Russian invasion of Ukraine

[#26]

^According to wiki only 17% of the Ukrainian population is Russian.

[pietillidie]

^Cheers, both. We know that's a large enough population to destabilise things, hence 2014 and Minsk 2. I naturally doubt the chest beating and assume it's just another blackmail tantrum, but maybe we've missed something or the petrothug is seriously worrying about revenues and internal Russian politics is facing a major shift, or whatever. Then there is the matter of the Democrats and Boris Johnson needing to win a few news cycles without knowing what they're dabbling in.

Whatever the case, escalation is its own risk and opens the doors to unfortunate events, so we all ought to know more. But it's virtually impossible to gain any sense of reality on this given the layers of propaganda.

[David]

[pietillidie]

^Here's something I've often wondered. How strong is Slavic identity and how does this play out in the politics of the region today? I think I read somewhere that Ukraine is ground zero for Slavic peoples genetically, but I might be misremembering. Perhaps Putin also has his racial knickers in a twist, a bit like like Japan denying its Korean ancestry, Korea denying its Chinese ancestry, and China denying its Indian ancestry.

On a related note how, how influential is Eastern Christianity (Eastern Orthodox and/or Eastern Catholicism) as part of that identity, and has its hold changed since the Yugoslav Wars in the 90s?

In 300 words or less, of course!

[David]

[#26]

^ Reminds me of Andrey Zvyagintsev's film Leviathan. That's all about a little guy getting crushed by the church and the state in Russia

When I heard Putin went over to China a few weeks ago, to meet with Xi Jinping, I wondered if they were going to coordinate launching their attacks on the Ukraine and Taiwan at the same time.

[pietillidie]

[stui magpie]

Listening to the radio on the drive home seems like things are escalating

[stui magpie]

Good article, this seems the most sensible take on what's going on to me.

“NATO has no desire to invade Russia, NATO is not threatening Russia. It’s the other way around.”

Klain points out that Russia’s war against Ukraine in the east of the country began only after its pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in 2014 by a pro-Western pro-democratic “Revolution of Dignity”.

“[Putin] started all of this when Ukrainians declared quite loudly that they saw a path to prosperity by becoming Western and democratic and no longer being so firmly in Moscow’s orbit. That’s at the core of what this is about.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/ ... 59tgk.html

It's all about holding onto power at home

[think positive]

its fricken terrifying. cant blame the ukraine for wanting seperation and democracy

[David]

[#26]

The media love a big war. They boost the ratings.

[stui magpie]

you don't hear that perspective in articles like this, even though we're hearing the self-interested American position twice over. Couldn't they find anyone? Or would inserting even a token quote from, say, someone from the Russian embassy interfere with the picture the newspaper is trying to paint of this situation?

Perhaps there's no totally unbiased or reliable take on this conflict out there, and you're certainly not going to find it in RT or Sputnik News. But I think it's good to be able to read mainstream media coverage closely and notice when we're only getting one side of the picture, particularly from supposedly neutral outlets like The Age and the ABC.

I get where you're coming from but I'm not sure where you're going to get an objective piece from Russia's viewpoint. Keep in mind, Putin is a Dictator in everything but name. Most of the articles I've read have been trying to pick into his head.

Wanting to annex the Ukraine to stop them joining NATO didn't sit well with me. I'd accept completely that the west would see it as advantageous to have the Ukraine as a Western Democracy and that Putin wouldn't want that, which is why the premise in that article does seem plausible, at least to me.

[David]

[stui magpie]

I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if you're right on that.

I've also seen a few articles comparing the situation in the Ukraine with Taiwan and suggesting Putin and Xi are swapping notes.