I had very deep relationship with that country having lived and worked there. I still have a lot of friends but now we almost can never talk or write each other because of the conflict and they are like Doll and can't accept the truth about Putin's actions. Now they are starting to be affected by the effects of the sanctions and ruble's fall and they are at least starting to take note.

[AC]

My thoughts exactly. All the troop buildups are indicative of an invasion force. They have been staging at the border for some time and doing training there. Look at the Ukraine @ war blog for a lot of the aerial photos.


Honestly at this point I have almost palpable disgust for all things Russian and I had very deep relationship with that country having lived and worked there. I still have a lot of friends but now we almost can never talk or write each other because of the conflict and they are like Doll and can't accept the truth about Putin's actions. Now they are starting to be affected by the effects of the sanctions and ruble's fall and they are at least starting to take note.

I believe you are an a-10 Warthog pilot and Iraq war veteran (?) and very smart as well as thoughtful.  Would you risk inserting US or NATO troops into Ukraine (provided they were ordered to go, which they likely won't be) or would you limit Ukraine to getting all the weapons they need? (not that Obama will approve it but hopefully somebody will).  Curious what your thoughts are on the best course of action to prevent them from being overwhelmed.

[lordtiberius]

Each headline, every territorial gain, every victory hurts Russia economically.  You cannot wage war on the cheap and with diminishing revenues.  This is true for every country - even the United States.

[mendeleyev]

One pro-Ukrainian source yesterday began uploading videos on VK and YouTube of funerals/burials in the Rostov region of Russian soldiers who were killed in Ukraine. Today those videos are gone, scrubbed clean.

Curious as to what is happening, I went to their VK page to be greeted with this message from VK administrators:

Данный материал заблокирован на основании требования Генеральной прокуратуры Российской Федерации.
(Material blocked at the request of the Russian Federation Prosecutor General office.)

I am a member of 101 specialized communities on VK. Some are Russian, some Ukrainian, and they represent a variety of interests from culinary, culture, language, photography, history, religion, literature, etc. Thinking I might have clicked on a wrong link, I returned to vk.

Now that community is not even listed. It is gone, as if it had never existed. Poof, just like that.

[Doll]

One pro-Ukrainian source yesterday began uploading videos on VK and YouTube of funerals/burials in the Rostov region of Russian soldiers who were killed in Ukraine. Today those videos are gone, scrubbed clean.

Curious as to what is happening, I went to their VK page to be greeted with this message from VK administrators:

Данный материал заблокирован на основании требования Генеральной прокуратуры Российской Федерации.
(Material blocked at the request of the Russian Federation Prosecutor General office.)

I am a member of 101 specialized communities on VK. Some are Russian, some Ukrainian, and they represent a variety of interests from culinary, culture, language, photography, history, religion, literature, etc. Thinking I might have clicked on a wrong link, I returned to vk.

Now that community is not even listed. It is gone, as if it had never existed. Poof, just like that.

If you didn't see this video, then how do you know what was there?

[lordtiberius]

So he is lying?

[Doll]

So he is lying?

This is for Mendeleyev, he knows what I mean-не читал, но скажу.

[Doll]

If Mendy is such a "respectful and popular journalist" he can contact this "pro-Ukrainian source" , get this video and post here.
Here, where there is freedom of speech. He will get more respect from you, guys, as a courageous Russian opposition.
Come on, Mendy, do it.
There is no  Russian Federation Prosecutor General office in the USA.

[Doll]

Speaking of "respected journalist"- I used the link that Mendy gives under his posts.
I might miss  something but I didn't find a single name on his site. They all are anonymous.
I mean  didn't find who exactly is posting on this forum.

[sleepycat]

Doll you seem to have taken a recent severe disliking of Mendy.
Did he hit a raw nerve with your Putinist propaganda crap?

It seem you are more annoyed at Mendy's journalistic work than at me for repeatedly mocking your beloved Putin as a midget mongoloid!