I'm sorry but changing Putin with Hitler and Russia with Third Reich this text could well be from 1945. At that point the allies discussed what to do with the axis and there were voices demanding them to be taken to stone age to preserve world from future wars. Luckily sanity prevailed. Look at how the countries that lost are doing.

I believe the point being made here is about Russia as a nuclear power. At the end of the war they weren’t and there was serious consideration made by the USA about using them against Russia - the world would have been different if they had.

No matter, they didn’t. But apart from nuclear weapons Russia is, at best, a second rate power. It’s GDP is the equivalent of Spain’s, it’s population is the same as Spain’s (which is why they were upset at how they were treated by the EU in negotiations).

The world, especially NATO, is walking on eggshells around them whilst they act as if they are invulnerable - the risk is that others, especially China, North Korea and Iran will do the same.

it si, perhaps, time to accept that nuclear weapons are an unusable weapon. Any user, including Russia, will suffer immediate overwhelming response if they use them. Russia won’t use them if other nations help defend Ukraine - otherwise why would he believe NATO nations would help defend, say, Estonia? We are back to the Yes Prime Minister quandary.

Otherwise would we defend Estonia, or Lithuania, or Latvia, or Poland…


Inidividual nations are not NATO. France and the UK are (at least for a few days) in Mali, the UK and USA are still in Syria, operating in strained conditions against Russia, etc.

There is no reason why the UK or USA should not provide F-35 squadrons to provide air cover over Ukraine outside NATO, or squadrons of AH-64s to defend Kyiv if asked.

If Putin threatens retaliation, ask his military and cabinet if the debacle in Ukraine is worth the price of nuclear war.

Am I the only one that has a problem with this? I can see Germany behind this all the way. They still have a way to evade the sanctions.

The Russians can just siphon everything through the non sanctioned banks. It’s either all of them or none of them.

Nah.....I'd make a feature of it Nutty!

Cuba was arguably the beginning of the end of Khrushchev . Maybe this is the same for Putin.

"Units in Russia's vast army have got lost in Ukraine and some have run out of fuel as poor planning"

Could read as a post-exercise report on Stanta, Otterburn or Salisbury Plain!

(tongue firmly in cheek!)

The problem with this theory is that Russia already tried that option when the USSR collapsed. Unlike in 1925, when Herbert Hoover arranged a massive and very effective famine relief program for communist Russia, the western world did not help them at all, but rather sent looters in the guise of academic advisers and economic experts.
Life expectancy fell by 5 years between 1990 and 1994, an unprecedented such drop for any industrialized country anywhere. The whole country's people suffered in ways reminiscent of the siege of Leningrad. The kleptocracy that emerged to run Russia today is a direct result.
With that precedent, Russia will never again submit to foreign guidance.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6629fc623a.png

Then Article 5 invoked, and all 30 NATO countries declare war on Russia.

That went well.
 

When Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, they agreed to give it up, after assurance from Russia et al. that they would look after them in the future.

I see the Russians have already started to complain about the USAF UAVs in the Black Sea giving intel to the Ukrainians. Flightradar24 shows Forte 11 & 12 now (and over recent days) cruising around in locations that must irritate someone in the Kremlin...

Kyiv holds another day and night….

Just read that Putin called Kazakhstan, and asked them to send in troops to fight in Ukraine. They declined.
How desperate is Putin???

Russian troops have entered Kharkiv, but it seems like light vehicles - urban warfare under way.

The numbers are racking up, he is going to need to sell a lot of gas to replace this lot…. Ohh wait he may well struggle with that in the future.

Of course!

So what does Poland have to lose if they were to fight with Ukraine?