Russian parliament approves troop deployment in Ukraine

[Terpe]

Russia's upper house of parliament has approved President Putin's request for Russian forces to be used in Ukraine.



Read more here

[Terpe]

The UN and all senior diplomats spell out their warnings if Russia invades Ukraine.
Obama warns "there will be costs" if Russia invades Ukraine.
Guess what Russia does?

Invades Ukraine

[les_taxi]

We won't get involved with Russia

[grahamw48]

Yep...best let them get on with it.

Be ready for the next wave of 'asylum seekers'.

[Dedworth]

I hope it's not used as an excuse to up gas, petrol & diesel prices

Be ready for the next wave of 'asylum seekers'.

Saw a couple of "I only speak Russian" enjoying our funding at a local NHS hospital yesterday

[tiger31]

This is not going to end well, and it all stems beck to world war 2 when Ukraine took the German side because of the way they were treated by the Russians. There is deep hatred of the Russians by the Ukrainian people and it will never be resolved anytime soon. What might happen is that the country may end up dividing into east and west Ukraine.

Putin is not as popular as he thinks and this situation is going to make it worse for himself and his country as a whole. Once the Ukraine natives saw the previous leaders vast property and riches it was the last straw, hardly can he afford such wealth on his salary.

[grahamw48]

If only the human race could live in peace for more than a couple of days.

[Iani]

Shock, horror, this potential war doesn't involve religion

Thing with this is, it's more complex than it looks. Let's imagine Britain is completely taken over by the EU (Not as insane as it might sound, it might go that way). Britain exists as a separate statelet, but the EU calls the shots.

Now imagine if the EU government decides to award Hampshire to France as a gift. Remember - on the face of it, this doesn't really matter that much, because we are all part of the same EU state, it just means local matters for Hampshire are now dealt with by Paris.

Along comes the breakup of the EU, the UK becomes independent, as does France - but France includes Hampshire. The UK pays rent to France for Portsmouth harbour. Most people in Hampshire are English.

A new government a few years down the line decides to play a nationalist line, and officially doesn't like English speakers. People in Hampshire start putting up Union flags and chanting "frog off".

Would we then be surprised if the UK government threatened to send in the tanks to protect those English speakers - basically the British left in Hampshire after the EU gave them away 50 years ago to France?

This is one we really need to keep the hell out of

[grahamw48]

Good analogy, and yes, let's not join in ANOTHER ****up.

[tiger31]

The Crimea has lots of oil if I,m not mistaken and it gives the Russians a base for its fleet. Out there, that,s what it,s all about under the disguise of protecting the Russian speakers.

Putin is becoming a dangerous man in a dangerous world, the big question is will the west take action, or as usual from banki moon?
All words and no action. lol

[bigmarco]

All's not lost William Hague is on his way to Kiev.

That'll make Putin think twice

[grahamw48]

What a tit.

[tiger31]

ya gotta laugh at Hague and all the other big mouths oh Putin ya such a bad boy you must,nt do that ,they all talk and no action .The g8 leaders should kick the Russians out and start to impose sanctions on them after all whenever the west tries to vote on something at the U.N they always veto it anyway.freeze all the assets of the rich Russians in all the western countries and see how long Putin lasts in power .he is playing a dangerous game here which will set his country back many years .

[grahamw48]

Problem is, because our government (all shades) thinks our society should revolve around money, they'll just continue to fawn all over ANYONE who brings it to our shores, whether they be Russian, Arab, etc.

All buddies together.

[RickyR]

From some of the reports it seems that many of the people in Crimea want to become part of Russia, or have I misunderstood that part?

[grahamw48]

I believe that is correct Ricky.

[Terpe]

From some of the reports it seems that many of the people in Crimea want to become part of Russia, or have I misunderstood that part?

Most of them are actually Russian and speak only Russian.......I can't see Russia letting go of Crimea at all. It's now de facto under Russian armed control anyway.
The trick is going to be what to do about the Eastern area of Ukraine which is virtually the same as Crimea.....especially in a city like Donetsk where emotions are running high.

There's a lot of history involved...

[Amaw2008]

I agree 100% with Iani's post, I couldn't have put it better myself. It seems that both sides have a case, and the new regime in Kiev has certainly not used purely democratic methods to gain power. There also seem to be a good number of extreme right-wingers and outright fascists in the Ukrainian camp; Russia has got a point there, even if it was a bit hasty in Crimea. Anyway, the main point is this, this is one we are well out of