Ukraine Referenda

[SamSpade]

So Russia - failing to secure regions of Ukraine and finding themselves in retreat - fighting an uphill battle in conscripting thousands who don't want to go into a meat grinder for no reason -

They decided to claim those territories as part of Russia. That way, they can claim righteous indignation if any further actions are taken against what is NOW - Russia itself.

BUT - they decided to hold a VOTE first. And since they were in a hurry, no polling, no ballots sent out, no checking voter rolls - they sent soldiers house to house to collect the votes. Men with guns came to your door and asked - for your vote. RUSSIAN soldiers. I suppose to a Russian, that's incredibly fair, since their own elections are about as open.

AMAZINGLY, they got more than 94% approval to "join Russia", and Russia immediately claimed it a done deal. NOWHERE else in the world does an election or referendum turn out like that - unless you're Russia, China or North Korea. Also, nowhere else does the legal transition to being annexed take place in hours.

No matter how you look at it - this is conquest. This region, to Ukraine, is akin to our Northeast - millions of people and THE major center of commerce. If you wanted to ruin the United States, take everything northeast of DC and 200 miles inland.

 

[Gilligan]

So Russia - failing to secure regions of Ukraine and finding themselves in retreat - fighting an uphill battle in conscripting thousands who don't want to go into a meat grinder for no reason -

They decided to claim those territories as part of Russia. That way, they can claim righteous indignation if any further actions are taken against what is NOW - Russia itself.

BUT - they decided to hold a VOTE first. And since they were in a hurry, no polling, no ballots sent out, no checking voter rolls - they sent soldiers house to house to collect the votes. Men with guns came to your door and asked - for your vote. RUSSIAN soldiers. I suppose to a Russian, that's incredibly fair, since their own elections are about as open.

AMAZINGLY, they got more than 94% approval to "join Russia", and Russia immediately claimed it a done deal. NOWHERE else in the world does an election or referendum turn out like that - unless you're Russia, China or North Korea. Also, nowhere else does the legal transition to being annexed take place in hours.

No matter how you look at it - this is conquest. This region, to Ukraine, is akin to our Northeast - millions of people and THE major center of commerce. If you wanted to ruin the United States, take everything northeast of DC and 200 miles inland.

And a large step towards WWIII.....unless Putin is taken out by an internal group and soon. The Ukrainian army is handing the Russkies their arse daily.....they just encircled a group of Russian soldiers estimated to be around 5000. And the ordnance they are capturing!..holy cow...the amounts are staggering.

 

[BOP]

And a large step towards WWIII.....unless Putin is taken out by an internal group and soon. The Ukrainian army is handing the Russkies their arse daily.....they just encircled a group of Russian soldiers estimated to be around 5000. And the ordnance they are capturing!..holy cow...the amounts are staggering.

Remember when the Russians, after, what, a decade in Afghanistan, finally had enough. Subsequent to that, they basically threw up their hands, declared victory, and went home. They sure do like their declarations.

And did we learn anything from that? You'd think we would, given the history of different nations trying to take over Afghanistan, as well as our other quagmire, Vietnam.

 

[Hijinx]

Remember when the Russians, after, what, a decade in Afghanistan, finally had enough. Subsequent to that, they basically threw up their hands, declared victory, and went home. They sure do like their declarations.

And did we learn anything from that? You'd think we would, given the history of different nations trying to take over Afghanistan, as well as our other quagmire, Vietnam.

Or our quagmire in Afghanistan.

 

[Gilligan]

Remember when the Russians, after, what, a decade in Afghanistan, finally had enough. Subsequent to that, they basically threw up their hands, declared victory, and went home. They sure do like their declarations.

And did we learn anything from that? You'd think we would, given the history of different nations trying to take over Afghanistan, as well as our other quagmire, Vietnam.

Putin has different aspirations though. He's openly declared that the restoration of the original Russian Empire is his goal.

 

[BOP]

Or our quagmire in Afghanistan.

I was refering to before we went into Vietnam...er, Afghanistan.

 

[SamSpade]

I’m still trying to figure out how Russia was able to hold a referendum in a region controlled by Ukrainians.

 

[Hijinx]

I’m still trying to figure out how Russia was able to hold a referendum in a region controlled by Ukrainians.

The same way Joe Biden got elected . It was crooked.

 

[Gilligan]

I’m still trying to figure out how Russia was able to hold a referendum in a region controlled by Ukrainians.

I saw one report that said Russian soldiers went door to door, in villages they still controlled, with "ballots" in hand to get the voting done. No coercion there!...LOL

 

[SamSpade]

I saw one report that said Russian soldiers went door to door, in villages they still controlled, with "ballots" in hand to get the voting done. No coercion there!...LOL

I mentioned that, in the original post. All the more reason to refuse to recognize it.