Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sberbank shares were $14 each not so long ago, now 1 cent.
Russian economy is well and truly fucked
mac-does-it-bwah.gif
 
I think NATO should of been more prepared for this. Nato forces should of been considerably enlarged in the Baltics, Poland, and other NATO countries bordering Ukraine, and actually covertly in Ukraine. Ukraine made many preparations for an invasion and thats why they have been incredible defending their country.
If Nato had of enlarged their presence in Nato countries bordering Ukraine and Russia Putin would of thought twice about invading Ukraine, NATO did hardly anything, where are the Nato forces including the Americans?
If Nato had of been fully prepared and ready would the decision to invade Ukraine by Putin been made, I doubt it.
If he had still made the decision to invade Nato would of been ready, and could of raced to kiev securing the capital, and securing two thirds of Ukraine. This could of been done without Nato firing a shot in anger and completely wrong footing Putin. It just seems to me we have not reacted to an obvious and building threat from Putin when a show of strength and support for Ukraine would of stopped him in his tracks.
Just my thoughts
If Ukraine had been part of NATO WW3 would have been fought by now with full nuclear exchanges.
It is NATO doctrine one in all in so every NATO country would have declared war on Russia.
As NATO is a defensive alliance it cannot get involved in non NATO conflicts.
 
The Times have dropped an article that the delay in sanctions is because the government have been unable to build a case against the oligarchs. It goes on to say that they have been unable to prove that there are reasonable grounds for designating the UK's most prominent oligarchs for sanctions because they have struggled to link their finances to the Putin regime.

Which begs the question why have our European partners been able to act so swiftly? Here's a clue....52% of you thought it was a good idea. ''The government made significant concessions during the passage of the UK's sanctions legislation in 2017 which ministers say has limited its ability to act.''

but.....but.....but....The Mail says

 
Just been reading about tires on military vehicles. First, you have to keep them ticking over (bit like cars, but more so), otherwise even a good tire will degrade relatively quickly. Second, they need to be top quality given the loads and terrain in combat (some reports suggest Russians use tires...made in China).

Long story short, if your ‘vehicle exercise program’ is shoddy, then your tires will go very quickly, especially off-road, which may be a contributory factor to the slowest moving convoy ever and why the Russians stick like glue to the main roads.
A tyre tires?
 
I can't believe I'm saying this but after the last week, I'm wondering whether Putin thinks there's a Finland-shaped jigsaw piece that he can easily add: not in NATO, population of 5.5M and shares a border. And then Sweden.

I mean, it sounds mad when I write it, but he is mad after all. These comments about stop him now or the price goes up seem very real to me.
If the choice was "should we stop him now, or stop him later? Oh decisions, decisions", then of course everyone would agree it's better now.

But what about "should we stop him now by using means that could invoke WW3 and hundreds of millions, conceivably even billions dead, or should we apply maximum sanctions now and wait to see if we really do have a threat of further Russian expansion later, because actually we may very well not"?

A bit more nuanced decision I think. There's plenty on here who have the opinion that Putin is hell bent on restoration of the USSR. They key word is opinion. No-one actually knows, and moreover even if that was his aspiration, no-one knows whether he might have changed his mind after the shit storm he's led his country into already.

What if he genuinely is a deranged lunatic who is quite prepared to nuke half the planet rather than to lose in Ukraine? Is it a great strategy to just "hope" that he isn't? Fingers crossed, like?
 

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