Where are most of the shells and bombs coming from, right now?
From aerial bombardment?
From short range artillery?
From longer ranged rocketry?
From artillery positioned on Russian soil?
What sort of military and alas diplomatic measures would reduce this humanitarian threat?
( since this is the third time that was posted â it feels fair to ask: was anyone else turned off by his casual sexual harassment of the person doing his makeup? i can see itâs supposed to be part of his shtick⌠but how many times now have we seen men with that in their go-to repertoire have long histories of âoverlookedâ abuse. if thatâs not who he is, he needs to stop. )
FWIW, I am not actually disagreeing with you. EU membership is a cumbersome, LONG process. Leaving the EU for the UK was equally as long and cumbersome. Youâre not wrong that there are established processes and you canât just wave a wand and change the rules, even if there was the political will.
The turnstile in this case is the rule of law and the government processes. Russia jumped the turnstile when it decided Crimea was now a âprotectorateâ (not sure on the official language). Same with the eastern provinces. There were no forms filed or treaty to draw up new borders or an exhaustive paper on the economic impacts of such a move - it was just done.
Youâre right the EU canât really just break protocol - but it IS an examples that âPoliticians, bureaucrats, ambassadors, and government officials are all hindered by procedure, rule of law, and traditionsâ They canât take radical, decisive, unilateral actions because that just isnât how the system is setup/organized.
Thank you.
Indeed. And if we abandon the rules are we any better than Putin. What we need is better rules to more directly deal with a rule-breaker like Putin. The system needs to be set up to deal with this sort of shit in general. Like being able to toss Russia out of the UN and send in an international armed force (notwithstanding that that may or may not be enacted given the nuclear threat).
But for now I very much WOULD like to see some rules broken, but specifically focused on dealing with Putin and his invasion force. Messing with EU rules wonât achieve that.
Russia recognised Crimea as an independent state and signed a treaty with it. The processes required by Russian law were followed. Anyway, âRussia ignored the law so why canât we?â is not exactly a good argument.
I agree that it is not possible to negotiate with Putin in good faith.
Sadly, I donât think that we can negotiate with Russia and expect that they will fulfill any of their agreed obligations. They ignored and violated the UN Charter, they ignored and violated the Budapest Memorandum (Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders. Refrain from the threat or the use of force against Belarus, Kazakhstan or Ukraine.) They will do the same with any new agreement that they sign, as long as Putin is in power.
They lie and they cannot be trusted. Did they comply by the cease-fire and evacuation agreements that they signed? No. Will they withdraw their forces from the areas that they currently occupy even if they agree to it? No. Will they allow the return of displaced residents to the disputed areas so they can participate in auto-determination referendums? No.
Anything that they sign is useless. Words cannot be trusted anymore, only actions. They should withdraw to the pre-invasion line of control before Ukraine or the West agrees to discuss anything with them.
(Itâs true, dudeâs not right on in some ways. Much of the humor of his schtick amounts to adolosecent dick and wanking jokes, and I remember some earlier videos in which he rails against âpc cancel culture.â I still watch him because the articulate anger feels cathartic and sometimes very informative, but Iâve certainly had more than qualms about giving him more clicks.)
But itâs intended as a not as over the top as youâd hope parody of British news pundits. The grossness is part and parcel of that.
Well thank you sir for mansplaining the obvious, and handwaving away the problem.
Sexually abusive humor is still sexually abusive.
Iâve only seen a bit of his stuff.
Why am i not surprised that nevertheless, that was enough for you to declare yourself THEE expert here on the topic.
Only tangentially related to Ukraine but it really sucks that weâre going to be buying even more oil from Saudi Arabia now:
He is playing a very well-developed fictional character, who is not all âright onâ.
Whether the act should be different is perhaps worth discussing, but it IS an act.
The actor? This is him:
Well, MEN arenât offended, and isnât that what really counts? /s
Doesnât mean that it canât be problematic⌠
Right? Why should we give a shit how things that have damaging effects are intended?
Alright, fair point. I guess they filled out some paperwork.
Of course, not everyoneâs paperwork lines up with Russiaâs:
On 27 March, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution, which declared the Crimean referendum and subsequent status change invalid, by a vote of 100 to 11, with 58 abstentions and 24 absent.
Good. Let them attack the arms shipments and leave the civilians in peace.
i was unfamiliar, but i still saw it was a routine. really that only makes it worse because then it was a deliberate choice.
remember too louis ck - when his masturbation jokes turned out not to be jokes. none of it bodes well. it tells men itâs okay, and âcoolâ to demean women. he needs to stop
⌠and now back to the topic at hand âŚ
Yeah, $3,000 a month to Syrian mercenaries. Shows some desperation.
They need to be sure they wonât get the pay in roubles at the going rate!
Someone needs to tell the Russian conscripts about this. Will do wonders for morale!
