Emily

This invasion is not about the US. What Russia is doing is wrong. Not all Russian citizens should be condemned for their government's actions. Ukrainian people deserve support. There is so much misinformation out there and I encourage you to look into things further or ask actual Ukrainian blogs on Tumblr. World War 3 memes aren't funny. Don't send hate to every Russian blog on Tumblr. Try to educate with thorough research and double check facts and elevate Ukrainian voices.

If you think your nice little European country won't suffer the consequences....well, idk what to say to you except that "wow God how I wish that were me".

Even if the conflict doesn't spread outside of the two forces involved, we're going to have a never-before-seen energy crisis, because Europe isn't self-sufficient when it comes to energy, I know for a fact that my country gets 99% of its energy (oil, gas) from Ukraine so prices on everything, from gas to food to literally every single thing that needs gas or oil for its transport and/or production, are going to skyrocket. People WILL starve. Families that are living almost paycheck to paycheck (hi, haha, that's me), are going to be left with fucking NOTHING. And honestly mine is NOWHERE near the worst case, not when I know families from friends or relatives who are already on the brink of starvation as it is.

And all that? It will lead to civil unrest, to riots, because people will be desperate. And not just in Greece. Yes, smaller poor South and Eastern countries will be the first to be affected, but don't for a second believe the UK or France or Denmark won't also suffer the consequences.

So, yeah, Americans shut the fuck up and stop joking with might very well be a nightmare for all of us, with what already is a nightmare for Ukrainian people (and Russians, like idk call me crazy but I don't think regular Russian citizens want a fucking WAR after two+ years of a pandemic). The US won't suffer SHIT, especially now that they decided not to intervene (good call honestly, nobody wants a nuclear holocaust). You'll be fine. But others won't be, so no, you don't get to "cope with gallows humour", because you're not the one in the gallows right now. Stay in your lane and respect people, especially Ukrainians, when they tell you you're being insensitive as fuck.

Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under attack from Russia. This is a war of aggression.

This is so incredibly heartbreaking. I am sO sorry.

I haven’t the words to adequately express how sorry I an that Russia is brutally invading Ukraine. I am wishing strength, survival and victory for the people of Ukraine.🇺🇦

As for Vladimir Putin, the Russian army and their willfully ignorant American supporters?? I cannot even voice what I wish, because clearly articulating exactly what I am thinking would probably get me banned from Tumblr.

He doesn't. That's the super frustrating part of this mess. Everyone with an ounce of knowledge about European-Russian international relations is scratching their heads going "what is this, and why now? He gains nothing."

A lot of people will blame this on NATO expansion concerns, but the truth is that NATO expansion has been a "concern" for years and nothing like this has ever happened (even the Invasion of Crimea in 2014 wasn't near the level of what's happening right now). Putin's not afraid of NATO; NATO's largely proved to be 'all bark and no bite' in response to repeated acts of Russian aggression since 2008. He's gotten bolder and bolder and tried to assassinate an ex-FSB agent-turned British spy on UK soil less than 5 years ago, for god's sake. Also, Ukraine's not even in NATO; if he wanted to be aggressive on that front, he'd go bother the Baltic states. If people think he's scared of NATO, they're not paying attention.

There's basically two answers that I can give that might make some sense:

Ukraine has a lot of natural gas and mineral resource reserves, and he could be trying to control them. He could also be theoretically be trying to gain control of Ukraine's southern ports, since having access to those waters been an everlasting Russian NatSec and trading issue for say......the last thousand years. That doesn't really make much sense considering the circumstances, though, especially since Russia already controls Crimea.

He's an ex-KGB officer whose pride was mortally devastated by the fall of the USSR and has been longing to recreate what was lost for thirty years. He wants to reinstate the Russian Empire (or at least the USSR as he remembers it), and he's tired of waiting for these silly little democracies on his western border to give up their "teenage rebellion phase" and come home to Mother Russia. It would explain Russia's ongoing attempts to undermine democracy worldwide (including in the US in 2016) and their cyberwarfare against the US and UK too, since a Divided West is a Weak West and a Weak West is a Beatable West. It's Russian imperialism at its finest, led by a man emboldened by his hurt ego, the West's appeasement tactics re: Crimea, repeated lack of consequences for Russia's aggressiveness on the world stage, and four years of Trump sucking up to him.

That's.....unfortunately all I've got. #2 makes total sense and is absolutely what's happening, but the way he's going about it and his actions over the past few weeks are really baffling me, because it's a completely irrational and politically stupid way to actually achieve his intended purpose of re-consolidating the former Soviet Bloc (and make no mistake because that is his purpose, which anyone who's ever listened to one of his annual speeches at the Kremlin would know).

1. do not share ANY information about the place, the state, and the members of Ukrainian army. don't like it, don't reblog it, don't even write about it.

2. if you want to get information, do not look for carrds or twt threads. turn on your tv, read a newspaper, look for journalists and officials. do not trust random internet users and do not spread the disinformation and propaganda that is already circulating around here. double check every account you see talking about what's happening before deciding to share it further.