[usernew]

First, I'm not going to click on your twitter links or know what they are, because like those trumpers I just made fun of, you seem to think twitter is some kind of a source of something.

Second, there is no martial law requiring men to defend their country right now, and there is no mass mobilization. Here is what there is, and I actually know and skype with people who this has happened to. There are assholes walking the streets and grocery stores, hunting men. When they find you, they lock you up in a room for a day. During that day, they ask you for increasing amounts of cash to let you out. If you are still there at the end of the day, congratulations, you are now in the army. This is reality.

What makes me an expert, compared to someone like yourself who has not been to either country, and gets his opinions from random twitter accounts and one-sided news, is my parents escaped the USSR, I have lived and worked in both countries, and I have and currently do, talk almost daily to people I know in both countries.

>It is not an excuse for invasion ... lastly, let me remind you that yesterday, today, and tomorrow

I am not sure to whom you are replying. try reading what I wrote, and replying to that. your little rant seems unrelated to the conversation.

>I've watched the Russian preparations for war unfold since October 2021.

you haven't watched anything. you have watched twitter clips from random people, while sitting on your couch, and selecting just the news you want to read, translated into your language by someone. the parrot, is literally you. I am contributing first hand personal experience from myself, and people I actively talk to on the ground in both places. you don't want to read it? you seem to not have. then don't reply to the voices making up a strawman in your head. if you don't read, you can't reply to what's written.

if a quarter of a book page is "a wall of text" to you, this actually explains a lot.

[lisasays]

compared to someone like yourself who has not been to either country,

You don't know anything at all about this person.

And gets his opinions from random twitter accounts and one-sided news,

Pure ad-hominem and absolutely against site guidelines.

What makes me an expert ... is my parents escaped the USSR, I have lived and worked in both countries, and I have and currently do, talk almost daily to people I know in both countries.

This background is sufficient to make you informed; but it doesn't make you an "expert" about anything.

[usernew]

>You don't know anything at all about this person.

I know what he wrote. No personal experience, no credible sources, his reply was a bunch of twitter links. As such, all I do know about this person, is he has no personal experience with the matter, as per his comment.

>Pure ad-hominem and absolutely against site guidelines.

He literally keeps posting one-side of the news, and random twitter links. If you feel attacked by facts, it's time to go vote for trump. stating facts, is not against site rules. In addition - you're not in charge of site rules, and you should eff off with your spam.

> it doesn't make you an "expert" about anything

and as I've said to the other guy, you should read the thing to which you are replying instead of making up a strawman. nowhere did I say I'm an expert at anything. I shared rare personal experience so people can form more balanced opinions, based on extra information.

[reducesuffering]

Half of my family grew up in Kyiv Russian-Ukrainian, experienced other Russian atrocities, or is still there under duress like my uncle’s family. So you’re already blatantly wrong.

Your entire framing is about low level random anecdotal details instead of the actual high level issues, because you have minimal personal experience on the ground yet entirely ignorant on history or geopolitical reality.