Ser Reptitious

Necessary addition!

Welcome back and congrats on your hard-earned success!

I bet that that the Russians and Trump think that civilian casualties like these will put pressure on Ukraine's government to negotiate, but I think that such actions actually remind the world who was/is the aggressor in this conflict. Because, strangely, there is no equivalent on the Russian civilian side (despite Ukraine holding significant territory inside Russia past and present).

Yeah, but we are talking about career military officers here, not people who have voluntarily bound themselves to Trump. Since he's the Commander in Chief they are duty-bound to obey him, but they also swear to uphold the constitution, so if/when Trump orders them to do something illegal, that will be the moment when lackey vs. non-lackey becomes crucial.

While that would be admirable from a moral principle point of view, wouldn't that just allow Trump to fill those vacancies with his lackeys (quite a scary thought!)?

I really, really want to believe that this heavy early turn-out is a good thing, but after what happened in the US, I am deeply concerned that this could also be a sign of the usually non-voting knuckle-heads having decided to get out and vote for Trump PP. I very much hope that is not the case. I guess we'll find out on Monday. Fingers crossed!

Why? Especially in light of the recent horrible attack on Sumy? Is Russia throwing a lot of money at UEFA/FIFA?

See, from certain people's point of view, it's quite simple: if the issue is (anti-)immigration, then the government should listen to "the people" (those who hold the right opinion). If the issue is (pro-)environment, then those people should shut the f*** up, because government (if the policies are anti-environment) knows best!

I'm sure HoI and his ilk are just as outraged at the power that "undemocratic elites" such as Elon Musk currently yield. He can't seem to shut up about it over in the U.S. Politics thread...

@Rippounet Seems like Le Pen got away with a slap on the wrist (whinging about the 5-year ban aside), so if she appeals how likely is it that the prosecution appeals as well, and could that result in a harsher sentence (and how likely would that be)?

Seinfeld reference, I assume? Never seen the show, so don't get the reference, I'm afraid. Either way, I'm under no illusion about Trump. I'm simply saying that any day that he at least seems somewhat annoyed with Russia might be another 24 hours or so where he doesn't fuck with Ukraine. That's how low the bar is, unfortunately.

Aaah, delicious, delicious fascist tears!

Trump bitching about Putin and making some threats (aside from how impactful they would actually be) is at least a good start...

They usually (probably with good cause) have to fear that they would end up in prison due to rampant corruption during their reign. Plus, having immense power tends to be addictive, especially to autocrats. It will be interesting to see what will happen in Hungary next year. I can't see Orban voluntarily giving up power if he were to lose the election. The likelier a loss looks, the more he will probably follow the same path as Erdogan.

100% this! Here in Romania the Constitutional Court stepped in at the 11th hour to cancel the run-off of the presidential election last December because alarm bells were going off all over the place that the guy who came out of nowhere to take first place in the first round (who was conveniently pro-Russian, although he tried to hide that) received substantial (illegal) foreign assistance and financing, none of which he obviously declared. Yes, cancelling a democratic election is a step that should not be taken lightly. In the meantime it has come out that said candidate has colluded with a violent crime boss to, win or lose, swiftly move after the election to "deal with" troublesome individuals (journalists being critical of him in particular). He has now been charged with six serious criminal counts and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all of them. The trial has not yet been held, but due to the serious nature of the charges, he has been barred from running in the re-run of the elections, now scheduled for May. This is how Trump should have been treated in the U.S. after January 6! Yet despite the fact that it is now clear that Romanian democracy has been saved from likely disaster, pro-democracy groups like Transparency International and the EU's Venice Commission keep "tut-tut"-ing that the (temporary) cancellation of the Presidential election weakened Romanian democracy. To that I say a hearty FUCK YOU! You know what would have weakend/imperilled Romanian democracy? Letting a fascist, who is clearly cheating, win, just for the sake of observing norms, consequences be damned! So yes, 100% what you said @TrueMetis, democracy needs to start fighting back. No more tolerating of the intolerant. If you ain't pro-democracy, you ain't running in a democratic election. End of story.