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It's definitely a better deal than those 300+ civilians and many more military whose lifes were lost, I am not gonna bloody argue about that. And yet I don't l

It's definitely a better deal than those 300+ civilians and many more military whose lifes were lost, I am not gonna bloody argue about that. And yet I don't like when people discount broken lifes of Russians who had to flee their country leaving everything behind. Both Ukranians and Russians are refugees in this case. One difference they may not experience is being afraid of passing strangers in a country they fled to. So much suffering... Everything because of one crazy guy. As far as I've heard even most of Putin's generals were shocked by his decision to invade. I hope one of them can muster courage and get close enough...

jacquesm 5y ago
The only people that can do something about it right this moment are all in Russia and as long as they don't the carnage will continue (in your name, no less). Putin's generals have over the years been carefully winnowed down to a bunch of spineless bastards, it's clear that near a dictator of such power you will not find any credible competition, those are either in jail or six feet under. Interesting side effect, that also means that the really competent people have left or have been pensioned off. And yet, those that are left are the only people with a credible shot at this. And the world - and their country - would likely love them for it, assuming they would live. Let's see which Russian fat cat grows a pair first. I think the touchstone will be when Putin gives the orders to deploy a nuke.
- avar 5y ago
  One reason sanctions against Putin aren't harder than they are, is because those of us in western Europe are still taking the relative luxury of (in my case) typing this comment sitting inside wearing an t-shirt, instead of having to wear my skiing inside my apartment. I.e. the current sanctions explicitly excluded natural gas etc. Russia supplies around 40% of the EU's gas, demand is around 2x as higher. We could just wear coats, but we're not. We could also do something more about it, but we're not.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Yes, and that was dumb, it telegraphed a very clear weakness to Putin.

jacquesm 5y ago

The only people that can do something about it right this moment are all in Russia and as long as they don't the carnage will continue (in your name, no less). Putin's generals have over the years been carefully winnowed down to a bunch of spineless bastards, it's clear that near a dictator of such power you will not find any credible competition, those are either in jail or six feet under. Interesting side effect, that also means that the really competent people have left or have been pensioned off. And yet, those that are left are the only people with a credible shot at this. And the world - and their country - would likely love them for it, assuming they would live. Let's see which Russian fat cat grows a pair first. I think the touchstone will be when Putin gives the orders to deploy a nuke.

avar 5y ago
One reason sanctions against Putin aren't harder than they are, is because those of us in western Europe are still taking the relative luxury of (in my case) typing this comment sitting inside wearing an t-shirt, instead of having to wear my skiing inside my apartment. I.e. the current sanctions explicitly excluded natural gas etc. Russia supplies around 40% of the EU's gas, demand is around 2x as higher. We could just wear coats, but we're not. We could also do something more about it, but we're not.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Yes, and that was dumb, it telegraphed a very clear weakness to Putin.