If the US cares about Ukraine, why does the US make Ukraine fall apart?
US does not care about Ukraine. Neither does Russia, or Poland, or any country in the EU. Everything in world politics is done to get benifit, there is no kindness or care in geopolitics.US needs Ukraine as a good position against Russia. Russia needs Ukraine as a friendly border country to pass oil through, and to hold military in. US will not risk antagonizing Russia further to keep a good position in Ukraine. It is only somewhat supporting it, Ukraine is not worth enough to USA to pour a lot of resources in.
In a nutshell, why is Ukraine and Russia fighting and why is Russia winning?
Russia wanted to own Crimea — a part of Ukraine — for a long time. It tried to engineer takeovers and independence movements since 1993, but all that failed. So, Russia recognized Crimea as part of Ukraine, and Putin personally disclaimed any historical claims on Crimea. In the meantime, Russian intelligence built networks of sympathizers in Crimea and paid salaries to local people who could “defend Russian troops” stationed in Crimea in case something happens.An opportunity for Russia presented itself in 2014. Russia sent troops to take over Ukrainian institutions of power in Crimea and directed sympathizers to blockade Ukrainian mil bases. Russia also sent special ops who ran the show. At that point, there was no fighting because Ukraine had no one to give orders to fight — the president was taken from Ukraine by a Russian special-ops helicopter. Russia faked a referendum in Crimea (“consultants” sent from Moscow later explained what they did) that was denounced by the UN — Russia claims that the people of Crimea voted for independence. Of course, people of Crimea who viewed the referendum illegal (according to acting laws) boycotted it. In any case, Crimea was quickly annexed into Russia and downgraded from an autonomous republic (as it was in Ukraine) to a part of a larger region.Still no fighting. However, Russia had a problem — the world sided with Ukraine and did not recognize the annexation as legitimate. Russia knew that if Ukraine officially recognized Crimea as Russian, that would be the end of it. So, the fighting in Ukraine has been engineered as blackmail to convince Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian. This is not all, but explains the events “in a nutshell”. I don't see signs that Russia is winning, but Russia is losing big money every year from Western (+Japan) sanctions imposed on Russia for meddling in Ukraine.
Why is the economy failing?
First we have a big war.In every war, the economy is always slower since we spend more on bomb than human beings.When you put 5 million in a single bomb, you should not expect a profit after it explode. Now when you spend 5 millions on 20 millions people, you give them enough boos to give them more confidence in the economy so they buy goods. When companies see that people are buying they can invest more in the economy and make the economy role again. But there is another factor which is the oil demand.China disturb the market which its huge appetite and when you add also India and all Asian countries altogether, oil price make Americans loose money and thus less money in their pocket. Less money in your pocket mean less money to buy and less money to buy makes the market anxious and the infernal cycle goes on. No wonder why American economy is falling but Russian economy is booming because of oil.Brazilian, Chinese, Sudanese,Nigerian.Mexican economy is another winner along with panama,Colombia,equator,bolivia. This is why all of sudden everybody is more confident to attack American investment now everybody want to be a Bolivar fro their country and give more money to their poor. Everybody seam to improve thanks to American misfortune.But if American economy fall too much, everybody will be sorry because that will also affect them.A slot American economy also make the price of oil lower.This might not make the Russian happy, neither Chavez from Colombia.
What do you dislike most about Ukraine?
Not caring. This affects so many various aspects of life.Littering. It seems that almost every contemporary Ukrainian drops whatever he or she wants to dump where he or she stands.Parking. Ukrainian drivers may stop or park everywhere: sidewalks, pedestrians crossings, grass — whatever suites them.Smoking. Smoking in public places was banned a few years ago. No one cares.Speeding and drunk driving. Only rare people don’t do that. Everyone else does — not always, but sometimes. Those who think they are “normal” regarding this do that when far from cities.Street and transport peddling. In Kiev you can see people who sell everything everywhere. They leave their litter behind, their peddling is sound littering itself: “Dear passengers, today I want to offer you … “. Damn, I board tram for commuting, not to buy something.Add to that those selfish or idiots who think that public transport is the best place to have a lengthy conversation on their phone with someone.Lack of city planning and guidance / regulations. Everyone can put everything almost everywhere they want (street, park, underground crossing), obstructing passages once free. Small business does not give a damn about other people inconveniences.Political intolerance. “Ukraine should be only like I want”. If not intolerance for other people views, Ukraine could be more safe and much more sound, and avoided breakdown and war.Infrastructure. Pieces of some bridge falling down or major water pipe burst became common thing in Kiev. Naturally, it wouldn’t be like that if infrastructure got proper care.Public works. No one cares to make those so that they get done quick, less obstructive and more reliable. Typical Ukrainian road gets bad 3–5 years after it was repaired. As there are many roads, there are always some works somewhere, it is permanent process.Prices. Ukrainian business and politicos don’t care about common people survival, my neighbors complain about prices and bills too high every time. Healthcare in Ukraine is also in awful state, but the only “solution” they see is raising prices.In every of these problems I see people not caring about other people and caring only about their selfish momentary interests.
I am going to meet my ukrainian girlfriend's mother and father?
New Years is the most important holiday of the year in Ukraine. However you bring in the new year, is how you will spend the rest of the year. If you bring it in with presents (wealth), good food (health), good drink (good cheer), then the entire year will be filled with these things. For mom, flowers or chocolate are nice, and for dad, if he drinks, good quality vodka (Nemieroff). These are common "welcoming" gifts at new years. The brother - it depends on how old he is. But, since you are from America (or a Western country), things that are specific to your area are always the most appreciated. This is because most Ukrainians have never been outside of their own country, and they do not have access to simple things we take for granted. I have found picture books of a region/state are always appreciated, as they never get to see such things. Cups, little statues, or anything else that is truly of your own country is best. If the brother is young, toys such as remote control cars, CD's (heavey metal is popular with the teens there), or other such gifts. If he is older, then pretty much the same things as dad. They will show these items off to their friends and family for years (my mother-in-law still has a small American flag sitting on her piano, and shows it to everyone who visits). Ask your girlfriend about interests of her family. They really are not much different than anyone else. Ah - and shake dad's hand firmly, but not over the threshold. Weak handshakes are a sign of a weak man there.
Why did Ukraine impose martial law on Russia?
Putin’s ratings are going down day by day, with more and more people realizing that everything he says on mass media is a huge bluff and means nothing. They decided to show the idiots that believe the TV, that Russia is a powerful country that can easily hit some boats from an another country with no second thought.Martial law in Ukraine means nothing. It is just to show Russia that they can’t be fucked over so easily. Russia doesn’t care though - that incident where 2 sailors got injured is nothing more than just a provocation and a meaning to show the strength of Russian Navy. In reality it showed nothing but the complete idiocy. Yeah, maybe some braindead alcoholics somewhere from a village will scream “OOOH YEAH, WE SHOWED ’EM HOW IT’S DONE, YOU PIECES OF UKRAINIAN FASCIST SHITS” but for adequate people all that means nothing but the complete understanding that Russian government is populated by complete idiots.Russia will not attack any country. Russia is ruled by bussinessmen and oligarchs that want nothing but to get everything they possibly can from Russian natural resources (that belong to the people), hide the money, investing in European realty and banking and send their kids to study in Cambridge or even West Point, where a son of one Russian politician studied.They don’t want to go war with the place they and their kids live. That’s easy.
What does Chernobyl mean in the Russian and Ukrainian languages?
Чернобыль is the name of the plant Artemísia vulgáris https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/...Since чернобыль is a species of Wormwood, the version drawing connection between “Star Wormwood” in Bible prophecy in Revelation 8:10-11 and Chernobyl disaster is well known in Russian and Ukrainian discourse. It could be said by the memorial in Chernobyl called “wormwood star” (like in Russian/Ukrainian translations of Bible) itself, depicting an angel blowing his trumpet.Here is a direct answer about it on very famous Russian site about Orthodox Christian movement Иеромонах Иов (Гумеров). Что представляет собой апокалиптическая звезда My translation: “Question: There is a prophecy about “Star – Wormwood” in Apocalypse. Isn’t it a prophecy about Chernobyl disaster, since чернобыль[chernobyl] is a species of wormwood?Answer by celibate priest Iov (Gumerov) Иеромонах Иов (Гумеров) / Авторы сайта Православие.Ru[Quote from Revelation 8:10-11]It [could be] seen from the text that this event should be attributed not to the past, but to the future eschatologic time. Archbishop Averkhiy (Taushev) explains this passage as this way: “some think that a meteor will fall on the earth and will poison water sources/springs [these words are the same in Russian], which will become poisoned. Or it may be, too, one of the newly invented means of future terrible war” (source “Апокалипсисили откровения святого Иоанна Богослова. История написания, правила для толкования и разбора текста” [Apocalypse or Book of Revelation. History of writing, rules for interpretation and text decomposition])Wormwood (Hebrew laana; Greek apsintos) is a symbol of punishment by the Lord in Bible:[quote from Book of Jeremiah 9:13-15]”As could be said from the answer, they neither explicitly confirm, nor explicitly deny this version.Unfortunately I am neither specialist in Christianity nor an expert in linguistics/translation to form any authoritative opinion about the subject beyond what I’ve already provided. Православие.Ru / Pravoslavie.Ruseems to be rather robust and authoritative site so I gave the link to it. It also has an English version Orthodox Christianity / OrthoChristian.Comwith articles, which means they must speak English as well, so everyone interested in the topic may try connecting to them.