Yes, foreigners on a first and short business trip to Moscow often get confused. Usually a trip to the suburbs of Moscow and especially outside of Moscow reveals a very, very different reality. The statement Moscow is not Russia is an understatement. It's literally two different countries.

I lived there for two years between 2018 to 2021 and am regularly there. I have family and friends there. But thanks for your assumption.

Ah, that explains a lot! Next time you're there, ask you family and friends to take you south of Moscow, direction Astrakhan. Please pass by Tolyati and Volgograd. Take pictures and post them here, so we all see the might of the Russ! Mind you, what you will see is achieved purely by internal excellence and no outside interference.

Rumours that US will announce a new Ukraine aid package Friday that includes ground launched small diameter bombs (SDB).

The rocket-launched SDB can be launched from a standard rocket launcher to altitude and glide on a precision guided trajectory, it is claimed some versions can sense and target moving vehicles..
The system utilizes an existing weapon paired with a stockpiled rocket motor while maintaining the loadout on a rocket artillery system.
Unlike traditional artillery weapons, the GLSDB offers 360-degree coverage for high and low angles of attack, flying around terrain to hit targets on the back of mountains, or circling back around to a target behind the launch vehicle.

Each SDB costs ca. US$40,000 and has a range of ca. 100 miles, this is about a quarter of the price of the 50 mile range GMLRS rockets used with the HIMARS but has a smaller warhead; about 100 Kg.
Likely the US has a lot of these SDBs which would solve any problems on GMLRS rocket deliveries.

It really does feel pointless discussing this. I've been to quite a lot of places outside Moscow. Including Volgograd. Also Crimea and Transnistra (I know not Russia, but...). I could take you to many places in the uk with similar levels of poverty. Granted, I can't do the same in Switzerland.
But you miss my point and start doing this whataboutism thing with me.
Russia has population of 180million people. It is also a nuclear power. It is resource rich and can like the US, shut itself off from the world. I fear you wish to underestimate it and I wonder what your motivation is for doing so?

If so, they basically didn't need to start this war.
So why did they?

Not sure what you mean about the US. It is the worlds largest importer and the third largest exporter so hardly shut off, not now and not ever

I guess the same motivation for most things. Fear.

RE: US. It could cut itself off from the world and survive. What's not to understand?

I'm going to leave this now to this Captain. Whatever you say. Good luck.
Epic thread ny the way... started in 2014.

I guess the same motivation for most things. Fear.

RE: US. It could cut itself off from the world and survive. What's not to understand?

I'm going to leave this now Captain. Whatever you say. Good luck.
Epic thread ny the way... started in 2014.

Of course UA doesn't *have to*. Neither does Putin have to accept it though.

Above all it helps to keep in mind that "might makes right". All too often it's wise for the less powerful or less aggressive party to give in and at least partially accomodate the other's demand. Pragmatism can get you rather far, it might have avoided this calamity.

Switzerland didn't want FATCA either, but the probable consequences of continued refusal, commandeered and orchestrated by the same US a good many on EF claim to be a friend, would have been far more costly (no, I'm not saying there would have been a war, I'm pointing to another international dispute with a clear power difference).

Fear of what? Of Ukraine attacking Russia? At the moment they decided to invade Ukraine, UA wasn't part of Nato, which actually proved the point of the countries that rushed to join this organisation after 1997...

Btw, you might want to learn how to use the multi quote and edit buttons, after all you're not a new member of this forum...I didn't say anything about US...I don't think you can compare the level of sophistication of the US economy with the economy of Russia. It's apples and oranges.
Sure, they would probably survive, with the accent on "survive", had they made the miserable decision to shut off from the world.

You popped out on this "epic thread" as you call it after 11 years since you made exactly 2 posts on this forum. It must be an epic thread, indeed!

But thanks for confirming what many of us here had only guested so far... The Moscovites do support the war to a certain level otherwise they would have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands if not by the millions in order to urge Putin to stop killing their "brothers and sisters" in Ukraine...

Where does this desire to see "the complete annihilation of Ukraine - and maybe more" come from?
From the kindness of your heart? Of the Moscovites' hearts?

Ok, GorbyPop. Whatever you say...We'll see how things pan out 'cause nobody here is into divination. Unlike you, we can't see the future and can't say so boldly how things will end up. Maybe you're right and know more than we know here.....who knows.

It's still idiotic to wish for such things to happen, but hey ho.
Uhm-bye bye.

I don't miss your point as you don't have a point at all. Russia has decided on its own to move from a poor country, to a 3rd world country. Putin had the chance, probably the biggest chance in a century, to make this a progressive, richer and open country. And yet, he decided that his personal megalomania is more important than the life and well being of his 180m people. Russia is "resource rich" and yet, it has to import even steel from Germany, I'm not even discussing high-tech stuff. The fact that it could cut itself from the world doesn't mean it should. If there's a big country in this world that couldn't afford to do it, its precisely Russia. It has to import almost everything with added value, as one doesn't eat, drink and enjoy crude oil on the table.




I agree with you in principle. The major difference between the positions of CH and UA is its neighbors. Putin sees the world as a zero-sum game and black and white only. Just look at Belarus and this would have been the faith of UA if it had accommodated Putin. Essentially a vassal state. Ukraine has been a problematic state for a very long time, torn by internal divisions for decades. Putin with one "master-stroke" erased those differences and united the whole of Ukraine in one anti-Russian nation.



He has single-handedly created the biggest mid- and long-term problem for Russia. A well-populated, battle-hardened, resource rich and Western-backed enemy that hates him to the guts.

I have to admit I feel sorry for the Russian people. Their kleptocratic leaders have channeled much of their national wealth into the hands of a few. Dissent and protest, which in moderation, is healthy in a society, is crushed and criminalised. Opposition leaders are either jailed or killed. Diverse members of the community (LGBTQ, etc) are being stigmatised and driven underground. And now, sons, brothers, husbands and fathers are being mobilised in a pointless war and sent to almost certain slaughter.

Do I base this on mainstream media? No. I base it on vblogs and twitter telegram feeds from those suffering from one man's ego trip. Pootin can control state media but it is hard for him in this technology age to hid the first-person messaging.

We know what is going on...and mostly from the mouths of Russian citizens themselves, not western media

__________________
So sayeth the 'Speed
* I do look like my avatar

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech yesterday commemorating the Soviet forces’ breaking of the siege of Leningrad disappointed many in Russia as he made no new announcements about the Ukraine war.

He did continue the rhetoric that Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine to protect residents in the Donbas from neo-Nazis who, the Kremlin claims, seized control of the Ukrainian government in 2014.

Russians must be amazingly gullible to believe a country with a Jewish president is run by neo nazis, of course, Putin and his hangers-on exploit this gullibility.

"a few people" , that is a understatement! And they quite rightly commemorate, as then they were defending against Nazi invaders.

Now Russia is the Nazi invader of Ukraine, so I guess Vlad didn't mention it as the irony may have got lost on the wider population...

Would you care to explain to us of why that is the case? What has actually NATO done to the ordinary russian to justify such a hate and wish for revenge?


/popcorn

"but why did russia need to start a war?"

If it helps you sleep at night, the day the Iraq war started, I was on the street protesting along with thousands of others. If Bush & Cheney were to be charged as war criminals you would see me along with millions applauding the decision.

None of that legitimises in any shape or form the invasion of Ukraine and your constant need to bring it up ( using whichever alias you currently use ) just reeks of not having any other arguments.

This guy has been against any weapons deliveries to Ukraine from the beginning. He does not say it, but in fact he must mean that the solution of the conflict are massive territorial concessions by Ukraine. He also seems to suggest that Russia in the long term will win.

While it is a platitude to say that wars end at thee negotiation table eventually, no side shows meaningful readiness to negotiate or a starting point that is remotely acceptable by the other side. So the fighting continues. The dilemma is that there is no credible way to end this anytime soon. I cannot see Russia winning this war and likewise it is very unlikely that Ukraine can drive them out. The wet dreams of some people about Russia capitulating are totally bonkers. The one scenario that gives some glimmer of hope is for Putin to die (or being sidelined), and some other guyto take over who at least could freeze the conflict and give up on the idea that Russia needs to win this. But in reality we will have to live with a rogue nuclear power for quite some time. Buckle up.

Err...this IS whataboutery. If you're trying to change the conversation into "Geopolitical mistakes of the West in the past 5 centuries" (a valid topic btw), open a thread and discuss it there. This is about the war started by Russia invading Ukraine.