Hey Canem Malum,
"When I heard the body count of 150 people the day after the invasion- it doesn't seem that the Russian's are acting extremely aggressively- given that they have 200+ thousand soldiers in the Ukraine. From those casualties I expect that there hasn't been much resistance by the Ukrainians and much aggression from the Russian's."

Both sides are lying.
It doesn't do much for fighting morale if you hear that thousands of your countrymen are dead.
It's not a pretend war, it's a real one.
I think there's a whole lot more dead on both sides than either side is willing to admit.

On the Russian side you've got young 20 year olds in tanks who thought they were going for training exercises, and mothers at home wondering if they will see their sons again.
Sadly, many will not.

On the Ukrainian side they're asking citizens to stand in the firing line, and to put their wifes and kids lives in harms way to protect the leadership of the junta.
It's an ugly mess, and I fear this is only just the beginning.

Foxy,
What do you have to say about the arming of civilians?

>>Overall, it appears that nearly everywhere, in many regions of the world where the United States brought its law and order, this created bloody, non-healing wounds and the curse of international terrorism and extremism. I have only mentioned the most glaring but far from only examples of disregard for international law.

This array includes promises not to expand NATO eastwards even by an inch. To reiterate: they have deceived us, or, to put it simply, they have played us. Sure, one often hears that politics is a dirty business. It could be, but it shouldn’t be as dirty as it is now, not to such an extent. This type of con-artist behaviour is contrary not only to the principles of international relations but also and above all to the generally accepted norms of morality and ethics. Where is justice and truth here? Just lies and hypocrisy all around.

Incidentally, US politicians, political scientists and journalists write and say that a veritable “empire of lies” has been created inside the United States in recent years. It is hard to disagree with this – it is really so. But one should not be modest about it: the United States is still a great country and a system-forming power. All its satellites not only humbly and obediently say yes to and parrot it at the slightest pretext but also imitate its behaviour and enthusiastically accept the rules it is offering them. Therefore, one can say with good reason and confidence that the whole so-called Western bloc formed by the United States in its own image and likeness is, in its entirety, the very same “empire of lies.”<<

- Part of Vlad Putin's speech

[Cont.]
You probably won't hear any of the above info in our media, do you know why?
- Because Russian points of view is more or less banned.
http://www.rt.com/russia/550700-australia-suspends-rt-broadcast/

They will call others dictators for banning free press, but they do the same things themselves right here, they ban people coming here to hold events just because they have opinions that don't parrot the narrative.

They banned Novak Djokovic because they thought he might embolden anti-vax sentiment, like its a crime to have ones own opinion.

I blame the left for all this. Social justice.
That the kind of justice one demands when no laws are broken.
Leftism is Authoritarianism.

They need to look in the mirror because they became the exact thing they claimed to oppose.

I think Putin may have miss-stepped though, invading the whole of Ukraine instead of just defending Donbass and Luhansk.
I understand why he did it, the West keep pushing, and ignoring and dissmissing his nations security concerns, but I also understand how the world will see it too.
I think it may gave gotten his situation more attention if he'd just cut energy supplies to Europe.

Asymmetrical warfare may have been better than open warfare.
He'd have had more leverage if he took away the thing Europe and the West needs and paid more at the pump and with inflation in the short term.
It may have left room for some kind of discussions.

Open warfare may soon take us to a point of no return.
- If we're not there already.

Now Belarus is joining the war and preparing to send troops in.
Soon the West may move to do the same in sore reciprocal fashion, including imposing a no-fly zone in eastern Ukraine.

Once this happens - we'll have US planes shooting at Russian;
- Then Putin might go for the nuclear option; it won't take much to take that step, if he already thinks he's past a point of no return.

I think he's likely to use nukes before he sees Russia destroyed by the West twice, I honestly do.
- And I think the Chinese as an autocratic nation also in the US's crosshairs will line up on Putin's side.

The world may look back on this years from now as the issue that started it all.
But history is written by the victors, as for whatever they teach the young ones years from now - only some of it will be true, the parts that suit them.

Dear Armchair Critic,

History is not written by the victors but by the more literate. The Mongols had amazing tactics and conquered the largest land area of any empire yet known. However, they were mostly illiterate and devoid of scholars so it is mainly French sources that describe the Mongols since the French wrote the history of that era. General Grant had a lower casualty rate among his troops than did Lee and bested him in most of their encounters. However, a school of southern historians dominated academia after the Civil War and promoted the Lost Cause Myth and the genius of Lee.