The Brink of War?

[arsenal]

As soon as you attack Ukraine I'm going to send a peace keeping force to 'protect' Taiwan.
That's a good idea. I'll get some of our tugs to tow our aircraft carrier there as a gesture of friendship.

[Dodger]

Matching suits and ties...how spiffy...but Xi needs to ease up on the pork chops and do a few sit ups. Maybe the Olympics will inspire him.

[goji]

Someone should feed them both some of that polonium tea. Make the world a better place.

[Moses]

Someone should feed them both some of that polonium tea. Make the world a better place.

At past few year Israel killed 6 foreign scientists outside of Israel, US just killed foreign military general by drone outside of US, but you still remind us about polonium what presumable Russia used for to kill own citizen 15 years ago?

[Brad the Impala]

Matt, you are so naïve. Look back in time: Putin is over 25 years in politic. He always had what he want. No once fail.

Wow, what a superhero! I expect you believe you believe he wrestles bears to relax!

With such a simplistic and naive comment you undermine all the Putin propaganda you have espoused on your forum. Is Putin funding the forum!

[Moses]

Wow, what a superhero! I expect you believe you believe he wrestles bears to relax!

With such a simplistic and naive comment you undermine all the Putin propaganda you have espoused on your forum. Is Putin funding the forum!

I'm glad to see you don't have facts to argue against...

[StevieWonders]

I'm glad to see you don't have facts to argue against...

Surely you realise in the age of Facebook, facts simply don’t matter - perception IS reality and propaganda is our daily fare?

[cdnmatt]

I'm glad to see you don't have facts to argue against...

Because it would be completely impossible to debate with you about such a position.

For example, if Putin tucks tail and moves all soldiers back to their bases away from Ukraine without invading, and we say "see he doesn't always get what he wants" you will reply with, "this was his plan all along, you guys are just too stupid to understand his intellect".

Same as all these idiots who keep saying Trump is playing some 5D game of chess, when in reality he can't even manage to play a game of checkers without accidentally swallowing a bunch of the pieces.

[Dodger]

Look back in time: Putin is over 25 years in politic. He always had what he want. No once fail.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on what your view is, there has never once been a powerful leader in history that's always got what he wanted. If he did, he'd be ruling the world.

Putin's lifelong ambition to rebuild the Soviet Empire under his rule is no mystery to anyone. I'm not saying his ambitions are good or bad, I'm just saying this is a reality. If he always got what he wanted as you insinuated, this would already have been accomplished. So, in reality, he's never got what he really wants.

Can you imagine if Xi ever got everything he really wanted? He'd be doing a Genghis Khan act on all our asses.

[alvnv]

Looks like you can read Russian, visit any retail food shop and check amount of cheese sorts from all continents. For example perekrestok.ru From Swiss in Europe to Argentina in Latin America. Closure of stock exchange is also only in your wet dreams, friend: moex.com

and last one: it's not important "who is Putin", most important: he still has majority of Russian votes... if I remember correct, exactly that world call "democracy"

So did Hitler… so did Trump… It’s not how many votes they got, but rather how they brainwashed people.

Also, I do not dream of ill to anyone, including Putin. I just believe that Russian people deserve better. In the first 8 years Putin enjoyed a tremendous influx of wealth due to extremely high oil prices. He could have used it to advance education, science, healthcare and make Russia so prosperous that not only former Soviet republics, but former Eastern Block countries would try to get back in alliance with Russia. Instead, he put all the resources to create an autocratic state by strengthening police and army and then started to force its neighbors into submission. As the result, talent continued to flee Russia. Then, he instead recruited corrupt politicians from the West.

As for the MOEX, I was talking about the RTS crash of 2008 following which it had to be absorbed by MICEX by 2011. So, two became one.

Look, I have someone who thinks like you in my own family. My brother used to live in Russia and seems to get his “facts” from the same sources as you. It does not change how I feel about him - our discussions about politics seem more like teasing than arguing. It’s a bit easier, as he no longer lives in Russia. Had he still been there, I would be worried and concerned. I love him dearly and would not want him to raise his family under constant barrage of propaganda.