RE: How Does Steemcurator01 Support Affect Authors' Behavior?
This all sounds very depressing - the news here has improved since you wrote this with suggestions that Russia is even withdrawing some forces. I hope that this is true and you can live in some sort of peace without the threat of war.
That is why no one knew that Ukrainians are a separate nation, with their own language, culture and mentality different from their neighbors.
I knew 🙂
If you are interested in why we want to join NATO so much, I will tell you that this is the only chance to save the country. Without NATO, Russia will absorb Ukraine, it will just be gradual.
Yes, I was thinking the same thing. If Russia's excuse for invading Ukraine is through fear of it joining NATO, it demonstrates the threat and exact reason why Ukraine needs to join NATO... interestingly, bringing Russia even closer to bordering NATO allies.
Now we are closely watching the "withdrawal" of troops. They have worked out the logistics of the rapid transfer of troops to our borders, the best places to place artillery have been identified, the time it takes to prepare for the invasion they already know, as well as what still needs to be improved.
I think they will continue to keep us in suspense. But everything can turn into a war, Putin is already at the age when people commit catastrophes. And if you analyze the people around him, the war is possible with a high probability.
Yesterday again a white cyber attack. Several banks and the website of the Ministry of Defense did not work. Interesting times have come :(
Hopefully your government has been able to do the same - seeing where Russia deploys its troops and continuing to strengthen defences accordingly.
If it doesn't come to war, the West needs to see this as a reminder of how dangerous Russia is. And remove any dependency on needing their resources - Gas in particular.
By the way, I wanted to ask where does the UK buy natural gas? Do you extract your own natural gas or buy it in Norway?
I'm not sure - I read that 3% of our gas comes from Russia, far less than Europe's 30%.
I know we've got 8 nuclear power stations and quite a lot of wind farms and solar panels scattered about so not too bad for renewable energy. I've just found this - https://nexusenergysolutions.co.uk/where-does-the-uks-energy-come-from/
I thought so. Your country is much less dependent on energy imports from Russia, so you can afford a more independent and tough policy.
Yes and no... We're at a point where energy prices are higher than ever and the "price cap" policy has already caused a number of energy firms to go bankrupt. A situation our government will want to avoid, especially as our Prime Minister has already destroyed his own reputation as a lying scumbag throughout the Covid crisis (and before). The British people have lost all patience with him and he will suffer further if prices increase any more.
On the flip side, our media have had an anti-russian rhetoric for a long, long time. From hacking, to repeated and uncompromising drug cheats in sport but perhaps most significantly, the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on British soil. A total liberty.
Unfortunately, any kind of war will probably be a detriment to our "leader" at a time when his popularity is at an all time low. So I don't really know how committed Britain would be 🤷🏼♂️
I'm still really hoping that it doesn't come to that. War would be utterly senseless and a very bad decision for everybody.
It doesn't matter, it's important what Britain has already done.
Unfortunately, Ukraine, under constant pressure from Russia, has not joined any defense alliance. Therefore, we do not expect military assistance under any circumstances. For any politician, sending his citizens to another's war is a failure.
Our government is trying to pretend that everything is under control. The reason is the strong outflow of investment from the state. At the same time, intelligence reports that war is imminent and all decisions have already been made, and various talks and summits are just a way to prolong the time for full preparations. Intelligence says Putin is detached from reality and lives in his own world.
Now there is an information war, and no one knows who to trust.
The media here is very clear who to trust. They have predicted every move that Putin has made so far...
The "war drills" (or whatever he called them) in Belarus and the troops inevitably staying there once they had completed. Belarus being an ally has no choice, unless they wish to be next on Putin's hit list.
The decision to recognise Donetsk and Luhansk as their own entity, giving him (in his opinion) the "right" to send in troops in order to "keep peace". For Putin to talk of peace with 150,000 or more soldiers sat on their borders is laughable.
The inevitable powerlessness that Ukraine has in this, unable to regain their own territory as it would be considered an "invasion of Russia".
It's a sad state of affairs. And one with the West certainly should be sending our armed forces in to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine. Nearly 100 years ago, the West watched as another army slowly consumed huge parts of Europe. It was a distant war, that slowly came closer and closer to home. The similarity is frightening.
The UK is talking about imminent sanctions against Russia. We've already passed laws to prevent investment in companies based in Donetsk and Luhansk - for these laws to be passed less than 24 hours after the invasion shows that it's going to be tit-for-tat. Putin's moves are already well known, we just don't know when.
It's sad. Tragic. And when it's all over, whenever that may be, everybody will lose. Including those choosing to turn a blind eye.