For Ukraine to come out of this war OK, it needs to take some kind of action or actions that cause Russia to stop attacking it and stop capturing it's land.

Maybe that action is a negotiated agreement.

Maybe that action is some kind of well designed military strikes.

But whatever actions are taken, they must not cause Russia to feel that it is under an existential threat. Attacks that disable Russia's ability to defend itself against other worldwide nuclear powers, like against its first-strike radar (as was done), or its nuclear bombers (as was done), may cause Russia to take the severe action of disabling Ukraine for good.

Attacking Ukraine with nuclear weapons probably would not cause NATO powers to strike Russia with nuclear weapons, because that would be well known as the MAD ending. Russia doesn't want to hit Ukraine with nukes. But it becomes their best strategic choice as soon as Ukraine effectively disables their ability to retaliate against a nuclear attack. Was this attack on the bombers such a thing? Probably not. But it's definitely encroaching on that territory.

If Russia nuked Ukraine in retaliation for the attack on their bombers, I'm not sure there is any way Ukraine or NATO could effectively respond. And that makes it strategically viable for Russia to do it, whereas yesterday it wasn't. And that is why I mentioned earlier that Ukraine making it's last moves was strategically "questionable".

Daring them is dumb. You will think you are winning until the day you lose catastrophically. Like double-or-nothing on the roulette table.

The Ukrainians have carried out a number of successful and rather audacious attacks — so many that it's hard to recall them all — but there have been more than a dozen large-scale operations against both civilian and military targets in Russia. Moscow, on the other hand, hasn't been particularly active in this regard. One might assume that this is due to strict Ukrainian and Western censorship, and that similar Russian actions simply aren't being reported—but that's not the case. Trains are indeed running in Ukraine, factories and enterprises are operating, agricultural work is underway — things are happening there that are hard to even imagine, for example, in Palestine. And that's probably a good thing.

Moscow, for now, is mostly making declarations and seems to be holding back. It may look like weakness, but at the same time, it's important to understand that Russia has not only military interests in Ukraine, but political ones as well. That's why, despite the provocations, Moscow can't afford to lose its head and act like Israel.

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I get the impression that Russians don't hate Ukrainians like Ukrainians hate Russians. Ukrainians seem to hate Putin/Moscow with a deeper hatred than I've ever before encountered. Maybe they always hated Russia for subjugating Ukraine. Banderites sided with Hitler since he was freeing Ukraine from their oppressor.

You'll find a large minority of Australians hate America, mostly for its perceived cultural dominance.

Whilst Americans never seem to regard Australians with anything worse than condecension.

I see a lot of parallels there with Ukr and RU.

Except the part where we are neighbors or have any interest in taking over Australia. But I guess if we did it would just be the English speaking part who are basically Ethnic Americans.

We actually are neighbours, there's just a bit of water in between, that your navy dominates.

Outside of Sydney and Melbourne, all of Australia is the English-speaking part, which also has the iron and coal. Just like Donbas.

And we're #2 or #3 in the world for rare earth reserves (UA actually has none of value).

I should shut up about now :p

You make an interesting case. But we'd have to be able to make the case that those English speakers were being oppressed, but as a critical part of the free world you'd be hard-pressed to find rights that Australian do not have full access to.

Rights?

- Guns

- Free speech

- Freedom of Assembly

would be the big ones we're short on.

In my state, being caught in possession of design files or blueprints for a firearm without written authority is a three year prison sentence.

But our government oppresses most of us equally, English is an official language, and no foreign powers are building bases here except the US of A.

No need to liberate us just yet 😉

I am mostly just sore over the treatment of Novak Djokovic for the 2022 Australian Open. Not that the U.S. did any better with the U.S Open. The vaccination travel bans were the dumbest thing ever.

Facts

There are plenty of supporters of the war to annihilate Ukraine, and they actively promote a hateful narrative, but they don’t actually hold real power or make any decisions in Russia. Of course, everything could change at any moment.

I'm glad for Russia's restraint. I'd like if there were a settlement. Nobody will be happy with a settlement, but less innocents dying is what my outsider aim is... not being on either side or having any real stake in it.

there are a lot of ethnic Russians in Ukraine that's why. not as many ethnic Ukrainians in Russia. also Russia poses a threat to Ukraine but Ukraine doesn't pose a threat to Russia. this is why Ukrainians would like to see Russia wiped off the face of the earth but Russians wouldn't want to do the same to Ukraine. that doesn't make Russians morally superior - they are simply in a different situation.

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