Fight the good fight, Ukraine! Make them pay for every inch.

One hopes

Calm down. We aren't there yet.

We are nowhere near a WW3.

Considering how "disposable" Russia sees it's conscript forces... They do have another 3.5~ million personal to draw from sadly.

But it does showcase how inept, outdated, badly trained, badly supported Russia's military is... And why we shouldn't fear it... It's not good PR for a country that relies on PR... But the real question is, will this information get into the hands of the Russian people? Or will Russia filter it out making it a redundant issue anyway?

Any help I am sure is appreciated... And is far more appreciated than just thoughts and prayers to those affected, I am sure.

I never wish for brutal pain and suffering on an individual... Ever.

But I do strongly believe in treating others the way you wish to be treated... So... Let's hope.

combat power below 90% of pre-invasion levels.

Wow... Ukraine might actually be able to drive them out of their lands?
Thats insane, considering its mostly civilians takeing up arms, to fight against military, after just short training.

Yeah, invading another country you just have professional militaries and mercenaries, but being invaded unlocks militias and other citizens being able to contribute. The total amount of armed Ukrainians defending their country greatly outnumber that of the Russians invading them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, armed citizenry is the greatest deterrent to someone invading you and doing so successfully. People always think it comes down to missiles, but countries like Russia or China don't invade to just wipe out entire cities and populations, they want to capture that nations economy and absorb the profits. You can't do that by blowing everything up and killing everyone, you have to do a land invasion. This is why the USA is so protected.

In 2018, a survey showed there were over 1 billion guns in the world. Of that number, 85% were in the hands of citizens, not militaries. Of that number, 46% are in the hands of the US citizens. The safest thing humans could do to deter invasions, school shootings, hostage situations, the list goes on, is to issue every legal adult a gun that passed a mental screening. This isn't the wild west, where many had guns, they could shoot someone and ride off never to be caught. We have cameras everywhere, the internet, satellites. Arming people isn't going to cause sane people to start shooting randomly at people. It will prevent those already with murder on their hearts from killing as many, if any other people because ideally any room they step in with a gun pointing at someone will have numerous people pointing a gun right back waiting for the police to show up to arrest the would-be murderer. 

There would be fewer massacres every year and a lot less international tension and ears if every legal citizen that is mentally stable had a gun. Do mental screenings annually to be safe.

Those are really just gun-lobby talking points. A country like the UK has far few gun deaths and gun massacres than the US due to a much higher level of restrictions on gun ownership rather than greater availability of firearms. Its also more guns mean just that - more gun both legally and illegally owned due to a general increase in supply. 

What you talk about is actually the setting of the Homefront video game (the first one). I seem to remember two instances in that game of other 'armed citizens' pulling guns on your character for reasons other than what you set out.

As for the massacre bit - guns aren't in short supply in the US so why do the massacres keep happening? Most people tend to run for cover first. I remember two other instances of note on this. One at a university where an armed bystander decided (sensibly in my opinion) it was better to remain where he was an not use his gun as he (reasonably) figured if he tried to use it police could well mistake him for the shooter. Another where an armed security guard managed to restrain the shooter. He has his gun drawn on the shooter when police arrived, and the police mistook the guard for the shooter and shot and killed him.

Yes I can easily visualise this. A nutjob starts shooting someone in a cinema hall. In the ensuing massacre, everybody with a gun shoots everyone else with a gun. Great idea to arm everyone.....

It's just been announced that Russia has declared an interest in bidding to host Euro 2028. It seems the only other bid is from the UK & Ireland.

Unclear at the time of writing if Russia's suspension from international football precludes them from bidding to host tournaments. Had the UK & Ireland been the only bid it appeared UEFA would have rubber-stamped them as hosts on 7th April so I guess we'll find out by then.

Edit - Turkey have also bid for 2028. Italy, Russia and Turkey have bid for 2032. Uefa seem to be unimpressed at the notion of Russia bidding so looks like it won't get very far.

I disagree completely with your assessment and cause to effect relationship here but that's a discussion for another thread so I won't entertain this discussion here. 

But I kind of agree and disagree when it comes to applying this mentality to Ukraine. The unique situation of Ukraine might just make the benefits overtake the drawbacks. Giving that since 2014 Russia represent a clear threat to Ukraine let's pretend Ukraine then decided to arm it's population. in this context it :

• would be a lot harder for Russian to invade
• It would be a lot harder for Russian to occupy
• It would be harder for Russian troops to loot house and assault civilians. 
• It may have empowered many more Ukrainian including more women to fight for there land (if that's even possible)
• The kremlin could have deemed it too costly to invade

But it may also have adverse effects like:

• It could have emboldened Ukrainians militia to try and get back Donetsk and Luhansk witch might have prompted a Russian invasion way earlier when Ukraine wasn't ready to defend themselves
• It may have giving Russia way more propaganda material justifying there invasion earlier
• It may have caused Russia to invade with war more troops and equipment maybe 500k+ instead of 200k
• It may also have caused Russia to be more cautious and realist in their invasion negating the terrible logistics they are showing today
• It could have offered the possibility for Russia to drop the "special military operation" crap and go straight to this is a war and still keep support from Russian.
• It could have been enough of a reason for China to accepts denazification narrative and openly support the Kremlin
• Right now it could embolden an Ukraine to fire on Russian soldier in occupied territory during protest prompting them to open fire on protesters.
• It may lead to more Ukrainians death by being emboldened and not thinking things through before realizing their weapons are ineffective against most military assets like tanks, plane, helicopter, most vehicles.

edit: double post