+1 on that. The EU should be tearing down economic walls between countries, by removing duties and facilitating movement of labor, goods & services. Basically a trade union would be enough. Do we really need this parliament, these institutions, regulations?
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I could understand that Putin would be distrustful of the Americans. But the European states havenât really being expanding their militaries of invading anyone recently.
If Russia should fear something, itâs their own demographics, the push for green energy, and maybe China. Do Russians really want to side with the Chinese?
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Both Ukraine and Russia were part of the same country. Most people living in Donetsk, Luhansk or Crimea did not emigrate from one country to another. If anything, they were already there or moved there âdomesticallyâ, within the Soviet Union.
Pro-Russians in Eastern Ukraine just happened to be located on the âwrongâ side of the border - not necessarily cause they chose to live in Ukraine (though in the Ukraine independence referendum many did). I would therefore not quite agree that theyâve made a âpledgeâ to Ukraine, as you say.
The irony therein is that the EU itself isnât very democratic.
While it propagates democratic ideals for member states, itâs hollowing out democracy itself.
wait, what?! 
like free movement of labour, free mobile roaming, free money to developing countries, free monetary management (ECB), free pressuring the car manufacturers for less emissions, free jurisdiction and supreme court, and other free stuff that just comes out of these political castles⊠? Yes we do.
Is it bloody expensive? Yes it is.
Would there be another way to reach the same without an EU institution network? Probably not.
well, noone forces them to stay in the country if they donât want to. The Russian border is just some 50-100kmâs away.
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Putin's Speech, Annotated: A Close Look at the Russian Leader's Ukraine Address - The New York Times was super interesting for context.
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it seems to me that you have a quite narrow pair of glasses youâre using to look at things. I wonât be going into your statements cause itâs off topic, but I suggest to widen your horizon a little.
Putin supported Lukashenko to stop democracy happening and now has his troops stationed there
So we have a war. I canât believe this is happening. Makes no sense to me. I am fully anti-war, I can hardly ever imagine an aggressive military action I would support.
But I feel so powerless. If Ukrainian civilians die, I will be against anyone who supports or makes deals with the current Russian regime. I hope this war is miscalculated and that Putin pays with his head.
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Putin needs a decisive and fast victory to even have a small chance of having some sort of positive outcome for him.
This could turn out to be much worse for Russia than Vietnam was for the US.
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I sure hope so! This invasion has only been possible because of weak diplomacy from the Western countries. Take Germany building the Nordstream 2 despite voices of concern from Ukraine and Poland. German voters, are you proud of your elected rulers?
And of course, there are millions of Russians who believe in the concept of âGreat imperialist Russiaâ. They have tolerated or supported this criminal and aggressive regime for years! Georgia, Crimea, Donbass etc. You support Putin, you have blood on your hands.
All military airports in Ukraine have been bombed, there is a land invasion from Belarus. Meanwhile the people in the West are posting funny memes about it. What the hellâŠ
@Cortana itâs you Iâm talking about. This is not a joke. Ukrainians are fleeing and hiding in their cellars, and you make jokes, saying that your stock market actions had caused it. Do you have no empathy? Donât you see how inappropriate that is?
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Yes Iâm also afraid of that.
Yes. Institutions like these just issue some condemning statement, a âdirectiveâ, some half-assed sanctions and thatâs it.
You know, as a Pole, the aggressive nature of Russia has been clear to me since I was a kid. Itâs nothing new. I was always so pissed off when the West was making deals with Russia, as if it was a ânormalâ country. (Same applies to China). Just think that there was the 2014 olympic games, 2018 world cup in Russia. Now Poland is supposed to play in Moscow the World Cup qualifier?! This is the essence of âreal politikâ. Money talks, not sentiments. Disgusting.
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This is probably a missunderstanding. Iâm not posting any memes to make fun of the situation.
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OK, but I think there is this sense of emotional detachment from reality in social media. Posting, tweeting, changing profile pictures. Itâs also so abstract. All this tech we have is such a letdown.
Maybe itâs making cope with things easier.
Yes, it just provides a way to vent emotions, itâs not actionable. In fact Iâm doing it right now. Just a manifestation of helplessness.
Just watch a few videos. A civilian block of flats in Kharkiv with no windows, a traffic jam on the highway with sirens blaring, a live footage of a missle hitting the airport in Ivano-Frankivsk. This is terrifying. But yeah, youâll be fine in your cozy bed, your stocks will be fineâŠ
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