It will will only be the final showdown if the paranoid idiot in the Kremlin starts using nukes.
Otherwise the world will keep on turning and idiots will make up reasons why they think they have the right to kill / rob / dominate / rape others
And people on the side cheering them on because they do not like the once who are stepped on or feel that other do not deserve sympathy or help because they did not receive it in the past
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So it is just because the western empires sailed across the world then. Also, just because you make use of local collaborators doesnât make it right. Every conqueror has used local collaborators btw that can still hold significant local power.
Also, conquering something and saying: âthis is my heartland nowâ and subsequently destroying the local culture and assimilating it into yours doesnât make it your heartland. France did that with Algeria too and we still consider that a colonial action.
But apparently it is all justified to create the glorious slavic empire
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The Heartland is a concept of
https://americandiplomacy.web.unc.edu/2000/02/mackinders-world/
which I think is nonsence.
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How,do you guys feel about the siege at the Azovstal steel works? Kinda torn here. On one hand the defense is extremely heroic but the itâs largely by troops of the Azov battalion which has earned a notorious reputation.
Gotta think the defenders know they wonât be treated well if captured. So it makes the defense sound more desperate than heroic. However, it still is a major black eye to Russian troops.
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Whether it is nonsense or not I am not sure. It was used as a base for Zbigniew Brzezinskiâs The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives (1997) - review of the book by Michael Ruppert at Portland State University November 28, 2001
From Wikipedia:
In the 1990s he formulated the strategic case for buttressing the independent statehood of Ukraine, partially as a means to prevent a resurgence of the Russian Empire, and to drive Russia toward integration with the West, promoting instead âgeopolitical pluralismâ in the space of the former Soviet Union. He developed âa plan for Europeâ urging the expansion of NATO, making the case for the expansion of NATO to the Baltic countries.
Mark Brzezinski, Zbigniewâs son, is current US Ambassador to Poland.
Is it?
Russia has no hope in battling western propaganda based on decades of careful buildup of negative image of it in (some parts) of western general population. Only way to counter that, is actually creating reality that will defeat western narrative. That takes time. People need to stop and think of actual events, deeds, realities and how it really affects them, rather than their ruling elites. That is the essence of Russian defense strategy (not only nuclear) of âdeescalation through escalationâ .
If Russian troops stormed Azovstal, image of those inside it would forever be cemented as martyrs, while Russians will be the ones murdering innocent civilians.
By holding out, Azov and all who support them, are exposed to the whole world - using civilians as a human shield, treating Azov and mercenaries as special compared to other Ukrainian fighters.
At the same time, those who surrendered are treated much better than Russian PoW, life is getting back to Mariupol, other places under Russian control that did not resist have reasonably normal lives - all contrary to propaganda. And all pretty much supporting what Russia was saying all along - it doesnât see Ukrainians as enemies.
Time will tell who actually has the best interest of Ukraine, Europe and their people in their minds.
BTW, âescalate to de-escalateâ is used in business too, land development in particular as one of most complex issues, with many stakeholders. Strategy causes stakeholders to put cards on the table - real agendas get exposed - much easier to work towards solutions. Trump used it, being a developer - escalating issues with North Korea and then actually making true progress there.
That is what makes events in Ukraine a very special operation.
You seem a bit out of touch on this one. One simple google search:
The black eye is that they have tried and tried multiple times and all they manage to do is show the world both east and west is that they are incompetent. This is not fighting all the western weapon systems this is just a determined unit of men who seem to be better at this than anything Russia has to send.
Let me help you get up to speed. I know the evil west made the internet but we share it with you so you know how evil we are. This is a nice video talking about basic problems with the great Russian military.
Now Iâm sure you will dismiss this as western propaganda. Thanks again to the evil west and our philosophy of free speech and free thinking. We fail at it plenty but criticism is free too.
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My understanding is that Asovstal complex, together with Ilich complex is consisting of five steel plants designed and built by Soviets, able to continue operations even in nuclear war situation. I donât know what western weapon systems have to do with it. It is simply a fortification that until few days ago included a human shield too. That doesnât sound particularly valiant.
After all similar factory complexes turned out to break back of Wehrmacht in Stalingrad - except that Soviets didnât use human shields and didnât abandon their fighters in those factories.
I donât know why do you see west as evil? And why do you assume that I am not part of the west? Just because I try to present more balanced, less hysterical, perspective on events and historic context?
And what does that all have to do with what I wrote about?
I donât have to dismiss it at all. Source is quite clear what it is all about:
Facts are fun, but most are presented in boring and badly edited videos. The Infographics Show focuses on making animated motion infographic videos, made in a fun and entertaining way.
Obviously they have target audience and they provide them with fun and entertaining videos. That is the tragic of our consumerist western societies - everything needs to be presented in fun and entertaining ways. Including wars, comedian presidents, pandemics, asteroids hitting the Earth âŚ
Runaway unstable mines floating down to the Med. 
With a UA/RUS Yours NOT MINE accusation fest.
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I remember reading about a Soviet tactic that was used on the West Coast of Canada. During the 1970s and 80s Soviet Submarines and Ships supposedly released garbage and debris into the Pacific currents in international waters and tracked the movement of the trash and debris to see if it would make its way into major ports in Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle. This was so in case of a projected war on the USSRs East coast mines would be laid to drift into major sea lanes and ports to cause havoc and interrupt the flow of goods.
This trial lasted several months and was deemed a failure as most of the trash and debris ended up on the shores of Vancouver Island making this tactic useless. With that being said I wouldnât be surprised the Russians are not above trying a Soviet era tactic with sea mines now.
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Thanks for sharing this very useful info.
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Experiment provided answers, improved knowledge - not a failure. 
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US maybe, UK ⌠not so sure.
Finland and Sweden are more likely to be needed by UK than the other way round.
We are witnessing Race to the Pole in the similar way Race to the Sea took place in early WWI.
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You say this, but rather than citing simple events as they happen on the ground, you cite all the grand picture articles. As you say yourself, they only reflect poorly on the events as they happen on the ground.
These are what you claim the events on the ground to be, but I am sure itâs all Russian propaganda. Not all Russian PoW have been treated fairly, clearly, and this is currently under investigation by the ICC. Do not take this as a propaganda victory though, because this is an incident, a tragedy, that was likely to happen with the animosity between the two sides. For now though, this remains an incident. There are no reports of this as a widespread pattern.
Meanwhile, the Russian forces have gone through the Ukraine, murdering and raping it in the mean time. The crimes of Russian forces are so elaborate and so widely spread that serious investigations are now underway against Vladimir Putin himself and the crimes against humanity committed by his forces.
So if you go and make claims about how life has âreallyâ been peaceful under Russian occupation, at least come with some credible sources.
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Yup, we live in such times. Tectonic changes. Creation of new world order.
I donât think we will ever agree on what âcredible sourceâ is. I have provided large number of western and non-Russian sources that support different view than what your sources say.
Ultimately, I am not here to convince anyone that I am right about events. I just donât think that it is healthy living in echo-chamber.
Time will tell.
Remember - war doesnât determine who was right, but who is left.
Russia is inviting Western journalists on a âtripâ through the âliberatedâ parts of Ukraine. The trip is going to include meetings with âeyewitnessesâ that claim that it was actually Ukraine bombing them all along.
Iâm sure our friend here is going to buy that narrative hook, line and sinker.
You donât see the obvious problem with this, do you? The Grand Picture is only as good as the small building blocks it has been founded on. If enough of those turn out to be jelly, the entire structure will collapse. What remains is a fool boasting ridiculously.
I also recommend you read up on this, before throwing around terms like âNew World Orderâ. It could reflect poorly on you.
Sure, we may disagree on how much we should believe one source or the other on face value, but therefore it is important to dig into what the source is actually saying and how it constructed the argument. Good sources will often refer to other sources, likely some that we are much more in agreement about on what the objectivity is. I have dissected a couple of your sources to see what their argument was based upon and it quickly became apparent that they were constructed on a particular world view, not on proven facts. Meanwhile you have not bothered do the same for my sources, so either you do not have the capability to do so or you dismiss anything that opposes your worldview, the thing youâre accusing me of by the way.
I hope having been here has been an eye-opening experience outside of your regular echo-chamber then.
Throwing smart quotes around that donât really have anything do with your argument makes you look a lot more stupid than it makes you look smart, or right.
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You keep on missing the point - this is a public forum where people post views on one of main current events of present times. I post what I find to be relevant to get a full picture - context, Geo-strategic and historic. I am not here to win your or anyone elseâs individual opinion.
But if you insist, I think that it pays to listen to those making blocks/brics:
The BRICS countries have backed a Chinese suggestion that the bloc should be expanded, but have not named the candidate countries.
As for new world order, I am very aware of many plans - from Fukuyamaâs Neo-Liberal to Neo-Cons, both based on illusion of western illusion of supremacy; to WEFâs ruling elite âgolden billionâ. However, with my personal experience, education and point of view, I came to gain respect for views of Eurasian pluralism, multi-polar collaboration for the benefit of humanity.
And to put current western eliteâs attitudes (war on Russia and China, climate change, cancel culture, gender politics, âŚ) into further context - you can learn on where planet is moving -
How Russia Wins the Climate Crisis
I didnât see much of sources from you. Mostly your opinions. Only one that you posted is Winter of Fire, Netflix documentary explaining how âcoloured revolutionsâ, by Canvas work - very poor context, historic and social/political. Canât be compared, even close, to Stoneâs deep and well documented approach. By 2015, Canvas modus operandi was well known, as well as their links to western (mostly US) intelligence organizations.
It is all part of plans for liberal hegemony, explained earlier, so I did not see particular reason to comment on that. Whole role of US in Ukraine is further discredited by Biden appointment as President. We will learn more about his links but it is quite clear that from 2014 Unkraine is run directly from WH.
And as historians we try to back up these claims with credible source material and then place it into context. We donât make up the context first and then place the events into it. We also generally donât find propaganda a credible source unless it is the propaganda itself and the mentality behind the propaganda that we are interested in. You also only post what you (according to your worldview) find to be relevant. And as I said before, the full picture articles are only as solid as the foundations it is supported by. Yours barely have any foundations.
So simple question, do you support these views or not? I canât quite make that up from this comment.
I donât think many of our elites are even bothered with this. Itâs mostly normal people that are concerned about these issues. Or do you mean western elites as in that the west is generally elitist?
Then you didnât read my comments very well. I provided some clear references here:
As for my picking apart of your source material, that was very easy with critical thinking and the source material itself. I didnât make any arguments there that required much in terms of citing external articles, but clearly you donât know how this citing of relevant literature all works.
As for the Winter on Fire: Ukraineâs Fight for Freedom movie. It was a direct response to the Ukraine on Fire documentary. Instead of picking that documentary apart piece by piece, something I certainly could provided the time, I thouht it would be very insightful to provide an alternative view on the events of the Maidan revolution. You seem to value alternative views on events so much that I figured I would give you one. It is a shame you didnât bother looking and instead dismissed it as American propaganda.
Other than that it received American based funding, thereâs asolutely no evidence to suggest that this was from their intelligence organiations. The Canvas you cite includes âUkraineâ once in their article and it is only as a statement that they trained activists there. That is not quite the same statement as the organization of a coloured revolution. Again, these sources are very easy to dismiss as they donât actually support the argument youâre making. And where you clearly need one, none is given.
Ah yes, Trumpers love citing this. You have to look critically at what really happened here though. This is Joe Biden explaining how he exerted pressure on the Ukrainian president to fire the prosecutor, who was known to be corrupt and a bad prosecutor that the Ukrainians themselves also wanted to see fired Ukrainian Information Centre, Kyiv Post, Radio Liberty.
Now you can frown upon the exertion of pressure here, but it is barely the same as ruling the Ukraine from the WH. You managed to put an interesting spin on that one, but itâs not a valid argument, because clearly you donât know how to make a comprehensive argument.
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