Russia invades Ukraine Feb 2022

[Wildweasel74]

Lad doesnt know what brainwashing is, speak out again the war, as some have done in Russia, and they all ended up in a jail cell.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Lad doesnt know what brainwashing is, soeak out again the war, as some have done in Russia and they all ended up in a jail cell.

Or falling out open windows.

[HiMucker]

Lad doesnt know what brainwashing is, soeak out again the war, as some have done in Russia and they all ended up in a jail cell.

Or falling out open windows.

Russia, the world capital of defenestration.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Lad doesnt know what brainwashing is, soeak out again the war, as some have done in Russia and they all ended up in a jail cell.

Or falling out open windows.

Russia, the world capital of defenestration.

If you have criticised Russia you should avoid the tea there too.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Russia now lecturing Ireland.

We've had enough of colonialist/imperialist types telling us what to do and who we are.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Donald Tusk and Macron concerned about the possibility of more hybrid warfare from Russia. Putin will tighten his stranglehold over Russia this weekend with the first Parlimentary Elections there since the illegal invasion. The MPs will be Putin loyalists and the narrative will be to indicate this as ongoing support for the slaughter of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukraine.

[Torcrua]

The timing of all this is pretty concerning.

Russia is now holding its first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in a political environment where opposition to Putin and the war has been heavily restricted. Whatever the final numbers show, it would be difficult to interpret a tightly controlled election as a straightforward measure of genuine public support for the war.

At the same time, Macron is warning of an intensifying Russian hybrid threat across Europe, while Donald Tusk says intelligence assessments point towards possible drone and missile attacks against countries supporting Ukraine.

That is the part that concerns me most. Hybrid warfare doesn't necessarily mean tanks crossing a border. Cyberattacks, sabotage, disinformation, attacks on infrastructure and deliberately engineered incidents can all be used to test how far European countries are prepared to go and, perhaps more importantly, how easily they can be divided.

The Russian election will undoubtedly be presented by the Kremlin as evidence of continued domestic support for Putin and his war. But we should be careful about equating an election held in a heavily restricted political environment with a genuine referendum on the war.

The bigger question for Europe is what happens next. If Russia believes it can intimidate, divide or destabilise European countries without triggering a unified response, the temptation to push the boundaries only increases.

Europe needs to be prepared for that possibility without sleepwalking into a wider conflict. There is a very fine line between deterrence and escalation.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Massive Ukranian drone attack on Moscow overnight. The Mayor of Moscow contends it is to disrupt the election. Of course, the outcome of the election is already assured.