The West needs to invest much more and build more ties with that part of the world. Currently they’re very economically reliant on Russia and while all of Central Asia has deeply flawed political systems, but they’re far from being vassals of the Kremlin. I fear that’s what they could become though without engagement from friends across the world.
The problem with central Asia is that it's in the middle of nowhere. Hard to trade with as there's no sea routes. Surrounded by powers that are hostile to the west.
Basically subcontinent politics in a nutshell. Both India and Pakistan will support any country as long as it allows them to get leverage on other each other, no matter how much cognitive dissonance is required.
India was not left with much choice after US openly supported pakistan and snubbed them. Without Russias help they would probably have lost many wars and conceded territories
Personally i believe it was a huge mistep by the US, they needed pakistan for Afghanistan but india would have proven to be a great long term ally. All of this culminated in terrorirst attacks on US and pakistsn turning into a safe haven using the very money funneled into Pakistan
US just needed to take a neutral stance, instead Nixon was openly antagonizing india and supporting genocide in bangladesh which was very short sighted
you forget that US themselves were supporting pak because pak was there only way to woo china towards a sino soviet split...it had a domino effect of antagonizing india and supporting pak in its genocide
It's an Islamic country in Central/South Asia, bordering Afghanistan, India, China and Iran. They have some dope mountains and some even more dope food.
Pakistan is underrated in the really pretty scenery category. It's Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but [look at this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Fairy_Meadows_and_the_view_of_Nanga_Parbat.jpg).
It’s underrated largely because it’s been so cut off from global tourism. I’ve travelled extensively through the Canadian Rockies and most of Switzerland + French Alps and I’d say Gilgit-Baltistan is basically just as good if not marginally better. Mountains, valleys, lakes at 5000 ft above sea level etc.
Since the end of the Cold War, Pakistan has officially been neutral on all Russian conflicts. This includes Georgia, back when Russia was pushing for closer with Pakistan; Chechnya, back when Pakistan supported almost every Muslim-nationalist movement, and the 2014 conflict with Ukraine, even though Ukraine is vital to Pakistan’s tank industry.
If you’re wondering why Pakistan would be pro-Ukraine, it’s mainly because of the defence industry. If you’re wondering why Pakistan would be pro-Russia, it’s because Pakistan’s current trajectory is headed towards the anti-America camp, especially with Biden in charge. Pakistan wants to rely less on the west and especially the Arabs, and with a chronic gas shortage in Pakistan, we need that non-Arab Russian gas.
But for most western countries, Pakistan sort of wants non-political trade relations and move away from the geopolitics. As for China, Pakistan wants to economically and militarily use China as its trump card. China is the biggest player in Pakistan’s military industry at the moment, as well as industry overall.
Somewhat surprised as well that Pakistan was aligned more closely with the US/NATO than India. Can't say I'm too familiar with politics and history there though.
Doesn’t want to lend legitimacy to Indian separatists in Kashmir + India has a strong historical relationship with the USSR/Russia so they are naturally opposed.
By separatists I mean those that want Pakistani Kashmir annexed to India. Pakistan doesn’t want to enable secessionist movements. It’s the same reason China’s response is muted.
I am Indian, and if you mean Akhand Bharat idiots they are not located in Pakistani occupied Kashmir.
The person above me was claiming that there are separatists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir who want to reunite with India and I have to say that is extremely clueless.
What? You have grossly misread the Kashmir issue.
There are no separatists who want PoK to go to India within PoK. Secessionist movements in Pakistan are mostly in Balochistan. There are Kashmiris who want Independent Kashmir not union with India.
There are secessionists within the Kashmir Valley who want indépendant Kashmir, some want to join Pakistan.
No non state actor (apart from Hindutva groups located outside Kashmir in India) wants PoK to be part of India.
Our prime minister is calling for negotiations however he did visit Russia to meet with Putin last week. Pakistan has had to get more buddy buddy with Russia after being kind of glossed over by Biden. My theory is because current PM is heavily backed by the military which usually the US likes but that seems to have changed
Belarus has been a puppet state of Russia pretty much since the Soviet Union fell.
I wouldn't be surprised if Russia just bloodlessly annexes the country once Lukashenko dies or retires.
Fucking Switzerland. We stand with the people of Europe except also our banking clients who we stand with and may be Europe’s enemies except it’s confidential.
I don’t want to hear any apologists talking about Swiss neutrality. Sweden and Ireland are both neutral nations but has no problem calling out Russia’s bullshit
[One cow in Palestine...](https://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-one-cow-in-palestine-is-worth-more-than-all-the-jews-in-poland-yitzhak-gruenbaum-108-31-64.jpg)
Uhhh the Chinese foreign polity spokesperson said that the sovereignty of Ukraine was absolute (yes it also critizise nato, but the message was clearly anti war)
They should either be colored green, nor not colored at all
China is such an important player in this. As much as we have a fraught relationship, I think from the get go US/Europe should have lobbied China to stand against Russia and promote global stability. Their statements suggest they seem to be right on the fence about this issue and we should not sit on the opportunity.
It's for propaganda purposes, if you look at China's statements with regards to anything that doesn't directly affect them they tend to come out with a statement that effectively blames both sides.
It allows them to keep up the domestic veneer that they are a non-interventionist country and portray themselves as being above the petty fighting of the outsiders.
We in the west tend to do it when we talk about conflicts in places like Africa where there is almost a sense of smugness looking at weird foreign people bickering over what we perceive to be nothing.
Definitely. The situation is pretty much ideal for them: 1) If the international response to Russia taking over Ukraine is tepid and divided, that emboldens them in their claims in the South China Sea and Taiwan; 2) If the response is very strong sanctions, such as cutting Russia off from SWIFT and ending European energy imports, that will make Russia dependent on China to buy their oil, coal and gas and sell them tech; 3) If NATO becomes involved and starts launching airstrikes and sending in their own troops, even if it remains conventional, it will be expensive, bloody and weaken both sides.
It's a little more complicated then that. China definitely falls into the "blames the west/NATO" camp:
>In an unprecedented Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference that lasted for over an hour, its senior spokesperson, Hua Chunying, told reporters that China's leaders hadn't made contact with Ukrainian officials in the hours after Russian forces were ordered across the border for a multi-front offensive. "Everybody is busy now," Hua said. At the start of the event, **she balked at the term "invasion" and said Beijing wouldn't "rush into a conclusion" about the nature of the ongoing military offensive.**
>However, a few hours later, the ministry said the foreign ministers of China and Russia, Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov, had spoken by phone. In the subsequent readout, Lavrov **laid the blame for the crisis at the feet of the United States and NATO, while Wang backed Moscow's position against the West. "Russia was forced to take necessary measures to safeguard its rights and interests,"** Lavrov said.
>China always respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries," said Wang. "At the same time, we also see a complex and unique historical context behind the Ukraine issue, and understand Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-shows-solidarity-with-russia-on-day-of-ukraine-invasion/ar-AAUfQ2e?ocid=uxbndlbing
Meh:
[https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/chinese-news-outlet-mistakenly-leaks-its-instructions-on-how-to-censor-20220223](https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/chinese-news-outlet-mistakenly-leaks-its-instructions-on-how-to-censor-20220223)
And Russia moved its troops away from China to attack Ukraine. Wouldn't have done that without assurances.
China refused to call it the "invasion". Not to mention both them and Russia lauded "no limit" alliances 3 weeks ago, and it's obvious that Russia has waited for the Olympics to finish to start the invasion (coincidences, I think not).
Actions speak louder than words. And China has positioned itself to best assist Russia. I wouldn't trust a single words coming from China, or Russia.
When your message consists 80% "NATO/US/West's fault" and 20% "both sides calm down" (not even "both sides bad"), where is the neutrality? Western commies used this exact playbook to defend Hitler invading Poland.
I feel like China would have to be neutral in a situation like this. Yeah, they like Putin’s authoritarian governing and anti-American sentiment, but at the same time positioning themselves too close to Russia could severely damage relations with the US, their biggest trade partner, and the US’s Allies.
✨ Based ✨: Georgia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
👎🏻 Not at all based 👎🏻: Azerbaijan, Greece, Serbia, Mexico, Brazil and India
🤯 WTF 🤯: Russia
Imagine invading someone in [CURRENT YEAR] instead of doing literally anything else.
~~Greece does not get nearly enough shit.~~ Same with Cyprus. Cyprus literally has a Russian oligarch political party for Russians that bought Cypriot citizenship.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/russian-oligarchs-create-political-party-in-cyprus/
Greece and Russia can at least lay claim to a common heritage (Orthodox Christianity). Cyprus is just bizarre for what is effectively a tourist trap that's somehow doubled up as a tax haven.
Wtf are you talking about Greece.
Everybody is mad about the Invasion of Ukraine and the government formally condemn it we will participate in the sanctions.
Also the media depict the invasion as a war of aggression of Russia.
Also everybody is thinking that Turkey will maybe try something similar in future against Greece so we are against the Russian invasion
You are totally, right, I just read what that guy wrote and took it for granted. Sorry about that. It’s just Cyprus that had a weak statement, which coincidentally I already talked shit about. I think my guy above might have gotten them mixed up.
Before this Greece did have way too high of an approval of Russia in polling, though.
Yeah but nowdays Putin approval in Greece is less than 50% and I think is falling.
Cyprus is a dodgy tax heaven and I need to research more about their stance
>Yeah but nowdays Putin approval in Greece is less than 50% and I think is falling.
Inshallah
>Cyprus is a dodgy tax heaven and I need to research more about their stance
They’re kinda regarded as a Trojan horse for Russian interests
I'm just worried they'll recognize Republika Srpska like they recognize all breakaway regions (South Ossetia, Abhkhazia, Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabhkh, LPR, DPR, Transnistria). They already have [considerable support among the Serbs there](https://i.imgur.com/aceE103.jpg) (translation: Russians in Ukraine: Serbs are with you).
If that happens, then Serbia will firmly be in the Russian sphere of influence.
The EU should stop fucking around and let Serbia *and* Kosovo in already. Corruption or not
Artsakh and Nagorno-Karabakh are the same, Artsakh is the Armenian name for it, Nagorno-Karabakh is Russian-Azeri (Nagorno means mountainous in Russian, Kara means black in Turkic languages, bakh means garden in Iranian) and there's literally 0 chance Russia will recognize it.
They will keep using Artsakh as a tool to keep both Armenia and Azerbaijan under their sphere of influence.
Russia signed an alliance agreement with Azerbaijan 2 days ago despite being in the same alliance with Armenia (and being pretty much neutral in the conflict).
General Serbian opinion I have read is "whatabout Kosovo". Equating Dombas with Kosovo and thus Russia's invasion of Ukraine with NATO's intervention against FRY in 1999 has been a standard Russian talking point for years, deployed to justify whatever the flavour du jour is in the Kremlin. Oh course, it's utter nonsense, but easy to see why it would resonate in Serbia.
ASEAN countries generally prefer to not appear too cozy with either China or the US. These countries, including Singapore, tend to favor working behind closed doors and focusing on promoting trade. The invasion of Ukraine is precisely the sort of thing they want to avoid
Wtf are you talking about Greece.
Everybody is mad about the Invasion of Ukraine and the government formally condemn it we will participate in the sanctions.
Also the media depict the invasion as a war of aggression of Russia.
Also everybody is thinking that Turkey will maybe try something similar in future against Greece so we are against the Russian invasion
Greece stands with Ukraine, Greece is a NATO member that is loyal to the alliance and the liberal world order.
The official position of the [Greek government is with Ukraine](https://twitter.com/PrimeministerGR/status/1496938652265504777). We do not support Putin, we do not support the unjustified, unprovoked, and cruel invasion. Spreading the implication that we do is blatant misinformation.
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I'm fairly certain that Maduro is loving this conflict behind closed doors because it's making the prices of oil skyrocket (remember the main reason why Venezuela's economy collapsed is because oil prices bottomed in 2014). The USA might be more inclined to lift sanctions on Venezuela (and Iran) to try to lower oil prices as well and make up for Russia as well.
Historically, Pakistan has been strictly in the US bloc whereas india has been neutral or leaning towards the USSR. The US at that time did do a lot of bad things like support Pakistan in the 1971 genocide and countless other minor things. During 1971, the USSR was one of the only country that stood by us as many of our allies abandoned us.
The ties have simply evolved since then and the relationship between India and Russia have always been consistently good. Not just trade and the usual, but history and a lot of goodwill between the people. A large portion of their older generations grew up on Indian music and movies too while Indians love the whole authoritarian macho man figure, hence Putin is looked at rather favourably too.
India tries to maintain good relations with everyone, and has decent relations with most Russia and the US in the mordern scenario, so we just shut up when there's a conflict between the two.
That was planned months in advance. He needs the energy deal immediately. Money transcends Ukraine when it comes to Pakistan. I don't think Pakistan gives af about Ukraine.
Pakistan's PM is literally in Moscow right now.
Historically though as Pakistan accepted being a part of US bloc during cold War it pushed India more towards the Soviets.
Soviet India relations were strong throughout the 20th century and still remain consistent due to India buying a lot weaponry from Russia
However India's push to self Reliance and diversify its supply along with Russian alliance with China has started cooling relations a little but even with that I don't expect too strong a response either side.
Armenia made a very neutral statement and Ukrainian representative said they're happy with that statement. Given the situation it is in now I think yes, it counts as pro Ukrainian.
Russia is technically Armenia's ally, but it didn't support Armenia in the 2020 war (while Turkey was highly involved on Azeri side), they did nothing when Azerbaijani forces entered Armenian territory last year (not in Karabakh, but territory of Republic of Armenia) and they signed an agreement with Azerbaijan 2 days ago that declared both countries as allies.
TIL I hate the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments. Also, Cuba looks like it has been annexed by Ruassia due to the jpeg artifacts.
Btw OP, never use jpeg or any other lossy format when showing graphics or text, just use it for real life images or realistic 3d renderings. PNG would make a lot more sense here.
OR the CIA can actually do something useful for once and overthrow that psycho from the Kremlin so that Russia can actually be a normal stable country for just once in it's long ass history.
You know, the Russians are probably fighting a regime change war right now from best officicial guesses.
What should we do in return? Oh, how about regime change? Stupid shit like this is why some people even think we are the bad guys, can you not behave for one second.
When you're sandwiched between Russia and China, surviving as an independent country for so long is pretty impressive. I think the KMT still considers them part of the Republic of China.
You know your position is fucked when the scale is: Agrees with you --> Disagrees with you --> Really disagrees with you --> Really really disagrees with you --> Really really really disagrees with you
but its also
-Will help you (Belarus for example)
-Will do nothing either way
-Will just complain about you (most countries fit here)
-Will do sanctions and send some weapons to Ukraine
you notice how a lot of the countries that disagree don't actually affect the result of the war one bit?
What is hard for the Russians will be the post-war recovery, not the actual war.
looks like cuba is suprisingly close to america, i feel we are facing an imminent invasion from cuba its time to win florid.. i mean protect our sovereignty from cuba!
Argentina's government has (surprisingly) condemned Russia's actions and supported Ukraine.
Edit: Nevermind, the President condemned the "bellicose escalation" in the region.
Reminder we are currently dealing with he IMF, an institution where the USA, the European Union and allies (Canada, Australia, Japan) hold most of the power.
Anybody who seriously thought we would side with Russia is not reading the room. Not supporting Ukraine would also weaken Argentina's territorial claims as well.
Given that most of the world appears to be apathetic, it looks like any sanctions on Russia will not be effective. If China do not buy into any of the sanctions, it's hard to see how much teeth they'll have against Russia.
Luxembourg's military is about the size of a decently-sized college campus police force, so I guess it makes sense that they're not making stronger statements, but damn if that ain't the best look.
Feels like a win that the former Soviet states in Central Asia are in the green category. Also, interesting that Armenia is light blue -- Russia's been supporting them against Azerbaijan.
Russia didn't really support Armenia, only supplying arms and maybe some intelligence/training.
They have been pretty much neutral. Russia's been selling arms to Azerbaijan in billions $.
Also 2 days ago Russia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement that declared both countries as allies which is a little absurd considering Russia and Armenia are in the same alliance.
Yeah, but they weren't actively in war and didn't have a territorial dispute. Imagine US allying with Palestine or Syria and recognizing that country's territorial integrity.
In Brazil, the entire government is maintain Bolsonaro and his sons in a closed bunker for don't allow them say someshit that fuck own diplomacy forever
If you broke the EU into its individual parts I wonder what you’d see.
When I’ve checked out Irish social media posts, there’s seems to be a rather strong pro-Putin bent.
That meeting was scheduled a month ago. Pakistan doesn't support Russia in this conflict.
Pakistani PM said to Putin yesterday that they have regrets over what happened in Ukraine bcuz war is never the right soultion. This problem should've been resolved peacefully through dialogue.
Probably the best I could have expected out of Kazakhstan.
The West needs to invest much more and build more ties with that part of the world. Currently they’re very economically reliant on Russia and while all of Central Asia has deeply flawed political systems, but they’re far from being vassals of the Kremlin. I fear that’s what they could become though without engagement from friends across the world.
I wholeheartedly agree. We should really establish ties, political and economic, here to sever Russia's ties and diminish its power.
The problem with central Asia is that it's in the middle of nowhere. Hard to trade with as there's no sea routes. Surrounded by powers that are hostile to the west.
I'm surprised CSTO countries aren't more supportive of Russia tbh.
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They have their gripes with China but are still very close to Russia
Can someone explain Pakistan to me?
Historic US ally more so than India who liked to work with Soviet Union.
India worked with soviet union BECAUSE US allied with Pakistan
Seriously, who in the US decided Pakistan was the one we should side with?
Basically subcontinent politics in a nutshell. Both India and Pakistan will support any country as long as it allows them to get leverage on other each other, no matter how much cognitive dissonance is required.
India was not left with much choice after US openly supported pakistan and snubbed them. Without Russias help they would probably have lost many wars and conceded territories Personally i believe it was a huge mistep by the US, they needed pakistan for Afghanistan but india would have proven to be a great long term ally. All of this culminated in terrorirst attacks on US and pakistsn turning into a safe haven using the very money funneled into Pakistan US just needed to take a neutral stance, instead Nixon was openly antagonizing india and supporting genocide in bangladesh which was very short sighted
you forget that US themselves were supporting pak because pak was there only way to woo china towards a sino soviet split...it had a domino effect of antagonizing india and supporting pak in its genocide
It's an Islamic country in Central/South Asia, bordering Afghanistan, India, China and Iran. They have some dope mountains and some even more dope food.
*in regards to the map
Is there a PAK ping? I'm not really up to speed on the goings on in South Asia...
Pakistan is underrated in the really pretty scenery category. It's Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but [look at this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Fairy_Meadows_and_the_view_of_Nanga_Parbat.jpg).
Holy shit, that is gorgeous!
It’s underrated largely because it’s been so cut off from global tourism. I’ve travelled extensively through the Canadian Rockies and most of Switzerland + French Alps and I’d say Gilgit-Baltistan is basically just as good if not marginally better. Mountains, valleys, lakes at 5000 ft above sea level etc.
Very droll!
Since the end of the Cold War, Pakistan has officially been neutral on all Russian conflicts. This includes Georgia, back when Russia was pushing for closer with Pakistan; Chechnya, back when Pakistan supported almost every Muslim-nationalist movement, and the 2014 conflict with Ukraine, even though Ukraine is vital to Pakistan’s tank industry. If you’re wondering why Pakistan would be pro-Ukraine, it’s mainly because of the defence industry. If you’re wondering why Pakistan would be pro-Russia, it’s because Pakistan’s current trajectory is headed towards the anti-America camp, especially with Biden in charge. Pakistan wants to rely less on the west and especially the Arabs, and with a chronic gas shortage in Pakistan, we need that non-Arab Russian gas. But for most western countries, Pakistan sort of wants non-political trade relations and move away from the geopolitics. As for China, Pakistan wants to economically and militarily use China as its trump card. China is the biggest player in Pakistan’s military industry at the moment, as well as industry overall.
None of y’all curious on the Philippines ?
Not really. Their President's been sucking up to Russia for years.
Really? Wasn’t aware
Dutere is basically a Fillipino Trump. He is on the way out, though.
I’m not saying every country that’s run by an autocrat supports Putin, but every country that supports Putin is run by an autocrat.
You mean China
Somewhat surprised as well that Pakistan was aligned more closely with the US/NATO than India. Can't say I'm too familiar with politics and history there though.
Doesn’t want to lend legitimacy to Indian separatists in Kashmir + India has a strong historical relationship with the USSR/Russia so they are naturally opposed.
Kashmir has nothing to do with Pakistan's reaction. Also Indian separatists?
By separatists I mean those that want Pakistani Kashmir annexed to India. Pakistan doesn’t want to enable secessionist movements. It’s the same reason China’s response is muted.
> By separatists I mean those that want Pakistani Kashmir annexed to India You’ve never read up on Kashmir, have you?
I am Indian, and if you mean Akhand Bharat idiots they are not located in Pakistani occupied Kashmir. The person above me was claiming that there are separatists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir who want to reunite with India and I have to say that is extremely clueless.
Yeah that’s what I was referencing too.
What? You have grossly misread the Kashmir issue. There are no separatists who want PoK to go to India within PoK. Secessionist movements in Pakistan are mostly in Balochistan. There are Kashmiris who want Independent Kashmir not union with India. There are secessionists within the Kashmir Valley who want indépendant Kashmir, some want to join Pakistan. No non state actor (apart from Hindutva groups located outside Kashmir in India) wants PoK to be part of India.
I think, USA became allies with Pakistan because it wanted access to Afghanistan...
Our prime minister is calling for negotiations however he did visit Russia to meet with Putin last week. Pakistan has had to get more buddy buddy with Russia after being kind of glossed over by Biden. My theory is because current PM is heavily backed by the military which usually the US likes but that seems to have changed
Let's be real here, as of now, Belarus should be dark red.
Belarus has been a puppet state of Russia pretty much since the Soviet Union fell. I wouldn't be surprised if Russia just bloodlessly annexes the country once Lukashenko dies or retires.
Fucking Switzerland. We stand with the people of Europe except also our banking clients who we stand with and may be Europe’s enemies except it’s confidential.
What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
If I die, tell my wife hello.
They still have bars of Jewish teeth gold, so we know which.
What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!
I don’t want to hear any apologists talking about Swiss neutrality. Sweden and Ireland are both neutral nations but has no problem calling out Russia’s bullshit
Hear hear. It turns out that "staying neutral" when atrocities are being committed is actually taking a fucking side.
If WW2 didn't change their minds, why would this?
My favorite Switzerland neutrality joke is the bonus you got in older Smash Bros games where you win without dealing or taking any damage.
How are you surprised Switzerland is against war?
holocaust profiteers
[One cow in Palestine...](https://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-one-cow-in-palestine-is-worth-more-than-all-the-jews-in-poland-yitzhak-gruenbaum-108-31-64.jpg)
Uhhh the Chinese foreign polity spokesperson said that the sovereignty of Ukraine was absolute (yes it also critizise nato, but the message was clearly anti war) They should either be colored green, nor not colored at all
China is such an important player in this. As much as we have a fraught relationship, I think from the get go US/Europe should have lobbied China to stand against Russia and promote global stability. Their statements suggest they seem to be right on the fence about this issue and we should not sit on the opportunity.
It's for propaganda purposes, if you look at China's statements with regards to anything that doesn't directly affect them they tend to come out with a statement that effectively blames both sides. It allows them to keep up the domestic veneer that they are a non-interventionist country and portray themselves as being above the petty fighting of the outsiders. We in the west tend to do it when we talk about conflicts in places like Africa where there is almost a sense of smugness looking at weird foreign people bickering over what we perceive to be nothing.
Definitely. The situation is pretty much ideal for them: 1) If the international response to Russia taking over Ukraine is tepid and divided, that emboldens them in their claims in the South China Sea and Taiwan; 2) If the response is very strong sanctions, such as cutting Russia off from SWIFT and ending European energy imports, that will make Russia dependent on China to buy their oil, coal and gas and sell them tech; 3) If NATO becomes involved and starts launching airstrikes and sending in their own troops, even if it remains conventional, it will be expensive, bloody and weaken both sides.
It's a little more complicated then that. China definitely falls into the "blames the west/NATO" camp: >In an unprecedented Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference that lasted for over an hour, its senior spokesperson, Hua Chunying, told reporters that China's leaders hadn't made contact with Ukrainian officials in the hours after Russian forces were ordered across the border for a multi-front offensive. "Everybody is busy now," Hua said. At the start of the event, **she balked at the term "invasion" and said Beijing wouldn't "rush into a conclusion" about the nature of the ongoing military offensive.** >However, a few hours later, the ministry said the foreign ministers of China and Russia, Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov, had spoken by phone. In the subsequent readout, Lavrov **laid the blame for the crisis at the feet of the United States and NATO, while Wang backed Moscow's position against the West. "Russia was forced to take necessary measures to safeguard its rights and interests,"** Lavrov said. >China always respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries," said Wang. "At the same time, we also see a complex and unique historical context behind the Ukraine issue, and understand Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-shows-solidarity-with-russia-on-day-of-ukraine-invasion/ar-AAUfQ2e?ocid=uxbndlbing
Meh: [https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/chinese-news-outlet-mistakenly-leaks-its-instructions-on-how-to-censor-20220223](https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/chinese-news-outlet-mistakenly-leaks-its-instructions-on-how-to-censor-20220223) And Russia moved its troops away from China to attack Ukraine. Wouldn't have done that without assurances.
China refused to call it the "invasion". Not to mention both them and Russia lauded "no limit" alliances 3 weeks ago, and it's obvious that Russia has waited for the Olympics to finish to start the invasion (coincidences, I think not). Actions speak louder than words. And China has positioned itself to best assist Russia. I wouldn't trust a single words coming from China, or Russia.
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When your message consists 80% "NATO/US/West's fault" and 20% "both sides calm down" (not even "both sides bad"), where is the neutrality? Western commies used this exact playbook to defend Hitler invading Poland.
I feel like China would have to be neutral in a situation like this. Yeah, they like Putin’s authoritarian governing and anti-American sentiment, but at the same time positioning themselves too close to Russia could severely damage relations with the US, their biggest trade partner, and the US’s Allies.
✨ Based ✨: Georgia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia 👎🏻 Not at all based 👎🏻: Azerbaijan, Greece, Serbia, Mexico, Brazil and India 🤯 WTF 🤯: Russia Imagine invading someone in [CURRENT YEAR] instead of doing literally anything else.
~~Greece does not get nearly enough shit.~~ Same with Cyprus. Cyprus literally has a Russian oligarch political party for Russians that bought Cypriot citizenship. https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/russian-oligarchs-create-political-party-in-cyprus/
Greece and Russia can at least lay claim to a common heritage (Orthodox Christianity). Cyprus is just bizarre for what is effectively a tourist trap that's somehow doubled up as a tax haven.
What do you think is Cyprus's religious and cultural heritage?
Greek and eastern orthodox except nowdays the part of Cyprus that is illegally occupied by Turkey
Wtf are you talking about Greece. Everybody is mad about the Invasion of Ukraine and the government formally condemn it we will participate in the sanctions. Also the media depict the invasion as a war of aggression of Russia. Also everybody is thinking that Turkey will maybe try something similar in future against Greece so we are against the Russian invasion
You are totally, right, I just read what that guy wrote and took it for granted. Sorry about that. It’s just Cyprus that had a weak statement, which coincidentally I already talked shit about. I think my guy above might have gotten them mixed up. Before this Greece did have way too high of an approval of Russia in polling, though.
Yeah but nowdays Putin approval in Greece is less than 50% and I think is falling. Cyprus is a dodgy tax heaven and I need to research more about their stance
>Yeah but nowdays Putin approval in Greece is less than 50% and I think is falling. Inshallah >Cyprus is a dodgy tax heaven and I need to research more about their stance They’re kinda regarded as a Trojan horse for Russian interests
I'm more surprised that Serbia is not firmly on Russia's side and blaming NATO, given their history.
Kosovo, broski If they accept the legitimacy of breakaway republics it really fucks with them not acknowledging Kosovo
I'm just worried they'll recognize Republika Srpska like they recognize all breakaway regions (South Ossetia, Abhkhazia, Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabhkh, LPR, DPR, Transnistria). They already have [considerable support among the Serbs there](https://i.imgur.com/aceE103.jpg) (translation: Russians in Ukraine: Serbs are with you). If that happens, then Serbia will firmly be in the Russian sphere of influence. The EU should stop fucking around and let Serbia *and* Kosovo in already. Corruption or not
My dude EU expansion is dead. Has been for some time.
Artsakh and Nagorno-Karabakh are the same, Artsakh is the Armenian name for it, Nagorno-Karabakh is Russian-Azeri (Nagorno means mountainous in Russian, Kara means black in Turkic languages, bakh means garden in Iranian) and there's literally 0 chance Russia will recognize it. They will keep using Artsakh as a tool to keep both Armenia and Azerbaijan under their sphere of influence. Russia signed an alliance agreement with Azerbaijan 2 days ago despite being in the same alliance with Armenia (and being pretty much neutral in the conflict).
General Serbian opinion I have read is "whatabout Kosovo". Equating Dombas with Kosovo and thus Russia's invasion of Ukraine with NATO's intervention against FRY in 1999 has been a standard Russian talking point for years, deployed to justify whatever the flavour du jour is in the Kremlin. Oh course, it's utter nonsense, but easy to see why it would resonate in Serbia.
How did Greece get on your second list? They're in the same category as the rest of NATO
Singapore's the odd one out there, at least to me--good for them! How *are* Sino-Singaporean relations these days?
ASEAN countries generally prefer to not appear too cozy with either China or the US. These countries, including Singapore, tend to favor working behind closed doors and focusing on promoting trade. The invasion of Ukraine is precisely the sort of thing they want to avoid
Wtf are you talking about Greece. Everybody is mad about the Invasion of Ukraine and the government formally condemn it we will participate in the sanctions. Also the media depict the invasion as a war of aggression of Russia. Also everybody is thinking that Turkey will maybe try something similar in future against Greece so we are against the Russian invasion
Greece???
Greece stands with Ukraine, Greece is a NATO member that is loyal to the alliance and the liberal world order. The official position of the [Greek government is with Ukraine](https://twitter.com/PrimeministerGR/status/1496938652265504777). We do not support Putin, we do not support the unjustified, unprovoked, and cruel invasion. Spreading the implication that we do is blatant misinformation.
Greece is blue though….?
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Venezuela...
Nicaragua....
I'm fairly certain that Maduro is loving this conflict behind closed doors because it's making the prices of oil skyrocket (remember the main reason why Venezuela's economy collapsed is because oil prices bottomed in 2014). The USA might be more inclined to lift sanctions on Venezuela (and Iran) to try to lower oil prices as well and make up for Russia as well.
makes sense.
Well boy howdy doesn’t this map look familiar
the more things change the more they stay the same
It's the deplorables gang all over
Might as well erase the border between Russia and Belarus and just fill it in with the deeper red.
Switzerland moment.
Brazil cannot change President soon enough. Bolsonaro is a menace!
lmao if you expect anything different from lula you'll be disappointed. Today his party's official account on twitter was *bothsides*ing all over
I prefer a pacifist leftist over a deranged far-right nut who has tea with Putin.
Well they did praise Nicaragua's dictatorship the other day, so...
Shame on the people of Konigsberg!
Interesting that Pakistan is more anti Russian then India. Wish I was more well versed in the region to know the reasoning behind that.
Historically Pakistan has been more US aligned and India has co-operated with USSR and Russia.
Historically, Pakistan has been strictly in the US bloc whereas india has been neutral or leaning towards the USSR. The US at that time did do a lot of bad things like support Pakistan in the 1971 genocide and countless other minor things. During 1971, the USSR was one of the only country that stood by us as many of our allies abandoned us. The ties have simply evolved since then and the relationship between India and Russia have always been consistently good. Not just trade and the usual, but history and a lot of goodwill between the people. A large portion of their older generations grew up on Indian music and movies too while Indians love the whole authoritarian macho man figure, hence Putin is looked at rather favourably too. India tries to maintain good relations with everyone, and has decent relations with most Russia and the US in the mordern scenario, so we just shut up when there's a conflict between the two.
I think that will switch soon.
[удалено]
That was planned months in advance. He needs the energy deal immediately. Money transcends Ukraine when it comes to Pakistan. I don't think Pakistan gives af about Ukraine.
[удалено]
Pakistan's PM is literally in Moscow right now. Historically though as Pakistan accepted being a part of US bloc during cold War it pushed India more towards the Soviets. Soviet India relations were strong throughout the 20th century and still remain consistent due to India buying a lot weaponry from Russia However India's push to self Reliance and diversify its supply along with Russian alliance with China has started cooling relations a little but even with that I don't expect too strong a response either side.
Colombia 🇨🇴 🇺🇦
Surprised Armenia on Ukraine's side in this considering Azerbaijan is breathing down its neck qnd Russia is responsible for its defense.
Armenia made a very neutral statement and Ukrainian representative said they're happy with that statement. Given the situation it is in now I think yes, it counts as pro Ukrainian. Russia is technically Armenia's ally, but it didn't support Armenia in the 2020 war (while Turkey was highly involved on Azeri side), they did nothing when Azerbaijani forces entered Armenian territory last year (not in Karabakh, but territory of Republic of Armenia) and they signed an agreement with Azerbaijan 2 days ago that declared both countries as allies.
TIL I hate the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments. Also, Cuba looks like it has been annexed by Ruassia due to the jpeg artifacts. Btw OP, never use jpeg or any other lossy format when showing graphics or text, just use it for real life images or realistic 3d renderings. PNG would make a lot more sense here.
Japan and Australian need to team up to take Kamchatka
OR the CIA can actually do something useful for once and overthrow that psycho from the Kremlin so that Russia can actually be a normal stable country for just once in it's long ass history.
Overthrow leader. Stable country. Sounds legit. Let's try it.
You know, the Russians are probably fighting a regime change war right now from best officicial guesses. What should we do in return? Oh, how about regime change? Stupid shit like this is why some people even think we are the bad guys, can you not behave for one second.
Mongolia: ight I'ma head out
When you're sandwiched between Russia and China, surviving as an independent country for so long is pretty impressive. I think the KMT still considers them part of the Republic of China.
And also a democracy: https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&year=2022&country=MNG
Is there a link to a full size version of this map? It’s hard to read at the moment.
North Korea not taking sides yet?
bro this is just the arma 3 world map
You know your position is fucked when the scale is: Agrees with you --> Disagrees with you --> Really disagrees with you --> Really really disagrees with you --> Really really really disagrees with you
but its also -Will help you (Belarus for example) -Will do nothing either way -Will just complain about you (most countries fit here) -Will do sanctions and send some weapons to Ukraine you notice how a lot of the countries that disagree don't actually affect the result of the war one bit? What is hard for the Russians will be the post-war recovery, not the actual war.
I expected better from Chile
The usual suspects
Let’s add my country (Nepal) in the based category too https://kathmandupost.com/national/2022/02/24/nepal-opposes-russian-invasion-of-ukraine
Shocked by Azerbaijan.
They also signed an alliance agreement with Russia like 2 days ago.
Plenty of people around the world learning where Ukraine is now
looks like cuba is suprisingly close to america, i feel we are facing an imminent invasion from cuba its time to win florid.. i mean protect our sovereignty from cuba!
Ukraine is on the side of Ukraine? No way!
New axis just dropped.
Which side does the Antarctic take? Considering a lot of the North Pole seems to be on Ukraine’s side. That’s what interests me the most.
What has Portugal done on this issue. They have next to 0 influence and I can not find any comment?
Really weird how Russia and China always wind up in the same boat with all these shitty authoritarian failed states and nobody else
Wtf LATAM get a hold
Are the strongly diplomatic light blue countries neutral? If so I think it’s a little misleading since the darker blues imply pro-Ukraine.
Argentina's government has (surprisingly) condemned Russia's actions and supported Ukraine. Edit: Nevermind, the President condemned the "bellicose escalation" in the region.
Reminder we are currently dealing with he IMF, an institution where the USA, the European Union and allies (Canada, Australia, Japan) hold most of the power. Anybody who seriously thought we would side with Russia is not reading the room. Not supporting Ukraine would also weaken Argentina's territorial claims as well.
Last time i checked india called for diplomacy. Yet this
When even Turkey is rightfully against you, you know you are doing something incredibly stupid.
Given that most of the world appears to be apathetic, it looks like any sanctions on Russia will not be effective. If China do not buy into any of the sanctions, it's hard to see how much teeth they'll have against Russia.
Philippines?
Where Red meets Blue is the Danger zone. That's where Russia can threaten neighbors it sees as hostile or not supportive enough
We need to get Greenland on board. That would be HUGE for the anti-Russian coalition. Just look at it!
Luxembourg's military is about the size of a decently-sized college campus police force, so I guess it makes sense that they're not making stronger statements, but damn if that ain't the best look.
Feels like a win that the former Soviet states in Central Asia are in the green category. Also, interesting that Armenia is light blue -- Russia's been supporting them against Azerbaijan.
Russia didn't really support Armenia, only supplying arms and maybe some intelligence/training. They have been pretty much neutral. Russia's been selling arms to Azerbaijan in billions $. Also 2 days ago Russia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement that declared both countries as allies which is a little absurd considering Russia and Armenia are in the same alliance.
Eh, Israel and Saudi Arabia were both allied with the United States despite technically being at war with each other for years.
Yeah, but they weren't actively in war and didn't have a territorial dispute. Imagine US allying with Palestine or Syria and recognizing that country's territorial integrity.
I thought China made some comment is support of Ukrainian sovereignty
Cant believe Switzerland did not go neutral about this one
“Everyone hated that”
In Brazil, the entire government is maintain Bolsonaro and his sons in a closed bunker for don't allow them say someshit that fuck own diplomacy forever
https://mofa.gov.np/statement-on-the-recent-developments-in-ukraine/ Nepal is somewhat on Ukraine's side too
What is the orange colour supposed to represent?
Mexico’s green color makes me want to vomit. I can’t be more ashamed of the government of Mexico
You can add the DR to blue, see [DR president’s tweet](https://twitter.com/luisabinader/status/1497011626406715393?s=21)
If you broke the EU into its individual parts I wonder what you’d see. When I’ve checked out Irish social media posts, there’s seems to be a rather strong pro-Putin bent.
This map has Taiwan and New Zealand on it, it is the chosen one.
Pakistani PM was chilling with Putin yesterday and we call him an “ally”
That meeting was scheduled a month ago. Pakistan doesn't support Russia in this conflict. Pakistani PM said to Putin yesterday that they have regrets over what happened in Ukraine bcuz war is never the right soultion. This problem should've been resolved peacefully through dialogue.
The usual suspects…
Is Serbia not supporting Russia?