I haven't counted DPR/LPR as being part of Ukraine since 2014 when the Ukrainian army first initiated their war of aggression against Donbass and when these areas were originally liberated from Kiev's nazi clutches 8 years ago.

The only difference now is that these self-ruled republics have been recognized by Russia. But they were already self-ruled and administered and out of Kiev's control for 8 years now and counting, and they have considered themselves as independent the whole time. And so have I.

I feel elated for the people of Donbass right now. This is something they have waited for, for 8 years now. They are finally getting the recognition and protection they deserve, after suffering through 2 years of intense war followed by another 6 years of constant shelling and threats from Kiev.

Yesterday God has smiled upon the people of DPR and LPR.

Sure.. when Putin dies in 5-10 years the will be balkan/ Yugoslavia 2.0.

Also the refrence to Nigeria right because both countries has an elite who robbs all natural assests from the peapole.
Russia could have same living standard as Norway, Saudi arabia, Dubai but all money goes to a few selected ones.

When ?

being self sufficient is nice and big advantage

they still need the western world to buy their stuff though

Do they? They have allies in Asia, China, the middle east, and latin america.

Furthermore, Europe cannot replace them as a supply of natural gas. They can try, but it will make things so bad for Europe that people will literally revolt.

It's a two way street. In any case, Russia knew that they would be sanctioned for their recognition of DPR and LPR. Polls show that Putin has some ~70% support in making this decision, and only 5% firmly oppose the move.

They can handle sanctions, they have already dealt with them in the past. Any sanctions that pose a serious threat to them will only force Russia to become more self-reliant, strengthening their ability to resist western-imposed economic sanctions even further.

They are a big gas station. Nothing meaningful is coming out of Russia economically.

Where is the facepalm emoji when you need it?

LOL - literally repeating what John McCain said years ago. Glad to know you align yourself with war criminals that are totally out of touch with reality like John McCain.

Fun fact, McCain called Russia a "gas station masquerading as a country" and then a year later they started a bombing campaign against the US-backed terrorist scum in Syria, completely changing the geopolitical situation in the middle east overnight and saving Syria from total collapse.

Yep, totally normal for such a "weak" country to be able to project force thousands of miles away and completely put a stop to the US regime change project in Syria with nothing more than a dozen or so warplanes.

Oh, but please don't let me keep you from continuing to engage in your moronic WaPo-inspired delusions

Tell me, do you have any shame for supporting literal neo-nazi's in Ukraine? Ah, but it's a trick question since I already know the answer.

I fully support the people of Donbass, have supported them for 8 years now and will continue to support their people in the face of US, NATO, and Ukrainian army aggression, whom are responsible for having murdered thousands of their people and destroying thousands of their homes.

The victims of said aggression deserve a voice, they deserve to be heard, their stories deserve to be told, and they deserve for the world to know the full truth about what happened to them, and how it happened with full US and NATO support, all because they wanted to cause trouble for Russia.

Those people died so that the US and NATO could hurt Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to wage a genocidal war against them and continues to shell their town, homes, villages, and cities, all while conducting terrorist attacks on their territory like that roadside bomb that killed 3 innocent people yesterday.

They deserve to be recognized. They deserve to be protected and for the shelling of their territory to end. They fought for their independence and won, and this victory deserves respect. If you will recall, the United States once fought such a war for independence as well.

How can any self-respecting American say that the war for independence that Donbass fought is any less respectable than the war that America fought for its own independence?

What a shame so many of our people have become victims to propaganda and now would openly support the tyranny of a fascist regime responsible for countless war crimes against innocent civilians, all because of their own massively inflated ego's.

that is a pretty terrible take, there are more things than oil and gas out there

This post was edited by JohnnyMcCoy on Feb 22 2022 04:11pm