*…The Ukraine conflict will cast a long shadow well into the future…*

Thank you Democrats and Jo the Clown for that one!

Dan

China. That’s our problem.

So, further down the track Australia will have nuclear weapons. Will this actually deter China. On 16 September 2021, the Australian government announced that it would acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability with support from the UK and the US as the first measure of business under the AUKUS technology-sharing partnership.

Every boy and his dog who want nuclear weapons can get them! And given our potential enemies have them! It means we need some as a deterrent against their use against us! And we need to transition away from fossil fuels to carbon-free MSR thorium nuclear energy so we can make more here at home as the Ukraine have done!

Their homegrown build includes a pretty awesome tank and a range of ship and tank destroying laser guided missiles. And a snipers rifle that has a range of around 4.5 miles and has armour piecing ammunition.

[We could use some of that here along with their human technical expertise!]

And that is just a fraction of what they make and it has given them an edge where it counts in the conflict with Russia. Russia is trying with what she has to destroy Ukraine's industries. As she clearly respects the Cossack warrior nation.

We for our part must help as much as we can to ensure Russia fails!
Alan B.

The military industrial complex called NATO is bad for peace, democracy and human rights and should have been buried when the Warsaw collapsed. It robs each of its member states at least 2% of GDP each year which could be used for more important things like health, education, cost of living. In the USA, more than 57cents of the dollar is spent on military related disasters.

Both Ukraine and Russia have been duped into fighting unnecessary and unwinnable wars. Remember Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Syria and Yemen. The only one who benefits are arms manufacturers and dogs of war.

Once you're a part of NATO the US will station nukes on that countries soil anyway;
So with NATO expansion so does nuclear weapon expansion.

Russia will put nukes in Kaliningrad now, because of Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

Macedonian advocacy

I agree with you. I do wonder though what more Putin could have done.

He tried many times to negotiate with the US and NATO, but was rebuffed at every attempt. He even asked if Russia could join NATO. The answer was NO and it was made clear that there was no possibility of further discussion ever being entered into. Meanwhile, with every passing year, NATO was deliberately recruiting former Soviet nations into its ranks and expanding ever Eastward, despite promising Gorbachev that that would never happen. Under US leadership, NATO has built ever more military bases and missiles to directly threaten and contain Russia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO's previous defensive reason for existence quickly morphed into an offensive resurrection of the Cold War and most importantly of bringing about regime change in Russia. The forces aggressively ranged against Russia are formidable and growing.

Serious question to someone who understands the history and geopolitics in play here, what more could Putin have done to achieve his aim of creating a peaceful coexistence within Europe for both Russia and for Russians living in former Soviet countries?

I think that the lesson China will take from this is that countries subjected to unprovoked invasions will not be left on their lonesome. Liberal democracy does not seem to be the flaky entity that the left thought it was.

Russia and North Korea may well be protected by nuclear weapons, but all those weapons are protecting are the cleptocrats and meagre existence of their enslaved citizens.

I think the danger from stupid decisions like the Sri Lankan PM's ban of chemical fertilizer is greater than that of China's military. It is my hope that the example of genocidal war criminal Vlad the Moron his incredible exploding army might ultimately lead to Russia abandoning its autocratic odyssey.

Countries that have nuclear weapons, will use nuclear weapons. The United States has already demonstrated that. The MAD principle is nothing more than that, mad. When staring defeat in the face, the military advice will always be to use whatever weapons are available. MacArthur wanted to use nuclear weapons in Korea, Westmoreland wanted to nuk the Vietnamese, if there had been like minded nutters in the White House these events may well have come to pass. The only answer to world peace is total disarmament.

I heard that there's a Russian coup to oust Putin set in motion a few days ago, but I'm not sure how true it is.
Russia has a nuclear first-strike policy.
Well see what happens next one way or the other.
things could get nasty if Ukraine gets that 40bln
US is already paying the entire cost of Ukrainian government.

What happens to the US world reserve currency status if the petrodollar dies?
Maybe Keith Suter knows, I'm not smart enough to know what happens here.
- But the EU is capitulating to Russia demands for payment in rubles and Saudi Arabia is looking to accept payment from China in Yuan.

I told you all, European economies will be destroyed without Russian oil and gas, and he's probably getting a much higher price for it now as well.

US is going to be in serious trouble real soon, with Chinese cities and workforce locked down, and delayed exports to the US, including truck parts that will impacts transport plus Russia counter sanctioned US on a whole heap of goods, including fertilizer, from the YouTube thumbnails I'm getting in my feed things are going to get a whole lot worse for America soon.

I think it's actually China, that's behind standing up against the US rules based order, and Putin's in on it.
And Russia and China plus all the other countries the US has been messing with...
I think Russia and China win real big out of this;
And that's why the west is willing to spend so much money and call on everyone to try to stop it.
They are fighting the financial system.

http://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/the-bonfire-of-the-certainties-rethinking-petrodollars-and-your-portfolio

"Saudi Arabia’s alignment with China and Russia at the recent UN votes on the Ukraine conflict suggest Saudi Arabia is well aware of the opportunity to finally break away from the shackles of the Petrodollar after 50 years.

This also comes as the US looks unwilling to tighten its belt and switch off its printing presses, meaning further currency debasement of the US dollar looks to be a certainty.

Rising food prices, up 43% since January 2021(2), are also placing additional pressure on national budgets and risk depleting the savings of nations who have not repositioned their investable assets to protect them from the risk of inflationary currency debasement.

And if Russia is successful in breaking the stranglehold that the paper gold derivatives market has on gold bullion prices, gold bullion prices should increase substantially to make up for the price suppression."

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/2022/04/29/rouble-new-petrodollar-rising/

"The new order at Russia’s behest seems to be gaining traction and this could weaken the US dollar’s dominance as the currency of choice by the global community.

In addition to Russia’s oil sales in roubles to “unfriendly” nations, Russia has begun selling oil and coal to China in yuan since the former was slapped with sanctions and this could spell the beginning of the end of the US dollar’s dominance as the petrodollar."

- Interesting times ahead, it could get nasty.