BlueOak

Of course its all about world power or influence to many, not every leader thinks like that, for some its much more about quality of life. I think the smaller the state, the more this becomes its focus, and so they elect a leader that represents this. A federal europe just sounded much more appealing. How often have you done something even after you knew you shouldn't. How many leaders have to get voted out or removed by force before they step down? Sometimes people are overly selfish. People who want to lead, find it difficult not to lead, they shaped their lives around it. Leaders cling to power long after they should have stepped down. I think that's often the case. Even when in themselves though know its time to leave. >>>And he will naturally believe that even if the Russia people are influenced by the Wes to want to be more Western, that will weaken Russia because the West does not care about Russian sovereignty or strength. This was insightful into his mindset. Thank you.

@zurew You are correct I can feel I am lying to myself and inventing the fantasy I want to see rather than what is there. In part this is because of the deception given to the 'opposition' in a war, to make the case something is going to happen when it isn't. Interesting thing is I was feeling this a moment ago too on my own. Thank you for taking the time to break this down and persist with the truth. I am hopeful still that maybe people will seize on this to make a renewables case more loudly, that might be one positive. I do believe the UK has made good moves towards renewables, and will soon be selling more excess clean energy. I do believe when they say the remaining 11% of reliance on Russian gas will be slowly removed over the next year, no doubt stalling and toning that down as the time draws closer. *I think they planned a year but I don't remember the exact date.

I did not do it justice to generalise all these countries together. There is a move and there is political will to slowly come off Russian gas now. It will get people elected to make moves in that direction, balanced by not damaging economies too much. For example: Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy of course have a hard time while France and Poland have some reliance, Spain, Portugal and the UK have much less. I would drop a link of exact percentages but they contradict, that's the overall impression I get from the numbers. It is really anyone's guess who benefits, Iran, Saudi Arabi, Nuclear Power, Renewables, American or Canadian, Oil and Gas Lobbies, probably all of them. Russia is going to lose, how much depends on the negotiations to come. They will sell the difference to China and Asia for less profit overall, that's almost a guaranteed dip in their GDP, and handing more of their economic power to China as a result. So China and Asia benefit. Unless renewables get a big push, big losers will be the environmentalists. Honestly though and I am always talking about the environment, I think we never take it seriously enough. I don't mind in the short term for world stability and to remove the chokehold Russia has on Europe. If this moment isn't used as a way to get off Russian gas slowly we never will. With them taking Crimea and parts of Ukraine they control even more gas. Of course it also removes our ability to ever in the future threaten them with not buying it, but as one poster said much earlier in the thread, countries have to become more self sufficient. That goes for the EU as a whole as well, I hope the EU continues to draw closer together and generate their own energy supplies.

@Fleetinglife Hopefully Great news! I won't get too excited but that is promising. Thank you for sharing. Just as the US comes off Russian Energy and more of Europe is pressured to. Call me cynical but that seems like a factor. Maybe the men with money in Russia were finally moved to ask Putin for some kind of compromise.

Thank you for that information it helps to know that it's less likely. I wish it was as simple as someone saying NATO will disallow it. There often comes a point where there is an incident that drags people into war. We can hope that doesn't happen. It remains a possibility in Moldova that I hope we never see, but my hope doesn't mean much when the Belarus president was telling us that was their original intent. Hopefully Putin will be pushed back enough and lose enough he doesn't ever go there. As people stack more and more troops on the border, and take new defense postures, moving from deterrence to defense as the Estonia president called it, the potential for an incident happening increases. People were already worried when a NATO jet went down early in the war, but it was technical and weather related apparently. I hope I worry over nothing. I hope you are 100% correct and the Romanians in Moldova live a long, happy and peaceful life.

Slightly better take than i've seen elsewhere but still not fully universal. He's not full taking into account Eastern Europe, or Ukraine but is he more aware realities of war, NATO and somewhat of Russia. It will be a miracle if Russia invades Moldova that Romania completely hold their cool. Just like if this drags on Poland is likely to be further drawn in to Ukraine and by definition their allies. I think America and to an extent Russia being so massive fails to see Eastern Europe more like states reacting to other states. The relationship is not that simple but its closer than America reacting to Russia would be given the Europe countries proximity, shared cultures, and families that live over borders. I love that he calls out people's careers being made on war, and more reflection on the military industrial complex being a driving factor would be useful. I love that he calls out people viewing it like supporting a sports team from the comfort of their home. Its an ugly truth that people see excitement or careers made from sensationalizing war. A horrible one but if people don't look at it, it will never change.

Even completely ignoring the wider picture. The main thing is at the moment Russia still doesn't understand or admit the reality of what its got itself into. Going as far as to shut itself off completely from all outside sources and live in a bubble. Saying just stop fighting is impossible now, even if every country told the people (on both sides now) it will not happen for the next 20 years. Unless they negotiate officially and stop, this region is destined to be a warzone and it always was the second that war was declared.

Ukraine took back a small city: Its not all one sided if you watch channels like this: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheEngineeringWorld You'll see numerous successes from Ukraine. Several Russia senior commanders dead (Actual generals), supply lines cut and many desertions. More foreign fighters are arriving, more equipment is arriving. Ukraine is fighting for many countries now not just itself. If Russia's army is broken enough here it will stop Putin invading anywhere else for the next few decades, or maybe the rest of his life. If they roll over they won't have a country just constant rebellion and suffering. If they fight they will keep the west of Ukraine and perhaps more than that. China is watching this and Taiwan is next. That's a given. Other countries also. Suffering is going to happen whether we like it or not. All we can do is contain and limit it. *And by the way the longer this goes on the more likely someone takes down Putin. People can deny that all they want but its an increasing chance from global and internal pressure.

PS You are creating the alone feeling too :D. Pick a different one. Smile and laugh for a while. Love for a while. Be grateful.

Teal Swan Sevan Bomar Almine Sadhguru Moojiji Eckhart tolle Dan Winter Carl Sagan The fifth agreement Your Cat. The person next to you. The person you hate the most. The person you are in love with. The open field you sit in listening to the wind. The rain on your face. The music that choose. Anger. Sadness. Love. Joy. Yourself. Yourself. Yourself. Hope it helps.

Thank you I can't get spell check to work yet in this browser. *edited.

@Fleetinglife NATO made plenty of bad decisions. Ukraine did too. We can all see them if we look. But if the objective was to not get Ukraine to join NATO invading the Crimea showed a lack of understanding of Ukraine or Eastern Europe's perspective, a common theme through almost all commentators and people speaking about it. The west didn't understand Russia's perspective and Putin sure didn't understand Eastern Europe's either it seems. You can watch documentaries on the coup and see students being arrested then, all the violence, the resistance, the community coming together, the church getting involved and people shot. The government in the coup brought itself down with its own actions. When the governments' opposition party sent a spokesman to speak to the protesters before its fall, he was so out of touch with the people's anger after all the violence I was completely stunned. All of the government were so far out of touch it crumbled. You;ll be never able to convince me that the USA somehow convinced the church or the local population to do something it didn't want to do. That anger wasn't there and boiling over toward a government that didn't reflect the population at all. Just like any puppet government won't this time, because nobody seems to ever want to recognize that you can only rule a country with a government that it accepts or expects. Russia meddles in the western countries' politics in the same way, but if people don't have the opinion in the first place, nothing can come of it. All they can do is expose what is already there and give it a voice.

I would guess if he used the word fiesty it was a compliment yes! I see that but I feel The Masculine for me is steadiness, protective, providing, disciplined. calm and rational. The feminine for me is creative, spontaneous, playful, passionate and expressive.

Well we all have preferences, so to generalise observations and my own: Nothing sexier than a strong willed woman. I like a woman I can talk to like anyone else, and that challenges me. Fiery personality, because I have a strong personality a meek woman and I never last. I find that sort of fire in someone exciting. I also am attracted to spontaneity a lot because I am the opposite, dependable, reliable and steady. Clothing, mannerisms, and voice softness are sexy. Think a whisper in the ear, a hand on the shoulder etc. A man often has either the harder edge to them, logical way of thinking, the stern or competitive nature. So to balance that I think many prefer draping clothing, bracelets, scarf, earrings, men often are attracted visually at first so not dismissing that side of femininity is important. I personally like women who like touch, but everyone has their own way of expressing love. Some its gifts, some its voice, some its actions. For me a girl resting her head on my shoulder or sitting across my lap, those kind of things are love to me. Also again for me personally because I am overly serious, I like a partner that isn't. I like to be with someone who makes me want to joke with them, mess around and let my guard down. I find that kind of openess attractive in people generally, not just romantic partners. Picture a fiery personality, who was joking with me, while we discussed something we both enjoyed sitting in our favorite spot together, and you'd see my ideal woman. - Togetherness. I need to her reflect companionship. Damn now I want to start dating again, enough of this fantasy. Hope it helps.

You see one side of the fear. The fear of and from Russia if they lose. What you don't see is the exact same thing mirrored in NATO and Europe, especially in the east. Both will have the same result unless both can be seen to come out with a 'win' because this is a zero sum game all countries currently play. Like most. You completely miss what the Ukrainians themselves want and that there will be no peace because a Russian government will not represent the people. Russia will not adapt. Even if everyone but Ukraine worked for Russia to secure Ukraine, there will still be rebellion, until Ukraine's perspective is given the most attention for their own country. There has just been a revolution, now their country is at war. Putin is making a bad decision after a bad decision, based on a fantasy that doesn't exist, ignoring the reality of his own country which is in decline not the old USSR. Recent Bad Decisions: Invade Crimea, Ukraine moves closer to NATO Start a proxy war, Ukraine moves closer to NATO Invade Ukraine, Ukraine almost completely aligns with the western perspective. NATO is more unified than ever, the EU even drew closer together from a disjointed mess. Demand the disarmament of the population, it makes every soldier your enemy. Send 150,000 troops when he needs a million. Not supply his special forces when they needed it so many die in the first few days. Send generals to the front so three of them die. Not acknowledge he's in a war, so not plan or execute one. Underestimate his opposition Underestimate Eastern Europes reaction and so NATO's reaction. Not prepare his forces for the reality of what they will face, so they stall, their morale breaks and many conscripts run. By far the biggest mistake was invading the entire country in the first place. He is now purely in reaction and has lost many of his options. He's closed his country down into soviet times and become like Stalin. He didn't understand or like almost anyone I see speak on Ukraines own perspective, or that of eastern europe. He didn't know how the people of Ukraine would receive him I could do the wests bad decisions and the post would be about as long. In fact just swap the words over and you've almost got it. Unprepared, not realising the danger, underestimating, not acknowledging reality, fear ruling their decision making. Also add some arrogance and even more warmongering factors like an entire industry dedicated to it.

For Emotion: With all the generals and young people that are talked about dying now, its also the most selfless that die in war. The part of the population that heal the sick, try to show the world what's going on, or try to hold life together for everyone that is left.

Thank you that was helpful 6th - Ego Death. 7th - Spiritual Activation(s) 8th - Universal Love I hate tiers but its what we do. You'd have to lose the tiers after 5 *Though we have spiritual ego's so that's all a blur, can't do tiers after 5

@stefm5 I have an internal struggle between properly integrating emotion and thought right now. I am getting mixed messages shown back to me as as result. It doesn't help that this is the most stressful time we all find ourselves under and everyone is going through it. Emotions can absolutely divide, it comes from the identity they were founded on or to create a new one. If I was angry and shouting in your face, that would be an emotion that would be sure to separate. What I just did to K Ghoul was make their words out as entirely separate from me, reject what they said, belittle them, and tell them to have a different perspective. I've done that three times since I've been on this forum and apologized to each person I did it to. Its a an abusive trauma I suffered growing up which I still repeat. It was a complete detachment from their words, and then a complete lack of my attempt to understand or empathize with them. Yes no agenda can justify killing. Killing for killing is the most brutal and hard to accept part of humanity there is. I wish more of that was echoed in those around me and in myself. I wish there was a far greater outcry for how much this is hurting others and the trauma it inflicts on generations to come, the distrust, the division and the pain. That emotion is needed but so is empathy.

@stefm5 It is the immediate concern but there is a limited amount I can do about the defense. I have done the tiny amount I can elsewhere. So yeah that emotion was purely self indulgent of me and also useless. Didn't help anything, only division and separation and to make me feel good. Emotional masturbation we can call it. @K Ghoul Apologies for the above.

@stefm5 Its like I am back 20 years ago, seeing the Russians repeat the Americans words to me. We invade! They are in the buildings, so we destroyed the buildings. We don't know who to shoot, so we shoot a lot of people. What other option did we have? NOT TO BE THERE. Only now we've got people imprisoning people that talk about it, and someone saying that's a good thing. So they can't even see what is going on and have any reflection to the truth within their own country. I mean all these dystopian predictions seem to become more true every year.

So the problem is what you believe to be possible. You are seeing the nature of reality and its scary. I get that. What you believe to be possible shapes your life, your reactions, your fears and your reality. Do you see that? So rather than having 1 single belief here which seems a monumental thing to overcome, you have several to look at. Anything related to you. If you believe you are an idiot chances are you will be. You will look for things in life that reinforce that and say see that's the example! When an other might just say that's life, that's the way we learn, or that was me on a bad day. Uncertainty is understandable when you begin to see this. Fear is understandable as you question the nature of how you shape reality. So take it slow and meditate, calm yourself and approach it with that mindset. Otherwise stress and fear can be cumulative. Its also understandable that you are wanting to group all of this under one fear and disassociate it as that one thing. *Couldn't see the video at first but i'll have a watch thank you.

Shake the belief up. Say something absurd outloud. Say a pig in a dress will be standing behind you, offering you a cocktail with a pink umbrella 5 minutes from now. Your belief is what shapes your life and you can now see that belief outside of yourself, so even now its not got the hold over you it had. As soon as something becomes conscious everything changes. Life will reflect that its an irrational fear now rather than an actual reality, so you've already changed your own reality. Pick your beliefs and identities to give you the life you want.

@Preety_India Sorry if I was harsh. Just emotion coming up. An opposite perspective might be: *The self righteous attitude of western leaders that they know best. *Belief that democracy was right for everyone. *The ability to distance ourselves from others suffering, its over there on TV so it doesn't matter. *An entire industry in America and other countries dedicated to causing as much war as possible for profit. *People being excited about war, fixated on its 24 hour coverage. Media and films highlighting this *The belief that we are safer if one country rules the world and we align with its values. *WW2 causing such trauma that we wanted a single global power to save us from it happening again. *People in Power using division as a way to make a name for themselves *The cold war. The belief communism or socialism needs to be fought globally by force of arms, and by using anyone to do it. That's off the top of my head for another non NATO perspective.

@Preety_India *Missing the aggression of Authoritarian Regimes that causes the fear and the will or want to be aggressive. *Missing the rising eastern powers changing the balance within Russia, Nato, America, Europe etc. The fear and reaction this causes. *Missing the meddling of the east in west politics. *Again Missing Ukraines perspective *Missing the Eastern European History and Perspective, the historic Fear of Russia. *Equating Nato with America and thinking there was unity there on these all operations. When at best there was tolerance. *Missing Russia's internal moves to align its own politics more with China and the fear of a new Stalin. *Missing the numerous historical proxy wars across the globe with Russia in them. People seem to think it was only NATO that was active in these civil wars. *Crediting NATO with being able to control the people's minds in these countries, that they had no agency themselves in these conflicts. You get the idea, that's just off the top of my head. It such a biased take and i've seen it repeated so often that I am beginning to think people would just prefer the scapegoat. Sorry to come off frustrated here with you, I am not, I am frustrated with people's lack of will to look at a wider perspective.

Missing the Ukrainian perspective completely, just like the title video of this thread that focuses on great powers. Then Demonizing the man like people are doing with Putin.