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I'm sort of freaking out tonight. I've been following this story for several weeks now, even before the Olympics. I'm sitting here trying to figure out if I should come up with some sort of plan in case there's some sort of nuclear attack on our country. Tonight, Putin alluded to something 'never seen before in history' toward countries that interfere with his actions. I have been doing a lot of reading about Ukraine, familiarizing myself with its geography/people/history.

I have friends from Russia, who have family still in Russia, and our friends have absolutely horrible things to say about Putin. He's evil personified. I believe he would take the world down if he thought he was going down.

Seriously, if there's a nuclear attack, what can you do? I never thought, in my lifetime, that I'd see the threats of this kind that were this worrisome.

Can someone talk me down?

Does anyone here have any loved ones in Ukraine? It must be terrifying, although they saw it coming... but really, this massive in just a few hours?

I don't know how it's not political. My good friend and colleague is Russian. She came to me so upset a few months ago about this. She feels Ukraine is historically part of Russia. She said all of her Russian friends are angry and call her an American w****. She also said she feels it's unfair to Russia to have Nato weapons so close to Moscow.

My grandfather and great uncle emigrated from a Baltic state to the US when they were young. They definitely had a different opinion of the USSR and Russia.

No one wants a war. I can't see how a nuclear attack benefits either side. No one gains from that, whatever it is they want for the outcome. I have hope in that.

I can see this be a humanitarian discussion rather than a political one.

There are provinces in France and parts of Denmark that historically used to be parts of Germany and/or could have chosen to be German rather than French or Danish. Ireland could use comparable logic as Russia uses to justify an invasion of Northern Ireland – or at a minimum to take several counties in NI.

I was foolishly hoping that we could remove military aggression as a tool for countries to settle their disagreements. It’s my understanding that Russia is mainly looking for two things: Access to ports along the Crimea and a buffer between themselves and NATO-alienated countries. I think both could have been attained with negotiations and mutual understanding.

[This message edited by SI Staff at 11:35 PM, Thursday, February 24th]

I was foolishly hoping that we could remove military aggression as a tool for countries to settle their disagreements.

Exactly. Countries have histories, and some of those histories involve land holdings that were not originally theirs. I would hate to see military action as everyone tries to "take back" their land. The lives lost! The cost!

I find the whole thing terrifying. The problem is that depending on where you get your news and information in 2022, you won't get it the same way--not the same quantity, facts, or perspective. And that's how it becomes political unfortunately. Everyone is being manipulated in this day and age--manipulated so that they can't agree, regardless of the issue. Every single issue is presented with a slant to keep us apart. It almost seems to be the goal.

My maternal great grandparents fled Ukraine and came to Canada. Russia needs to stay out of there!!! Need I say more?

I doubt that I can talk about this without it being political so I will be careful with my words.

War makes me sad.

I also think that Putin has outsmarted most of the world on this.

My hope is that he stops with Ukraine.

Our poster beebee64 is serving on a humanitarian mission as a teacher in Ukraine for the last two years. Prayers for his safety.

Putin never learned the meaning of the word no.

This has been brewing for a long while and has little to do with our current politics. Putin has been angling for years to get the USSR back together. Anyone remember the invasion of Georgia in the Caucasian Mountains? I think it was back in 2008? Anyway, the guy is a megalomaniac and really there's only a question of how does the world contain his ambitions until the Russians have had enough and somehow manage to get rid of him.

I'm scared too- things like this are how world wars get started. I thought we had done with those.

Human nature never changes, sadly. New costumes, same script.

It makes me sad to see how Ukraine is used as a pawn in a geopolitical game. Being a former refugee myself from the Balkans my heart goes out to the poor suffering people who have no other wish in life than to live a normal life in peace. War equals generational trauma. And for what? So that some powerful men can draw lines on a map?

War and borders and these aggressions sadden me. My dad did three tours in Vietnam and I know how damaging war is. Very dark day.

And I hope beebee64 has evacuated to someplace safe.

Putin is the embodiment of tiny peepee energy IMHO.

I just hope like hell that cooler heads prevail in this - hopefully Russia understands that starting a nuclear conflict is a really really really bad idea. I doubt tinypeepeeputin gets that, but hopefully other people in power over there do.

Just praying hard for Ukraine and for everyone affected by this.

Also selfishly wondering what this does for our economy here - my mom and I were talking about it this morning with both of us looking to sell houses and buy houses this year. Also what will happen with oil & gas prices; I worked in that industry for many years, so definitely keeping an eye on that too.

To quote a friend of mine (and he's from Boston so you have to say it with a thick Boston accent), "Fuckin humans (head shake)."

I think what Russia really wants is to put back a Russian friendly government in charge of Ukraine. A buffer country facing Nato and an important country for distribution of Russian gas to Europe. Don't think Putin wants to fire away any nuckear weapons. Russia is not the only country that has them so no point really. But what is concerning is that Putin seems to have lost some marbels. You can see it in the tv-broadcasts. The way he talks, rambles and his posture. The way he made fun of one of his ministers. Just bizzare behaviour for him I think. Another interesting thing is that this invasion is not sanctioned by the majority of Russians. On the contrary, a lot of Russians are appaled but can't voice their opinions due to the oppresion from the Putin regime. I mean who wants to get thrown in jail, executed or poisioned?

We can only hope that Putins only agenda is to overthrow the government (instead of killing more civilians). But that being said, I feel for the 44 millions ukranians that won't have the opportunity to chose the future for their country through democratic elections.

Putin is the embodiment of tiny peepee energy IMHO.

Oh my, I needed this laugh this morning, but you're right. And I agree with others that say his behavior is becoming even more erratic than usual, which is the part that scares me. And I guess that's the point of this thread - trying to figure out how much of my fear is irrational or not. I realize that they're not the only ones with nukes, but then I start playing mind games of, if he were to launch them at the U.S., which cities would he most likely aim at first. One D lives five miles from us, but the other daughter, who is pregnant, lives 3000 miles from us. I even said to H last night, what if a nuclear weapon were to hit the west coast, not a direct hit on our area, but close enough to disrupt communication... and H was at work? How would we meet up? And where?

I know my mind is just messing with me, but I think there's just enough tiny peepee energy in Putin, that really, no options are off of the table, even if they are unlikely.

I'm not familiar with beebee64, but I hope he's safe. Perhaps he heeded the warnings to evacuate over the last couple of weeks. I saw an image on the news last night of a half dozen or so Ukranians kneeling in a public plaza in prayer, after the first explosions. And I agree, war is generational trauma. Can you imagine if you lived in western Europe right now?

I'm not saying the situation isn't political, but can we talk about it without it becoming a political conversation? Can we talk about the fear that some of us here have admitted to? What are people here doing to prepare for possible consequences? I mean, gas prices here in CA are high enough... but they will go higher, although not as much as much as it will on other continents. Thankfully, we are financially secure enough that even some increases won't impact us greatly (and H drives an electric car).

And of course, it is a humanitarian crisis. Where will all those displaced Ukrainians go to? I do have one Facebook friend (who I've never met), whose son is in Ukraine, teaching, too. She did report that he had moved further west in Ukraine, and was hopefully getting out.

NO POLITICS: We have zero tolerance of discussing politics. There is to be NO mention of political names, and absolutely no political topic content in any context. Violation of this guideline results in losing your posting privileges.

The footage of a fighter jet coming at a section of homes then releasing a rocket was terrifying. The rocket hits off to the left of the camera view, the house shakes and a child screams.

It's madness.

Putin is the embodiment of tiny peepee energy

^^^ I needed this laugh, I've been upset since the news last night.

War is ugly. Innocent people are being sacrificed bc of a thug. My hope was all the countries supporting Ukraine would have come together months ago and pushed harder to cut off the head of this snake and stop this madman before he invaded.

Images coming out of Ukraine are terrifying. Those poor civilians, men, women, and children who just want to live their lives in peace. I'm worried this conflict is going to spread to neighboring countries.

Perhaps I worded the title of this thread wrong. I know we can talk about it without becoming political. I mean, we all bring our biases to the situation. That being said, we all also have our own anxieties, some more than other, and world crises can trigger those anxieties. The question is... what do you do with them?

I actually read a very helpful article online today at Business Insider about what would happen if a nuclear bomb were dropped. Honestly, if it happened, and I got third degree burns (explosion point was many miles away), I'd gather up every pill I have in my house, take them all and die. I wouldn't want to linger. But I was talking with someone yesterday who said, he thinks once the cat is let out of the bag, there wouldn't just be one bomb dropped, it would likely be annihilation of the earth. The article I read reported how many nukes, and what powers, the U.S. and Russia have.

Of course, all this could happen, and I could be killed in my car on the way to an appt. this afternoon. It's where you choose to direct your energies, but this is a big one. Perhaps it's the novelty of it - I was too young to be really impacted by bomb drills during the Cold War. My brothers remember them (they're much older than me), but this must be what it was like.

We have family/cousins living in Donetsk. Presently, they have food and water. But they've been in the subways for protection too. My aunt is trying to get the logistics for them to come to the States and live with her u til they can get on their feet. The mom doesn't want to leave her son behind, though. He won't be allowed to leave, they're keeping men 18-60 from crossing the border. It's almost impossible to leave your kid behind no matter if he is technically an adult now. I heard only horrible stories from my grandmother about the Russian soldiers growing up. To include how when she was a young girl how the Russian soldiers gathered every male in her small village (note that I didn't say men but males) and shot them all in the head.
This is nothing new for Russians to murder Ukrainians. Not by a long shot.
I know not every Russian is bad, not saying that at all, but the Russian leadership is too cowardly to stand up to the monsters who have come into power over the last century. I hope that changes now that average people have access to news in real time now.

Being a ukrainian is difficult right now.

My aunt who was very involved in Ukrainian life both in Canada and back in the Ukraine woukd be devastated right now. I am actually happy the dementia has taken away her ability to understand what is happening right now. She woukd probably die of a broken heart.

This is a frightening time. There is some discussion of China becoming concerned and trying to mediation. There are several other countries with nukes. There are also emp’s.