The Russian Invasion of Ukraine (Part 2)

I agree with you then. I was just thinking of human intelligence but you’re right, the US leads on satellite surveillance. Probably about even on communications intel.

I’m not on top of all the details, but just want to say that while Boris Johnson is a cock and a bad leader on lots of levels, he still did well over Ukraine.

My take is that because his ultimate reference point is Churchill, he does his best work if there’s a war on that offers a chance to try to stand up to a fascist aggressor. The help given was meaningful to Ukraine, and Zelensky recognized it. Fair enough.

Others helped too, and continue to do so, not just in weapons and intelligence, but also in welcoming millions of displaced Ukrainians at a far greater rate than the UK. And it’s a fair point to suggest that Johnson’s motivation, at least in part, in grandstanding overseas, was to try to gloss over his shortcomings domestically.

All that is true. And it is also true that he did well in supporting Ukraine.

Sure, particularly those in closer proximity. Spain bucks that trend, taking 137,500 Ukrainian refugees, which compares with 118,000 by the UK, and 96,500 by France.

https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine

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Downplaying Johnson rather than the UK i think.

Was I attacking Redalways? Who are you to determine I was attacking him. Maybe read my original post, yes I alluded to his intentions and his response to my post proved me right.
The reasons for my original post is that some posters are so aggrieved/offended that they have to relate/question everything stated that goes against their narrative. I felt that this thread wasn’t the place to discuss the Uk Government, we have a UK politics thread for that, I am sure you are familiar with it.
Your initial response was waffly at best. I never portrayed my opinion or hailed Johnson as the saviour of Ukraine. I just find it pathetic that people from the safety of their keyboard believe their own noise and are questioning the views of the President of the Ukraine, and others in the conflict.
Sometimes, you just need to appreciate that other people may have a different point of view and respect that rather than try to find fault and if you do have a different opinion there is a time to just remain silent.
People are being killed defending their country and the right to democracy and people like you and Redalways have the audacity to use it as a tool to support your own agenda’s.
Personally, I would be embarrassed with myself if I adopted the line/justification that you have taken. But that is just my opinion, I am sure you will ignore my post and find something to deflect my point’s and then have the usual crowd like your post.

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I find it curious/ironic that your sole post in this entire thread stretching back thousands of posts is to talk about Johnson…

I can only respond to the discussion. I never raised the issue or praised him and still haven’t. I just questioned why you felt your opinion was more valued than the President of the Ukraine.

For the record, do you believe you view regarding the UK’s response is more important than Zelensky?

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I agree with your post. I would like to think that any Prime Minister/government would have done the same/maybe more. I hope that whoever takes up the mantle, continues to push for Ukraines independence on the global stage and additionally financially - in terms of aid and military.

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My view being more important than Zelensky? No, but that was never what I was saying.

I suggest you go back and read my post again. For additional insight you can also read the rest of the discussion and understand why, particularly, Prins is being absurd.

You want me to go back and read your post again but at the same time do not bother to read mine?
I will be frank here, believe it or not I respect your and/or an others point of view. I am willing to accept I am wrong if people engage in an reasonable discussion. I do not know who Prins is (I scrolled back and could not find a post, maybe my bad) So whether he is being absurd or not I couldn’t say but why does it matter do much to you in the context of things?
The reason I responded to your post is because I know from other threads that you are not a fan of Boris or the Cons. does that offend me? No. Because, your life experience is different to mine and everyone else’s.
I posted because I genuinely felt you were trying to entice a debate about the Uk’s response to the war in a thread where I felt it was not needed. In a world where so many people are struggling as a result of so many factors, we as people seem to waste alot of energy blaming people rather than being constructive and helping people.
Anyhow, I say this in jest but as long as the world is turning and we are taking 3 points every game I have no worries :+1:t2:

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To be fair I post in quite a few threads on the internet about my Johnson but I won`t mention it on here.

(I dont really, honest,but if you google my name and Johnson dont blame me if you get a shock)

:kissing_heart:

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Yes… Of course he did. Because that’s how most people go when they visit a hospital, falling out the windows. :roll_eyes:

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I think there have been different phases where the UK, US and France/Germany have been strong and found lacking

France/Germany (leading the EU) provided strong humanitarian aid and a good response with refugees. Sanctions initially swift, but during later phases have faltered. They initially failed to recognise the risk, military aid has been messy, a misconception that they can negotiate with Russia.

UK tactics calling Russia out (even before the war) releasing intelligence was very smart. It discredited Russia , and facilitated world view of Zelinsky standing up against a expansionist aggressor. The hard power/intelligence provided in the early days I think was critical and large reason why Ukraine did not fall. On humanitarian side it was weaker, the UK were also slow to impose strong sanctions. I suspect because of the Russian money in London.

For the US I am somewhat at cynical, Ukraine has been an ideal proxy war. Their rival has been found to be far weaker than previously believed and a huge drain on its military capability. It’s been perfect opportunity to further weaken Russia while also gaining valuable intelligence regarding capability and effectiveness of different arms. The US has been strong with money and military tech and been quite happy not to be seen as being in the fore (given Russians NATO narrative)

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I think that somewhat overstates US motives but any conflict is going to cause the belligerents do bleed data. This has shown up the capabilities (or more the lack of them) in Russian equipment and has provided a nice shop window for fire-and-forget type weapons.

In the initial stages the NATO aim was to supply Ukraine with Soviet era arms because it matched what they had and didn’t require extra training. For fairly obvious reasons that was mainly going to come from former Warsaw Pact countries (including the stuff the German armed forces dusted off from old warehouses in the former DDR). The only other equipment that could be easily sent were things like Stinger missiles which have been around for years and are well known but they do show up the limitations of Russian armour quite nicely.

What may eventually result in huge arms orders are the more advanced systems that require a significant amount of training. I think it is fairly obvious that some of these have been deployed on the battlefield but I haven’t seen much mention of them. Presumably this is because they are still gathering data on how they work in the real world. For that reason I suspect the main benefit to the US is in defence terms rather than military sales.

I think you are right, though, that the US, and NATO in general, need to be seen as partisan but not directly involved with this war. There is still a risk that this could escalate as the German General Inspector was mentioning yesterday.

Not really. We were much quicker on sanctioning banks etc than the EU. We were slower on individuals due to needing to first revise the law to allow less justification for doing so. Having done that, we’re now ahead of the game here.

Didn’t they procrastinate for a long time on this though?

It took a few weeks.

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The windows must be fucking terrible in Russia,these accidents seem to happen all the time :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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