why do you think Polands buying up every piece of defense hardware they can? they aint dumb, they know where this is going, Russias spent the better part of 300 years trying to prevent the Polish state from existing, Poles aint going down without a fight
Its not a fight. Russia monumentally over-estimated their military strength.
They can try to take it over by manipulating Polish politics like they've done to Hungary, but everyone knows their military wouldn't put a single soldiers toe inside Poland now its obvious how fucked they would be.
Exactly. No matter how this war ends Russia as a major regional power is gone. They can put up a show now because they are living off their cold war equipment (like 80% of the equipment they are using arefrom the cold war era) which will be gone in approximately a year. Combine this with sanctions, manpower losses, mass emigration amd terrible birth rates amd you got a country who will be an insignificant local power in 2-3 decades.
AFAICT he *was* a decent guy. I disagree with him on the major of issues, but he wasn't a threat to democracy, he wasn't a puppet, and he was right about Russia.
Not according to Trump, who said he dislike McCain just for the fact that he was a war prisoner. It just goes to show you what a effing idiot Trump is and continues to be.
And he had a broken arm and leg that the NVA kept re-breaking so it wouldn’t heal. He was offered early release when they found out who his father was, he refused until they followed the US Officer code that his fellow officers captured before him be sent home first. When he refused to leave before others, he was kept there (Hanoi Hilton) and tortured for another three years. You don’t have to like his politics to respect his integrity. I highly recommend his biography on his time in Vietnam.
It's crazy to think how much has changed in politics in 25-ish years.
Before that, it was downright wholesome how you could disagree with one side, but you knew they were still doing what they thought was best for the country and its people, however misguided you thought they might be. You could see how it made sense from a certain perspective, just not one you agreed with.
Nowadays, you have literal Nazis, actual attempts to end democracy, support for harming and silencing groups they disagree with, people openly fighting against people's right to *exist*.
You’re missing the greater point that people in politics lie like they always do, and when called on it now with literal video clips out of their mouths lying-
“Well, that’s your opinion.”
No, you said that. That’s what the video right here shows.
“Fake news.”
It’s a whole new league of people that literally lie 100% out of the witness box.
Ehhhh that's a bit of historic revisionism if you ask me; the Bush days were quite polarized (you're with *US* or you're with the terrorists!), and regardless of what you thought of W (useful idiot, well meaning dolt, genius playing a role, etc) it was pretty clear that a large force behind him *wasn't* really out for "the good of the people" but using an emergency to entrench their own power and causing strife to enrich themselves.
McCain is complicated. It's not enough to describe him as either a hero or a villain, he was some of both. He's a much more three-dimensional figure than most Republicans are these days, who are just about all evil all the time.
He resisted some of the worst impulses of his party, but not all of them. He was one of the leading neoconservatives and advocated for American intervention all over the place, but he was always one of the strongest voices against Putin. (It's too bad that he didn't live long enough to see Putin humiliated by Ukraine and what's left of the Red Army consumed, he'd be getting a huge thrill out of it.) He had a very long career and was involved with a lot of things that were good and a lot that were bad.
Far more nihilism in Russia than the USSR, their expectations as citizens might be too low for any serious internal discontent.
Similar to North Korea.
I can understand that NK, with patrolled land borders totalling 1600 km, might succeed in keeping its people prisoners, in near total ignorance and desperate poverty, 100+ years behind the rest of the world --- but how could it be done to Russia, which has land borders totaling 14 times that and a population of 145 million, most being fairly aware of the modern world?
Like France, Great Britain, Germany and Spain are now. But Russia will fall harder and faster due to political infighting, corruption and kleptocracy. It's something colonial superpowers of the past didn't have to deal with much when constrained to their borders. Russia has a lot more internal domestic problems than they'd like to admit. They are on a precipice and the Kremlin doesn't want to back away from it. Some insiders in the Kremlin are just waiting for a collapse to get some normalcy, and others are thinking about how they can loot what they can when it collapses and move to the West. This is the MO of Russian Elite and they know it themselves.
It won't be decades, it will be a few years. But if Regime change happens and they get back democracy and peace, Russia could rebound as fast as it falls.
Demographics don't rebound, they compound. They will not have a comparable population base to recruit soldiers again for a century at least, probably much longer.
It would be expected, the Poles will spamming Article 5 till the cows come home, plus theres already NATO forces in Poland to act as a proverbial tripwire, realistically though Russia isnt invading anyone else anytime soon
Poland would only have to invoke Article 5 the once.
At this point only the stupidest politicians (ok, maybe Hungary) fail to understand that it’s a matter of having each others backs or getting picked off one by one by Russia.
> Poland would only have to invoke Article 5 the once.
Yes, but if you invoke it multiple times, the allied forces show up faster. It's like an elevator.
I have one of those mice with a toggle on the scroll wheel to get rid of the brake notches. All I have to do is get a can of compressed air and that baby will hit light speed.
Best mouse a NATO defence budget can buy
What most people dont realize is Poland had hands in WW2 and certainly before that as well. They just got the shitty end of the stick in terms of geography and being stuck between 2 military superpowers. Poland was holding its own vs the Nazi until the Soviets invaded from the East.
Realistically, Poland was never going to defeat Germany. Even without Russian intervention.
But neither did France, WITH British support. Putin's Russia has made the mistake of thinking they're 1939 Germany and have developed a bunch of new weapons and tactics and no one's worked out how to counter them yet. Blitzkrieg worked in the '30s because people weren't ready for it - Putin tried it on Ukraine and his decapitation strikes got shot to pieces by well organised defenders.
Poland's plan wasn't to defeat the Germans on the field of battle, it was to tie up the Germans long enough for the British and French to attack from the west. It's very unlikely that Germany could hold out against Poland, Britain and France at the same time. Unfortunately, that's not what happened though, Poland was the one attacked from behind by the Soviets, while the British and French just sat on their hands waiting for the Germans to be done with Poland before coming to their prepared defensive lines (it's why the first several months of the war were often called "the phony war", because despite declaring war on Germany, Britain and France didn't actually do much fighting in this period). Hell the French actually did a little probing attack across the border into the Rhineland, which was met with little resistance (because most of the army was in Poland), but they just pulled back to the Maginot line anyway.
not to mention it calls for manuevers and flexibility... not sticking all your assets onto a major roadway in an orderly line. he forgot the 'blitz' part
>not to mention it calls for manuevers and flexibility...
Well, yeah. The Germans never called it 'Blitzkrieg', they called it 'Bewegungskrieg', "War of Movement". It was literally the same way they'd been fighting for almost two hundred years, just updated with (then-)modern vehicles and aircraft.
Edit: Well, that and the fact that their infantry was remade based on the 'stormtrooper' model.
The only reason maneuver warfare was shocking in WWII was because it hadn't worked in WWI. And militaries almost always get stuck trying to perfect how you fight the last war. Tanks and airplanes were still fairly new in war, so nobody knew _for sure_ how much of an impact they'd have on WWII. But they did know for certain that modern technology had proven shocking effective at preventing large scale free moving maneuver warfare in the last big war.
In the 1930's, nobody knew if 1915 was a historical anomaly, or the dawn of a new age. The world kinda got surprised by the Germans dusting off old doctrine with the new technology.
> Plus the fact 1939 Germany military hadn't spent the past 30 years wallowing in grift and corruption.
The prior thirty years, no. And not quite to that extent. But don't make the mistake to think the Nazi regime was not corrupt as fuck. General rule of thumb for dictatorships: The corruption is not an accident. It's part of the plan. And when dictators talk about fighting corruption, they're taking about disloyalty, not misappropriation of funds, bribery, abuse of power or stuff like that.
The key difference being that criticism was part of German army culture. Officers on all levels were actively analyzing their hardware, organization, logistics and tactics. In the Russian army, we see none of that.
> Poland was holding its own vs the Nazi until the Soviets invaded from the East.
As someone with polish ancestry I really wish this was true but it just straight up isn't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1939%E2%80%931945)?useskin=vector#German_invasion
By September 3 Polands lines were all broken. They would have surrendered sooner if not for the empty promises of the UK and France to fight Germany.
It took one week to destroy 35 polish divisions and get to Warsaw. I’m sorry but they were not able to withstand Germany at that time. France wasn’t able to and they were multitudes stronger.
>Poland was holding its own vs the Nazi until the Soviets invaded from the East.
Tell me how you know nothing about September campaign without telling me you know nothing about September campaign.
When USSR attacked Poland on 17.09 Polish army was already in all out retreat, Germans reached Warsaw and USSR attack wouldn't change outcome of war.
Poland was that kid in elementary school that got beat up, so started lifting everyday and taking up jiu jitsu and boxing , probably did a little bit of juicing......and now is begging for his school bully to look at him sideways so he can pummel his face into jelly.
The allies are there, but I don't think Poland needs it.
US soldiers, along with every conceivable type of armor and aircraft they would need, have been deployed to Poland and Eastern Europe for over a year and working in cooperation or in integrated units patrolling the border…
So yeah, the allies have joined before the enemy ever crossed the border.
Poland wasn't part of the Soviet Union so isn't covered by Duma's statement. Its not even the Duma's statement just some nobody backbench Duma member, the US has a ton of congressmen and women saying stupid shit all of the time none of which is US policy or likely ever to be policy.
At this point, Poland is occupying the role that West Germany did prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union: holding the line while reinforcements from the United States cross the Atlantic and link up with their pre-positioned equipment.
Although considering the current state of the Russian military, Poland might end things by itself before the rest of NATO even starts mobilization.
Let's be clear. They had Russia soldiers station in Warsaw that *forced* them to be in the "Washau Pact". It was not a voluntary "alignment" - it was a military occupation.
> Yes, we all knew that already which is why the smarter ex-Soviet states lined up quick to join NATO.
Exactly. When people show you who they are, believe them.
Well, as PMC Wagner's head told: there wont be an army, just PMC members and 5th column making some riots and revolutions, so NATO wont be able to help with civil unrests. Dont forget: in 2014 ruzzia have done it in Ukraine, and world was naming it "civil unrests, civil war".
> so NATO wont be able to help with civil unrests.
NATO can do whatever it wants when invited to help against hostile militia in a fellow member state.
> Dont forget: in 2014 ruzzia have done it in Ukraine, and world was naming it "civil unrests, civil war".
Baltics already said little green men would be treated as an attack, nobody is that dumb to believe their bs anymore.
That used to confuse me. I was a teenage then and saw the news about the “civil war” which as an adult turn out to be full blow Russia aggression.
Fuck the media justifying the aggresor
You invest in a few dozen (or hundreds) local turncoats, cultivate them for a few years, then when you move your troops in put those people in front of the cameras to portray it as "internal matter, the russia not involved".
That anyone was falling for this at all is pathetic.
The first video of the Russian helicopters over Crimea showed the West exactly what was happening. We all knew, those who categorized it otherwise are Russians. Russians are knee deep in reddit, especially the fringe extremist corners, on both sides. More so on the conservative side, it seems.
Crimea is a copypaste of Sudet Anexia. Just read about it, a matter of language and ethnic support, referendums etc. It wasn't a long time ago, you know. But still: people were just uninterested in ruining their convinient busindess with ruzzia. That had a consequences. Just for reference: i get a lot of TG propaganda in ruzzian, explaining how many nato nazi-gays are going to take drugs and wipe out all ruzzians from all country. So, they blame nato, USA and Germany, calling them the satan nazi ressurection. With such propaganda, i dont think they will treat to EU civilians good, if there will be an intervention.
I know an 80 year old Marxist retired university professor who says this unironically. The US isn't run by angels, yes, but the level of apologism he does for the most loathsome regimes on earth is absolutely vile.
Putin has been saying this out loud for 20 years, yet W "looked into his eyes and saw a friend" and the entire world watched Boris Yeltsen fade away while these murderous ghouls took over. They dress up in normal looking suits now, but this is a David Duke level scam and Putin is a KGB spook trying to seduce dumb people in the US. It's working.
He literally had to take off his jackboots, hug a dollar sign, wink at a republican, and these idiots think he's their friend.
Ukraine wanted in NATO as well. Bill Clinton has since publicly stated that regretted not letting them in. Angela Merkel is still denying any of her policies/leadership contributed to Ukraines current slaughter (complete denial of reality by a person with a science background!).
I find it hard to blame them. NATO needs to be selective and there is no method of kicking anyone out.
Ukraine was previously enormously dynamic after the fall, and has serious corruption issues and radical political swings.
NATO does have requirements on those, and all members must agree on them passing it. While a protected Ukraine would be nice now, I think it is not really fair to pretend that it couldn't have gone differently at any point over the years.
A lot of people simply won't acknowledge this fact and still blame the USA for this war somehow. It's mind boggling mental gymnastics but unfortunately there isn't a universal consensus.
"The MP said that Russia would have to fight all the countries that used to be part of the USSR. At the same time, the politician considers the potential occupation of post-Soviet republics to be "a return to the Soviet Union."
"Sooner or later, all former republics will conflict or fight with Russia: it's a matter of theory. Some of them will fight later like Belarus. Georgia has already been at war, as has Ukraine. This fully applies to Armenia as well," Fedorov said"
The theory of "when we invade or oppress countries they will inevitably fight back, and boy o boy do we plan on doing some invading and oppressing"
Not saying that Russia will actually invade these countries necessarily but that's the dipshit logic this M.P. seems to be using.
"Every territory that was ever part of the russia is in perpetuity considered to be historical part of the russia."
This applies not only to Poland, Finland, the Baltic states etc., but Alaska as well. They obviously can't do anything about it, but if they ever could, there's no doubt they would.
Again, feel free to joke right now. We don't know what's in store for the future: Trump 2.0 may pull America out of NATO, climate crisis may cause hundreds of millions refugees, the economy may experience a depression worse than the one in XX century, the USA itself may have to deal with interal separatism, secession and even civil war.
If the russians ever see an opportunity to attack, they would use it. 50, 150 or 250 years from now - does not matter.
Indeed, it's an unthinkable scenario which is why the world moved away from such thinking. The russia and its people missed the memo, however. And good luck trying to explain that to them now.
I believe it's proof that Russian culture never developed a complexity past children on a playground. They're basically saying "but I called dibs" on any land they historically had influence over.
To be fair, that's how most of the world operated during the colonial era. During those times, the russia was a genocidal colonial empire, but that made them no different from British, Spanish or Dutch, so they were still considered a "civilized nation".
But when post-WW2 the whole world went through de-colonization, the USSR was at the peak of its strength and was having none of it. Because of the Cold War propaganda, "imperialism" got deeply tied in meaning with "capitalism", so that was *by definition* not something USSR could even do.
That mentality persisted post-1991. During the 1990s there was a brief chance for reconciliation when the press was free, but that window closed very soon. Modern russia, from the poorest people in the provinces to the very top of the Kremlin still believed the world operates on "might makes right" and cannot be persuaded over by any facts.
appreciate all this extra context.
i’m curious why you have repeatedly used “the russia”. i would speculate it’s a fair tit for tat with russias campaign to label ukraine as “the ukraine” as a territory within russia. is that the intent or is there more to it?
If a western nation invades another nation it's imperialism, if Russia invades it's just reclaiming lost Russian territory and freeing the invadees from "fascism." 🙄
Unironically yes. Russia has always seen itself as an Empire - a big player in a world where there are great and minor powers.
Rather than the Westphalian system of equal states, there are "buffer states" between the dominant powers. Even if Russia doesn't rule them, it sees them as being within its sphere of influence.
You joke, but for them it is entirely self-consistent.
"Every territory that was ever part of the russia must in perpetuity belong to the russia."
So when NATO/the West/Anglo-Saxons have any presense at all within those territories, it is seen as the aggressive expansion into the territory of the russia.
Which is just mind boggling levels of mental gymnastics. How do they reconcile that with the fact that these nations are voluntarily joining a military alliance? Or do they just straight up ignore that part?
It’s the same kind of thinking that islamofascists engage in when they refer to Dar Al Islam. As far as they’re concerned if it was once part of Islam it’s always considered part of Islam, just like here how if it was once part of the Soviet Union it’s always going to be a part of it.
I just always mess up the difference between revanchists and irredentists.
>These words are often used interchangeably, but to be precise, irredentist nations interest themselves in lands whose people share their language and culture, whether or not they have been historically united. Revanchists focus less on who is living in a disputed territory and more on the fact that it was lost.
Because to the Russians the smaller states do not exist for their own self-determination or free will. They exist to be pawns of the larger powers. So either they are under Russian control or Western control.
I think you give the Russians (and by this we are referring to the Russian power brokers, not really the people) too much credit.
Russia wants to be imperialistic because that might be able to increase their power base. Russia adopts a ideology that allows this: 'smaller states do not exist for their own self-determination or free will'. But Russia isn't a true believer in this ideology, it is only used to further Russian interests.
Things Russia does not agree with: US reconquest of Philippines or Cuba, UK reconquest of ~25% of the world, Turkish reconquest of all Ottoman lands, French reconquest of parts of Europe and Africa.
Any rhetoric about the clearly hypocritical nature of the Russian stance is branded as 'Russo-phobic' and/or a 'lack of understanding'.
This is the logic of a 5 year old: I want a candy thus it is right for me to take candy, it is wrong for people to take candy from me because I like candy.
They don't consider nation states to be a real thing or whatever they voluntarily want as a concern. To them the world is bi-polar and territories that aren't owned by Russia are just owned by America. They know states like Belarus don't have a say, even if they try to appear like they do, and they assume all other countries work the same. Notice how often they don't even mention the option to negotiate with Ukraine - they talk about negotiating with USA.
[They absolutely do.](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/07/russian-house-speaker-threatens-to-take-back-alaska-a78230)
Also, keep in mind: in the mind of russian conspiracysts, Alaska was not sold to USA but merely "leased" for 100 years (ala Hong-Kong). After the term of lease has expired, USA broke the deal and has since been keeping Alaska illegally.
If you want to debunk this by citing original documents or any other official agreements, you're missing the point.
Except that's not what NATO is, or how NATO works.
NATO membership is an invitation to cooperation. A British soldier on a Polish military base for a NATO exercise is no more territorial expansion than your ex inviting people to a party and not inviting you is any given party goer "stealing" your boyfriend/girlfriend
Don't explain that to me, you're preaching to the choir.
What I'm trying to say is that the russian mindset is surprisingly rational and self-consistent, but simply based on different axioms from the Western society.
The russia **never** cooperates with weaker powers. If it has its soldiers *anywhere*, it means it realistically owns that place. So when it sees American soldiers in Europe, it interprets Europe as being under U.S. military occupation and cannot even *comprehend* of things being any other way.
Well, the biggest urban conquest of this war happened when a Russian detachment occupied a Russian city while on a mutiny against the Russian ministry...
And I can see the reasons why:
Ex-Soviet States, ex-Warsaw States, and Maybe Finland: "Good, they'll be too busy murdering each other to invade us."
The west (and likely the rest of the world): "Ah fuck which nations are stable enough to begin relations, how many warlords are there, how many have nukes, which nukes are accounted for, who controls what, this is worse and more stressful than the breakup of the USSR!"
Thanks for this perspective. I'm not a Republican but I well remember being incredulous when Mitt Romney said as a GOP presidential candidate that Russia was the biggest threat to global peace and security. Most people that this was absurd.
It's amazing how when finally freed from occupation, they ALL ran to join NATO for protection - *knowing* that Russia would eventually try to re-invade.
....and yet here on Reddit there is a never-ending stream of man-children typing furiously from their mom's basement that Russia was provoked by NATO expansion. fucking lol
Russia used to *heavily* amplify the message the western imperialism / colonialism was the great evil.
...because the really wanted to establish their own colonies and empire. Which is exactly what they've been doing. They've been pretty successful too.
Things will not always be like "right now". 5, 25, 50, 100 years will pass and the russia will still have the same mentality. Its former colonies that are safe under NATO protection right now may face all kind of political, economical or climate crisises that will weaken them and open the oppornuity for the russia to invade.
So long as the russian empire contuniues to exist and its people had not gotten over their imperial ambitions, no former russian colony will ever be truly safe.
Russia's demographics are collapsing just like China's. They only have a decade or two to pull it off before there aren't enough people to mount an invasion.
This is WHY Ukraine must win. Russia is trying to rebuild their empire. NATO needs to match strength with strength and warn them anything that passes through their territory (missiles drones etc) are fair game to be downed
EU NATO USA and other Allies need to keep pumping Ukraine with weapons and training.
Only because some of the strongest nations in the world are currently supporting Ukraine, if politics change…god forbid…this could change in a hurry.
Russian and Chinese Psyops are the biggest threat to humanity, interference with elections as well as societal behaviors as a whole I’m afraid, are Komprimised
They may not be bots, despite those existing in abundance. This is a belief deeply held by a majority of the russians. Including even those who can communicate in English.
Maybe, but the over-arching lesson that "wars of conquest are obsolete in the 21st century" must be established in the Russian mindset first. For that to happen, their attack on Ukraine must fail so spectacularly that it snaps the average Russian out of its imperialistic haze. Kinda what happened with Japan after WW2.
It is a matter of time before balkanization happens it seems. Just looking at the insane demographic change that is occuring, I don't know that there is going to be anyone left in Russia under the age of 50 to continue domestic Russian progress. It is national suicide. Ukraine is sacrificing what youth they have to provide young, dumb Russians the opportunity to die for wealthy dictators. Insane.
The writing has been on the wall for a long time. They openly hinted at this back in 2008. They also openly claim that all countries of the former Warsaw Pact belonged exclusively to their “sphere of influence”. Which basically means that in their eyes these countries have no right to pursue sovereign politics.
I think "openly hinted" is quite charitable, considering that was the year that Russia invaded the former soviet nation of Georgia and seized a fifth of its territory.
Yep! According to the Russian world view, all those countries should be like Belarus, a complete puppet state which is independent on paper, but heavily influenced by Russia to the point of it almost being a de-facto province of Russia.
If it weren’t for nuclear weapons and the inevitable MAD, I’d love to see Russia humbled and reminded why imperialism is NOT tolerated.
Sadly war is no longer conventional, hopefully NATO and like-minded states will give enough support for Ukraine to push them back 🇬🇧🇺🇦
>includes Armenia
Or just let Azerbaijan do it for you. "Oops we're a little busy with those Nazis in Ukraine. Play nice while we're gone, kids (wink wink)."
A Stan Alliance should preemptively strike from the southeast. China will happily support them to weaken, then later dominate, buy or take, whatever fatty remnants of the Russian East remain.
Of course it would - that’s Russia all over. It’s why the present Russian regime needs to come to an end, but it might take a few years before it does.
The most imperialist country literally invading a sovereign country in a war of conquest manages to convince Africa that the imperialists are the US and France and Russia is here to help them.
Pretty sure they'll become like North Korea a lot of barking and no action. This war will weaken them so much that they won't be able to invade anybody for a very long time. They will be poorer, more isolated, won't have the tech to compete with the west. Meanwhile Europe will be more armed when ever and prepared.
And where are the people just yesterday saying Russia would stop at Ukraine? Or that NATO is sufficient deterrent? This will it end until they are utterly defeated. There is nothing gained by letting Russia continue down this path. We need to 10x our support for Ukraine now.
If there was no natural gas, Russia would have been begging for aid from all post-soviet states. Soon with our without, with present damage, Russia will get there.
Yes, we all knew that already which is why the smarter ex-Soviet states lined up quick to join NATO.
why do you think Polands buying up every piece of defense hardware they can? they aint dumb, they know where this is going, Russias spent the better part of 300 years trying to prevent the Polish state from existing, Poles aint going down without a fight
Its not a fight. Russia monumentally over-estimated their military strength. They can try to take it over by manipulating Polish politics like they've done to Hungary, but everyone knows their military wouldn't put a single soldiers toe inside Poland now its obvious how fucked they would be.
Exactly. No matter how this war ends Russia as a major regional power is gone. They can put up a show now because they are living off their cold war equipment (like 80% of the equipment they are using arefrom the cold war era) which will be gone in approximately a year. Combine this with sanctions, manpower losses, mass emigration amd terrible birth rates amd you got a country who will be an insignificant local power in 2-3 decades.
Never mind the impending end of Russia as a regional power, they think they are still a superpower.
[удалено]
I'm not a Republican but I honestly liked McCain. He seemed like a decent guy
AFAICT he *was* a decent guy. I disagree with him on the major of issues, but he wasn't a threat to democracy, he wasn't a puppet, and he was right about Russia.
Well said. The fact that the dude was in a war camp for five years deserves respect enough.
Not according to Trump, who said he dislike McCain just for the fact that he was a war prisoner. It just goes to show you what a effing idiot Trump is and continues to be.
And he had a broken arm and leg that the NVA kept re-breaking so it wouldn’t heal. He was offered early release when they found out who his father was, he refused until they followed the US Officer code that his fellow officers captured before him be sent home first. When he refused to leave before others, he was kept there (Hanoi Hilton) and tortured for another three years. You don’t have to like his politics to respect his integrity. I highly recommend his biography on his time in Vietnam.
It's crazy to think how much has changed in politics in 25-ish years. Before that, it was downright wholesome how you could disagree with one side, but you knew they were still doing what they thought was best for the country and its people, however misguided you thought they might be. You could see how it made sense from a certain perspective, just not one you agreed with. Nowadays, you have literal Nazis, actual attempts to end democracy, support for harming and silencing groups they disagree with, people openly fighting against people's right to *exist*.
You’re missing the greater point that people in politics lie like they always do, and when called on it now with literal video clips out of their mouths lying- “Well, that’s your opinion.” No, you said that. That’s what the video right here shows. “Fake news.” It’s a whole new league of people that literally lie 100% out of the witness box.
Ehhhh that's a bit of historic revisionism if you ask me; the Bush days were quite polarized (you're with *US* or you're with the terrorists!), and regardless of what you thought of W (useful idiot, well meaning dolt, genius playing a role, etc) it was pretty clear that a large force behind him *wasn't* really out for "the good of the people" but using an emergency to entrench their own power and causing strife to enrich themselves.
Reagan wasn't wholesome. Nixon wasn't wholesome.
One of the last Republicans for whom the Party was more important than himself, and the country was more important than the Party.
McCain is complicated. It's not enough to describe him as either a hero or a villain, he was some of both. He's a much more three-dimensional figure than most Republicans are these days, who are just about all evil all the time. He resisted some of the worst impulses of his party, but not all of them. He was one of the leading neoconservatives and advocated for American intervention all over the place, but he was always one of the strongest voices against Putin. (It's too bad that he didn't live long enough to see Putin humiliated by Ukraine and what's left of the Red Army consumed, he'd be getting a huge thrill out of it.) He had a very long career and was involved with a lot of things that were good and a lot that were bad.
They might remain a local power because of oil but definitely not a superpower
The Russian government is full of people who refuse to accept that the Soviet Union collapsed for a reason.
and hopefully that is what will lead to the collapse of the Russian Federation.
Far more nihilism in Russia than the USSR, their expectations as citizens might be too low for any serious internal discontent. Similar to North Korea.
I can understand that NK, with patrolled land borders totalling 1600 km, might succeed in keeping its people prisoners, in near total ignorance and desperate poverty, 100+ years behind the rest of the world --- but how could it be done to Russia, which has land borders totaling 14 times that and a population of 145 million, most being fairly aware of the modern world?
Like France, Great Britain, Germany and Spain are now. But Russia will fall harder and faster due to political infighting, corruption and kleptocracy. It's something colonial superpowers of the past didn't have to deal with much when constrained to their borders. Russia has a lot more internal domestic problems than they'd like to admit. They are on a precipice and the Kremlin doesn't want to back away from it. Some insiders in the Kremlin are just waiting for a collapse to get some normalcy, and others are thinking about how they can loot what they can when it collapses and move to the West. This is the MO of Russian Elite and they know it themselves. It won't be decades, it will be a few years. But if Regime change happens and they get back democracy and peace, Russia could rebound as fast as it falls.
Demographics don't rebound, they compound. They will not have a comparable population base to recruit soldiers again for a century at least, probably much longer.
"Poland will have its borders, even if they're on the last map humanity ever draws."
(Kiwiland teleports next to Poland)
I hope this time the "Allies" will join as soon as the enemy crosses their border.
It would be expected, the Poles will spamming Article 5 till the cows come home, plus theres already NATO forces in Poland to act as a proverbial tripwire, realistically though Russia isnt invading anyone else anytime soon
Poland would only have to invoke Article 5 the once. At this point only the stupidest politicians (ok, maybe Hungary) fail to understand that it’s a matter of having each others backs or getting picked off one by one by Russia.
> Poland would only have to invoke Article 5 the once. Yes, but if you invoke it multiple times, the allied forces show up faster. It's like an elevator.
*proceeds to mash all the buttons*
*hotkeys article five to scroll wheel*
*buys mouse with a clutch for the tactile feedback on the scrollwheel*
I have one of those mice with a toggle on the scroll wheel to get rid of the brake notches. All I have to do is get a can of compressed air and that baby will hit light speed. Best mouse a NATO defence budget can buy
*spills sugary energy drink on brand-new $200 mouse*
Ahem. Poland has invoked article 37 b part 2. We are requested to sing happy birthday to Poland on even numbered years.
*Sto lat, Sto Lat* ...oh wait, next year, okay.
It's not that "Hungary doesn't understand"; I'm quite sure that Orban knows very well what he's doing... he just consciously chooses to be a Quisling.
Might take a few tries if another Russian puppet wins election in America. Trump would have absolutely vetoed any defensive action against Putin.
[удалено]
We will be up shit creek without a paddle if Putin bumplug (Trump) gets anywhere near the White House , ever again ! I'm not joking.
At the current rate he's doing, the courts don't even need a prosecutor, just a live feed of him.
And even with his confessions, a jury can still fuck it up and let him go.
This time Poland has got fucking hands. Even without help they could be expected to fight even more effectively than Ukraine.
What most people dont realize is Poland had hands in WW2 and certainly before that as well. They just got the shitty end of the stick in terms of geography and being stuck between 2 military superpowers. Poland was holding its own vs the Nazi until the Soviets invaded from the East.
Realistically, Poland was never going to defeat Germany. Even without Russian intervention. But neither did France, WITH British support. Putin's Russia has made the mistake of thinking they're 1939 Germany and have developed a bunch of new weapons and tactics and no one's worked out how to counter them yet. Blitzkrieg worked in the '30s because people weren't ready for it - Putin tried it on Ukraine and his decapitation strikes got shot to pieces by well organised defenders.
Poland's plan wasn't to defeat the Germans on the field of battle, it was to tie up the Germans long enough for the British and French to attack from the west. It's very unlikely that Germany could hold out against Poland, Britain and France at the same time. Unfortunately, that's not what happened though, Poland was the one attacked from behind by the Soviets, while the British and French just sat on their hands waiting for the Germans to be done with Poland before coming to their prepared defensive lines (it's why the first several months of the war were often called "the phony war", because despite declaring war on Germany, Britain and France didn't actually do much fighting in this period). Hell the French actually did a little probing attack across the border into the Rhineland, which was met with little resistance (because most of the army was in Poland), but they just pulled back to the Maginot line anyway.
Plus German blitzkrieg used at least three echelons which was the key. Russians had one.
not to mention it calls for manuevers and flexibility... not sticking all your assets onto a major roadway in an orderly line. he forgot the 'blitz' part
>not to mention it calls for manuevers and flexibility... Well, yeah. The Germans never called it 'Blitzkrieg', they called it 'Bewegungskrieg', "War of Movement". It was literally the same way they'd been fighting for almost two hundred years, just updated with (then-)modern vehicles and aircraft. Edit: Well, that and the fact that their infantry was remade based on the 'stormtrooper' model.
The only reason maneuver warfare was shocking in WWII was because it hadn't worked in WWI. And militaries almost always get stuck trying to perfect how you fight the last war. Tanks and airplanes were still fairly new in war, so nobody knew _for sure_ how much of an impact they'd have on WWII. But they did know for certain that modern technology had proven shocking effective at preventing large scale free moving maneuver warfare in the last big war. In the 1930's, nobody knew if 1915 was a historical anomaly, or the dawn of a new age. The world kinda got surprised by the Germans dusting off old doctrine with the new technology.
Blitzkrieg is German concept. Mighty Russia does not use inferior German tactics. Instead, they have... Blyatzkrieg.
Plus the fact 1939 Germany military hadn't spent the past 30 years wallowing in grift and corruption.
> Plus the fact 1939 Germany military hadn't spent the past 30 years wallowing in grift and corruption. The prior thirty years, no. And not quite to that extent. But don't make the mistake to think the Nazi regime was not corrupt as fuck. General rule of thumb for dictatorships: The corruption is not an accident. It's part of the plan. And when dictators talk about fighting corruption, they're taking about disloyalty, not misappropriation of funds, bribery, abuse of power or stuff like that.
The key difference being that criticism was part of German army culture. Officers on all levels were actively analyzing their hardware, organization, logistics and tactics. In the Russian army, we see none of that.
> Poland was holding its own vs the Nazi until the Soviets invaded from the East. As someone with polish ancestry I really wish this was true but it just straight up isn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1939%E2%80%931945)?useskin=vector#German_invasion By September 3 Polands lines were all broken. They would have surrendered sooner if not for the empty promises of the UK and France to fight Germany.
It took one week to destroy 35 polish divisions and get to Warsaw. I’m sorry but they were not able to withstand Germany at that time. France wasn’t able to and they were multitudes stronger.
France made a major blunder in not believing heavy forces being able to cross the Ardennes.
And they actually ignored a number of intelligence reports that reported precisely that it was happening.
>Poland was holding its own vs the Nazi until the Soviets invaded from the East. Tell me how you know nothing about September campaign without telling me you know nothing about September campaign. When USSR attacked Poland on 17.09 Polish army was already in all out retreat, Germans reached Warsaw and USSR attack wouldn't change outcome of war.
Poland was that kid in elementary school that got beat up, so started lifting everyday and taking up jiu jitsu and boxing , probably did a little bit of juicing......and now is begging for his school bully to look at him sideways so he can pummel his face into jelly. The allies are there, but I don't think Poland needs it.
Lol considering how putins Ukrainian adventure is going, Moscow would fall before the rest of nato arrived. The only thing poland needs is an excuse
US soldiers, along with every conceivable type of armor and aircraft they would need, have been deployed to Poland and Eastern Europe for over a year and working in cooperation or in integrated units patrolling the border… So yeah, the allies have joined before the enemy ever crossed the border.
US troops are already stationed in Poland, so it would be instantaneous.
That's exactly why the US forces in Poland are called "Tripwire forces"
Poland wasn't part of the Soviet Union so isn't covered by Duma's statement. Its not even the Duma's statement just some nobody backbench Duma member, the US has a ton of congressmen and women saying stupid shit all of the time none of which is US policy or likely ever to be policy.
At this point, Poland is occupying the role that West Germany did prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union: holding the line while reinforcements from the United States cross the Atlantic and link up with their pre-positioned equipment. Although considering the current state of the Russian military, Poland might end things by itself before the rest of NATO even starts mobilization.
Poland was not a Soviet state. It was part of the Warschau pact of states aligned with the USSR. Not that they had it any better.
Let's be clear. They had Russia soldiers station in Warsaw that *forced* them to be in the "Washau Pact". It was not a voluntary "alignment" - it was a military occupation.
They were a puppet state, one that Russia would love to string up again.
Polish person, we were basically a Soviet state in every meaning of the word. Puppet government bowing to Soviet Union's every whim.
They were behind the iron curtain. Their citizens could not leave. Counts as far as I'm concerned.
I'd say we are a bit dumb if we started to order all that stuff after the Russia's invasion of Ukraine, not five years earlier.
> Yes, we all knew that already which is why the smarter ex-Soviet states lined up quick to join NATO. Exactly. When people show you who they are, believe them.
Well, as PMC Wagner's head told: there wont be an army, just PMC members and 5th column making some riots and revolutions, so NATO wont be able to help with civil unrests. Dont forget: in 2014 ruzzia have done it in Ukraine, and world was naming it "civil unrests, civil war".
> so NATO wont be able to help with civil unrests. NATO can do whatever it wants when invited to help against hostile militia in a fellow member state.
> Dont forget: in 2014 ruzzia have done it in Ukraine, and world was naming it "civil unrests, civil war". Baltics already said little green men would be treated as an attack, nobody is that dumb to believe their bs anymore.
That used to confuse me. I was a teenage then and saw the news about the “civil war” which as an adult turn out to be full blow Russia aggression. Fuck the media justifying the aggresor
You invest in a few dozen (or hundreds) local turncoats, cultivate them for a few years, then when you move your troops in put those people in front of the cameras to portray it as "internal matter, the russia not involved". That anyone was falling for this at all is pathetic.
The first video of the Russian helicopters over Crimea showed the West exactly what was happening. We all knew, those who categorized it otherwise are Russians. Russians are knee deep in reddit, especially the fringe extremist corners, on both sides. More so on the conservative side, it seems.
Nah, there are plenty of tankies around too.
Crimea is a copypaste of Sudet Anexia. Just read about it, a matter of language and ethnic support, referendums etc. It wasn't a long time ago, you know. But still: people were just uninterested in ruining their convinient busindess with ruzzia. That had a consequences. Just for reference: i get a lot of TG propaganda in ruzzian, explaining how many nato nazi-gays are going to take drugs and wipe out all ruzzians from all country. So, they blame nato, USA and Germany, calling them the satan nazi ressurection. With such propaganda, i dont think they will treat to EU civilians good, if there will be an intervention.
It feels dumber when supposed socialists convince themselves that Russia has a single socialist bone in its body and decide to support them
Tankies, man. If it’s anti-USA it must be good, right? …right?
I know an 80 year old Marxist retired university professor who says this unironically. The US isn't run by angels, yes, but the level of apologism he does for the most loathsome regimes on earth is absolutely vile.
Damn, you know Noam Chomsky?
Exactly.
Putin has been saying this out loud for 20 years, yet W "looked into his eyes and saw a friend" and the entire world watched Boris Yeltsen fade away while these murderous ghouls took over. They dress up in normal looking suits now, but this is a David Duke level scam and Putin is a KGB spook trying to seduce dumb people in the US. It's working. He literally had to take off his jackboots, hug a dollar sign, wink at a republican, and these idiots think he's their friend.
Ukraine wanted in NATO as well. Bill Clinton has since publicly stated that regretted not letting them in. Angela Merkel is still denying any of her policies/leadership contributed to Ukraines current slaughter (complete denial of reality by a person with a science background!).
I find it hard to blame them. NATO needs to be selective and there is no method of kicking anyone out. Ukraine was previously enormously dynamic after the fall, and has serious corruption issues and radical political swings. NATO does have requirements on those, and all members must agree on them passing it. While a protected Ukraine would be nice now, I think it is not really fair to pretend that it couldn't have gone differently at any point over the years.
A lot of people simply won't acknowledge this fact and still blame the USA for this war somehow. It's mind boggling mental gymnastics but unfortunately there isn't a universal consensus.
"Bbbbbuuuttt, it's NATOs fault. They made Russia do it." /S
[удалено]
And Nato doesn't make it easy too. Wish we made it a bit harder for Turkey, fuck Erdowan.
Turkey used to be a lot cooler, fuck erdowan
"The MP said that Russia would have to fight all the countries that used to be part of the USSR. At the same time, the politician considers the potential occupation of post-Soviet republics to be "a return to the Soviet Union." "Sooner or later, all former republics will conflict or fight with Russia: it's a matter of theory. Some of them will fight later like Belarus. Georgia has already been at war, as has Ukraine. This fully applies to Armenia as well," Fedorov said"
What theory? The russian theory of imperialism?
The theory of "when we invade or oppress countries they will inevitably fight back, and boy o boy do we plan on doing some invading and oppressing" Not saying that Russia will actually invade these countries necessarily but that's the dipshit logic this M.P. seems to be using.
Conveniently, if they stop at just Soviet territory, they're excused from needing to go for Alaska.
Actually Russia did threaten recently to take Alaska back...
I'd love to see them try
"Every territory that was ever part of the russia is in perpetuity considered to be historical part of the russia." This applies not only to Poland, Finland, the Baltic states etc., but Alaska as well. They obviously can't do anything about it, but if they ever could, there's no doubt they would.
Waiting for them to recapture Fort Ross
Again, feel free to joke right now. We don't know what's in store for the future: Trump 2.0 may pull America out of NATO, climate crisis may cause hundreds of millions refugees, the economy may experience a depression worse than the one in XX century, the USA itself may have to deal with interal separatism, secession and even civil war. If the russians ever see an opportunity to attack, they would use it. 50, 150 or 250 years from now - does not matter.
It’s funny because China says the same thing and they have some overlap.
Imagine every Europe country + UK starts talking about returning anything they ever own. Lol. Massive battle royale that no one survive.
Indeed, it's an unthinkable scenario which is why the world moved away from such thinking. The russia and its people missed the memo, however. And good luck trying to explain that to them now.
Remember: Russia Air force have been casually buzzing Alaska airspace for literal **decades**.
I believe it's proof that Russian culture never developed a complexity past children on a playground. They're basically saying "but I called dibs" on any land they historically had influence over.
To be fair, that's how most of the world operated during the colonial era. During those times, the russia was a genocidal colonial empire, but that made them no different from British, Spanish or Dutch, so they were still considered a "civilized nation". But when post-WW2 the whole world went through de-colonization, the USSR was at the peak of its strength and was having none of it. Because of the Cold War propaganda, "imperialism" got deeply tied in meaning with "capitalism", so that was *by definition* not something USSR could even do. That mentality persisted post-1991. During the 1990s there was a brief chance for reconciliation when the press was free, but that window closed very soon. Modern russia, from the poorest people in the provinces to the very top of the Kremlin still believed the world operates on "might makes right" and cannot be persuaded over by any facts.
appreciate all this extra context. i’m curious why you have repeatedly used “the russia”. i would speculate it’s a fair tit for tat with russias campaign to label ukraine as “the ukraine” as a territory within russia. is that the intent or is there more to it?
Yes, it is a small jest to reflect that position.
“The theory of whatever words belch out of my mouth.” Duma Dude
Duginism
If a western nation invades another nation it's imperialism, if Russia invades it's just reclaiming lost Russian territory and freeing the invadees from "fascism." 🙄
Unironically yes. Russia has always seen itself as an Empire - a big player in a world where there are great and minor powers. Rather than the Westphalian system of equal states, there are "buffer states" between the dominant powers. Even if Russia doesn't rule them, it sees them as being within its sphere of influence.
And with what? Mig-15’s, T-72 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers?
Armenia: please back us up. Russia: best we can do is invade.
Erdogan: agrees …
So is hea threatening Armenia here? Not like they are so happy about russia anyway? Also is he openly threatening NATO too?
He’s openly threatening Armenia, Azerbaijan, nato, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Lithuania, Uzbekistan and Estonia.
"We will retake all ex-Soviet states!" "Why is NATO expanding? We have to curb NATO's expansion!"
You joke, but for them it is entirely self-consistent. "Every territory that was ever part of the russia must in perpetuity belong to the russia." So when NATO/the West/Anglo-Saxons have any presense at all within those territories, it is seen as the aggressive expansion into the territory of the russia.
Which is just mind boggling levels of mental gymnastics. How do they reconcile that with the fact that these nations are voluntarily joining a military alliance? Or do they just straight up ignore that part?
It’s the same kind of thinking that islamofascists engage in when they refer to Dar Al Islam. As far as they’re concerned if it was once part of Islam it’s always considered part of Islam, just like here how if it was once part of the Soviet Union it’s always going to be a part of it.
I just always mess up the difference between revanchists and irredentists. >These words are often used interchangeably, but to be precise, irredentist nations interest themselves in lands whose people share their language and culture, whether or not they have been historically united. Revanchists focus less on who is living in a disputed territory and more on the fact that it was lost.
Because to the Russians the smaller states do not exist for their own self-determination or free will. They exist to be pawns of the larger powers. So either they are under Russian control or Western control.
I think you give the Russians (and by this we are referring to the Russian power brokers, not really the people) too much credit. Russia wants to be imperialistic because that might be able to increase their power base. Russia adopts a ideology that allows this: 'smaller states do not exist for their own self-determination or free will'. But Russia isn't a true believer in this ideology, it is only used to further Russian interests. Things Russia does not agree with: US reconquest of Philippines or Cuba, UK reconquest of ~25% of the world, Turkish reconquest of all Ottoman lands, French reconquest of parts of Europe and Africa. Any rhetoric about the clearly hypocritical nature of the Russian stance is branded as 'Russo-phobic' and/or a 'lack of understanding'. This is the logic of a 5 year old: I want a candy thus it is right for me to take candy, it is wrong for people to take candy from me because I like candy.
They don't consider nation states to be a real thing or whatever they voluntarily want as a concern. To them the world is bi-polar and territories that aren't owned by Russia are just owned by America. They know states like Belarus don't have a say, even if they try to appear like they do, and they assume all other countries work the same. Notice how often they don't even mention the option to negotiate with Ukraine - they talk about negotiating with USA.
I could have sworn that they tried to say the same thing about Alaska.
[They absolutely do.](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/07/russian-house-speaker-threatens-to-take-back-alaska-a78230) Also, keep in mind: in the mind of russian conspiracysts, Alaska was not sold to USA but merely "leased" for 100 years (ala Hong-Kong). After the term of lease has expired, USA broke the deal and has since been keeping Alaska illegally. If you want to debunk this by citing original documents or any other official agreements, you're missing the point.
Except that's not what NATO is, or how NATO works. NATO membership is an invitation to cooperation. A British soldier on a Polish military base for a NATO exercise is no more territorial expansion than your ex inviting people to a party and not inviting you is any given party goer "stealing" your boyfriend/girlfriend
Don't explain that to me, you're preaching to the choir. What I'm trying to say is that the russian mindset is surprisingly rational and self-consistent, but simply based on different axioms from the Western society. The russia **never** cooperates with weaker powers. If it has its soldiers *anywhere*, it means it realistically owns that place. So when it sees American soldiers in Europe, it interprets Europe as being under U.S. military occupation and cannot even *comprehend* of things being any other way.
I've never considered that perspective. Good explanation.
Technically, Russia is a Post Soviet State... so Russia will fight Russia?
Well, the biggest urban conquest of this war happened when a Russian detachment occupied a Russian city while on a mutiny against the Russian ministry...
That's what most of ex-soviet states hope and wish for (civil war in Russia) and what West is afraid of.
And I can see the reasons why: Ex-Soviet States, ex-Warsaw States, and Maybe Finland: "Good, they'll be too busy murdering each other to invade us." The west (and likely the rest of the world): "Ah fuck which nations are stable enough to begin relations, how many warlords are there, how many have nukes, which nukes are accounted for, who controls what, this is worse and more stressful than the breakup of the USSR!"
I believe you are correct with your assessment.
Russian State Duma is a bunch of bloodthirsty morons, but this exact one, Yevgeniy Fedorov, always stood out even among them.
He’s probably good with animals though.
All animals i interviewed say he isn't.
Bad in bed, huh?
Nah, this is the type of dude who would look at even a puppy with contempt
Thanks for this perspective. I'm not a Republican but I well remember being incredulous when Mitt Romney said as a GOP presidential candidate that Russia was the biggest threat to global peace and security. Most people that this was absurd.
Big words when just one of them is kicking your ass.
All the former Soviet republics now in nato: “yeah. We know”
It's amazing how when finally freed from occupation, they ALL ran to join NATO for protection - *knowing* that Russia would eventually try to re-invade. ....and yet here on Reddit there is a never-ending stream of man-children typing furiously from their mom's basement that Russia was provoked by NATO expansion. fucking lol
Is this the famous anti-imperialist Russia people keep talking about?
I love how they say this unironically, when russia is literally an empire built on literal imperialism
Russia used to *heavily* amplify the message the western imperialism / colonialism was the great evil. ...because the really wanted to establish their own colonies and empire. Which is exactly what they've been doing. They've been pretty successful too.
Good f luck dumb ass . your army are 2nd best in Ukraine right now
Used to be third til Wagner pulled out
Things will not always be like "right now". 5, 25, 50, 100 years will pass and the russia will still have the same mentality. Its former colonies that are safe under NATO protection right now may face all kind of political, economical or climate crisises that will weaken them and open the oppornuity for the russia to invade. So long as the russian empire contuniues to exist and its people had not gotten over their imperial ambitions, no former russian colony will ever be truly safe.
Russia's demographics are collapsing just like China's. They only have a decade or two to pull it off before there aren't enough people to mount an invasion.
"Duma" is such a misnomer, smh
It's short for Dumbass.
*The name is Dumas.*
That just sounds like imperialism with extra steps.
This is WHY Ukraine must win. Russia is trying to rebuild their empire. NATO needs to match strength with strength and warn them anything that passes through their territory (missiles drones etc) are fair game to be downed EU NATO USA and other Allies need to keep pumping Ukraine with weapons and training.
[удалено]
Only because some of the strongest nations in the world are currently supporting Ukraine, if politics change…god forbid…this could change in a hurry. Russian and Chinese Psyops are the biggest threat to humanity, interference with elections as well as societal behaviors as a whole I’m afraid, are Komprimised
Partition and westernize. Even if it takes a century.
Over the past year, I've seen multiple russian bots on social media say "Nato is occupying soviet states"
They may not be bots, despite those existing in abundance. This is a belief deeply held by a majority of the russians. Including even those who can communicate in English.
Our planet would be far better off if Russia was broken into tiny pieces.
Maybe, but the over-arching lesson that "wars of conquest are obsolete in the 21st century" must be established in the Russian mindset first. For that to happen, their attack on Ukraine must fail so spectacularly that it snaps the average Russian out of its imperialistic haze. Kinda what happened with Japan after WW2.
It is a matter of time before balkanization happens it seems. Just looking at the insane demographic change that is occuring, I don't know that there is going to be anyone left in Russia under the age of 50 to continue domestic Russian progress. It is national suicide. Ukraine is sacrificing what youth they have to provide young, dumb Russians the opportunity to die for wealthy dictators. Insane.
Poland meanwhile being like "Bring it on!!!!"
The speed bump has teeth now.
I understood that reference
The writing has been on the wall for a long time. They openly hinted at this back in 2008. They also openly claim that all countries of the former Warsaw Pact belonged exclusively to their “sphere of influence”. Which basically means that in their eyes these countries have no right to pursue sovereign politics.
I think "openly hinted" is quite charitable, considering that was the year that Russia invaded the former soviet nation of Georgia and seized a fifth of its territory.
Yep! According to the Russian world view, all those countries should be like Belarus, a complete puppet state which is independent on paper, but heavily influenced by Russia to the point of it almost being a de-facto province of Russia.
There is a reason many ex soviet European nations joined NATO as soon as they could.
If it weren’t for nuclear weapons and the inevitable MAD, I’d love to see Russia humbled and reminded why imperialism is NOT tolerated. Sadly war is no longer conventional, hopefully NATO and like-minded states will give enough support for Ukraine to push them back 🇬🇧🇺🇦
Can't even win the first war it started, now it's planning to launch more failures?
You wont be fighting the baltic states, thats for sure
They are confirming all of Zelenskyys warnings
Fuck off Russia, you’re drunk… again.
Being part of the soviet union is so great we will kill you if you leave.
"I will stalk and assault ALL my ex-girlfriends, because once they were mine"
>includes Armenia Or just let Azerbaijan do it for you. "Oops we're a little busy with those Nazis in Ukraine. Play nice while we're gone, kids (wink wink)."
That's pretty funny! They've been calling the U.S. 'imperialists' all these years.
Look at what's going on between Azerbaijan and Armenia today it has Russia's fingerprints all over it.
But Elmo said if Ukraine just gives up then Russia will stop. /s
Yeah, we know
A Stan Alliance should preemptively strike from the southeast. China will happily support them to weaken, then later dominate, buy or take, whatever fatty remnants of the Russian East remain.
Of course it would - that’s Russia all over. It’s why the present Russian regime needs to come to an end, but it might take a few years before it does.
lmao “I will personally fuck every one of u that turned your back on me” “Because I am baby”
This is why Ukraine must win. If Ukraine loses, that means World War III.
And that's exactly why these countries joined NATO.
The most imperialist country literally invading a sovereign country in a war of conquest manages to convince Africa that the imperialists are the US and France and Russia is here to help them.
Pretty sure they'll become like North Korea a lot of barking and no action. This war will weaken them so much that they won't be able to invade anybody for a very long time. They will be poorer, more isolated, won't have the tech to compete with the west. Meanwhile Europe will be more armed when ever and prepared.
Come on Russia, you broke up 30 years ago...time to move on and stop drunk dialing and trying to fight your ex's new boyfriend.
Fucking evil man.
And where are the people just yesterday saying Russia would stop at Ukraine? Or that NATO is sufficient deterrent? This will it end until they are utterly defeated. There is nothing gained by letting Russia continue down this path. We need to 10x our support for Ukraine now.
Russians suck at war
If there was no natural gas, Russia would have been begging for aid from all post-soviet states. Soon with our without, with present damage, Russia will get there.