President Zelenskyy, about half an hour ago:

[Leghorn21]

Talked to @POTUS, @OlafScholz, @eucopresident, @AndrzejDuda, @BorisJohnson. Urge to stop Putin, war against 🇺🇦 & the world immediately! Building an anti-Putin coalition. Immediate sanctions, defense & financial support to 🇺🇦! Close the airspace! The world must force 🇷🇺 into peace

Link to tweet

[Irish_Dem]

2. This man is in great danger.

[Coventina]

3. Agree, he should evacuate. n/t

[blm]

4. That's what Putin wants

[Coventina]

5. I know, but I don't want to see him martyred.

I feel he's more powerful alive.

But, I don't claim any expertise in this situation, so I could be totally wrong.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Same dilemma for the leaders of countries Hitler invaded.

To stay or leave.

Some thought leaving to help in exile would be better.
Some stayed and worked with Hitler.

[regnaD kciN]

10. The irony, of course...

...is that Zelenskyy was a comedian and actor with no political experience, elected president while promising to end the conflict between his country and Russia, defeating the leader who had been at conflict with Russia since 2014. Many thought that Russia was aiding him in his electoral run.

I guess nothing short of complete surrender is acceptable to Putin.

[JanMichael]

21. That's what makes this whole situation so crazy.

People forget about how this guy was a comedian and actor and all of a sudden because of this uneducated worldwide rage of taking celebrities and making them leaders all of a sudden he was the president.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Yes then the country falls most likely.

But he dies or is jailed if he stays.

[SheltieLover]

17. He sure is!

[Irish_Dem]

18. .....

Howdy Sheltie!

[SheltieLover]

19. Hi!

[Leghorn21]

7. Another post from hiim moments ago:

I continue negotiations with the leaders. Received support from the Emir of Qatar @TamimBinHamad. The world is with us.

Link to tweet

Such a good man

[msongs]

9. shut down all air traffic to and from russia nt

[Eyeball_Kid]

13. The claim that Russia is a pariah has to have teeth.

So Putin must get political, economic, and cultural isolation. No trade, no traffic. In todays interconnected world, Russia's isolation and rejection has to be comprehensive. Russia can't be selling fossil fuels to Europe, and the oligarchs have to be cut off from a lot of their money. (They'll have to hold the rest in a country that, aside from the cut-off fossil fuel exports, makes virtually nothing on its own.) That fuel pays for the army to invade Ukraine. The world economy will have to bend a lot to choke off Russia, but it must be done. Russia will continue to expand if they are not stopped.

I've been to other news sites. There are quite a few posters who rave at Biden and the Administration. They call Biden soft and cognitively impaired. They rage about alleged US/European softness or lack of resolve or various unarticulated weaknesses. The most vituperative are those whose monikers are one short name or character serials, like "Bob." I think we've seen this pattern before. I think that the Russians have unleashed an army of propagandists on "comments" sites. All of a sudden, they're climbing the walls.

The common sense reaction from citizens in the US is sympathy for Ukrainians who can only be viewed as underdogs in this war. Cheering on Putin is not an American characteristic. We don't do that for a reason. But small slice of folks who DO are in sympathy with a mass murderer, tyrant, and sociopath. Go figure. Western "democracies" value self-governance in a variety of forms. That's been a tradition for centuries. That's what we know.

[AlexSFCA]

11. we need united and immediate overwhelming response

there is so much US and allies could do quickly that will make russian people rebel against putin in millions. The change must be induced from within.
- Sanction ALL banks in Russia
- Sanction all transactions going to western countries
- Lobby all major corporations immediately suspend all operations in Russia and access to its servers - Microsoft, Visa, Mastercard, etc.
- Cut any and all trade
- Suspend travel visas to western counties for russians (can be done overnight)

The ones above can be done very quickly and will force Russians to go on streets in millions rebel against putin. And so much more can be done.

[Leghorn21]

12. Absolutely, Alex

No fuckin MERCY, and the People of Russia can kick these socialite mobster thug rulers to the curb or yeah, prison

LOOKIN AT YOU, LAVROV
DERIPASKO
PRIGOZHIN
MOGILEVICH
ETC ETC

and ya'll can lock up that disgusting piece of filth PAUL MANAFORT for us please,
because we couldn't seem to pull that off by ourselves

hell yeah, can you imagine REAL RUSSIA RISING UP

[Eyeball_Kid]

15. Putin says that sanctions don't matter. But remember, Putin is a propagandist.

He WILL lie to convey a sense of strength even if he doesn't have any. THAT'S HIS JOB.

And remember again that Putin WANTS to project an air of omnipotence and superiority. THAT'S HIS JOB. The right wingers in the US have fallen for Putin's rhetoric, hook, line, and sinker. They'd believe that Putin wears the best shoes even if their eyes told them that Putin is bare-foot. They bought into Putin like... they bought into Trump. Mentally, they are nearly one and the same. Trump's base is highly "romantic." They truly believe that backing a dictator will cause them to love their country more. That's what I mean by "romantic." They willingly cannot criticize Trump, or they'll get punished or banished. This is very similar, but to a less extreme degree, to Putin's intolerance of political diversity. Those who advocate for it or even report it are either killed or imprisoned.

[NJCher]

20. Romantic

I liked that. Sums up their naïveté quite nicely.

This post and your other one above: totally on target.

You know who is just as naive as these trumpers is certain members of the media. Nora O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan are two examples. They will look at people like Blinken straight in the eye and say sanctions don’t work.

They seem to think that sanctions—the mere threat of them—will deter a sociopath like Putin. Their question shows their ignorance of how sanctions were implemented in the past. It also shows they don’t know how they work, I.e., the pressure it puts on the system and thus their leader.

They disgust me.

[Cha]

14. Rt TY Leghorn

[blue-wave]

16. Shut down

Russia's ability to sell oil or natural gas. The two combined account for 40% of the annual Russian national budget.