I think the DNR/LNR is so destroyed at this point that the Ukrainians would be better off leaving them to the Russians who probably won't invest in those regions anyway. Best thing Ukraine could do is become a prosperous country and show the DNR/LNR population what they're missing out on (as there does seem to be a heavy pro-Russian sentiment there).
It is troll level stuff and trolls should be ignored, where possible... I think that argument was substantiated pretty well in the other thread but it's up to everyone to read for themselves (it is an argument not a "proof", so all I can do is outline why I think it is the case based on what I know of the topic and let others correct me/add/detract wherever seems relevant). Who was the Russian propagandist? Genuinely can't remember.
Just on this. I didn't raise the POW war crime in this thread, I was posting in reply to a topic that had been discussed, at length, by other posters (carolina red, harms, dwayne, yourself I think, and many more) a day or two ago. I was updating readers of the thread on where the claim now stood (after people were claiming it was outright fake).
For anyone paying close attention to this war and/or Russian activities for the past 20-70 years, It is quite logical through these events for your first stance to be extremely skeptical of claims against Ukrainian soldiers, short of proof. The POW leg thing is one of several elaboratly staged videos to date, by the same film crew maybe, who knows? There will be more.
Re: Mr Goodman, I still can't look past him claiming 'Western Propaganda' is better than Russian propaganda, then citing an article by a known Russian propagandist to back up his argument
He's got people in here talking about Ukranian war crimes when we are yet to see evidence of any. It is a fair assumption to make that lines will have been crossed on occasion, I'm sure they have, but I'm yet to actually see it.
The fact we are not even allowed to post the footage of Russian war crimes on here means it is an improper place to discuss these things anyway.
Yep, that's my view, too. The question is how you get there, and quick settlement (but a sensible one) is beneficial for Ukrainians but not necessarily beneficial for NATO and that's the larger point Scahill makes. Neutrality, EU membership, and some kind of arrangement in the Donbas with Crimea basically written off seems as inevitable now as it did last week. Long-term, too, the Russians might face problems in the Donbas if Ukraine can achieve its economic potential within a netural/EU framework.
Involving Turkey is definitely not for Russias benefit.
All of that is true, but Russia and Turkey also share some unconventional overlaps because of their proximity. Turkey is not the most conventional member NATO has.
The problem is that Putin probably doesn’t want the DNR and LNR to be a burden on Russia. He was interested in them being a cancerous growth on Ukraine, through which he could indirectly exert influence, but there’s little to suggest he has ever wanted to incorporate them into Russia and take responsibility for them.
About 75% of its active force.
I’m not sure about that number although it depends on the definition of active force. Russian army has around 1,8 million personnel, around 1 million of them are military — the rest are administrative etc. Around 260 thousands out of that 1 million are conscripts (2 call ups by roughly 130 thousands). Which leaves around 740k? There are certainly less than 75% of that in Ukraine. Although I’m not a military expert at all, but I believe that the 75% number was based on the original estimate of the potential forces that could’ve been used in the conflict.
If you look at it based on the Russian Army’s order of battle, elements (in part or in whole) of the following field armies have been committed to Ukraine…
I'm speaking out my ass a bit here, but given that they pulled units from as far as the Far East district, I think they probably committed well over 75% of what they have available of professional units for offensive action. Meaning that if Putin asked his military to launch an offensive campaign anywhere else right now they'd probably just have to laugh at him.
