The State of Affairs in Russia

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Here's the thing, in Bulgaria the members of the population get to elect their government. 

I've been reading up on Bulgaria and chatting on some Bulgarian forums.

The insight I got from Bulgarians is their country has been resisting pressure from both sides: they haven't allowed mass deployment of NATO infrastructure on their territory, and they're also resisting Russia's pressure attempts.

I can respect that.

[jimmy olsen]

So far, Russia has abstained from sponsoring and executing colour revolutions, at least as far as I know. It's a much smarter way to get vassals or simply neutral regimes into power. You can even build an entire epic story around this event, like they did in Ukraine.

They helped get Trump elected.

[Gaijin de Moscu]

They helped get Trump elected.

Which evidence convinced you that it's true?

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Yeah. The Russian people given how the 20th century turned out deserve at least 10 centuries of peace and quiet. A nice life with children, an active social calendar and community obligations and a yearly 3 point something interest on the retirement fund above inflation over a 30 year period. 

Too true

[Admiral Yi]

Which evidence convinced you that it's true?

I haven't seen any evidence that they swayed the election.  However, there is irrefutable evidence Russia *tried.*

[Gaijin de Moscu]

I haven't seen any evidence that they swayed the election.  However, there is irrefutable evidence Russia *tried.*

Could you please point me to this irrefutable evidence?

[Admiral Yi]

Could you please point me to this irrefutable evidence?

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+intelligence+report+on+russian+interference+in+us+election&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=AOaemvKGIWzkS14Tyrqm0RLReEcSAs6vHQ%3A1642848387694&ei=g-DrYeXlKfGV0PEP5amakAM&ved=0ahUKEwils8WUl8X1AhXxCjQIHeWUBjIQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=us+intelligence+report+on+russian+interference+in+us+election&gs_lcp=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&sclient=gws-wiz

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Could you please point me to this irrefutable evidence?

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+intelligence+report+on+russian+interference+in+us+election&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=AOaemvKGIWzkS14Tyrqm0RLReEcSAs6vHQ%3A1642848387694&ei=g-DrYeXlKfGV0PEP5amakAM&ved=0ahUKEwils8WUl8X1AhXxCjQIHeWUBjIQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=us+intelligence+report+on+russian+interference+in+us+election&gs_lcp=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&sclient=gws-wiz

Google search?

Ok, thank you Yi.

[Admiral Yi]

I couldn't link the Mueller report because it's a PDF.

[Gaijin de Moscu]

I couldn't link the Mueller report because it's a PDF.

Oh, I see. Thanks, will take a look.

[crazy canuck]

Interesting take on the failure of the West to live up to its promises to Ukraine

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-when-it-comes-to-ukraines-national-security-vladimir-putin-has-already/

Lubomyr Luciuk is a professor of political geography at the Royal Military College of Canada.

I have no idea what Vladimir Putin intends to do this week, next month, or next year – nor do the other pundits I have read.

Some have promoted the notion that Russia has a "sphere of influence" over Ukraine just because Ukraine was once held captive within the Soviet imperium. This is a rather tired excuse for settler-colonialism, a quite unacceptable formula for how international affairs should be managed in the 21st century.

In the three decades since the Soviet empire collapsed in 1991, a post-Soviet generation has grown up. I've met many of these young people in Ukraine. I've even encountered a few in Kingston, where for many years Ukrainian officers annually participated in advanced military training. The last two students who came here, just before the pandemic disrupted the program, were born after 1991, veterans of combat against the Russian invaders in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Neither man wanted his country to have anything to do with the anti-democratic regime of the Russian President and his KGB confederates, whom they correctly described as being hostile to the very idea of a free Ukraine. These warriors are now on the front lines. I know they will fight hard, not just because they know how, but more importantly, because they know why.

Then there are those who claim that NATO has gone "marching" eastward, "incorporating" former Soviet republics and the Warsaw Pact states and posing some kind of existential threat to Russia. Well, the reality is that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and other countries willingly reoriented themselves toward Europe and joined NATO as quickly as they could, doing whatever necessary to get away from Moscow. They saved themselves.

Some have suggested that Mr. Putin's real purpose, whether his troops stage a limited incursion or launch a full-scale attack, is to get Ukraine to accept neutrality, as Austria or Finland were forced to do after the Second World War. But that's not it. What Mr. Putin really craves is a neutered Ukraine. Sadly, I think he may succeed – not through the force of Russian arms, but because of what the West won't do.

Indeed, this is the reality: Despite decades of blather that's still being repeated, Ukraine hasn't been welcomed into NATO. All the assurances Kyiv was given about how Ukraine's territorial integrity and political independence would be respected in exchange for the surrender of the country's nuclear arsenal – promises that include the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances – were nothing but hollow. A generation of Ukrainians was duped, and they should have known better.

In 1991, I wrote an op-ed for this newspaper cautioning Kyiv against trusting others with Ukraine's national security. For that, I was admonished as a roguish provocateur; surely, the free world would not break its solemn promises? I take no pleasure in saying "I told you so," but I must. Today, when Ukraine needs reliable allies, none are to be found. Ukraine stands alone, betrayed.

In 2014, Russian soldiers occupied Crimea, which was illegally annexed by the Russian Federation soon thereafter. Russia has waged war against Ukraine ever since. Meanwhile, the West has not helped much, its much-touted economic sanctions incomplete and largely ineffectual. No matter what Russia does next, it's obvious the West has been cowed – and Mr. Putin knows it. So today's Ukrainians have to swallow the bitter truth: that their dreams of Ukraine returning to its rightful place in Europe have been undermined by the West. Or to put it another way: Mr. Putin has already won this war, without having to despoil even another metre of Ukrainian land.

Where the world goes after this is something we should all fear.

[Valmy]

Indeed, this is the reality: Despite decades of blather that's still being repeated, Ukraine hasn't been welcomed into NATO. All the assurances Kyiv was given about how Ukraine's territorial integrity and political independence would be respected in exchange for the surrender of the country's nuclear arsenal – promises that include the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances – were nothing but hollow. A generation of Ukrainians was duped, and they should have known better.

Yeah way to encourage nuclear proliferation world. I hope fucking Ukraine is worth it.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Yeah way to encourage nuclear proliferation world.

that's coming anyway

[Tamas]

Truth is Ukraine is way too volatile to be a NATO let alone an EU member and that's not only the West's and Russia's failure, that's Ukraine's failure as well. Plus like every other single non-Ukrainian person living in a NATO country -despite whatever Gaijin's media tells him- I do NOT want Ukraine as a NATO member. That doesn't mean Russia should be given free reign over them, however. With just a bit of luck (for the ROTW not Ukrainians and Russians, who are fucked), it will become a decades-long resource sink for Russia, delaying that much the day when they will be coming for the Baltic States.

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Truth is Ukraine is way too volatile to be a NATO let alone an EU member and that's not only the West's and Russia's failure, that's Ukraine's failure as well. Plus like every other single non-Ukrainian person living in a NATO country -despite whatever Gaijin's media tells him- I do NOT want Ukraine as a NATO member. That doesn't mean Russia should be given free reign over them, however. With just a bit of luck (for the ROTW not Ukrainians and Russians, who are fucked), it will become a decades-long resource sink for Russia, delaying that much the day when they will be coming for the Baltic States.

Haha you can't seem to write a post without taking a stab at me these days

Tamas, on behalf of Russia in all of its iterations — the Russian Empire, the USSR, and the Russian Federation — I sincerely apologise for every wrong-doing or wrong words you and those close to you have suffered from everything I may represent in your mind.

I pray for peace, we Russians love our children too.

PS: agree with you on the UA's volatility. One non-stop Maidan since 1990s may describe how I feel about it sometimes.