Very much, but my comparison was about how the EU´s standing at the moment reminds me of how clueless the French and the British were back in the day.

Not to mention the Costa's, Andalucia in fact most of sunny Med Spain, vacated by the British following their withdrawal from the EU.
Apparently russian reinforcements are already on there way to Spain thanks to these recent announcements
by the British government.

BBC News - UK to scrap visa's for rich foreign investors

wow, is the Portugal buy 250K € visa still working?

US says war appears imminent after shelling on Ukraine front line - Reuters News

• UK sees 'blatant attempt' to 'fabricate pretexts for invasion'
• Zelenskiy calls shelling 'big provocation'
• Kremlin says it is seriously concerned
• West disputes Russian announcement of pullback

By Dmitry Antonov and Pavel Polityuk

MOSCOW/KYIV, Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday there was now "every indication" that Russia was planning to go into Ukraine, including signs Moscow was preparing a "false flag" operation to justify it.

Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists within Ukraine earlier exchanged fire on Thursday across a frontline that divides them, in what Western officials described as a possible pretext created by Moscow to invade.
Biden ordered Secretary of State Antony Blinken to change his travel plans at the last minute to speak at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine. "The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion. This is a crucial moment," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters.

Russia denies planning to invade its neighbour and said this week it was pulling back some of the more than 100,000 troops it has massed near the frontier. Washington says Russia is not withdrawing, but in fact sending more forces. "We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "We even see them stocking up their blood supplies." "I was a soldier myself not that long ago. I know firsthand that you don't do these sorts of things for no reason," said Austin, a retired Army general. "And you certainly don't do them if you're getting ready to pack up and go home." Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels gave conflicting accounts of shelling across the front in the Donbass separatist region. The details could not be established independently, but reports from both sides suggested an incident more serious than the routine ceasefire violations reported regularly in the area.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was "seriously concerned" about reports of an escalation. Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the reports "a blatant attempt by the Russian government to fabricate pretexts for invasion. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the pro-Russian forces had shelled a kindergarten, in what he called a "big provocation". The separatists, for their part, accused government forces of opening fire on their territory four times in the past 24 hours. Austin said Washington was "still gathering details, but we have said for some time that the Russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was "concerned that Russia is trying to stage a pretext for an armed attack against Ukraine. There is still no clarity, no certainty about the Russian intentions".
"They have enough troops, enough capabilities to launch a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine with very little or no warning time."
A senior Ukrainian government source said the shelling at the line of contact with Russian-backed separatist forces went beyond the scale of ceasefire violations routinely reported throughout the conflict.

'LOOKS A LOT LIKE A PROVOCATION'

"It is not typical. It looks a lot like a provocation," the source told Reuters.
A Reuters photographer in the town of Kadiivka, in Ukraine's rebel-held Luhansk region, heard the sound of some artillery fire from the direction of the line of contact, but was not able to determine the details of the incident.
Kremlin spokesperson Peskov said Moscow had already warned that a concentration of additional Ukrainian forces near the Donbass frontline created a risk of provocations. Kyiv has denied massing extra troops in the area.

Kyiv accused the rebels of firing shells at several locations, including some that struck a kindergarten and others that hit a school where pupils had to flee to the cellar. Video footage released by Ukrainian police showed a hole through a brick wall in a room scattered with debris and children's toys. Separate images showed emergency workers escorting small children and teachers from a building.

Russia's defence ministry released video it said showed more Russian units leaving the area near the border. But Maxar Technologies, a private U.S. company that has been tracking the build-up, said satellite images showed that, while Russia has pulled back some military equipment from near Ukraine, other hardware has arrived.

https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael?re...Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Michael Kofman's predictions might still be true:
https://warontherocks.com/2022/01/pu...with-the-west/

The situation doesn't look good...at all.
At this point I can say that Putin is unpredictable.

Probably there are people who claim Biden is organizing the Russian invasion to protect Hunter 🤔

Cold War II build up compared to the first Cold War build up with music from New Orders - Blue Monday followed by other Soviet & Warsaw Pact videos.

Cold War - Warsaw Pact music Blue Monday

Naah, the figures just don't add up. The circa 130k Russian soldiers is plenty to create pressure, but no where near enough to overwhelm the Ukrainians and will incur significant losses.

For me the more dangerous aspect is how long can the US maintain the level of credibility and counter-pressure with the frequent notifications that an attack is imminent?

Funny and yet do not underestimate the new approach of the US towards Russia. Calling them out and publicly releasing intelligence information takes away the initiative and surprise element from Putin; This is a first and I am sure that the Kremlin did not expect the US to engage it in the information warfare as well in this way. The fact that they are nervous and somewhat surprised is also visible in the tone Lavrov and the state media outlets have started using as they are visibly a bit on the defensive re communication right now. The problem is the asymmetry in terms of skill. The Russians have been playing this disinformation game for over 100 years, but it's an interesting development nonetheless.

You mean people like Tucker? I'm sorry, I can't take seriously any tv biz man with a wig. That thing on his head - is fake.

2003 Iraq invasion was of similar number, no idea how the hardware disparities stack up. I think the key would be the morale (or lack thereof) and the attitude and sympathies of the population.Also, Russia has an extremely efficient in its brutality internal security apparatus that kept both the Soviet Union and its surrounding nations completely subdued until the mysterious fall and dissolution of the SU. I bet its remnants have survived in Ukraine, any still alive members are on file and can help set up the new old regime, so it won't slip back from Russia's grip like Iraq under Iranian influence.

Incomparable. The opening salvo then was a massive and very precise aerial bombardment of over 70 military sites which denied the Iraqi army any intelligence as to when, where and how many troops will enter. Once they entered, the hardware disparity in terms of technology was so brutally overwhelming that the Iraqi army collapsed within 2 weeks. Both things are not the same here. Ukraine and the world know exactly where the Russians are and the hardware disparity in terms of tech is not so drastically different. Yes, the Russians have superior army overall, but the Ukrainians are much more battle ready today and will almost certainly not be overwhelmed as easily. Even the most hawkish Russians know that they will incur heavy losses if they invade. Yes, they will overwhelm, but at a very high price.


I fully agree. This is precisely what I believe is the endgame for Russia: being able to install a pro-Russian government in Kiev

As if the hair is the issue with that chump.

Would that be a bad thing?
I get the impression that a majority of Ukraines would not be too adverse to the idea.
Well there would be stability and a way out of the recession currently in Ukraine society.

Stop reading Pravda.ru

Well, I don't know where to begin...
I mean, if you are sincerely voicing your own opinion and not simply trolling.

Well it‘s been three years since I was last in Ukraine and the was a lot of resentment over the pro west government. And if you think that Ukraines make up the largest immigrant Populationen in Russia then one could come that conclusion.

Well, sure, after the annexation of Crimea this has risen substantially and yet, they do not represent the largest ethnic immigrant population in Russia. The largest group are the Tatars.