Sir Lancelot

You can make at least some inferences about the Donbas and Crimea from how they voted in Ukrainian elections pre 2014. They voted heavily for pro Kremlin stooges. They voted for the corrupt idiot that was run out of town by the Maidan protest in an at least sort of fair election. So my basic assumption is that a decade of the Russian equivalent Fox news being the only thing on TV hasn't improved things.

Or as I like to say "I am interested in military history .....as history"
This live action kind of war makes me sick.  I mean, this is some really really sick stuff.  why do any of this?  Why why why why?  Russia has everything it needs to be prosperous.  (oh, except the will)

This comment...

This is what the PC and Woke Brigade of the West cannot grasp about Russia

...has absolutely nothing to do with Ukrainians being angry about Russian war crimes!

I KNOW exactly what it represents, and it has no place in this thread and that's why I'm calling it for what it is.

That's whether you, or anyone else likes it or not... it is trolling! 

Now I joined this thread after the first week of the war to read others views about the conflict, not to read about this sort of nonsense. Quite frankly, there's nothing that I am going to learn from this sort of socio-political diatribe, but there is a lot that I can learn about the military conflict. But these particular comments have no place here and are irrelevant to the topic. 

Tiresome and boring! Stop trolling!

if you use "woke and PC" you are just another brainwashed tool.  This is just a shiny object meant to ignite culture wars.  We have much bigger problems.  Like in the USA we are considered now a failing democracy.  And it's not because of some "woke & PC" horses-t.  It's because of a very different brand of propaganda.
So how about we all call a truce on this foolishness and get back to Ukraine?  Do we not (nearly) all here have a shared interest in seeing the new Hitler defeated?  What I care about is that the west (and the world) stays united and that Ukraine can emerge 'victorious', although that's an odd word for having a big part of one's country laid to ruin.

I don't want to get into a big discussion about Japanese Imperialism, but treatment of Taiwanese natives during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan wasn't all that "decent".  The Japanese occupiers ruled the island with an iron-fist, treated its people as second-class subjects, and used the men as canon fodder.  The truth is, they treated the Taiwanese no better than slaves and tried to wipe out their culture.  I highly recommend a Taiwanese film called Seediq Bale, which recounts a native tribe's struggle against Japanese occupation.

I don't want to get into a big discussion about Japanese Imperialism, but treatment of Taiwanese natives during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan wasn't all that "decent".  The Japanese occupiers ruled the island with an iron-fist, treated its people as second-class subjects, and used the men as canon fodder.  The truth is, they treated the Taiwanese no better than slaves and tried to wipe out their culture.  I highly recommend a Taiwanese film called Seediq Bale, which recounts a native tribe's struggle against Japanese occupation.

I don't want to get into a big discussion about Japanese Imperialism, but treatment of Taiwanese natives during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan wasn't all that "decent".  The Japanese occupiers ruled the island with an iron-fist, treated its people as second-class subjects, and used the men as canon fodder.  The truth is, they treated the Taiwanese no better than slaves and tried to wipe out their culture.  I highly recommend a Taiwanese film called Seediq Bale, which recounts a native tribe's struggle against Japanese occupation.

I don't want to get into a big discussion about Japanese Imperialism, but treatment of Taiwanese natives during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan wasn't all that "decent".  The Japanese occupiers ruled the island with an iron-fist, treated its people as second-class subjects, and used the men as canon fodder.  The truth is, they treated the Taiwanese no better than slaves and tried to wipe out their culture.  I highly recommend a Taiwanese film called Seediq Bale, which recounts a native tribe's struggle against Japanese occupation.

Hi everyone. Nikita here.
I'm still in Crimea. I have to be careful with every word, especially after being detained on 24th by police and FSB, so I will be brief. I am literally shaking as I type due to adrenaline, but we all need to be strong these days.
1) Ukraine will be free. The bastards will fail. I can clearly see it.
2) We witness an insane amount of heroism. Which is truly inspiring.
3) Thanks to Steve and other people from here who were kind to me in the past and took time and patience to communicate with me. It made a lot of difference in the end and made me a person who I am today.

There is a video on youtube, if you search his name youll find it, from 11 days ago where he predicted now that the Russians had fixed the mistake of being "too gentle" they would win within 10 days. He also said that Ukraine should be neutralized, Zelensky isn't a hero but implied he was a murder for letting the people suffer needlessly, and said that a neutralized (with a few "border adjustments") Ukraine would be good for the US as well as Russia. The video I watched was tagged in Cyrillic, and the comments well. We wont called them unbiased.
This is a man whose cashed in his credibility so that he can get his face on TV. Fox likes him because they can wear his reputation and he sounds good. He knows the lingo. But you think about what he says is any number of clips and none of it really passes the smell test. Hes just towing a party line because its popular. He is about as credible a source at this point as Putin himself, because clearly hes one of these talking heads that will say whatever is in vouge right now to get attention.  

Steve already gave you a warning about spreading this stuff.  I would heed that as he is pretty passionate about this.

Great news! The bomb shelter under Drama Theater in Mariupol survived the hit of 500 kg bomb. Now the rubbles removing have started to reach the entrance of shelter. There is still unknow about possible casualties among people which were inside the buiding and out of shelter. 

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...

I'm actually Chinese, and my observation of Chinese netizens' reaction is actually very much the opposite.  The great majority of ordinary Chinese citizens seem to buy into Russia's propaganda (b/c that's what they are fed on Chinese media) and many are very pro-Putin.  They lay the blame at Ukraine and the West's doorstep, and feel that Russia is helping China by checking the West's expansionism and disrupting their containment of China's own rise.  The strong nationalist sentiment that Xi Jinping has been cultivating through propaganda and autocratic leadership is very worrying...