Comments by "possumverde" (@possumverde) on "DW News" channel.

@mrillis9259 Now of he'd only apply such integrity to himself and pay off the $300+M he owes to Deutsche Bank...
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Bah, so far Trump hasn't suffered any consequences for not paying the $300+M he owes Deutsche Bank.
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China is a big boy now with big boy responsibilities. They don't have time for childish club meetings.
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Security measure. He doesn't want anyone within striking distance... especially his "friends."
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@engineclinic Mostly agree but having troops stationed there gives us a pretty good jumping off point for quickly deploying troops in Europe and the Middle East should the need arise.
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They'll work something out with Turkey. The process wasn't expected to be complete until August anyway so they have plenty of time. Turkey just sees an opportunity to leverage some extra benefit here and is going to milk it a bit.
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The Russian military has a major flaw in it's structure and operation which puts a short time limit on actions like this. They got rid of Commissars when the Soviet Union fell but not some of the reasons they needed them to begin with. They kept their heavy reliance on conscripts (who have no/negative morale by default) and very brutal, civilian unfriendly tactics (which grind on soldiers' consciences and thus lowers their morale even when "winning") along with the usual maintenance, training, and logistics issues and general beuracratic bs which comes with corrupt officials pocketing funds meant for the military etc. The only way the Russian military has of dealing with the morale issue is to send high command to the front to play the role of Commissar while making them vulnerable to attack (hence, the odd amount of generals killed so far.) Putin's generals would have told him he had a week or two tops in this kind of action (due to the civilians to be murdered sharing a once friendly history and cultural similarities with the ground soldiers who would be expected to murder them) to capture the cities he actually wanted before morale would bottom out and render ground forces useless or at best, unreliable. Beyond that, all they could do is continue destroying infrastructure and murdering civilians with long range artillery and missiles (whose operators don't have to see civilian bodies in the rubble or be spit on by survivors and thus will just keep firing away as it's just numbers to them) while pushing for negotiations. Which is pretty much been what they've been doing for nearly two weeks now. There is no fancy strategy or surprise coming. They simply failed to achieve their goals quick enough and now it's just a matter of doing enough damage and killing as many people as possible in hopes of forcing a settlement.
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For some reason, Putin has always had a special hard on for Ukraine compared to other nearby ex-Soviet nations. Regardless, it's none of his business. Russia lost the power to dictate to countries like Ukraine when the Soviet Union fell and those countries became independent. If he has a problem with them joining/wanting to join NATO, he should take a look at why they would feel the need to consider doing so in the first place. At this point, a mirror is all he'd need for an answer. Edit: Someone should explain to him that, unlike Stalin era USSR, these days he'd catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
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The oil thing is simply explained by hypocrites (though even with that, it doesn't save Russia from the crippling tech sanctions which will be ruinous for them regardless of their oil income.) Ukraine is asking for more weapons and aid because they can't fully drive Russia out without it. They are considered to be doing well because, on paper, the fight was like a high school bully picking on a second grader (edit: also why everyone including Putin expected it to go much quicker.) The second grader not only being able to stay on their feet but landing a few good punches from time to time as well is commendable and far more than expected. It's Just not ultimately going to be enough to see it through without help.
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NATO's prime concern was the Soviet Union. After it fell, Russia essentially became a glorified gas station with nukes. If it weren't for Comrade Putin constantly poking them with a stick, they'd forget Russia was even there...
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On some planet maybe. Their weak link is...this is Earth.
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@scarling9367 In their defense, there were/are many people out there who actually fell for the pro-Russia propoganda put out by people like Patrick Lancaster and friends without realizing they were paid Russian propoganda agents. It's kind of difficult to stamp out an armed group of rebels making up a tiny percentage of the local population and being backed by a hostile foreign power when tons of doofusses online keep claiming you're committing some sort of genocide.
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Russia can easily be outlasted on this. Without the tech that's been sanctioned, it won't be long until they can't pump or keep track of their oil/gas or run their banks to handle the glorified toilet paper they call the ruble. It's a bluff, like everything else he's been doing lately. Russia simply isn't as important as his delusions lead him to think they are.
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Got to appreciate the irony of someone in debt to Deutsche Bank for $300+M lecturing others for not paying their bills.
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No they have not. At least not offered in good faith. You've fallen for the bs of Russian propoganda agents like Patrick Lancaster and friends.
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@mbrewer5499 I just tested positive again (roughly 3 months after getting over it.) It may not be the result of catching it a second time though. It could just be the virus going dormant before the immune system actually defeats it then flaring up again later (my symptoms aren't anywhere near as severe as the first time.) If that's the case, then a vaccine could still be effective and herd immunity possible.
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Educate yourself fool and quit buying the bs peddled by paid Russian propoganda agents like Patrick Lancaster and friends.
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Because they aren't being held against their will. The nonsense that they are comes heavily from paid pro-Russian propoganda agents like Patrick Lancaster and their staged reports/interviews made while travelling with the Russian military.
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@MWH12085 That would would be far more expensive and chaotic than leaving them where they are.
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Few are actually Chinese. Behind closed doors, China are just as annoyed with Putin over this as everyone else is. Invading a country (especially a European country) even they recognize as sovereign without suitable justification is an unnecessary stirring up of a hornet's nest in their eyes and they (like much of the world) are not exactly impressed with Russia's show of military prowess either... They may well decide Putin's Russia is to volatile and weak to justify further dealings by the time this is over. They may also decide to help themselves to the parts of Eastern Russia they've been eying for decades.
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I don't understand why fools like you buy the bs propoganda of paid Russian agents like Patrick Lancaster and friends...
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@skozzi2845 Every such video I've come across has been the product of either Patrick Lancaster or one of the other self-proclaimed "independent journalists/documentarians" who have been on Moscow's payroll for years as propoganda agents for the pro-Russian separatists (said employment being masked by the use of crowd funding methods.) Sources even less trustworthy than the mainstream press.
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Iron dome is garbage against sophisicated missiles like the hypersonics Russia has as well as long range artillery (not really meant to deal with aircraft either.) For those, you have to go after the launch sites/guns (which would be tricky since almost all of it is in Russian or Russian friendly territory.) Russia's air force however is pretty much a joke due to poor maintenance and inconsistent training and could be pushed out of Ukrainian skies relatively easily if the US or a couple of other Ukraine friendly nations would send in some of their air power. Were anyone brave enough to offer close air support for Ukraine ground forces after the skies have been mostly secured, Russian ground forces would likely have to start falling back.
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The lies of Patrick Lancaster and other paid Russian propoganda agents spreading the bs you're spouting are simply that...lies.
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Well they are an endangered species...
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Your source is a paid Russian propoganda agent.
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They spread enough bullsh*t already. No need to include Putin's delusions of grandeur to the mix. Regardless of what he said, his Generals would have told him that they would have a week or two tops to capture all their goals before ground forces morale would bottom out and render them useless. That's always been an issue with both the Russian and Soviet army due to heavy reliance on conscripts and very brutal, civilian unfriendly tactics (as well as logistics and equipment breakdown issues to some extent due to poor maintenance/training and beuracratic bs etc.) The Soviets had Commissars to deal with it. The Russian military doesn't. They can either send high command to the front to fill that role while making them more vulnerable (hence the odd number of dead generals), or simply quit ground operations indefinitely and just use longe range artillery/missiles to needlessly continue destroying infrastructure and killing civilians while they push for negotiations.
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They had Commissars to deal with the ground force morale issues of relying heavily on conscripts (no/negative morale by default) and very brutal tactics (most soldiers can only handle seeing so many civilian bodies in rubble and being spit on by survivors etc. for limited amounts of time without shutting down.) The Russian army doesn't. These days high command has to go to the front and play that role from time to time (which is why they've had so many generals killed.)
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@tryengram You might not be a bot, but you are spreading false information. No such agreement was ever made...Gorbachev himself (the Russian leader who the agreement was supposedly made with) said on many occassions that such an agreement was never made or even discussed at the talks Putin's propoganda claims as the origin of the agreement. The only thing even remotely like that which was discussed involved the reunification of Germany and waiting until Soviet troops were fully withdrawn from what had been East Germany before sending in any NATO forces. NATO's charter has always had an open door policy. Any country meeting the various membership requirements is free to submit a request to join and such requests will be duly considered.
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@katiestans2824 Those involve the Minsk agreements. No one honored the first agreement (there was basically a race to see who could break it first...it was pretty much a draw.) Thus, a second agreement was made. Russia ignored it from the start as well. Ukraine upheld their end until is was clear that Russia had completely abandoned it.
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@DarkAngel-pt1cq The Cuban missile crisis was nearly 60 years ago. Times and especially the political climate, were different. NATO ceased to be a threat to Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed. Mostly because, on it's own, Russia ceased to be relevant in any way other than their having nukes. Beyond that, they were essentially seen as a glorified gas station. Putin's delusions of grandeur led him to vastly overestimate NATO's interest in Russia. Had his own behavior not forced the issue, he could have every neighbor be a member of NATO and still be perfectly safe. That behavior is also responsible for why so many of his neighbors sought out NATO/EU to begin with. He has only himself to blame both for the current situation as well as the overall decline of Russia as a nation since he took power.
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Depends on the vodka supply...
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On paper, they should have been done in a week or two tops and it's obvious that Putin was not planning on it taking any longer. The Russian ground forces have major morale issues due to the structure and operation of their military (primarily heavy reliance on conscripts and very brutal civilian unfriendly tactics with no Commissars to keep cracking the whip up front) and can only be counted on to be effective psychologically for a brief time if such issues are not properly addressed (and they rarely are.) I'd almost guarantee you that the plan did not extend beyond two weeks (not counting occupation) and was likely meant to be a week at most when it came to capturing the cities they were actually after. Anything more would be pushing it, in the eyes of the generals at least.
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Russia must be desperate if they're willing to trade their oil for toilet paper... Edit: Just reply that we only accept real money for the tech they're desperately in need of. Without it, they can't even pump or keep track of their oil...
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@dragilxcom4176 The tech sanctions will cripple Russia quicker than any of the sanction backlash will hurt the US enough to matter. As for a civil war. We're too lazy...and most on both sides of the political spectrum back Ukraine in this and are willing to deal with the hardships stemming from that. Also, the dollar has a very, very long way to go before it's anywhere near as worthless as the ruble...and we'll find fertilizer far easier than IT for Russian companies, their military, and anyone else find the chips and spare parts/tech support needed to keep their country running. Not even China could cover their loss were they even inclined to.
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