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None of this is recent @D0gg0d. There's been a hot war going on in eastern Ukraine (Donbas) since 2014.
Interesting. I'm fairly sheltered from most news. Self-imposed.
Not to be a smart butt but, I kinda find it difficult to believe the Ukraine would pick a fight with Russia and if they did that most every country would send them millions of dollars worth of equipment to do so.
Thats kinda like Taiwan invading China. Just seems a bit out of my suspension of belief.
Everything is simple here. NATO policy. They make provocations. They pump the regions with weapons, train mercenaries. Then fake news is poured into the media and the war begins. This has happened many times in modern history. Nothing new.
Here's what hard to believe @D0gg0d... Russia goes into Ukraine, a poor excuse or otherwise, to protect (R2P) the Donbas region after them having the crap bombed out of them for past 7 years, which coincidently was the exact same reason NATO went into Yugoslavia to support its breakaway ethnic regions.
One, the Yugoslavia one, was apparently justified to support the independence aspirations of its breakaway regions, while the other one, the Donbas one, we fight to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine. A slight anomaly in policy one might say.
These are international geo-political maneuverings and you can forget about justified or unjustified, right or wrong or any ideas of a moral high ground on either side.
@frank22 Agreed 100%. My heart goes out to anyone who's suffering as a result of war and I would much rather that the international community started talking peace, instead of this constant talk of the desire to put NATO boots on the ground, but where was the international outrage when the Donbas region was being bombed? And what about all the other ongoing conflicts in the world; where are the Twitter accounts with the hashtag ''stand with Yemen'' in their bios, for example?
I don't see politicians caring much unless it somehow effects their image. There are multiple reasons we know and may not know for people to take action. The decisions of a few people affect most of the world.
I basically don't trust my government 100% but at least for the moment I have more freedom that other places. I can say I don't like the president, walk down a street with a don't elect Biden sign and carry a pistol into the local market without being jailed or executed. People here are looking to remove those rights ATM.
If I assume that half of what I hear is propaganda and the other half is fact, then those facts don't paint a pretty picture for Russia. My info is limited so I am supposed to assume that all this aid going into the Ukraine is for other countries looking for political gain? We've yet to see China play its hand completely. Its my opinion they knew this was going to happen and wanted to see how it would play out. China is good at playing the long game and they have a target in mind.
Interesting that if you google map certain countries a street view will not come up and the landmarks that do are usually devoid of people.
Post removed - because I may have expressed my opinion a bit too strongly..... don't drink and type Franky 🙂
"I don’t see politicians caring much unless it somehow effects their image."
...or their bank accounts.
(big edit, apologies, but...)
Frank is somewhat spot-on in a good number of cases, but It's all a matter of degree, and not always true. In places like NoKo, you're pretty screwed all-round, but in most other places on Earth, you can pretty much do whatever ordinary people do without too much hindrance - to certain degrees.
There are subtle differences that become apparent once you find yourself in one strange spot for too long. For instance, in most places you have to toss around bribe money to get anything done that involves government or big business, and having a relative in a government job is like having gold in many countries. My employer has a specific budget just for bribing various local officials for permits and contracts in various countries - China being among the worst. Speaking of The Middle Kingdom... I learned one hard and fast rule for Chinese societies: in China, it's all about who you know, and more importantly, who you know that can really wreck someone's day if that someone messes with you (or conversely, make things a lot smoother as a favor.)
Most of it ties to The Golden Rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules. Welcome to the Human Race.
Then there is culture: a lesbian in Riyadh can't be free to openly practice her lifestyle without physical danger, but a hardline Sunni Muslim in London can do pretty much say and do whatever he wants with himself and his S/O in public. To that end, I also dare any atheist to publicly pronounce his denial of Allah via a loudspeaker, in Farsi, in downtown Tehran. As an alternative, you can speak out against drug cartels, in Spanish, in Northern Mexico. I guarantee your lifespan would drop pretty quickly in either place, and no government involvement would even be necessary.
In some cases you don't even have to do anything wrong - try being a pretty but low-caste teenage girl wandering around in Mumbai after dark without an escort, and see how long it takes before you get assaulted and/or raped - just be sure to have a stopwatch handy and running.
I've traveled too much in my lifetime on business, most of it to places where Tour Guides won't go, and I'll be honest: I much prefer to live where I do, imperfections though it may have. It's relatively peaceful and safe here, and I have full freedom to own what I procure, and to defend my home as I see fit, and with readily-available lethal force if necessary (I own LOTS of firearms - most are for hunting, some as collector items, and one rather wicked AR-15 with a bayonet affixed to the muzzle, just because. By contrast, very few places on Earth would tolerate my owning any of these items) I've (fortunately) never had to defend my home or self under those circumstances - unlike far too many people across the world.
The majority of this planet is beautiful, as are its peoples, but far too many of its cities and nations are raging shitholes that no human being should be forced to endure.
I dont doubt the US is trying to push for more government control. Disarming the population is going to be fairly difficult and will take awhile. Look for another internal war to happen.
Ive not traveled much but Ive been to Cambodia and Vietnam multiple times. Its interesting to see what slipping a person $20 will get you. I actually respect "for the most part" the street people there more. They all seem to have a hussle to make money. Here people are content to let the government cut them a check. I tell my wife when she sees a homeless person that she wants to give money, save it and give it to poor people in Vietnam. People here get way to much help from the government for me to give them extra.
There are places in most large cities Ive been where I wouldnt want to be a teen girl walking down the street much less a guy that looks like they have money. People have been killed here over a pair of shoes.
There is political corruption here in bus loads but they have to be better at covering it up. If it gets to obvious then people have to take some sort of action. A cop found out for letting women go for "favors" will lose his job, probably be sued into bankruptcy and find it difficult to get another job. If he knows the right people in the system he may avoid jail time.
Russia has a long history in eastern Europe of going into a region, starting shit, deporting a bunch of people who disagree with it and then holding a local election at gunpoint to show public support existed for all the things they did before.
Trying to argue that this is a NATO "aggression" is silly, as they've been doing it since before that entity existed and continue to do so to this day. Eastern Europe has constantly cast a wary eye eastward, and the idea that Ukraine(or any of the other nations in that part of the world) shouldn't have sought NATO's help is hilarious because they just need to look at Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, etc to see what happens when you end up alone, and that's only in the last few decades.
Russian military shows up, fucks your shit up, installs a puppet government that swears it was justified and warns you to fall in line. There exists a complete lack of understanding in the western world of how much crap Russia has heaped onto its neighbours over the last few centuries and continues to do so to this day.
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