Russian massing on the Ukrainian border

CvD66 Opinions may differ, but more and more informed commentators are saying much the same thing in slightly different words, Steve Rossenberg on tv last night, Professor Mark Galeotti, Putin's biographer and professor at UCL, School of Slavonic and Eastern Euopean Studies in the DM today, to name but two, there are others and their credentials are as good.

Yes, he may have been planning it for years, but there are reasons he has chosen to invade now now. As Galeotti says wariness has turned into paranoia, cool hostility into unrestrained aggresseon Why? Age is one reason. All the Botox and the work outs and attempts to hold back time. It is marching on.^
He is an old man in a hurry, obsessed with history. He wants to be remembered as the man who saved Russia and regained Ukraine. He feels this is his last chance.

MOnica to call the 69 year old Putin: senile, is wrong. He is a man with huge grievances who has felt disrespected by the West for years with resentment that he has not been taken seriously rising yearly . He is loving the attention he is getting now and has no intention of backing off. Macron has spent a lot of time trying to build a relationship with him, in the interest of both Ukraine (following the annexation of Crimea in 2014) and for European stability. However Macron says the man he tried to negotiate with last week is substantially and significantly changed. The hour long speech Putin delivered earlier this week where he tried to rewrite history and justify his actions, caused considerable concern to all Western leaders as it showed this invasion is not the end of his ambitions.

There is a lot of activity around Chernobyl now and radioactive dust is being disturbed. It is believed the radiation has been degraded
over time.

growstuff

MayBee70

That’s what’s worrying me at the moment. It frightens me that any one person can have the power to wipe out the planet at will. I was so relieved when Trump lost the election and can’t believe that we’re facing this now. Is Putin becoming unhinged because he is losing popularity in his own country? What if he is the early stages of dementia?

Worryingly, there are credible reports that the Russians have seized control of Chernobyl and workers are being held hostage. An increase in radiation has been detected. If it's true (and it seems to be), Putin is controlling a very powerful threat.

Hasn’t there been a worry for quite a while that more work needs to be done there to prevent radiation being released?

Putin is a stupid man who now he is a senile and impotent old man who had a great chance to become a second Peter the Great and bring his country into the modern world as an important and democratic country with a rich economy.

Instead he has held his country back, seen its importance as an international country go and realised as he got to the end of his useful life, that his place in history will not be either as great and benevolent modernising leader or a great dictator. but just a bully and a gangster, a dismissed and despised footnote in Russian history.

He seems to want to see his memory as being how many innocent people he can kill invading and taking over a country smaller than his.

I think China will take a step back from its relationship with Russia, as it has with North Korea, which is also ruled by a stupid and crazed dictator. They have no liking for those with no self control that they cannot rely on.

This article was written in 2014:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/31/nigel-farage-relationship-russian-media-scrutiny

The warning signs were there 8 years ago.

GrannyGravy13

Mr.Putin was never ever going to change his plans, whatever those in NATO or the West said/negotiated/threatened.

I agree. Putin has been planning this for a long time. I don't buy into the claim he has mental health issues. He's a brilliant strategist and focussed on a long-term aim and he has had no intention of anyone getting in his way. Merkel was probably the only leader who unsettled him. The UK should have been aware of what's been going on for a decade or more, especially after the Russia Report. The first stage was to de-stabilise the West and he's succeeded. It's sickening to watch Farage & co making excuses for Putin. He and Banks and the rest of them have been very useful tools for Putin.

MayBee70

That’s what’s worrying me at the moment. It frightens me that any one person can have the power to wipe out the planet at will. I was so relieved when Trump lost the election and can’t believe that we’re facing this now. Is Putin becoming unhinged because he is losing popularity in his own country? What if he is the early stages of dementia?

Worryingly, there are credible reports that the Russians have seized control of Chernobyl and workers are being held hostage. An increase in radiation has been detected. If it's true (and it seems to be), Putin is controlling a very powerful threat.

Urmstongran

We like ‘Russia Today’ news on TV as sometimes it gives a little more depth to stories in the West, for example the Canadian truckers protests and Trudeau’s response. A bit more than the BBC covers at times. If it is t transmitted I shall miss it, bizarrely.

I can't believe you've written that. "Russia Today" is a propaganda channel.

His ambition in my opinion is to reform the USSR of his KGB days.
He wants to leave this as his crowning glory of his Presidency

That is true, I'm sure but if there is no-one left to remember him, what's the point?

Anyone who wants to be remembered as a mass murderer surely has MH problems.

Kali2

GrannyGravy13

varian

luluaugust

Suppose Putin hasn't got a screw loose!

Not being a psychiatrist I con't say whether Putin has a screw loose.

But I do wonder about the mentality of a dictator who is prepared to sacrifice the lives of his people for some vanity project and even to threaten the survival of mankind by threatening nuclear war.

I do not think Vladimir Putin has a screw loose

His ambition in my opinion is to reform the USSR of his KGB days.

He wants to leave this as his crowning glory of his Presidency

Oh I see. Do you approve then?

Oh dear, that is really uncalled for as GG13 has said how worried she is about family members who are members of the Armed Forces.
Perhaps you might want to re-phrase that Kali

We are all so worried but those with family who might possibly become involved even more so.

He has clearly and openly made the threat of unleashing a nuclear strike.

Hitler never had that option.

GrannyGravy13

varian

luluaugust

Suppose Putin hasn't got a screw loose!

Not being a psychiatrist I con't say whether Putin has a screw loose.

But I do wonder about the mentality of a dictator who is prepared to sacrifice the lives of his people for some vanity project and even to threaten the survival of mankind by threatening nuclear war.

I do not think Vladimir Putin has a screw loose

His ambition in my opinion is to reform the USSR of his KGB days.

He wants to leave this as his crowning glory of his Presidency

Oh I see. Do you approve then?

GrannyGravy13

varian

luluaugust

Suppose Putin hasn't got a screw loose!

Not being a psychiatrist I con't say whether Putin has a screw loose.

But I do wonder about the mentality of a dictator who is prepared to sacrifice the lives of his people for some vanity project and even to threaten the survival of mankind by threatening nuclear war.

I do not think Vladimir Putin has a screw loose

His ambition in my opinion is to reform the USSR of his KGB days.

He wants to leave this as his crowning glory of his Presidency

So is megalomania the trait of a normal person?

Putin wants his place in history but what if there is no-one left to look on the history?

MayBee70

That’s what’s worrying me at the moment. It frightens me that any one person can have the power to wipe out the planet at will. I was so relieved when Trump lost the election and can’t believe that we’re facing this now. Is Putin becoming unhinged because he is losing popularity in his own country? What if he is the early stages of dementia?

Maybee as DH said, we're a small planet in a huge universe, possibly the only human beings as we know it and along comes another megalomaniac wanting to wipe us all out!

varian

luluaugust

Suppose Putin hasn't got a screw loose!

Not being a psychiatrist I con't say whether Putin has a screw loose.

But I do wonder about the mentality of a dictator who is prepared to sacrifice the lives of his people for some vanity project and even to threaten the survival of mankind by threatening nuclear war.

I do not think Vladimir Putin has a screw loose

His ambition in my opinion is to reform the USSR of his KGB days.

He wants to leave this as his crowning glory of his Presidency

That’s what’s worrying me at the moment. It frightens me that any one person can have the power to wipe out the planet at will. I was so relieved when Trump lost the election and can’t believe that we’re facing this now. Is Putin becoming unhinged because he is losing popularity in his own country? What if he is the early stages of dementia?

luluaugust

Suppose Putin hasn't got a screw loose!

Not being a psychiatrist I con't say whether Putin has a screw loose.

But I do wonder about the mentality of a dictator who is prepared to sacrifice the lives of his people for some vanity project and even to threaten the survival of mankind by threatening nuclear war.

ukraine was all set to join nato, they were blocked by france and germany, some years ago

Suppose Putin hasn't got a screw loose!

MayBee70

It’s for that precise reason that we worry about this country being led by someone who some of us regard as a loose cannon when it comes to international affairs and who also seems to have close links to some Russians that may have a hold over him for various reasons. For the same reason that I am a Labour supporter but would be critical of Corbyn if he was still leader as I feel his pacifist ideals, honourable as they are, are misguided.

Yes I think that is absolutely right.

It’s for that precise reason that we worry about this country being led by someone who some of us regard as a loose cannon when it comes to international affairs and who also seems to have close links to some Russians that may have a hold over him for various reasons. For the same reason that I am a Labour supporter but would be critical of Corbyn if he was still leader as I feel his pacifist ideals, honourable as they are, are misguided.

I certainly understand GrannyGravy what an awful worry this is.

Don’t worry GrannyGravy everyone hopefully understands the fear that the families of the armed forces will be extremely worried at this difficult time.