I would say rather than the West refusing to acknowledge Ukraines success they are merely being cautious though, if they were to say Ukraine is winning, and then they suffered some knock backs it might suck the life out of attempts to support them, arm them etc. It is better to under promise over deliver.
The sources seem to be agreeing that there has been a massive fight back on the outskirts of Ukraine though, they have pushed the Russians back bigly. If they could encircle a load of them and get a surrender that would be massive. Also moving them backwards quickly hopefully means they’ll leave a shit load of their gear behind as they have been doing all along, without being pushed back.
Very sad that all this means Putin is just going to fucking level the place though
How much of that is down to neo liberalism, or lack of policies, from the Irish government over the last 10 or so years? I’d say many families are just about getting by, with enough struggling also. I don’t think it’s a true reflection of wealth. Wages certainly aren’t rising at the same rate. Ireland isn’t poor but the numbers that place Ireland 1st or 2nd in the EU are also skewed. We’re nearer to midway in the EEC 26.
We are extremely lucky on the refugee front because we are a small island on the very west of europe. There are very few direct routes here from countries where people usually flee. Frankly, a lot of them havent heard of Ireland and would rather go live in places more famous, or where their friends are. Places like London, France, germany etc. We get far less per capita than other places. And we sent people all over the world from here for over 150 years. Lads moaning about refugees really annoy me.
Considering how many undocumented irish there are all over the world, id say we can suck up a few extra dodgy folk.
The issue is though how a small country like ours will cope with an influx of maybe 200,000 people. Anyone who dares ask any reasonable question about this is immediately shot down - racist, what about the famine, the Irish who went to the UK and US, we’re one of the richest countries in the world etc.
We’re still in the early stages of this horrible war, people are being killed in a European country only a few hours away from us. All these unfortunate people who are fleeing need and deserve protection and shelter.
The question, has to be asked though, at what number is it acceptable to say we can’t shoulder this burden any more. What if the war gets worse and we’ve 500,000 people seeking refuge here? Still ok to have an unlimited, open door policy and all the knock on implications on society then? - housing, accommodation, education, increasing burden on the exchequer and tax payer etc.
It’s not politically correct or xenophobic to ask these questions but the government won’t address this issue.
And before anyone says it these issues are only small fry compared to the horrors unfolding in the Ukraine right now.
There’s a heap of them in the bewleys hotel at the northern end of the m50 anyway. Roderic says they are looking at religious orders etc for larger places that may be uninhabited to house loads of refugees together. But that could go anywhich way.
No one has said refugees are not welcome. Absolutely no one… What is it with you lot making things up? Is it that people want to ask questions that bothers you lot? It’s a bizarre trend around here of making stuff up.
Listen kid if you are unhappy with your kids being in a class with 60 others and giving out about a 2 year waiting list to see if you’ve some kind of pancreatic cancer your nothing but a racist.
And another thing, those Ukrainians from Bangladesh who rape kids are human too
Can you stop throwing the baby out with the bath water?
Talking of 500,000 ffs
If that number arises which I hope it doesn’t, we as a continent will have far bigger problems ahead of us as opposed to overcrowded classrooms or hospitals.
I didnt say you said they were not welcome. You made that up. You did say 200,000 was ludicrous (even though it would be our fair share as part of eu). You also said that we should be checking everyone who came in and shouldnt trust them. Which isnt exactly making them welcome whatever it is. Debate away. I’m happy to. I think you’re wrong though.
What choice is there? Where will they go?
Britain (a proper country according to a section of TFK) have set out their stall, we have no choice, and all the whining and asking questions in the world won’t change that.
In many cases it is 100% xenophobia/nimbyism dressed up as ‘critical thinking’
It’s the usual suspects, here, in the media and online, predictable as ever
If you extrapolated 500k refugees to the rest of the EU on a pro rata basis, it would mean 44-45 million refugees.
Ukraine’s population was only 43 million.
As it is, technically, at least 500 million people are eligible to move to Ireland tomorrow if they wanted. So presumably all the “I’m not against refugees but…” people want these migration arrangements, such as, oh, the Common Travel Area and the EU Single Market, scrapped.
We have over sized class rooms, over crowded hospitals, a lack of housing.And you lads are getting pissy because someone ponders how 200k people might affect these things? There’s a lot of talk of wealth in here, I think a country’s health service is a great measure of where a country is at.
That article is originally from the Atlantic, I linked to it the other night.
The outcome of this war will be a direct function of the amount of weapons Ukraine is supplied with.
If they are supplied with enough weapons, the right weapons, to win, they will win. If they are not supplied with enough of them, they will not win.
It comes back to the moral calculation - what is the end goal. The end goal has to be total Ukrainian victory.
Merely “bogging Russia down” is not a moral position on the west’s part, it is an immoral position because it costs countless innocent lives and the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
The best way to save Ukrainian lives is to give Ukraine every weapon they need and then some.
We shouldn’t really be giving too much of a fuck about the lives of Russian soldiers or politicians at this stage, and the lives of Russian civilians are very much secondary to that of Ukrainian civilians.