[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by condor

Putin, a career agent. Knows how to prepare for something before the actual action. And this is what he has done over the past few years.
....
Putin's actions arent knee jerk either - he has been telling NATO for a long time to Not expand upto his borders.

He also invaded Georgia in 2008.

Russia backed Ukrainian rebels shot down an Malaysian Airlines civilian plane killing 298 civilians in 2014.

Also Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014.

[download2live]

The coverage in western media is so bad and lopsided that one has to turn to likes of AlJazzera to get an idea of what is happening on ground.

Wars are not won on Reddit, Twitter or other social media platforms. Ukraine PM should know this.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by EV NXT

Quoting a post on LinkedIn by Ramnik Bansal.

I have multiple issues with this guy's mindset.

1. Don't complain about the government's attitude and actions?
2. Accept things as they are and be grateful to the government gods.
3. Preaching
4. No attempt to accept that the bureaucrats did not do their jobs properly.

We have to remember that these students are barely in their 20s. Expect them to be irresponsible and clueless. Would any layperson know what to do in a crisis?

Government officials in the MEA are supposedly experts in their subjects and should have an authoritative approach. I see many posts making excuses for their inaction and incompetence. Not only that, they've actually blamed the students for being students. Let's remember that these MEA officials are not spending money from their own pockets or from any leaders' personal funds, this is our money, and we expect accountability; oh, another thing, please don't forget that these employees of the government are paid to handle such situations and they have failed at their jobs. I would like to know the names of the people behind this fiasco and what action was taken against them for failing at their job.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

this is absolutely nuts on multiple levels!

https://twitter.com/skbozphd/status/...156705282?s=24

Oh my God! What a Moron! Makes a mockery of himself. Does not even know whom he is interviewing.

On another note, I have been following this thread and had the opportunity to increase my understanding a lot by reading varied opinions expressed.

I did not comment thus far, because inside I am conflicted. Regardless of the geopolitical mayhem surrounding this war and multiple agendas, it is hard for me to come in terms with lives being lost. My heart goes out to the poor Ukrainians who are actually suffering irrespective of who is at fault.

I just hope, the world emerges from this disaster now with as little damage as possible.

[Nissan1180]

The tragedy for Indian students is that their universities may not be able to function in the immediate future because of the destruction of infrastructure. Many students take loans to study there and will be suffering a huge financial loss. I hope that the government in India provides some support and consideration in helping these students get readmitted to another college/program.

From a global perspective, the war will accelerate the energy transition towards renewables. Natural Gas was being considered as a transition fuel before the complete switch to renewables, but this event will increase investments in different battery technologies that can work with grid-scale energy storage.

[Old_Salt]

My current job involves meeting / dealing with multi nationalities. Last week meeting some of our Ukrainian colleagues really left me speechless.

Most of their families have fled and moved towards Moldova and Romania.

During the discussion, it was evident that they were unhappy with Mr. Zelensky.

The whole western media portrayal of civilians being given guns has also not gone down well with the local population. The local crimes are through the roof and western media is not reporting them. Criminal elements are using those guns for crime and not against Russians.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by condor

Putin, a career agent. Knows how to prepare for something before the actual action. And this is what he has done over the past few years.


* Built substantial Gold reserves

* Sold all its US treasury holding.

* Paid off most of Russia's debt, and reduced Debt.


Even if this wasn't in preparation for military action, #1 and #3 are excellent work. #2 would be more in preparation for taking on NATO. This must also be seen against their current account surplus. And they dont need to import oil or gas. On the other hand, US debt is going up and up, they need to import oil and gas.

For long the West has had two types of weapons to keep the world at large in check.

1) Actual weapons

2) Financial weapons (aka Sanctions)

Putin has been humiliated by the West for the past two decades and he has been planning his move since 2014 to destroy the financial weapons of the West and make it a level playing field. With the announcement of SWIFT sanctions on Russian banks and companies the Russian Central Bank Chief that they are not worried as they already have other systems in place. When countries with big GDP move away from SWIFT is when the West will start feeling the pain.

And the West has already started its loosing game as US is loosing its grip over Middle East and is struggling to get unequivocal support from its allies against Russia

a) UAE - A staunch US supporter has taken a neutral stand on Ukraine and moving closer to Russia

b) Saudi - Not willing to break its relations with Russia and not willing to increase Oil production as requested by US to bring down prices

c) Turkey - Needs Russia for stable gas supplies which is important for its survival and even purchased the S 400 system from Russia despite US opposition to the deal

d) Israel - Even though they condemned the attack on Ukraine they abstained from voting against Russia at UN. They need Russia to keep Iran in check and have also refused to provide the Iron Dome to Ukraine


The US$ which is the global reserve currency is just their way of passing on their inflation on the rest of the world. Because if its the global reserve currency why should only America have the right to print it and use it for free as much as they want?

[@og_adi]

Indian student shot at while trying to get away from Kiev-
https://mobile.twitter.com/ANI/statu...ource=inshorts

Just read about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant which makes me wonder if any sense prevails in the people attacking these sites which could potentially harm a lot of people including them. Luckily, there seems to be no change in the radioactive emissions from the plant but it's just ridiculous how they decide to march up to a nuclear plant which can recreate Chernobyl situation all over again.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russ...vasion-2802607

[asingh1977]

Ukraine should get off Twitter and start thinking of options.

That apparently stalled convoy out Kiev, is going to screw over everything--once it moves. (I really doubt it is bogged down, just waiting for the final order). The convoy moves, capital is taken, game over. Actually the country will be taken. I think (my opinion) till now the Bear has been just threatening (at a great cost), but not in the mood to expand borders. They may just have to. Ukraine seems to have lost the plot. They should stop banking on polarized external forces, since reaction time costs lives ++ time to rebuild in the future. This is almost like scorched - earth. How can Ukraine not see this, and do selfie videos + twitter.

[Akshay6988]

Originally Posted by mvadg

Government officials in the MEA are supposedly experts in their subjects and should have an authoritative approach. I see many posts making excuses for their inaction and incompetence. Not only that, they've actually blamed the students for being students. Let's remember that these MEA officials are not spending money from their own pockets or from any leaders' personal funds, this is our money, and we expect accountability; oh, another thing, please don't forget that these employees of the government are paid to handle such situations and they have failed at their jobs. I would like to know the names of the people behind this fiasco and what action was taken against them for failing at their job.

If there was some accountability to this government, India wouldn't have been at this situation at all. Any sane leader would have focused on evacuating his countrymen from warzone (not from some neighbouring country to the warzone ) instead of running election campaigns. And also what's with operation ganga ? Seriously?? Making PR out of tragic situation such as war and evacuation ?? Talk about misplaced priorities. Asking students to get out of the warzone to the neighboring countries and then arranging flights for them (that too at double the usual ticket fair) and calling it evacuation ? I'm lost at words. Saw a video where some minister is asking students to hail the leader, imagine what those kids would have felt. Goverment wasn't there with them to evacuate them and they're demanding to praise them ?

[condor]

Originally Posted by download2live

The coverage in western media is so bad and lopsided that one has to turn to likes of AlJazzera to get an idea of what is happening on ground..

Al Jazzera also leans west-wards.

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

The tragedy for Indian students is that their universities may not be able to function in the immediate future because of the destruction of infrastructure.

A sampler of the situation with these students and those institutions is that: Any person passing out a foreign medical college has to still get a licence before he/she can practice in India. Out of about 8k such students over the past few years only 348 students have been able get a licence. Another issue is that these students have learnt the subject in a foreign language, and this actually makes it a little difficult to practice here.

[iamahunter]

The social media is bombarded with post's against Russia. Clearly an agenda from Uncle Sam's home companies.

And when we crib about our government not doing anything to get those students back, what are the other governments doing? Look at Pakistan, China or any others!

Its easy to blame the government, imagine the pressure that the government has at the current moment!



Attaching this post as I feel its quite relevant.

[RGK]

Heard that only a few of the students departed Ukraine in January. Unfortunately, many students appear to have contacted their educational advisers/consultants, who coordinated their application and visa, rather than the embassy. As a result, there has been a significant delay.

NB: In general, We are sluggish during times of crisis.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

Attaching this post as I feel its quite relevant.

While I agree a with a lot of what that chap has written down, the line that complaining about the government is "anti-national" is absolute nonsense!

People (and government departments) can and should refute unwarranted criticism by all means- but with facts, call it out as unjustified, inaccurate or whining, but this 'anti-national' tag on everything and anything, and all types of governments using the 'anti-national' tag to deflect any sort of criticism is dangerous, insidious, and needs to stop.

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Those who are criticizing the government evacuation response have probably never participated in even a planned fire drill in a building.

By that logic no one can criticize anything that we haven't done personally. Those complaining about bad roads in Bangalore should try building a road first, those complaining about Cheteshwar Pujara's form should try batting in a Test match, those complaining about medical malpractice should try performing a surgery, those complaining about Maruti's build quality should try building a car first...

Please note- I'm not trying to say that the criticism of the evacuation is justified or not. Just trying to say let's not shut down the right to criticize, that's all. Unwarranted criticism can always be countered by facts, not necessarily censorship.

[joe1980]

Did the nuclear warfare already start? The Zaporizhzhia, one of the biggest Nuclear power plant in Europe is hit by Russian missile and is on fire. As of now the fire has been put off, but the question remains if this is a strategic move my Russia to attack power producing units to cut off Ukrainian cities from electricity so that they surrender.