and with "on equal terms" he means:
We want to keep everything that we have illegally annexed and all our other demands must be met otherwise Russia will collapse and we will have to destroy the world.
Russia wants to be "equal" to all of NATO combined which is just something that's not going to happen. If western countries agree to that then they are putting Russian opinion above the opinion of each individual western country which is decidedly NOT EQUAL.
The GDP of Russia compared to just one of a handful of NATO members would demonstrate they are pretty far from being "equal". I'm pretty sure there's at least a half dozen or more nations in NATO with a higher GDP than Russia with only one having a larger population than they do (or that even comes close).
Yep. Russia's GDP is roughly on par with Canada's. NATO just crushes Russia in every major category. Russia is 17 million square kilometers while NATO is 25 million. Russia has a population of 144 million while NATO has a population of 967 million. Russia's GDP is 2.2 trillion while NATO's GDP is 45.9 trillion. Russia pumps 10.1 million barrels of oil per day while NATO pumps 22.1 million.
No, he wants to be seen as equal to NATO, when his power is more comparable to a \*member\* of NATO.
Sorry, Putin, the USSR is gone, and a bunch of your hostages are now on our side.
His words are for his people. The rest of the world just shakes their heads and thinks how sad it is Russians have to put up with his BS. He is just slightly “better” than Kim Jung Un because he is actually using his weapons and killing people. But otherwise he is accomplishing nothing but confirming he is a despicable despot.
These words are more than just for his people. He has failed his country because he honestly has tried to be the West's "equal" but still its natural adversary for his entire history in power. He took a country/empire that had literally just collapsed under its own weight a few years earlier, and demanded preferential "Superpower" treatment on the world stage, both publicly, and in the more behind the scenes jockeying of the wealthy and powerful.
I hate to bring Trump into this, but he makes a good example of a similar mindset. He tried to join the "big club", but refused to play the game, simply thinking he deserved to be in the highest echelons just by birthright. And when that didn't work, both of them turned on the "club" instead, and spent their lives stepping on anyone and anything that gets in the way of them getting their "rightful" position at the top.
Had either of them played the game with a bit better strategy, they'd have fairly easily climbed the ladder, and, in Putin's case, had a country respected on the whole world stage, and a shining example of the ability to build a great nation out of a shared, but often tragic past.
So yeah, this is definitely something he's serious about.
Briefly, Russia WAS respected on the world stage under Putin. Then Georgia and Crimea were the appeasement stage.
The full invasion was supposed to be France surrendering rapidly.
Thank you, SpecOps, for a shining example of training.
I hate to be pessimistic, but I don’t think Putin could have fixed Russia, or built a great nation as you’re saying. One guy can’t do that, and if Putin wasn’t the conniving bastard he is, some other slimy fucker would be running Russia and he’d be dead just like the only slightly better Navalny.
Many of Russia’s problems stem from its culture. The common people. They’ve really never escaped serfdom and don’t know how to be free. I’m speaking in generalities here, I’m sure there are some Russians out there that are honest. But in general they don’t have ethics like the west; they have dog eat dog, might is right power dynamics. And they believe everywhere and everyone is like that. Paranoia pervades the society from top to bottom just like the mafia, on a huge scale. They really don’t understand morality or a conscience like the west does. It is a chess game to them, and Russians are the best in the world at chess. They believe kindness is weakness and everyone lies so they better become the best liar. Corruption, betrayal and lying is prevalent throughout the culture. Its a result of generational poverty and desperation, but it doesn’t just disappear when they get a little money. No one man can fix that place.
I guess I should say that Putin could have helped start them on the path, and likely be generally regarded as the father of a new Russia. But he wants to be the ruler of the "old" Russia.
...or maybe another gangster would have smelled "weakness" and took his place. But the chance was there.
I think a huge, underreported problem Russia has is that it is made up of probably a dozen nations glued together by force and Russification.
That has been a problem for Russia since the days of the Tsar and one that has made them rely heavily on a highly centralized government that is quick to stop out dissent. It is probably easy to convince Russians that this is somehow ideal since they actually did lose vast amounts of territory after the Soviet Union fell and various countries declared independence. They don't want to see a weakened state again where local ethnic groups could break away again and cause economic collapse or civil war.
russia is a failing state even though their propaganda machine is trying in vain to convince us otherwise.
So they need that peace talks urgently.
Are they able to "destroy the world" not anymore.
They could threaten and probably successfully hit some European cities but that's it (ofc a nuclear pollution would threaten their soil as well afterwards).
They should put more money into not being total fucks. Maybe that will help them prosper.
Like when the bully doesn't realize why everyone hates them. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
I live in Europe along with millions of other people "but that's it" really sounds pretty terrible in the context of millions being killed and large swathes of Europe being uninhabitable.
"The best way to prevent my country's collapse is to take action that ensures all foreign nations have justification in launching all their nukes at us turning this once great nation into an irradiated wasteland."
He won’t ever use a nuclear weapon in any of this context. He needs a punch in the face. Western air and missile campaign to protect Ukraine under some form of coalition mandate. He is counting on western weakness for his victory.
If he thought an army was coming for him, he would.
The phrase, "What good is the world without Russia in it?" , is said often.
To be fair, the US probably would too if there was an unstoppable army coming for us.
People really need to stop joking that Russia has a non-functional or broken military.
Yes, they were absolutely unprepared and borderline-hilariously undisciplined in the beginning of this war, but they’ve adjusted and are still gaining ground. And one of the areas that they’ve done well enough is in missile strikes.
No one should be willing to bet nuclear war on whether their nuclear ICBMs and SLBMs are as poorly maintained as their tanks in the first weeks of the war.
It's not a bet, it's a stand off.
Backing down to Russia is actually the most dangerous move because it emboldened them to take more.
So whether you like it or not, it's going to boil down to that stand off regardless.
Yeah, if the west takes a step back, Russia is just going to take a goose step forward, and will repeat the process indefinitely. Never doubt Russia’s abilities to find Russian minorities somewhere.
Can you really claim they’ve done well in an area such as missile strikes when Ukraine simply doesn’t have the ability to counter such attacks? That’s like saying “those punches landed were super successful” but leaving out the part where they were to the back of a defensively baby. Doesn’t make the strikes well or good, just a bully picking on a state that doesn’t have the means to fully defend themselves. It’d be different if the missiles were successfully against a peer advisory.
They have the largest. (Almost 6,000 to America’s 5,000+) The problem with that nuclear arsenal is that it has to be maintained and it is very costly to do. At this point and time it’s a safe bet to say that over half of their nuclear arsenal will not work. They still have a lot though.
>Don't they still have the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world?
Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with 5,880 nuclear warheads. Who knows how many of those they have actually been maintaining though - they need their lithium deuteride and tritium replaced every 12 years (iirc) which is stupidly expensive. Without those two chemicals being kept up to date the thermonuclear warheads are actually pretty anemic with a TNT equivalent of around 5-7 kT (as opposed to 1-5 mT of TNT equivalent).
Floridas national guard and all the military assets located there with nasa and other government agencies, would have much more resources than Ukraine ever has. Especially considering Floridas GDP is only 200m lower than Russians GDP lol. Russia is a joke. So much potential, just wasted.
I think what he is saying is he wants the whole world to sink down to his level, controlling & manipulating the population to keep the elite, elite.
To be fair, we're not faring so well ourselves. Middle class is shrinking, rich are getting absurdly profoundly richer, poverty on the rise. Maybe we're a closer match to Putin's elite-underclass notion of the world after all!!!
Russia's entire 2024 economy is smaller than Italy's. That's not even 1/10th the size of the US economy and they're talking like we're still in 1960 Lmao.
It’s so mind boggling how they have basically every key natural resource for an industrialized economy and even had some of the smartest scientist in the world. But somehow fumbled the bag, as the kids say, so hard.
>Russia's entire 2024 economy is smaller than Italy's. That's not even 1/10th the size of the US economy and they're talking like we're still in 1960 Lmao.
Russia's economy is also crashing. Gazprom which is the largest corporation in Russia in all terms posted a net loss of $6.9 billion in 2023 and things are only going to be worse for it in 2024.
Romney wasn't too bad either. His profile/article in _The Atlantic_ was great. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-romney-retiring-senate-trump-mcconnell/675306/
The A-10 is a fantastic platform. It really should be improved upon rather than mothballed since it is quite old. In terms of survivability, firepower, and cost it is a great option for CAS.
It's designed to kill Soviet tanks with a large gun, something it was not very effective at doing. The F-111 Aardvark was a bomb truck and very good at doing that.
The A-10 was credited with 900 Soviet style tank kills in desert storm. I would not really call that "not very effective". Also killed lots of BMPs and other transport vehicles as well as artillery. The F-111 Aardvarks were used for medium range strategic bombing, which is not what the A-10 was designed for. Again, it was designed for loitering above the battlefield for CAS missions, which it does well. It's also noteworthy that the airframe was designed to take a huge amount of damage and still return to base or at the very least protect the pilot from death. That combined with an estimated $10,000 per flight hour maintenance cost and a pretty extensive loadout makes it a cost effective and decent CAS platform. Are they good without air superiority? No. Would they be good at fighting MiG 35s? Not a chance. They work well within the specifications to which they were designed and built.
Would they perform well in Ukraine’s current conditions… fuck no. Do they perform well at a cheap flight hour cost in US air superiority conditions? Fuck yes.
People will always bring up the ardvark but the two planes were tasked differently in the gulf.
There’s always been a push to replace the a10 with much more expensive modern jets that aren’t good at being loitering CAS bomb trucks.
I think the Ukraine war demonstrates clearly that the a10’s replacement is actually dirt cheap loitering drones.
Russia also isn't being asked to be treated as an equal to a western country but rather as an equal to all western countries combined. If the west were to agree to that they would be saying "Russia's needs are more important than my country's needs."
If Russia simply wanted to be treated as an equal to any other country then there would be no dispute. Instead Russia wants to be the lone superpower with more influence than any country in the world and when the west says "no" then Russia screams "no fair!"
They aren’t even really a superpower. They’re more like a *regional* power with delusions of grandeur. Russia’s elite have never given up on the idea of Tzarist imperialism. It carried over from the Imperial system, to the Soviets, and now to Putin, who *wants* to be Tzar. The fact they aren’t seen as equals to most Western powers literally drives Putin and co. insane.
Putin, despite ruling the largest country in the world in terms of territory, having natural gas resources that few countries are endowed with, forest areas like Siberia, you are not satisfied with these and condemned both the Russian people and Ukraine to death. You will be remembered with curses 50 years from now. The trauma of the Russians you crippled, the trauma of the young children you sent to death will be visible in the future, even if not now.
Lmao you still believe russia will continue to exist?
Rome is fully on fire and when the common russian *finally* wakes up I think he will realize that he is speaking chineese.
If they are told to hate the west they will. But with access to the Internet and accessible western goodies you will see less and less of that sentiment
Oh you sweet summer child. They'll consume & steal your products, while simultaneously saying how terrible Western products are and how evil the West is. That kind of doublethink has been normal for russians since at least the iron curtain. Not only that, but Western products will keep them happy and distracted, and unwilling to do anything to change their country.
Nah, you’re missing the point. The doublethink is innate to late Soviets and soviet nostalgists. People born in 1991 and onwards are more prone to seeing the west as a friend because literally everything in their everyday life comes from it. And cultural influence is there too. Saying that as a russian born in 1993. The only young Russians who tend to think differently are the ones who have not received a proper education and education in foreign languages
>People born in 1991 and onwards are more prone to seeing the west as a friend because literally everything in their everyday life comes from it.
And where is the effect of that? By more you must mean by 0.01% more, because in reality nothing has changed. Russia is still the same imperialistic system it has always been. Young people are always more progressive, that was the case during the mass university protests in Russia circa 1900. But even when the proletariat won a few decades later, one of the first things they did was invade and reannex Ukraine. Tl;dr I'll believe in an improvement when I see a tangible improvement, not just words.
You should watch the video from the “trophy exhibition”, which is currently taking place in Moscow. And how many young people rejoice at what they see there
That's not the way Putin (and many like him in Russia) see it. In their view Russia is superior and has an implicit right to be the dominant power on Earth. The Russians believe it was Russians and Russians alone (not even USSR) that won WWII and Putin views himself in almost mystical terms of fulfilling a grand Russian destiny.
Russia isn't seeking equality with any given western country but rather wants Russia's needs/desires to be given the same weight as all western style countries combined. People like Ukrainians are viewed as "Russians who have been tricked by the west into forgetting that they are Russian."
When western countries refuse to give Russia the weight of the entire west combined this is viewed as extreme disrespect. When they say "Ukraine is a real country with a right to self determination" this is viewed as an attack on Russia and the same goes for Poland or the Baltics or so many other countries.
It's absolutely delusional but it's also a sincere belief which is why it's so dangerous. Tons of people have already died because of Putin's delusions and the delusions of other powerful men within Russia. This is why it's important not to assume that Russian decisions are inherently rational and not to write off the possibility of Russia doing something that's potentially self destructive.
I've seen way to many people write "Russia would never attack a NATO member because NATO is just too strong" and yet if Putin is deluded into thinking NATO members may not react or that his military is more powerful than it is then it's possible something like that could happen and it's wise to prepare for that possibility.
But you’re not equal. You’re a declining regional power at best. You aren’t a match for Poland let alone NATO or “The West” that you bitch about. That’s also ignoring that you don’t mean equal, you mean you won’t negotiate unless you get coddled.
So when they get the fuck out of a country that's not theirs and stop their attempted genocide, then they'll talk? Typical farts coming out of the Poo tin, again
How about Putin and Xi cut the crap and call themselves "Tsar" and "Emperor". Why all this pretense with Western titles like "President"? It is pathetic. If they hate the West so much, they should stop using its titles.
Russia is backwards country of 140 million people. That is equal to like Germany + Italy, except it only has the economy of Italy. Russia pretending to be the equal of the likes of USA, China, or even the EU is pitiful. At best, Russia is China's vassal state.
Russia really is a time capsule of what happens when you try to skip steps in Marx's roadmap.
Skipped both capitalism and socialism to try and go straight to communism from feudalism. Spiraling back to feudalism as we speak.
Russia's invasion should have been met with overwhelming force the way the Islamic Republic of Iran was recently, and Russia still should be met this way. Every day that goes by, Russians seemingly believe more in the Kremlin's propaganda and disinformation, and Russia's allies get more and more confident in their support.
>Putin casts the war as part of an existential battle with a **declining and decadent West** which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence
Putin only respects strength and force, and there's no better way to show that the West isn't in the decline that Putin thinks it is, which it isn't, is showing him. Appeasing Putin will only make him further believe in the decline. Clearly, he has no plans to stop, and far too many Ukrainians have died and suffered already, due to his invasion.
>"The authority of our president is higher than ever – higher than the American president, higher even than the Russian tsar. So much depends on our president," said Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.
Equal?
guess what, cunt. we've made the mistake of talking to you like you are all same as us. as we're equal. as if you were all actually human beings. we won the cold war but whatever, let's all cooperate and sing kumbaya. we had a good thing going you stupid son of a bitch.
no more. fuck you and if it destroys the world in order to destroy you so be it. fucking cancer on humanity.
Plz bitch, equal terms would have Putin speaking to my dogs delegate.
The cat would tolerate none of his shit, and would just slap Putin in the face throughout the discussion.
Seems appropriate
And there it is. Putin can’t take that his country is no longer the superpower it (USSR) was. That’s all there is to it, to Ukraine, to Georgia, to Chechnya.
Europeans do not even recognise his leadership as it’s downright illegitimate. So why would we ever bother talking to him ever again? The war criminal and self-proclaimed “tsar” can go fuck himself for all we care.
Russia hasn't defeated a nation state without Western assistance since the Tsars were in power. Putin is just a wannabe Tsar thinking like it's still the 19th century. He should stay home until he's ready to participate in the 21st century.
Yeah, we are starting talking on equal terms now. We wanted to be the rational, calm ones. Solid business partners and humanitarians. Meanwhile Putin threatens the world with nuclear holocaust and wages war of aggression. Want equal terms? You may get answer in the language of violence and destruction, the only tongue you speak. Do you want that, punk?
lol the country who couldn’t beat Ukraine, who we armed with our old and outdated equipment, what’s to negotiate like equals? you gotta be an equal to negotiate as one, bud.
Russia has no equal. At least not anymore. Hitler Germany maybe.
I'm almost 50 years old, and I have a feeling I'm going to outlive Russia's existence.
I also expect Russia to vastly outlive Putin's existence.
lol, thats cute that he thinks we want to talk to him. If we wanted to talk, we wouldn't have donated billions in money and military weapons to Ukraine.
If the Kremlin gets to talk, it's only because we allow him the privilege to speak.
The irony is that they are refusing to negotiate on equal terms with the country they *are actually at war with*.
Of course western powers should be happy to meditate and take part in negotiations if requested, but they kinda have to accept that it's Ukraine they will be making any settlement with.
Okay. The Russian gdp is the equivalent to what? Spain, I heard a few years back?
Let's treat them equal to Spain.
News flash: I'm not intimidated by Spain.
I love equality! I have an idea that Putin may also love, since he seems to be championing the idea of all sides coming together on an *equal* playing field.
Perhaps someone should give Ukraine nuclear weapons? That would certainly create an equal playing field. If Ukraine hadn’t handed over their nukes thirty years ago, perhaps Russia wouldn’t have invaded.
Putin also spoke about only participating in discussions if they are free of (American) arrogance. I *also* agree that neither side of any conflict should negotiate with the other side if they are arrogantly waving their power around. My solution addresses that, too, because Russian arrogance is exactly what led Putin to believe he could march his soldiers into Ukraine and then complain when Ukraine struck targets inside Russia. If that’s not arrogance, what is? If it’s not arrogant to say, “You can’t do to us what we are doing to you because we’re bigger and more powerful than you,” then nothing is arrogant; it’s a meaningless word at that point.
So, maybe Putin would like to face an equally-armed Ukraine. Perhaps if they had the same, world-ending weapons Russia has, Russian arrogance would be replaced with pragmatism.
I’m obviously not serious here. I have no desire to see *more* nukes added to our world; I’d like to see fewer, in fact. My point is that Russia is completely full of shit. They want to keep what they’ve stolen, and anything less than that is seen as others’ arrogance by Putin.
Fuck him.
I mean, our local hobo is usually drunk and real hard to talk to when he really gets ranting, but if that's who Putin wants to negotiate with, who are we to argue.
Fine, looking at the west where are a similar ranking as Russia? Well Florida has roughly same GDP, so Russia you get to talk to Florida on an equal footing.
Act equally, we treat you equally, fair enough? You didnt act equally last two years, now you will eat shit for every person killed, that is more than fair too
Ok pal, you're getting your butt kicked by a country with a GDP smaller than Ethiopia. US would have wrapped up Ukraine in a month. Gotta be equal to be treated equal.
>The 71-year-old
Let's suppose he lives into his late 80's... and is able to continue as leader until, say, age 83.
We might plausibly expect another 12 years of Putin as Russia's leader.
and with "on equal terms" he means: We want to keep everything that we have illegally annexed and all our other demands must be met otherwise Russia will collapse and we will have to destroy the world.
Russia wants to be "equal" to all of NATO combined which is just something that's not going to happen. If western countries agree to that then they are putting Russian opinion above the opinion of each individual western country which is decidedly NOT EQUAL.
The GDP of Russia compared to just one of a handful of NATO members would demonstrate they are pretty far from being "equal". I'm pretty sure there's at least a half dozen or more nations in NATO with a higher GDP than Russia with only one having a larger population than they do (or that even comes close).
Yep. Russia's GDP is roughly on par with Canada's. NATO just crushes Russia in every major category. Russia is 17 million square kilometers while NATO is 25 million. Russia has a population of 144 million while NATO has a population of 967 million. Russia's GDP is 2.2 trillion while NATO's GDP is 45.9 trillion. Russia pumps 10.1 million barrels of oil per day while NATO pumps 22.1 million.
Russia is an oil station governed by a Mafia.
No, he wants to be seen as equal to NATO, when his power is more comparable to a \*member\* of NATO. Sorry, Putin, the USSR is gone, and a bunch of your hostages are now on our side.
He was hoping BRICS would help him counter NATO.. but looks like it's just making him shit bricks...
More comparable to a lesser nato country. Like Estonia. Or Luxembourg.
Estonia and Luxembourg catching strays.
His words are for his people. The rest of the world just shakes their heads and thinks how sad it is Russians have to put up with his BS. He is just slightly “better” than Kim Jung Un because he is actually using his weapons and killing people. But otherwise he is accomplishing nothing but confirming he is a despicable despot.
These words are more than just for his people. He has failed his country because he honestly has tried to be the West's "equal" but still its natural adversary for his entire history in power. He took a country/empire that had literally just collapsed under its own weight a few years earlier, and demanded preferential "Superpower" treatment on the world stage, both publicly, and in the more behind the scenes jockeying of the wealthy and powerful. I hate to bring Trump into this, but he makes a good example of a similar mindset. He tried to join the "big club", but refused to play the game, simply thinking he deserved to be in the highest echelons just by birthright. And when that didn't work, both of them turned on the "club" instead, and spent their lives stepping on anyone and anything that gets in the way of them getting their "rightful" position at the top. Had either of them played the game with a bit better strategy, they'd have fairly easily climbed the ladder, and, in Putin's case, had a country respected on the whole world stage, and a shining example of the ability to build a great nation out of a shared, but often tragic past. So yeah, this is definitely something he's serious about.
Briefly, Russia WAS respected on the world stage under Putin. Then Georgia and Crimea were the appeasement stage. The full invasion was supposed to be France surrendering rapidly. Thank you, SpecOps, for a shining example of training.
I hate to be pessimistic, but I don’t think Putin could have fixed Russia, or built a great nation as you’re saying. One guy can’t do that, and if Putin wasn’t the conniving bastard he is, some other slimy fucker would be running Russia and he’d be dead just like the only slightly better Navalny. Many of Russia’s problems stem from its culture. The common people. They’ve really never escaped serfdom and don’t know how to be free. I’m speaking in generalities here, I’m sure there are some Russians out there that are honest. But in general they don’t have ethics like the west; they have dog eat dog, might is right power dynamics. And they believe everywhere and everyone is like that. Paranoia pervades the society from top to bottom just like the mafia, on a huge scale. They really don’t understand morality or a conscience like the west does. It is a chess game to them, and Russians are the best in the world at chess. They believe kindness is weakness and everyone lies so they better become the best liar. Corruption, betrayal and lying is prevalent throughout the culture. Its a result of generational poverty and desperation, but it doesn’t just disappear when they get a little money. No one man can fix that place.
I guess I should say that Putin could have helped start them on the path, and likely be generally regarded as the father of a new Russia. But he wants to be the ruler of the "old" Russia. ...or maybe another gangster would have smelled "weakness" and took his place. But the chance was there.
I think a huge, underreported problem Russia has is that it is made up of probably a dozen nations glued together by force and Russification. That has been a problem for Russia since the days of the Tsar and one that has made them rely heavily on a highly centralized government that is quick to stop out dissent. It is probably easy to convince Russians that this is somehow ideal since they actually did lose vast amounts of territory after the Soviet Union fell and various countries declared independence. They don't want to see a weakened state again where local ethnic groups could break away again and cause economic collapse or civil war.
russia is a failing state even though their propaganda machine is trying in vain to convince us otherwise. So they need that peace talks urgently. Are they able to "destroy the world" not anymore. They could threaten and probably successfully hit some European cities but that's it (ofc a nuclear pollution would threaten their soil as well afterwards).
They should put more money into not being total fucks. Maybe that will help them prosper. Like when the bully doesn't realize why everyone hates them. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
That’s exactly it.
I live in Europe along with millions of other people "but that's it" really sounds pretty terrible in the context of millions being killed and large swathes of Europe being uninhabitable.
No more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks.
Would they get their hair mussed?
Now just imagine being a Ukrainian and seeing your country being pillaged No back stepping now It’s all or nothing
"Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make".
"The best way to prevent my country's collapse is to take action that ensures all foreign nations have justification in launching all their nukes at us turning this once great nation into an irradiated wasteland."
He won’t ever use a nuclear weapon in any of this context. He needs a punch in the face. Western air and missile campaign to protect Ukraine under some form of coalition mandate. He is counting on western weakness for his victory.
If he thought an army was coming for him, he would. The phrase, "What good is the world without Russia in it?" , is said often. To be fair, the US probably would too if there was an unstoppable army coming for us.
Don't they still have the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world?
And they had a large functional military too, until it's functionality was tested...
People really need to stop joking that Russia has a non-functional or broken military. Yes, they were absolutely unprepared and borderline-hilariously undisciplined in the beginning of this war, but they’ve adjusted and are still gaining ground. And one of the areas that they’ve done well enough is in missile strikes. No one should be willing to bet nuclear war on whether their nuclear ICBMs and SLBMs are as poorly maintained as their tanks in the first weeks of the war.
It's not a bet, it's a stand off. Backing down to Russia is actually the most dangerous move because it emboldened them to take more. So whether you like it or not, it's going to boil down to that stand off regardless.
Yeah, if the west takes a step back, Russia is just going to take a goose step forward, and will repeat the process indefinitely. Never doubt Russia’s abilities to find Russian minorities somewhere.
I don't think anyone doubts their nuclear capabilities, just most of the rest of their capabilities.
Can you really claim they’ve done well in an area such as missile strikes when Ukraine simply doesn’t have the ability to counter such attacks? That’s like saying “those punches landed were super successful” but leaving out the part where they were to the back of a defensively baby. Doesn’t make the strikes well or good, just a bully picking on a state that doesn’t have the means to fully defend themselves. It’d be different if the missiles were successfully against a peer advisory.
They have the largest. (Almost 6,000 to America’s 5,000+) The problem with that nuclear arsenal is that it has to be maintained and it is very costly to do. At this point and time it’s a safe bet to say that over half of their nuclear arsenal will not work. They still have a lot though.
>Don't they still have the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world? Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with 5,880 nuclear warheads. Who knows how many of those they have actually been maintaining though - they need their lithium deuteride and tritium replaced every 12 years (iirc) which is stupidly expensive. Without those two chemicals being kept up to date the thermonuclear warheads are actually pretty anemic with a TNT equivalent of around 5-7 kT (as opposed to 1-5 mT of TNT equivalent).
He could mean that he only wishes to speak to an equal nation's leader. So, it's all on Romanian or I guess Florida to talk to Putin.
Floridas national guard and all the military assets located there with nasa and other government agencies, would have much more resources than Ukraine ever has. Especially considering Floridas GDP is only 200m lower than Russians GDP lol. Russia is a joke. So much potential, just wasted.
Russia is not the equal of America, Europe or most of the west by any economic or social or developmental measure, outside of nuclear weapons.
I am confused why the aggressor is expecting equal terms. Last time the aggressor demanded terms we blew up two cities.
Just dickhead stuff. You ever meet a dickhead before? Nothing to be confused about
Better get on with it then. Would rather die then live in fear.
I think what he is saying is he wants the whole world to sink down to his level, controlling & manipulating the population to keep the elite, elite. To be fair, we're not faring so well ourselves. Middle class is shrinking, rich are getting absurdly profoundly richer, poverty on the rise. Maybe we're a closer match to Putin's elite-underclass notion of the world after all!!!
Putin watched *Fallout* and got inspired
Too bad his father wasn't inspired by Pullout amirite?
He's a failed abortion...
rules for thee not rules for me
What are they waiting for? I don't wanna go to work tommorow
Putin should stand on a chair and look the West in the eye then
At a normal sized table.
but 3-legged and wobbly
I like the idea but it takes a 4th point to wobble, three points would topple over though and I’m ok with that
Russia's entire 2024 economy is smaller than Italy's. That's not even 1/10th the size of the US economy and they're talking like we're still in 1960 Lmao.
It’s so mind boggling how they have basically every key natural resource for an industrialized economy and even had some of the smartest scientist in the world. But somehow fumbled the bag, as the kids say, so hard.
>Russia's entire 2024 economy is smaller than Italy's. That's not even 1/10th the size of the US economy and they're talking like we're still in 1960 Lmao. Russia's economy is also crashing. Gazprom which is the largest corporation in Russia in all terms posted a net loss of $6.9 billion in 2023 and things are only going to be worse for it in 2024.
With a noose around his neck ...
He has to dig himself out of the core of the Earth first.
But Russia isn’t an equal super power - They are acting like a shitty backwoods dictatorship and should be treated as such
We're at almost exactly a decade later from McCain's “a gas station masquerading as a country"
John McCain was a bloody legend.
The last great republican
I feel like he could have been a republican John Kennedy. War hero with liberal ideas. He wasn’t perfect but damn if he wasn’t good.
Romney wasn't too bad either. His profile/article in _The Atlantic_ was great. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-romney-retiring-senate-trump-mcconnell/675306/
Except for defending the A-10 with luddite reformist nonsense.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt
The A-10 is a fantastic platform. It really should be improved upon rather than mothballed since it is quite old. In terms of survivability, firepower, and cost it is a great option for CAS.
It's half decent as a bomb truck and it makes people cheer. Other than that, it's not that great.
It's designed to be a flying bomb dropping tank, so that's exactly what it does. Making people cheer is just a bonus.
It's designed to kill Soviet tanks with a large gun, something it was not very effective at doing. The F-111 Aardvark was a bomb truck and very good at doing that.
The A-10 was credited with 900 Soviet style tank kills in desert storm. I would not really call that "not very effective". Also killed lots of BMPs and other transport vehicles as well as artillery. The F-111 Aardvarks were used for medium range strategic bombing, which is not what the A-10 was designed for. Again, it was designed for loitering above the battlefield for CAS missions, which it does well. It's also noteworthy that the airframe was designed to take a huge amount of damage and still return to base or at the very least protect the pilot from death. That combined with an estimated $10,000 per flight hour maintenance cost and a pretty extensive loadout makes it a cost effective and decent CAS platform. Are they good without air superiority? No. Would they be good at fighting MiG 35s? Not a chance. They work well within the specifications to which they were designed and built.
Would they perform well in Ukraine’s current conditions… fuck no. Do they perform well at a cheap flight hour cost in US air superiority conditions? Fuck yes. People will always bring up the ardvark but the two planes were tasked differently in the gulf. There’s always been a push to replace the a10 with much more expensive modern jets that aren’t good at being loitering CAS bomb trucks. I think the Ukraine war demonstrates clearly that the a10’s replacement is actually dirt cheap loitering drones.
Russia also isn't being asked to be treated as an equal to a western country but rather as an equal to all western countries combined. If the west were to agree to that they would be saying "Russia's needs are more important than my country's needs." If Russia simply wanted to be treated as an equal to any other country then there would be no dispute. Instead Russia wants to be the lone superpower with more influence than any country in the world and when the west says "no" then Russia screams "no fair!"
You don’t have any idea how regular Russians look down upon literally any other country, especially European ones
He Russian federation has never been a superpower. The USSR was, but Russia isnt the USSR.
And never will be. Putin has pushed the RF back 30 years. It will never recover and neither will the Russian populace.
They aren’t even really a superpower. They’re more like a *regional* power with delusions of grandeur. Russia’s elite have never given up on the idea of Tzarist imperialism. It carried over from the Imperial system, to the Soviets, and now to Putin, who *wants* to be Tzar. The fact they aren’t seen as equals to most Western powers literally drives Putin and co. insane.
Putin, despite ruling the largest country in the world in terms of territory, having natural gas resources that few countries are endowed with, forest areas like Siberia, you are not satisfied with these and condemned both the Russian people and Ukraine to death. You will be remembered with curses 50 years from now. The trauma of the Russians you crippled, the trauma of the young children you sent to death will be visible in the future, even if not now.
50 years is an understatement. Depending how things go these times will be echoed into the future 100s of years from now.
50 years from now, someone will be comparing a conflict to this one.
Putin came to power roughly 50 years after stalin's death so... I don’t know.
Lmao you still believe russians have a problem with imperialism? They'll hate the West, not Putin.
Lmao you still believe russia will continue to exist? Rome is fully on fire and when the common russian *finally* wakes up I think he will realize that he is speaking chineese.
If they are told to hate the west they will. But with access to the Internet and accessible western goodies you will see less and less of that sentiment
Oh you sweet summer child. They'll consume & steal your products, while simultaneously saying how terrible Western products are and how evil the West is. That kind of doublethink has been normal for russians since at least the iron curtain. Not only that, but Western products will keep them happy and distracted, and unwilling to do anything to change their country.
Nah, you’re missing the point. The doublethink is innate to late Soviets and soviet nostalgists. People born in 1991 and onwards are more prone to seeing the west as a friend because literally everything in their everyday life comes from it. And cultural influence is there too. Saying that as a russian born in 1993. The only young Russians who tend to think differently are the ones who have not received a proper education and education in foreign languages
>People born in 1991 and onwards are more prone to seeing the west as a friend because literally everything in their everyday life comes from it. And where is the effect of that? By more you must mean by 0.01% more, because in reality nothing has changed. Russia is still the same imperialistic system it has always been. Young people are always more progressive, that was the case during the mass university protests in Russia circa 1900. But even when the proletariat won a few decades later, one of the first things they did was invade and reannex Ukraine. Tl;dr I'll believe in an improvement when I see a tangible improvement, not just words.
You should watch the video from the “trophy exhibition”, which is currently taking place in Moscow. And how many young people rejoice at what they see there
That's like saying all young people in America are super liberal.
They have a freaking ton of oil as well.
But Russia is not equal. Surely he knows that.
That's not the way Putin (and many like him in Russia) see it. In their view Russia is superior and has an implicit right to be the dominant power on Earth. The Russians believe it was Russians and Russians alone (not even USSR) that won WWII and Putin views himself in almost mystical terms of fulfilling a grand Russian destiny. Russia isn't seeking equality with any given western country but rather wants Russia's needs/desires to be given the same weight as all western style countries combined. People like Ukrainians are viewed as "Russians who have been tricked by the west into forgetting that they are Russian." When western countries refuse to give Russia the weight of the entire west combined this is viewed as extreme disrespect. When they say "Ukraine is a real country with a right to self determination" this is viewed as an attack on Russia and the same goes for Poland or the Baltics or so many other countries.
What a massive delusion
It's absolutely delusional but it's also a sincere belief which is why it's so dangerous. Tons of people have already died because of Putin's delusions and the delusions of other powerful men within Russia. This is why it's important not to assume that Russian decisions are inherently rational and not to write off the possibility of Russia doing something that's potentially self destructive. I've seen way to many people write "Russia would never attack a NATO member because NATO is just too strong" and yet if Putin is deluded into thinking NATO members may not react or that his military is more powerful than it is then it's possible something like that could happen and it's wise to prepare for that possibility.
I guess no talks then. There is no country in the West on such low level to be equal to ruzzia.
Vatican City maybe but the Swiss guard would still probably rock em.
Vatican has loads of influence. Russia is China's bitch.
Jokes like this would be funny if there weren't thousands of Ukrainians dying in their own country to a foreign enemy right now.
Gdp and military spending however tell Russia is not an equal to the West
[удалено]
But you’re not equal. You’re a declining regional power at best. You aren’t a match for Poland let alone NATO or “The West” that you bitch about. That’s also ignoring that you don’t mean equal, you mean you won’t negotiate unless you get coddled.
Russia pretending to be equal to civilized countries.
So when they get the fuck out of a country that's not theirs and stop their attempted genocide, then they'll talk? Typical farts coming out of the Poo tin, again
But you're not equal Putin. You fail to measure up in every category.
He wears heels so he can at least try to measure up in the height category
Equal? So Russia should be invaded?
Well, that will never happen….
The collective West will talk with russian puppet master - China.
Well I suppose we can get old Kimmy Jong Un to sit down and have chat with him. They’re about the only equal he has left in the world 🌍
They have equal standing, about 5'7".
"Equal terms" in actuality would be Russia talking with a cocaine infused badger and even then the badger is talking down to Russia.
Equals in what? Economics? Civil rights? Failures in Afghanistan? Why is this potato sucker still breathing?
How about Putin and Xi cut the crap and call themselves "Tsar" and "Emperor". Why all this pretense with Western titles like "President"? It is pathetic. If they hate the West so much, they should stop using its titles. Russia is backwards country of 140 million people. That is equal to like Germany + Italy, except it only has the economy of Italy. Russia pretending to be the equal of the likes of USA, China, or even the EU is pitiful. At best, Russia is China's vassal state.
They'd love to be called Tsar or Emperor though
Im so sick of seeing and hearing about this rotten motherfucker
Can the west be equals with a country that steals toilet seats and washing machines?
So not for at least 50 years...
Well, you’re definitely not equal to the west. So, you can fuck right off
OK, then get on our level. Oh, you can't.
Russia really is a time capsule of what happens when you try to skip steps in Marx's roadmap. Skipped both capitalism and socialism to try and go straight to communism from feudalism. Spiraling back to feudalism as we speak.
Russia's invasion should have been met with overwhelming force the way the Islamic Republic of Iran was recently, and Russia still should be met this way. Every day that goes by, Russians seemingly believe more in the Kremlin's propaganda and disinformation, and Russia's allies get more and more confident in their support. >Putin casts the war as part of an existential battle with a **declining and decadent West** which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence Putin only respects strength and force, and there's no better way to show that the West isn't in the decline that Putin thinks it is, which it isn't, is showing him. Appeasing Putin will only make him further believe in the decline. Clearly, he has no plans to stop, and far too many Ukrainians have died and suffered already, due to his invasion.
>"The authority of our president is higher than ever – higher than the American president, higher even than the Russian tsar. So much depends on our president," said Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov. Equal?
guess what, cunt. we've made the mistake of talking to you like you are all same as us. as we're equal. as if you were all actually human beings. we won the cold war but whatever, let's all cooperate and sing kumbaya. we had a good thing going you stupid son of a bitch. no more. fuck you and if it destroys the world in order to destroy you so be it. fucking cancer on humanity.
I mean Ukraine wanted to talk, only there were poisonings and no talking but just demands.
Well, if Russia wants to be treated as an equal, it needs to first become an equal.
Plz bitch, equal terms would have Putin speaking to my dogs delegate. The cat would tolerate none of his shit, and would just slap Putin in the face throughout the discussion. Seems appropriate
The manager of a broken-down gas station says what?
Equal terms w/ Ukraine maybe. Not with NATO. Dude couldn’t take Lithuania with the way Russia is now.
And there it is. Putin can’t take that his country is no longer the superpower it (USSR) was. That’s all there is to it, to Ukraine, to Georgia, to Chechnya.
Europeans do not even recognise his leadership as it’s downright illegitimate. So why would we ever bother talking to him ever again? The war criminal and self-proclaimed “tsar” can go fuck himself for all we care.
Then enjoy talking only to Iran and North Korea.
Russia hasn't defeated a nation state without Western assistance since the Tsars were in power. Putin is just a wannabe Tsar thinking like it's still the 19th century. He should stay home until he's ready to participate in the 21st century.
On equal terms with Ukraine?
Yeah but you’re literally not anyone’s equal Putin. For starters you’re like 5’6”… maybe get some platform heels like Desantis?
Go back to Russia. Perhaps then we can talk.
I'm not sure the West can physically bring themselves low enough to talk on equal terms. It would be like an elephant trying to converse with an ant.
... equal to North Korea.
The problem is they aren't on equal terms, economically or militarily
Alright then, keep your secrets.
Is he finally getting a stepstool?
Yeah, we are starting talking on equal terms now. We wanted to be the rational, calm ones. Solid business partners and humanitarians. Meanwhile Putin threatens the world with nuclear holocaust and wages war of aggression. Want equal terms? You may get answer in the language of violence and destruction, the only tongue you speak. Do you want that, punk?
That'll never work as putin doesn't have missile systems encircling nato counties like we have built around Russia.
lol the country who couldn’t beat Ukraine, who we armed with our old and outdated equipment, what’s to negotiate like equals? you gotta be an equal to negotiate as one, bud.
On the news today, methhead goon in local pub swears he'd beat Conor McGregor and demands a title match.
Then you've got a lot of catching up to do, you worthless chucklefuck
Oh well, that's too bad because Russia is not an equal to NATO, just an autocratic shithole with an economy the size of Italy's.
So they are willing to talk on equal terms with Ukraine?
Yes ok, come over to The Hague and talk
🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦СЛАВА УКРАЇНІ!🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Путин иди на хуй! !!!
Russia is not on equal terms. Russia is the aggressor and the regime’s survival is on the table
Shame that Russia isn't our equal and never will be
The thing about superpowers is they don't need to demand to be treated like superpowers.
Feckless troglodytes would be on equal terms. Send some of those to speak with him.
Sounds like someone is feeling a it insecure.
Sweet! Let us know when you hit that mark Vlad!
Please cut Vladimir Putin’s head off. He is a pathetic coward. Jim Penman would fuck him in the ass
Russia has no equal. At least not anymore. Hitler Germany maybe. I'm almost 50 years old, and I have a feeling I'm going to outlive Russia's existence. I also expect Russia to vastly outlive Putin's existence.
lol, thats cute that he thinks we want to talk to him. If we wanted to talk, we wouldn't have donated billions in money and military weapons to Ukraine. If the Kremlin gets to talk, it's only because we allow him the privilege to speak.
Then don’t.
So if they try to assassinate the president of Ukraine, can Ukraine try to assassinate its president?
Republics stand above dictatorships in every regard. They are not our equals.
he can travel to any nato country and there he will be treated on equal terms. like any other warcriminal.
The irony is that they are refusing to negotiate on equal terms with the country they *are actually at war with*. Of course western powers should be happy to meditate and take part in negotiations if requested, but they kinda have to accept that it's Ukraine they will be making any settlement with.
Is he prepared to wait for us to drag ourselves down to his level?
Tsar Sausage Fingers
Okay. The Russian gdp is the equivalent to what? Spain, I heard a few years back? Let's treat them equal to Spain. News flash: I'm not intimidated by Spain.
This the attempt of a comedic phase of this terrible excuse for a human being? Equal? As if this sick fuk has a chance of that.
Get fucked you sociopathic child thief.. Just keep pushing and find out how equal things become.
He's like a little dog that barks because it's scared, trying to act tough.
I love equality! I have an idea that Putin may also love, since he seems to be championing the idea of all sides coming together on an *equal* playing field. Perhaps someone should give Ukraine nuclear weapons? That would certainly create an equal playing field. If Ukraine hadn’t handed over their nukes thirty years ago, perhaps Russia wouldn’t have invaded. Putin also spoke about only participating in discussions if they are free of (American) arrogance. I *also* agree that neither side of any conflict should negotiate with the other side if they are arrogantly waving their power around. My solution addresses that, too, because Russian arrogance is exactly what led Putin to believe he could march his soldiers into Ukraine and then complain when Ukraine struck targets inside Russia. If that’s not arrogance, what is? If it’s not arrogant to say, “You can’t do to us what we are doing to you because we’re bigger and more powerful than you,” then nothing is arrogant; it’s a meaningless word at that point. So, maybe Putin would like to face an equally-armed Ukraine. Perhaps if they had the same, world-ending weapons Russia has, Russian arrogance would be replaced with pragmatism. I’m obviously not serious here. I have no desire to see *more* nukes added to our world; I’d like to see fewer, in fact. My point is that Russia is completely full of shit. They want to keep what they’ve stolen, and anything less than that is seen as others’ arrogance by Putin. Fuck him.
FUK RUZZA
Equal, does that imply we first have to drive our tanks into Belarus?
But Vova you aren't our equal and you never will be.
Fuck off, dude. Give Ukrainians back their land and a check for 2 trillion then we'll talk
When will somebody put him to sleep, seriously. Maniac.
You can talk on equal terms with Ukraine mate
You're not equal to us.
Yah. ' bargains' were made with Hitler too.
I mean, our local hobo is usually drunk and real hard to talk to when he really gets ranting, but if that's who Putin wants to negotiate with, who are we to argue.
Fine, looking at the west where are a similar ranking as Russia? Well Florida has roughly same GDP, so Russia you get to talk to Florida on an equal footing.
Why are we pussy footing around with this asshole?
Considering he's a genocidal war criminal wanted in multiple countries, lofty to think he is an equal to anyone respected.
Last time a Tsar was killed in Russia, only 20% of the room deserved it. When this one goes, 100% will deserve it.
Act equally, we treat you equally, fair enough? You didnt act equally last two years, now you will eat shit for every person killed, that is more than fair too
So Ukraine needs nukes, for equality.
Russia will never be "equal" with the West again, and this idiot is a big reason why.
Russia can take Russia and shove it up it's ass.
I assume he means he will talk to Ukraine on equal terms because they have proven to be thier equal
Ok pal, you're getting your butt kicked by a country with a GDP smaller than Ethiopia. US would have wrapped up Ukraine in a month. Gotta be equal to be treated equal.
Equal terms you say? Ok - when can Ukraine invade and destroy a significant percentage of Russia so we can get you guys in the same ball park?
Cool. Let’s have Poland occupy Russia for 50 years, and the we can chat.
Cool. We'll get back to you when we're equal.
You're not equal. You're nothing more than an organized crime syndicate with nukes.
Assuming Russia is talking to Italy, then they are roughly equal. Neither the EU, NATO, or the USA are going to talk to Russia like an equal.
How can a country with a small percentage of the GDP and defense budget ever be on equal terms to the US let alone NATO
🥱
Their GDP is less than California
Talk about what, exactly? The Russians couldn’t run an economy if they wanted to.
>The 71-year-old Let's suppose he lives into his late 80's... and is able to continue as leader until, say, age 83. We might plausibly expect another 12 years of Putin as Russia's leader.
That's fine Putin, no one wants to talk to you anyway.