That airstrike video is shockingly bad. Right on an intersection with civilian traffic. What the fuck were they trying to hit? The building? If so they missed, fucking gimps.
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Maybe but depends on how deep the frost goes. Military vehicles are heavy and would quickly chew up any frozen layer unless it was stupid thick.
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He survives from a blast like this? Incredible
Fourty years of sanctions against Iranā¦ look at the results, and who is still in chargeā¦ 
Broad, humiliating sanctions against all Russians wonāt work Iām afraid, and could even become unproductive, in the sense of driving the Russians into full-throttle hate against the West. In my book, itās really the oligarchs who need to be targeted as hard as possible, not the average Russian imo. Completely with @RedArmada here.
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Not sure I agree with banning those channels. There are plenty of propaganda channels around in all countries. Sets a very bad precedent for one. Iām all for the channels content being ignored mocked or whateverā¦ But actively blocking them only enables them to grow in other sites etc where the content isnāt regulated
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Interesting. One has to conclude from this that the Russians will invade Ukraine, but due to Ukraineās resistance, will have to bomb the shit out of them by using their full forces, causing heavy casualties and destroying the country in its entirety.
At this point, there is probably no doubt that the Russians will āwinā, but it will come at a terrible cost.
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Unfortunately, in Russia, unless you have personal contacts with the West, you donāt really know whatās going on. All Western media and social media channels are now blocked and state TV only talks about a liberation operation in Ukraine, etc. Without all these sanctions, the ānormalā Russian people would not even notice what is happening.
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We have seen blanket sanctions against Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Syria. None of those worked apart from needlessly punishing the general people. In Iran, it actually helped the hardliners come to power. My cynical view is that, such sanctions are easy to impose than more targeted sanctions and gives a feel-good feeling.
As for Russia, we have seen numerous protests and dissents in last few years and brutal suppression of those. How would it help to topple Putin by torturing the Russians who are tortured by Putin?
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Something has been bugging me.
Seeing that 40 mile long convoy of Russian military vehicles reminds me of a scene from a film.
The lead character is discussing the enemies approach by drawing a sketch in the sand with a stick. He then says that they should take out the convoy at each end, blocking their advance and retreat, boxing them in as sitting ducks.
What film is that scene from?!
I donāt think itās Gladiator (but it could be!) nor do I think itās got Denzel Washington in it (but it could have!)ā¦
Help!
Russian helicopters shot down
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@Livvy , we really appreciate your efforts. I know itās not a happy/easy thing to deliberately search for such gory things.
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Thatās why I think that blocking off all Russians from, say, Netflix or European information channels, or international football (just as a few examples), is the most absurd, dangerous idea one could come up with. These people need to keep the contact with Europe. Otherwise, any faint hope of them putting pressure on their government will be lost.
Magnus posted that video of a Russian woman above, speaking perfect English and not happy at all with what happens. This is a European lady who fully assumes her status. So, European countries really shouldnāt push her back by sanctions which will hurt her, and cut her off from any contact with the rest of Europe. What will happen then?
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I think the effectiveness of sanctions is significantly impacted by those countries that remain on side. The impact for example of Europe not buying oil, is lessened if China is a willing buyer. This is somewhat easier if you are a smaller country.
The economy of Russia is much larger. The breadth of countries applying sanctions are broad. It actually relies heavily on Europe. Sanctions could not just hurt but collapse the economy.
Two of the biggest factors in the fall of the USSR was the economy collapsing and the war in Afghanistan (military drains and irreversible internal damaging conflicts it caused)
Itās not directly comparable but an economic collapse and a controversial war with Ukraine might just collapse the government.
Sanctions against oligarchs do little. They holiday elsewhere in the world. It makes those close to him unhappy. But they remain rich and powerful.
To bring real change need to either wait for him to die, have a war or try collapse the government. With enough support sanctions might just do that.
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2 points:
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This is false equivalence. There is significant difference between Iran, NK and Russia. In Iran there is a religious ideology component. In NK generations of citizens were brainwashed.
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Sanctions is not just about effecting regime change. Itās also about signalling. Even if Putin survives the next potential aggressor knows that the world wonāt just stand by. If this wasnāt the case it would be a free for all.
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I understand that, but maybe thatās how we get the people in Russia to start questioning things and see Putin more critically. At least that way resistance could slowly develop again.
Besides, do we really want to always look the other way and duck away because Putin is toying with our fears? I donāt think so.
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There are multiple examples of sanctions working from South Africa to Ukraine (Russian pressure)
Itās certainly not a one size fits all. There are lots of examples of it failing. Depends on multiple factors from international cohesion, economic cost, type of regime, itās stability, time.
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