Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Poopymonster]

Agreed and agreed. What I hope changes in Russia is "Russia gives up and goes home". Putin might realize that murdering his own army isn't very wise, or he might have second thoughts on the way out the fifth-floor window while suffering from food poisoning. Oh, wait, he's hiding in his bunker like a fat orange bitch. Well point stands, someone might kill Putin and take over and end the war.

Besides that, yeah, it won't be soon. Putin doesn't care about the people he's sending without food or ammo to die, and Ukraine has proven they're not giving up.

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Safe to assume the bunker is below ground.
Be a shame if someone wanting to take over cut the power/lines to the bunker. Especially anything for the door of poor Putinato.
Yes, for the love of God.

[Iphie]

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Safe to assume the bunker is below ground.
Be a shame if someone wanting to take over cut the power/lines to the bunker. Especially anything for the door of poor Putinato.
Yes, for the love of God.

"Falling out of the window from an underground bunker isn't impossible, merely improbable", Some Dictator somewhere, probably.

I dunno though, he doesn't look as confident as he usually does in his photos today.

Is it bad that my spidey sense is tingling?

I mean, expansion was an issue...

[Rasulis]

Most India's military equipment is from Russia. It would cost them a lot of money if they had to rebuy all that stuff.

According to SIPRI, Russia share of the global arms market dropped by 22% from 26% to 20% between the period of 2011 - 2015 and 2016 - 2020 (see below). In the period between 2019 - 2020, that share dropped to 8.9%. In fact in 2019, for the first time China surpassed Russia with 16% of the market share. More and more the world is turning to US and China for their means of killing people. The US share of the global arms market in 2019 was 51%, with US companies in the top 5, and 12 US companies in the top 25. The biggest factor for the decline in Russia’s share of the global arms market is India.

The spare part market is the most profitable sector of arms market. Basically, now that you have bought our advanced equipment, you are stuck paying whatever price we want to keep the equipment running. This is the one sector where Russia has failed to meet demand. The problem is so severe, India has turned to domestic manufacturing for Russian spare parts. India’s purchase of Russian’s weapons dropped 53% between the period of 2011 - 2015 and 2016 - 2020.

If the Ukraine war is of any indicator, it appears that the problem with Russian arms manufacturing is even worse than suspected. Since India is not likely to buy weapons from China, I suspect that in the next 10 years we will see a gradual shift toward US/EU weapons.

[Breccia]

it appears that the problem with Russian arms manufacturing is even worse than suspected.

Their recent advertising demo surely isn't doing them any favors. "Our very best tanks have almost 20% success against mud, made from the two most common substances on the planet!"

[Dadwen]

Their recent advertising demo surely isn't doing them any favors. "Our very best tanks have almost 20% success against mud, made from the two most common substances on the planet!"

Guessing a lot of spare used parts all over the Ukraine country side, maybe work out a deal with them.

[Biglog]

Erdogan is the new wrinkle, claiming in strongly worded language that Turkey won't approve Sweden and Finland's NATO membership. It is a big problem since the voting for approval must be unanimous. It is in response to Sweden and Finland's past comments and stance on the Turkish treatment of Kurds and Armenian minorities. Erdogan went further today telling Sweden and Finland's diplomats to not bother flying to Turkey to try to change their minds. So this is suddenly a pretty major hurdle for their NATO membership and something to watch.

Sometimes Turkey will take a hard stance as a bargaining ploy hoping to get concessions out a deal (F-35?). Or possibly Finland and Sweden are able to smooth things out with Turkey against seemingly long odds diplomatically. The other possibility would be NATO could force pressure on Turkey to approve it, but that seems much less likely. The most probable outcome seems like one of those quiet deals where Turkey eventually agrees to reluctantly approve it, and conveniently they have new some new hardware show up soon after.

[Gaidax]

Erdogan just wants what he always wants - $$ and flex. It's same reason he holds Syrian refugees too.

In the end someone will toss some greenbacks his way, look other way on some stuff and it will be all good.

[Breccia]

Erdogan is the new wrinkle

What? One of Trump's friends taking political action against someone who called him mean names? What a shock.

I mean, if the problem is Turkey defending their oppression of minorities, well, maybe NATO has another way to make the vote unanimous.

[Biglog]

Got our answer pretty quick on the Turkey situation. It is indeed a concession that he wants, and very a specific one. He said today now that Turkey will approve their NATO membership conditionally on Sweden and Finland extraditing Kurdish "PKK members" to Turkey. I have a feeling they will be very reluctant to do so. The plot thickens...

[Iphie]

Got our answer pretty quick on the Turkey situation. It is indeed a concession that he wants, and very a specific one. He said today now that Turkey will approve their NATO membership conditionally on Sweden and Finland extraditing Kurdish "PKK members" to Turkey. I have a feeling they will be very reluctant to do so. The plot thickens...

Perhaps, or perhaps not, I mean if they are criminals then ask for their arrest and extradition, it only becomes hairy if he wants MP's extradited.

I think the rest of the alliance will however have a pretty dim view of using NATO to pursue an internal political agenda.

[Gaidax]

I mean, if the problem is Turkey defending their oppression of minorities, well, maybe NATO has another way to make the vote unanimous.

That won't be happening in a thousand years.

Turkey is a very important foothold in the Middle East for NATO, a gateway to the Black Sea. At the same time Erdogan is not eternal and he can be negotiated to stand down for goodies as usual.

It's a cheeky NATO member that knows its worth and is more important that half other NATO members.

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Perhaps, or perhaps not, I mean if they are criminals then ask for their arrest and extradition, it only becomes hairy if he wants MP's extradited.

They will find some compromise. Sweden and Finland are going to be in NATO, Turkey will get some concessions and that it.

[Iphie]

They will find some compromise. Sweden and Finland are going to be in NATO, Turkey will get some concessions and that it.

That's my assumption as well, like I said: I seriously doubt the rest of the alliance would bend to Turkey if they were to try and use this as leverage.

[Hansworst]

Sure Turkish Pütįn, we will extradite those Kurds (fingers crossed behind their back)

[Deathknightish]

Sure Turkish Pütįn, we will extradite those Kurds (fingers crossed behind their back)

It's not just Erdogan though, that's the problem. Look up r/Sweden and r/Turkey on Reddit. There are many turks who hate Erdogfan with a passion who still agree with him on this particular point. We have managed to piss of Turkey quite a bit recently, sadly. I don't agree with it, but it's not as easy as "Erdogan bad", when probably 70-75% of turks support him in this particular decision.

[PhaelixWW]

Since India is not likely to buy weapons from China, I suspect that in the next 10 years we will see a gradual shift toward US/EU weapons.

Just based on that graphic, they're already buying arms from France and Israel. Between those two countries that could cover just about any needs they might have going forward, without the need to start buying from the US.

[Fantomen]

The economy of Turkey is collapsing, becuse of high gas and oil price, and Erdogan economic governance. Lets LOWER the intrest rate, that will stop the rampage inflation. So he need to find somthing to distract the Turkish peopel.... lets blame Sweden and Finand for PPK....

[Crispin]

Nope. I got exactly what you were saying. You were just playing with a faulty premise when you decided to embarrass yourself. Clearly the only numbers being "taken out of the arse" are yours, because what he said was not false. China and India together are 2.8 billion, which is certainly close enough to the low end of his range of 3 billion to not warrant the shitty response you made. Especially considering the fact that, as pointed out, the remaining countries bring it over 4 billion.

So the other poster was at least close with China + India, and made the point with the other countries added in. You, on the other hand, just made up some numbers in order to combat a point that really didn't need fighting.

I mean, in what world is "I think you're making up numbers, so I'm going to pointlessly make up numbers even worse than you!" in any way close to an adult response? Grow up.

No need to get all offensive, it's just a forum.

If you want to get "technical", talking about "half the worlds population is against blabla" is a false premise to begin with. China does not speak for it's population. How do I know that? They're not elected by the people.

Also he wrote

Like half the global population since China + India are what now ? 3 billions or 4 combined ?

Not sure why you're rewriting it, but oh well. I guess you bought into that argument.

The x billion people debate is irrelevant to begin with. I suggest you control your feelings when debating on a forum, it's not personal.

[Poopymonster]

Sure Turkish Pütįn, we will extradite those Kurds (fingers crossed behind their back)

We did it. We sent every one of them we found to you. We sent out this questionnaire.

Are you a member of the PKK? Yes [ ] No [ ]
If yes, please pack your bags and be ready to be sent to Turkey to be killed.
If no, have a nice day.
Thank you for your cooperation.

What? You mean no one checked Yes? Hmmm...guess we'll have to redo the questionnaire. In order to make it more precise we'll have to have a committee formed, it should take only 5 or 6 years.

[Specialka]

No need to get all offensive, it's just a forum.

If you want to get "technical", talking about "half the worlds population is against blabla" is a false premise to begin with. China does not speak for it's population. How do I know that? They're not elected by the people.

Also he wrote



Not sure why you're rewriting it, but oh well. I guess you bought into that argument.

The x billion people debate is irrelevant to begin with. I suggest you control your feelings when debating on a forum, it's not personal.

A government speaks for its population, elected or not. If not, and if they do not want them to speak for them, they are free to go all revolution, but until then, it is how it works in the real world.

[Crispin]

A government speaks for its population, elected or not. If not, and if they do not want them to speak for them, they are free to go all revolution, but until then, it is how it works in the real world.

It might speak on part of the country, but they do not represent the opinion of every single citizen.