Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[RolStoppable]

A long overdue thread ban.

It's this art of self-intimidation that has crippled support for Ukraine for so long. Dictators like Putin know that a main weakness of democracy is that its leaders need to be re-elected in a fair process, so they are obligated to take the general opinions of the populations into account. That's why Russia runs so many troll farms, because it is very much possible and realistic to sway minds on social media.

Surveys in Germany have shown for a long time that the population is about evenly split regarding the question of weapon deliveries to Ukraine. That's one of the reasons why Germany's leadership has been so hesitant to get something done, and it should be clear that they and France are the main decision-makers for the EU as a whole. The other reason is that Scholz is a coward with no balls whether that concerns inner or foreign affairs. The guy and his party are constantly scared of slamming their fists on the table to declare that they'll just do the right thing regardless of the population's current opinions. The worst thing about all this is that the next election in Germany is in 2025, yet they have had their pants full in 2022 already. The irony is that their cowardice is what is sinking them in surveys, because one thing that the vast majority of Germans actually can agree on is a lack of leadership from their leadership.

Meanwhile, I've read an article about Austria taking the second spot on the list of Russia's useful idiots. Apparently we have a natural gas contract with Russia that obligates us to pay regardless of if we want to, and this fabulous contract runs until the year 2040. Gosh, why did we ever elect a school boy to be our chancellor...