₦airaland Forum

Men

Una never dey sleep

.....

May you find rest in the bosom of the lord. Amen

Before you downtalk the u.s. Just know that no country got it right at first trial

it seems these various variants are brought by the shots/vaccines

Wait... You were expecting all these from a "NIGERIAN GIRL?"

bigpicture001:
My girlfriend whom I have planned to settle down with simply started acting cold and eventually stylishly slide out of our relationship because I sat her down and made a family financial support proposal to her in which she will be financially committed to running the proposed family we intend to raise...

These are the proposal...

1. She earns about 80k wile I earn about 300k.. I asked that we jointly contribute for all the children's Career funding starting from when we get married even before any of their birth.. I proposed 10k monthly from her and 40k from me to a trust account. From it we plan to fund all the children's Career from kiddagatten to varsity or which ever path they choose..

2. That sh choose between Nepa bill or DStv or gotv sub monthly..just one for her

3. I will be responsible for rents

4. We pay into another joint account for vacation once in two years..like sh puts in 20k I put in 50k monthly..

5. I provide all the heavy food stuffs required in the house in large quantities including gas ND change of electronics, but sh provide all the daily food supplements to mk mine complete.

6. She buys her clothes ND I buy mine but we can both surprise ourselfs with gift to the other..

7. I will buy the family car ND maintain it. If she buys no p.

8. I didn't rule out surprise gifts once a while and outting which I bankroll ND expect her to do same occasionally..

Plz oo nairalanders are these responsibilities to a wife too much for her, I mean one who works and earn over 50k...?

The World Bank has said Nigeria may have one of the highest inflation rates globally in 2022, with increasing prices diminishing the welfare of Nigerian households.

According to the World Bank, Nigeria is projected to have one of the highest inflation rates globally and the seventh highest among Sub-Saharan African countries in 2022

“In 2022, Nigeria is expected to have one of the highest inflation rates in the world and the seventh highest in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it said.

The bank said this in the November edition of its Nigeria Development Update.

According to the global financial institution, high inflation hampers the country’s attempt to achieve economic recovery and erodes the purchasing power of most vulnerable households.

The document read in part, “High inflation is frustrating Nigeria’s economic recovery and eroding the purchasing power of the most vulnerable households. In the absence of measures to contain inflation, rising prices will continue to diminish the welfare of Nigerian households.”

The bank further highlighted the adverse effects of inflation on Nigeria, which include pushing eight million Nigerians into poverty, and the possible disruption of consumption, investment and saving decisions, among other consequences.

“If inflation had been closer to the CBN’s goal of nine per cent in 2021, the average Nigeria’s consumption would have been 15 per cent higher, and eight million Nigerians would have not fallen into poverty.

“If double-digit inflation persists during 2022-2023, rising prices will distort consumption, investment, and saving decisions of the government, households, and firms, with adverse ramifications for long-term borrowing and lending.

“Over time, the disproportionate impact of inflation on lower-income households and those working in sectors with low savings (e.g, agriculture) will exacerbate inequality. Ultimately, inflation will not only negatively affect incomes, but also economic productivity and job creation, further constraining the recovery,” the bank said.

The Washington, United States-based institution also disclosed that over two years, an increase in food prices accounted for about 70 per cent of the annual increase in the rate of inflation.

It also said that inflationary pressures were trigged by multiple demand and supply shocks.

The document read in part, “Inflationary pressures are being generated by multiple demand and supply shocks. Supply shocks arising from disruption of supply chains linked to COVID-19 and associated containment measures have eased, but security issues, border closures, and limited access to markets continue to fuel inflation.

“The current mix of monetary, fiscal, foreign exchange, and trade policies also plays a prominent role as a driver of inflation. Trade and FX restrictions, including the closure of land borders starting in August 2019, have increased prices for food and consumer goods, and imports of over 40 goods, including many staple foods, are currently ineligible for FX through formal windows.

“Nigeria’s exchange-rate management has resulted in the rise of parallel rates, which are closely linked to food-price dynamics. Unable to access FX through the official exchange-rate window, businesses seek FX on the parallel market and other alternative sources.

“The parallel rate influences their business decisions, and fluctuations in the parallel rate pass through to market prices for goods and services. Moreover, monetary policy has not prioritized controlling inflation, and the monetary financing of fiscal deficit undermines the effectiveness of policies to contain demand-side inflationary pressures.”

Source: [url] https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/nigeria/nigeria-s-inflation-rate-may-be-among-world-s-highest-in-2022-w-bank/ar-AASmNgh?li=BB12ImrE [/url]

vedaxcool:
You know option 2 is of it. Had you said someone heavily indebted ran to NK then it would be a more realistic story. SK is a far more better place economically than NK.

True

Interesting story but the way you presented it made it boring

Rip man

Man....

SamgoldBaba:
Go check the blacklist

send me the link

wetin dey occur for U.S na
If America falls, the world will be ruined. U.S. of A is the country keeping most excesses in check in this whole damn world

maiiilooo:
Lol ..calm down naa
You can call any of your family member naa

I'm at home with every fam member....

None!!!
And I won't call anyone till someone calls me first. I don too dey waste my airtime

Real matters!!!

Aje there is money in nigeria oo, just that it ain't circulating well

Hold my beer...... op why is my name not on the list?

Kriss216:
[b][/b]
Like, she threw the phone at you and still ask for money to fix the phone.

This is beyond human expectations. My prayers are with you

as in ehhn! Op pls send your location let us come visit u and check your well being

Since december we never see light oo

uunwanaobong3:
Historical Records set by mancity and guardiola in 2021 calenders year without a striker:

Most top-flight wins in a calendar year: 36

Most Premier League goals in a calendar year: 113

Most top-flight away wins in a calendar year: 19

Most consecutive wins in all competitions from a top-flight side: 21 (run started in 2020)

Most consecutive league wins from the start of a calendar year: 13

Most consecutive away wins in all competitions for a top-flight team: 20 (run started in 2020)

Most consecutive unbeaten away matches without defeat: 23 (run started in 2020)


Most consecutive away league wins (top four divisions): 12

Most City games without defeat in all competitions: 28 (run started in 2020)


As well as their brilliant success at senior level, City also dominated academy football, too, becoming the first side to win the Premier League, Premier League 2 (u23) and u18 Premier League in the same season.


Pep Guardiola also set a club record of his own, becoming the most successful City manager of all time when City beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - his 221st win in 303 games, surpassing Les McDowall's record of 220 wins in 593 games.

Guardiola also became the quickest manager to reach 150 Premier League wins, doing so in 204 games - 26 fixtures fewer than Jose Mourinho.

And the recent 7-0 win over Leeds saw Guardiola become the quickest manager to oversee 500 top-flight goals in English football after just 207 games, overtaking Jurgen Klopp who took 234 games to reach that landmark.


What a team, what a coach........ All this without a STRIKER? Unbelievable

Man City is a city made of sapphire!
A City made only for the Champions!

...

State governments have intensified preparations of isolation centres in readiness for possible admission of COVID-19 patients as cases of the virus continue to rise in the country.
Officials of states including Ogun, Gombe, Benue, Lagos, Ondo and Sokoto, in separate interviews with our correspondents on Sunday, said they had enough bed spaces to admit COVID-19 patients.

This came to the fore as the number of officially confirmed COVID-19 infections hit 236, 014 while the rate of full vaccination was stalled at 3.9 per cent as of Saturday.

Despite the increasing cases, the Nigeria Police Force, the military, and other security agencies have failed to enforce the compulsory vaccination mandate for their personnel.

On Friday, the country recorded 1,584 new cases, while on Saturday the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control confirmed 1,305 new cases of the virus.

The agency added that on Saturday alone, 21 persons died of COVID-19 complications bringing the fatality toll across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to 3,014.

Amidst the surging cases, the Ogun State Government said it had no fewer than 260 bed spaces in the four isolation centres in the state.The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, while fielding questions from one of our correspondents in Abeokuta, said there was no need for more beds over the rising cases of COVID-19 .

She said “Ogun State has 260 isolation beds; four isolation centres. No no need for more beds.”

Coker said the state was not charging any fee for COVID-19 tests .She however said N39,000 was being charged by private laboratories in the state.

Benue has 100 bed spaces, 50 beds as back-up – Commissioner

Benue State has 100 bed spaces.The state Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Professor Joseph Ngbea, who disclosed this to one of our correspondents, added that there were 50 beds “as back up” in case of upsurge of the dreaded disease.

The commissioner further said that there were two functional isolation centres in the state, one at the Federal Medical Centre and another at Benue State University Teaching Hospital all located in Makurdi, capital city.

The commissioner said there were other isolation centres across the state, which had not been put to use.

Ngbea said, “At the inception of the case (COVID 19), we had 100 bed spaces but when I became commissioner, we added 50 beds as back-up.”

But the Delta State Government has yet to open its isolation centres in the state despite the increasing cases of the pandemic.

Out of the six isolation centers in the state, it was gathered that only the one at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba was operational, but it charged over N100,000 for the treatment COVID-19.Other at Oghara, Warri, Ugheli and Eku have yet to be opened.

Efforts reach the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye, on the development failed as calls and test messages sent to his phone were not responded as of time of filling this report.

But the Gombe State Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, said the state had over 600 bed spaces in the five isolation centres in the state.

We haven’t used up to 20% of our isolation centres – Ondo

Also, the Ondo State Government said it had no plan to expand its isolation centres across the state.

The Ondo State Epidemiologist, Dr Stephen Fagbemi, said the state had four isolation centres to accommodate patients but none of of the centres has been occupied .

Fagbemi said, “ The state had no plan to expand its isolation centres because currently we have four centres across the state and we have not used up to 20 per cent of the facilities “

537 beds available in Lagos isolation facilities – Commissioner

On his part, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, disclosed that six per cent of the state’s COVID-19 isolation facilities were in use.

The commissioner, on his Instagram handle, @profakinabayomi, on Saturday, said the total bed capacity of the state’s isolation facilities was at 572, adding that 537-bed spaces were still available as of December 24.

He said there was 13 per cent of the 160-bed facility at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, as well as 50 per cent of the 20-bed Armour isolation facility and 38 per cent of the 13 Palaon isolation centres had been used.

Abayomi also said the occupancy at the 25-bed isolation facility at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja was two per cent while the occupancy at the 110-bed isolation facility at the General, Gbagada was also two per cent.

Sokoto has 140 bed spaces, seeks emphasis on vaccination

Currently, there are two isolation centres in Sokoto State; the Amanawa Leprosy Centre and the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital.

The Amanawa isolation centre has 100 bed spaces hospital while the UDUTH centre has 40 bed spaces.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Ali Inname, who disclosed this to The PUNCH, noted that emphasis should be on vaccination as the world had moved away from isolating COVID-19 patients.

The PUNCH had on December 23 reported that there were no fewer than 12, 547 COVID-19 patients on admission at isolation and treatment centres across the country as of December 21.

Infections hit 236,000 as military, police fail to enforce personnel vaccine mandate

Meanwhile, the number of officially confirmed COVID-19 infections has hit 236, 014 while the rate of full vaccination has stalled at 3.9 per cent even as the Nigeria Police Force, the military, and other security agencies have failed to enforce the compulsory vaccination mandate for their personnel.

Others who have failed to enforce the vaccine mandate for their personnel include the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Correctional Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

The Presidential Steering Committee led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, had directed that federal workers who had not taken the jab would not be given access to their offices with effect from December 1, 2021.

The PSC had stated that Federal Government workers without proof of vaccination or test results done within 72 hours would be denied access to their offices starting from December 1. The committee had further stated that the directive would be applicable in all locations in Nigeria and missions abroad.

The Office of the Head of Service had nearly four weeks ago begun enforcing the directive by denying civil servants and visitors who did not possess vaccine cards, access to the federal secretariat in Abuja.

Checks by The PUNCH, however, revealed that it was only civil servants at the federal secretariat that were denied access to their offices.

It was learnt that security agencies merely advised their personnel to get vaccinated but did not impose a deadline thereby making the directive optional.

A police officer working at the Police Force Headquarters told The PUNCH on the strict condition of anonymity that the police authorities merely advised personnel to get vaccinated.

The senior officer said, “I have not taken a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and I know I am not the only one that has not taken it. There was an advisory that we should get it but it was not compulsory. I don’t even know how they want to enforce it in the police.

“Will the IG direct that suspects who have not taken vaccines should not be allowed to enter police stations? There is no deadline for such vaccination.”

When contacted on the telephone, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said police personnel were taking the vaccines voluntarily, noting that the police management was satisfied with the level of compliance.

Mba further said that all police hospitals and medical centres had been designated COVID-19 vaccination centres to boost the vaccination drive of the government.

Asked if the police were enforcing the vaccine mandate, he stated, “All I can tell you is that we are committed to ensuring they take the vaccine; we are doing that, we are sensitising our people to take the vaccine. All our men are voluntarily rushing to take the vaccine. When you have compliance, you don’t need to stand in the queue to force anyone to take it. We are taking the vaccine and the sensitisation campaign is ongoing. We are satisfied so far with the level of compliance.”

For the military, The PUNCH learnt that no deadline was given for personnel to get the jabs although it was compulsory.

The Director, Defence Information, Air Commodore, Wap Maigida said, “Everyone in the military has been mandated to take their vaccine. We have not fixed a deadline for now.”

When asked about the level of compliance to the government directive, the FRSC Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, said the corps personnel was taking the vaccine, but he was unsure about the enforcement of the vaccine mandate by the corps authorities.

“I don’t think there is any directive from the management that the personnel must take the vaccine but I know that our men have been taking the jabs,” he explained.

Also in a chat with The PUNCH, the Spokesman, NSCDC, Olusola Odumosu, disclosed that the NSCDC CG, Dr Ahmed Audi, had directed that all the men and officers must take the vaccine in line with the government’s directive, adding that the corps boss had also taken his full doses.

“The directive has also been passed down to all the state commandants: compel every personnel to take the jab in line with Federal Government directives to all civil servants. So, we are complying but there is no deadline yet,” Odumosu, a Deputy Corps Commandant said.

The National Public Relations Officer, Nigerian Correctional Service, Francis Enobore, a Deputy Controller of Corrections, explained that the CG of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, had issued a circular to all formations on compulsory vaccination for all NCoS personnel, adding that a deadline had yet to be given on the issue.

Enobore added that the personnel are taking the jab, noting that service was also encouraging inmates to take the vaccine.

He said, “We should be commended for ensuring that no inmate contracted coronavirus since the outbreak due to the enforcement of the stipulated protocols in our correctional facilities. We have already issued a circular directing our men to take the vaccine and I can assure you that they have been complying but there is no deadline on the mandate yet from the management.”

The Nigerian Customs Service said it had directed its staff to take the COVID-19 vaccines but failed to disclose the deadline given for the implementation of this mandate.

Speaking to our correspondent during a telephone interview, the National Deputy PRO, NCS, Timi Bomodi said, “It is mandatory which means everyone must comply with the vaccination mandate and we are going to enforce the mandate. They have also been given a timeframe to enforce the mandate.

“The timeline or deadline is not important, what is important is that we are going to enforce the mandate and all officers must comply.

He added that the failure of Customs officers to comply with the vaccination mandate will attract sanctions as determined by the Service.

“When we say something is mandatory it means that failure to comply will attract sanctions,” Bomodi said.

But the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 said the vaccination mandate for the Federal Government is also binding on the military, police and other security agencies. The Secretary to the PSC, Dr. Muktar Muhammed, disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH in Abuja.

The PUNCH had also reported how security agents on December 1, enforced the vaccine mandate by making sure that unvaccinated civil servants were prevented from accessing government facilities. However, it was learnt that while security operatives were actively involved in enforcement of the vaccine mandate, the majority of them were not vaccinated.

When our correspondent reached out to Muhammed on whether security operatives were included in the vaccine mandate, He said, “Yes, they are. The vaccination mandate is for all Federal Government workers and it includes all work places”.

Speaking with our correspondent, a Professor of medical virology at the University of Maiduguri, Prof. Marycelin Baba, wondered why security operatives would exempt themselves from the vaccine mandate.

“There is no reason for security operatives to exempt themselves from the vaccine mandate. In fact every Nigerian should be involved. The unvaccinated ones are the distributors of the virus. Police for instance interact with the public a lot, they should be vaccinated so that they will be protected and they will not infect other people.”

The PUNCH reports that several countries had imposed vaccine mandates on security personnel.

On December 13, the United States Air Force announced that it had dismissed 27 service members for refusing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. ,,

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/nigeria/states-revive-isolation-centres-covid-19-cases-soar-vaccination-grounded-at-39percent/ar-AASaaXs

One less trouble!!!

wow...

MaxInDHouse:
When Jesus commissioned the movement he never called some lazy 'sit at home' people "friends" It was a call to service {Matthew 10:6; 28:19-20} they were given a duty that they must engage fully {Luke 9:62} each of his friends must prove their love for him by going to meet their neighbours (uninvited) for the purpose of preaching zealously and industriously teaching what they've learned from Jesus. Matthew 10:11-13

So what later happened that led to all these "sit at home" religionists who only visit a gathering during weekends to start claiming Christians?

Well Jesus didn't leave us in the dark. He told a parable to illustrate how the movement will be attacked subtly when Satan (God's enemy) will initiate his own agents and plant them right in the movement Jesus commissioned {Matthew 13:25; 39} this will be in addition to Satan's normal attack which is frontal! Matthew 10:22-26

After Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension to heaven Satan immediately began the frontal attack {Act 4:18; 5:28; 7:1,2, 54-60; 12:1-3} despite all these Satan noticed that Jesus' friends weren't surrendering to intimidation and persecution so he went for plan B sowing his own agents right in their midst {1John 2:18} these ones made themselves available for those trying to track down the frontiers of the movement! 2Corinthians 11:26; Galatians 2:4 compare to Matthew 24:10

Gradually the first set of diehard friends of Jesus died off just as Jesus prophesied and Satan now had all the opportunity to hijack Jesus' group when Jesus' first century Jewish disciples are all dead (sleeping in death) {Matthew 13:25} easily those who loved the movement but never knew Jesus or his apostles gave in to intimidation, that's how Satan used the world power of the time (Rome) to fully established his own agents, they are known till today as the Roman Catholic Church! This religion turned everything Jesus laid upside down: members participate in politics and military services opening up a way for professed Christians to carry weapons against one another, something that was a taboo during the time of the first century Jewish disciples who heard Jesus said:

"Little children, I am with you a little longer. You will look for me; and just as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ I now say it also to you. I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves.” John 13:33-35

Of course Jesus' friends mustn't even think of raising weapons against their enemies talkless their own fellow believers {Matthew 5:43-48} but with Satan's agents claiming Christians having the backing of the most powerful nation in the dark ages (Rome) professed Christians do not only carry weapons to attack and intimidate other people they also often kill one another due to politics and racism!

The Roman Catholic began bearing children (different sects also claiming Christians protested against the Catholic Church) after so much struggling and killings they all agreed to call themselves denominations in Christ.
But none of them can bear the FRUIT expected of Jesus' group {Matthew 7:16-18} WHY? Because they were all following Satan's system which is looking for ways to gain the friendship of the world! James 4:4

If you want to know how Jesus restructured his group today i'll oblige, it all started in the year 1914 when Jesus returned to the earth as a mighty spirit King to reorganize his group.
As a mighty spirit King Jesus called out saying "get out of her my people" {Revelations 18:4} and gradually people throughout the world are coming out of Satan's system to join Jesus' group.
Well most people began treating them just as they were treating Jesus' friends in the first century {John 15:19} but everyone throughout the world knows that JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES have LOVE among themselves! John 13:34-35

God bless you and may you have PEACE!

Western intelligence agencies have warned that Russia is contemplating an invasion of Ukraine, perhaps involving some 175,000 troops. Vladimir Putin’s government has already moved more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders, including into Belarus. Russian officials have been making outrageously paranoid and false accusations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for example, recently blamed NATO for the return of the “nightmare scenario of military confrontation.” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the United States is smuggling “tanks with unidentified chemical components” into Ukraine’s Donetsk. And Putin himself has been equally vituperative about NATO, threatening military moves unless it agrees to his terms. “They have pushed us to a line that we can’t cross,” he said on Sunday. “They have taken it to the point where we simply must tell them: ‘Stop!’”

Yet a recent report concludes that despite its massive deployment and threatening rhetoric, Russia is not planning to invade Ukraine. The report, produced by the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute, where I serve as the director of foreign- and defense-policy studies, together with the Institute for the Study of War, finds that the political and economic costs of an actual invasion are too high for Russia to sustain. “Putin may be attempting a strategic misdirection that impales the West in a diplomatic process and military planning cycle that will keep it unprepared,” the report argues. Rather than directly invade Ukraine again, Russia instead seeks to further destabilize the country in advance of its elections, station troops in Belarus, divide NATO, and precipitate Western concessions to de-escalate the crisis.

Even without an invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s military moves pose serious threats to America’s allies, including the Baltic states. Russia demands, as the price of even considering drawing down its military buildup, that NATO accept a different security framework for Europe, abandon any future NATO accessions, and forswear military cooperation with any non-NATO state.

The CTP/ISW assessment of Russia’s intentions is consistent with the country’s preference for hybrid, or threshold, warfare: the fusion of disinformation and political, economic, and military actions designed to immobilize or weaken adversaries without triggering an effective response. The terms are faddish, as though the practice were a new addition to the inventory of warfare. In fact, the simplistic definition of warfare after the Cold War as only military operations was novel, and that narrow conception has now evaporated along with American military dominance.

Strategic failures are almost always failures of imagination, as with the Trojans failing to wonder what might be inside that gigantic wooden horse. We are now scrambling to think as creatively as our adversaries. But the U.S. has a number of advantages: time, allies, transparency, and right.

Even though Russia’s military deployments have been rapid, the U.S. and its allies recognized them early enough to alert one another and agree on a response. The gathering storm of Russian revanchism since Putin came to power conditioned a quick reaction; defense spending by European NATO members has been rising since Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Bilateral consultations and NATO meetings produced a set of potential political and economic sanctions, especially Russia’s ejection from the SWIFT financial network, that ought to give Putin and his businessmen pause. Turkey is providing drones to Ukraine, the U.S. sent military advisers and Javelin missiles, and Germany is reconsidering the

Nord Stream 2

Pipeline

. Democratic societies are slow to align but durable once committed, and the U.S. and its allies have had time to organize.
In an effort to de-escalate the crisis Putin created, the Biden administration has ruled out deploying American forces to defend Ukraine. Joe Biden evidently hoped to prevent a war by miscalculation—one side misinterpreting the other’s actions, and violence spiraling into a nuclear apocalypse. And although textbook military strategy considers telling an adversary what you won’t do self-defeating, in circumstances where the asymmetry of interest is so pronounced, putting a ceiling on potential escalation will likely make America’s policy more credible. In the immediate aftermath of U.S. capitulation in Afghanistan, it just isn’t believable to claim that the Biden administration will “fight any battle and bear any burden” for the independence of a still-corrupt post-Soviet government.

Biden consented to Russia’s demand for discussions of a new European security framework. That consent was unquestionably a concession, giving some standing to Russian concerns, and it has worried frontline NATO allies who have long-standing (and justified) fears of abandonment. If we had refused to even discuss Russian concerns, however, it is difficult to imagine sustaining the solidarity of the Western alliance or American public support for the risks and sacrifices that any response to Russia attacking Ukraine might entail. And agreeing to discuss Russia’s version of post–Cold War history or its demands for a sphere of influence that would consign countries to Russian dominion is not the same as accepting them.

Having the discussions take place in a NATO forum, as Russia has now agreed to do, allows the West to showcase its increased solidarity. Russia’s threats have unified the alliance. The discussions will also contrast the U.S.’s preferred model of power, which emanates from our ability to persuade others to share the burdens of what we’re trying to achieve, with the model pursued by Russian and China, which relies on threatening nations into submission.

The United States and its allies have the easier side of that argument. As Ronald Reagan said, “There is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.” Russia may mobilize some support among countries that feel threatened by governments held accountable by their citizens, but the U.S. has the moral and mathematical advantage of arguing against strong states imposing their will on those unable to protect themselves.

Not that Ukraine is truly incapable of protecting itself. One other thing that may be restraining a Russian invasion of Ukraine is the fact that, even in the Donbas, the mighty Russian military has not succeeded in subduing Ukrainian resistance. Quite the opposite: Russia has enhanced Ukrainian national identity. A Russian occupation would encounter the sort of insurgency that the Russian military proved incapable of subduing in Afghanistan and Chechnya, despite its brutality. Half a million Ukrainians have military experience; 24 percent of respondents in one recent poll said that they would resist Russian occupation “with a weapon in hand.” Russia might succeed in taking Ukraine, but it is unlikely to hold it.

NATO countries might not fight for Ukraine, but they’re likely to arm and train Ukrainians to fight for themselves. A Russian invasion would open the floodgates of Western support for Ukraine, and activate similar mobilizations of civilian society among NATO frontline states. Putin’s threats have already convinced Germans that Nord Stream 2 is not just a business deal, but rather a means of geopolitical leverage. The EU can use its regulatory tools on Gazprom and other Russian businesses seeking access to Europe’s markets more aggressively, to scrutinize their practices and enforce compliance with the law.

Transparency is a potentially devastating tool against authoritarians, because corruption is delegitimizing. The governments of free societies already face public scrutiny, which positions them well to demand the same of others. Russia’s leaders are afraid of accountability for their wealth; the revelations of corruption in the Panama Papers appear to have led Putin to unleash cybervigilantes against the U.S.

Russia’s past attempts to intimidate Ukraine into not choosing a westward path have backfired. Fifty-eight percent of Ukrainians now say that they would vote for NATO membership, and the nation has developed a greater sense of national identity and a more resilient society. Sweden and Finland are moving into closer alignment with NATO, as Russia illustrates the dangers of remaining outside the Western mutual-defense pact. NATO has held united, refusing to accept that Russia gets a veto over either its membership or its actions. The United States, while averting military involvement, has crafted a credible set of penalties and garnered international support for them. Putin lacks the imagination to see that launching successful military operations is not the same as winning a war, a lesson the U.S. recently relearned in Afghanistan. That Russia is now repeating the very mistake the U.S. made, and is slowly recovering from, is an ironic twist.

SOURCE: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/europe/top-stories/russias-aggression-against-ukraine-is-backfiring/ar-AASfIYO

compton11:
Islam my nigga!
Believe in oneness of God Be good to your both parents Be good to orphans, widow, travellers Pay zakat to the poor Don't talk human as God
And so on

jihadists!

compton11:
Why won't members declined when they have realised that Christianity is a scam!

So which religion is the right one

FernandezPablo:
This is exactly what I am talking about..always being rude online..

Iyaebe, i can see what you are doing. Onyeoshi.
you rush go create new account to continue your mumu talks