Sure, me too. But you wouldn’t be cracking jokes if someone killed your mom? But some anonymous Ukrainians are dying then it’s ok. The readiness to crack jokes shows how concerned you are in the situation (not very much).
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I know, but it’s a bit different when it’s just happening. I’m no stranger to the jokes you mention and don’t want to sound like a hypocrite. Just right in this situation, I think such jokes desensitise and dehumanise the situation, make it feel less real.
Thoughts regards what can we do about it:
As a minimum the right thing to do would be to support our governments putting sanctions on Russia including banking and gas and accept the pain that would ensue. I hope we go this way even though it will impact the economy and stock markets negatively, the alternative is worse in the long term
I fear we won’t even do this and will carry on as before
One thing I am feeling passionately about this morning is that we need to more aggressively invest in alternative energy so we stop reliance on these autocratic regimes.
All too late for the Ukrainian people - none of this is going to make the ranks turn around 
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With probable exception of China… an ex NATO commander pointed out yesterday Russia can replace trade with the west with China. Strength of western democracies is decreasing
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Sadly, it’s probably not an option for the Russian people to choose a different government. The media is controlled by the governments, opposition is being arrested and fought. Probably if you openly say bad things about the Russian government, you can expect trouble. That being said, I think there is still strong support for Putin’s vision, which gives the government legitimacy. Maybe if a million people went out on the streets of Moscow to protest, the government would give up. Maybe they would fight their own people.
Yes, that is what I am afraid of as well … there might be a new “Axis of evil” and it is kinda fault of the West as well. West got corrupted by oligarch’s money and it is afraid to do anything about human rights abuse in China.
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Sadly, I think it would cause too much pain for the West to bear. Europe needs Russian gas in the winter, or it will freeze to death, literally. Especially that they’re shutting down their nuclear plants and the renewable energy is still in a fledgling state.
That’s what I did with Tesla. Tesla’s mission is accelerating the transition to sustainable energy. I didn’t sell a single stock even after it declined in the recent months and do not intend to. I hope all the oil warlords will starve to death eventually.
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This is not a fault of the swedish girl, but of European green intellectuals of 80th, who were able to very quickly push through abolishment of nuclear energy and at the same time not able to perform simple physical calculations. Nuclear energy is too dirty? Now live with brown coal.
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This war is on Putin despite him really trying to not call it a war but a military operation.
I hope that his surprisingly bad speeches during the last 1-2 weeks are an indication that he won’t be able to spin this internally even through the state-controlled media apparatus. Then maybe this tragedy for the Ukrainian people (and potentially many others) somehow ends up shifting the scales of Russia’s future towards non-autocratic leadership.
It won’t be easy as Russia has never had that in its millennium history but one can hope - then even if the long-standing problems persist, they won’t be escalated to a war on the whim of a 70-year old whose best political years are in the past.
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Nuclear energy is not dirty in the same sense as coal. You need to mine some uranium, build a plant, then store the radioactive waste. And there is the risk of meltdown. But if all handled properly, there is little pollution. It’s actually quite puzzling that the greens are against nuclear. I am not decided. I guess I don’t trust humans enough to believe that nobody will ever f**k up, as they did in Chernobyl or Fukushima.
guess we just learn to live with 1/3 of the energy consumption then…
The problem with big economic and military powers is that it just takes one (or a few) maniac to threaten the World order. That’s why I think it would be better if countries like Russia, China, and even the USA were split into smaller states and not as centralised. Even the EU has the potential to turn evil over time.
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The paradox is that today’s events make it clear to me that the green’s goal of developing renewables is now important for security reasons. The problem was the lack of a sensible transition plan
I am not sure abolishing nuclear was purely a green decision either - wasn’t it also safety?
So are deals made with U.S., as if it was a normal country.
I suppose the irony is not lost on you - especially if you’re from Poland,
Let’s wait and see. I‘m not convinced this is more than taking/„liberating“ eastern Ukraine and neutralising Ukraine‘s military capability.
Sure, I’ve just said that I would prefer if USA was split into individual states. But it’s probably too complex to generalise like that. Sure, they destabilise faraway countries, overthrow heads of state, but they were also promoting globalisation and free trade and guaranteeing peace (for most of the World) post-WW2.
They are apparently bombing the whole country
This is a totally uninformed guess, but I suppose they want Ukraine to capitulate as soon as possible, then make them sign a peace treaty with some land concessions, e.g. the whole strip from Donetsk, through Odessa to Transnistria, cutting Ukraine off from the Black Sea. I can’t imagine Russia would occupy the entire Ukraine for years or make a puppet state out of it. I think at this point the Ukrainian people would not have it and they would resist. But who am I to tell…
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If Russia can beat the Ukrainian military and install themselves in all largest cities, what real resistance can there be? Civilians with rifles can’t do much nowadays, I think. The more west you go, the higher the resistance would be, so I think it’s possible that Ukraine gives up the eastern part of the country, which was always more pro-russian (look at the elections).
Meanwhile, let’s travel back to the not so distant past…
I hope that the days of politicians taking photos and shaking hands with Putin are over. But maybe I’m just naive.
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We get it you despite russia & everyone that talked to them in the past.
But honestly, discussion and diplomatic actions between countires are needed. We would not be in a better position if no one talked or did buisness with russia in the last 10-20 years.
Am i wrong? What is your solution then? Just ignore them?
I‘ve read about targeted attacks against military installations.
The numbers of victims given by Ukraine also doesn‘t suggest full-scale bombing. Though I won’t doubt there will be „collateral damage“. Then again, few people, countries, international organisations or the media have protested much against U.S. „collateral damage“ in their many military operations around the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Russia had “no plans to occupy the Ukrainian territories” after announcing that a special operation had been launched to defend the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics from “Ukrainian aggression.”
The operation’s ultimate goal is “to protect the people who have been subjected for eight years to genocide by the Kiev regime,” Putin said in an address on Thursday morning, adding that Moscow would “embark on a demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine“
Russia has 'no plans’ to take over Ukraine – Putin — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
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