Putin is starting to look like heâs been on a 3 dayer in Blackpool and turned up at the local on the Monday for another goâŠ
Itâs started - although itâs not an invasion itâs a âspecial military operationâ
Reports of âpeacekeepingâ ballistic missiles being fired at major cities and army bases
Probably a good thing, this thread has somewhat deteriorated since his rebirth
Some worrying rhetoric from Putin last night
âdemilitarization and de - nazification of Ukraineâ
âWe will bring to court those who have committed many crimes responsible for the bloodshed of civilians, including Russian citizensâ
That sounds like we are invading and once we have got our hands on the Ukranian leadership, we will try them for war crimes, and then put our own puppet government in
I guess from their point of view, the 2014 shit definitely was a coup. Oops.
A decent piece here - gives a brief but useful explanation of how things look from Putinâs perspective. Written by someone who spent enough time in Moscow to understand said perspective.
Imagine a country where a small majority of the population want to come out from under the sphere of influence of a larger neighbour and determine their own path. I mean who would support something like that?
Death isnât a laughing matter.
China made this comment yesterday i.e. before the shelling started:
China is the big winner in all this - they can look on and observe the international reaction and then decide what to do with Taiwan and the Spratleys. Its like a zero cost proof of concept.
Plus they will get loads of cheap oil and gas from Russia if the west refuse to buy from them
Ironic as China is dong just that to Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand and many many nations in the south China via building islands in international waters placing missiles, theyâll be in Taiwan in a month.
Targeted Sanctions - is there any point?
Will freezing a couple billion of a few Oligarchs make any difference?
Should they be levied on all Russians in the hope that popular opinion on the home front changes Putins direction?
Seize (not freeze) all Russian assets, ban all international travel for all Russians that sort of thing - make the Russian middle class hurt
No indeed. Gallows humour is though Barry. 
Yes they must be targeted
To avoid hurting all the people who bribed them
Once again. The fundamental âflawâ in democracy is that politicians look only to the next election.
A âdictatorâ looks long term.
Here, Putin has played a long term game, since Merkel opened her mouth.
And the west are left looking like a shoal of fish whose water tank just burst and are flapping & frothing at the mouth on the floor.
Hubris and corruption are to blame alongside sheer bloody arrogance that words do not have consequences.
All tragic for the people caught in the middle.
Boris was Chamberlain except instead of waving a piece of paper he was waving a cheque.
Tragic.
Avoidable.
And one mistake now and it is game over for everyone.
Putin doesnât fear sanctions, he only fear revolution, it genuinely makes me sad people think he is the good guy and the west are to blame.
It genuinely makes me sad that grown men in their forties still see world events as goodies vs baddies.
Would you like a wolly-pop?