Not sure why everything is framed like this. Yesterday it wasn't just the White House. The WH had to get coordinated with Germany, France, and the EU. There were differing responses initially coming out of the EU so it was good to mull over it a bit with them on the initial declaration from Putin, and then review what the troops being sent in from Russia looked like because there could have been a situation where Putin said something like this just to beat his chest, and save face, but then did nothing or sent troops home. That did not happen in the hours after his speech/rant, and so it seems like everyone now is on the same page with moving forward with the wide array of sanctions, but maybe hold some of it back as a lever to negotiate with. The most effective thing the US, and our allies can do right now is pick off his oligarchs, and take them off the field. Now that sanctions are in place, make the arrests that they are doing business illegally now, and even if they are in the US, put them in jail. We don't need to put them in Gitmo or anything, but they need to have all of their money frozen immediately. Using whatever Bush era law put in place we can use. If we have to place Putin on a "Terrorism" list in order to do that I think that's completely appropriate at this point.
He didn't have a choice. He's an intelligence officer and has no interest or now how in building an economy. He runs what is essentially a right-wing mafia oligarchy propped up by nationalism and propaganda. If you think he has the capacity or desire to turn Russia into something more you're sadly mistaken. I think you are misinterpreting what I am saying at least. I am not saying Russia doesn't have expansionist aims, I am saying there is a limit to what it can invade. What it will try to do is what is has continued - again as I have stated, using the tools it uses now against its own people - namely hacking, propaganda, and influence campaigns to destabilize and foster pro-Russian sentiment and Russian-sympathetic politicians such as Nunes and Trump. That is what we need to learn how to counter, as well as maintaining a strong NATO presence along bordering countries. People are crying and clamoring for "checking Russian ambitions" and "war" but not having any idea what they are talking about - no solutions just panic in the wind. there is a need to strategic realism here and acknowledge of when we have the ability to do something and when we don't. With Ukraine we have sanctions which will not stop Russia. The rest is about strengthening ourselves not for a military attack but understanding how Russia plays the intelligence game.
Putin wants control of Ukraine, and he wants glory for Russia (as a means for glory for himself). This also started when Ukraine dumped their Russian puppet leader. If Ukraine had a pro-Russian gov't under its influence it would have had no need to invade. But Ukraine flirted with the west, and Putin will punish Ukraine - all of Ukraine for that. He's not going to stop at partially occupying Ukraine - maybe for now but his plan is clear - Ukraine must never fall under the influence of the west and cooperate with NATO. And because that is exactly what Ukraine is doing you can be sure that Putin has designs to destroy that at whatever cost.
China was already doing this BEFORE Putin put a single boot in Ukraine. You can go all the way back to Tibet to understand China has no problem taking land when it can get away with it. If you want more recent examples you only have to look at China's slow encroachment of Indian territory that lead to direct fighting between the two countries as recent at 2020. So it's already happening - the narrative that Putin and Ukraine somehow sets a precedent for other countries is simply that - a narrative.
They are that dumb. Most Russians love Putin and Trump. None of that will change here. They drink up the lies in much the same way Trump supporters do. How is it that we not understand how cult of personalities work after watching Trump?
The Putin precedent is one of thousands of years of human civilization. Conquest isn't anything new. Putin in his diatribe even goes back to the Slavic Vikings as reference. This is in our makeup as a species to do exactly what Putin is doing just in different times, and circumstance. The only question is what comes next, and how many people have to die this time in order to figure out what we already know about the human condition? My guess is because we live in a viral digital age, we are likely to get a "George Floyd" moment that changes this war for Putin, and will make his war very very unpopular around the world. This one will be broadcast in such a way that I think it'll have real impact in rallying the world against him with little support even from China. But who knows... maybe Putin just slow burns the whole thing, and takes measures to be very careful to shield atrocities like Xi does. What is sad really is because it's white women and children the world is going to react much much differently then when this happens in the middle east all the damn time.
Right, he doesn't respect Ukraine as an independent sovereign State. NATO or not, he was always going to control Ukraine in anyway possible. This speech here kind of hit it...
On this note, I recall watching the TV Series Chernobyl which was such as a fascinating look at the culture of lies, and self lying. It's astounding and so accurately depicts not really just Russian culture but also what we are seeing today with the American right. It's disturbing at times with the radiation sickness moments, but boy does it really hit the nail on the head with the problem we are facing in the world. Chernobyl was caused by the culture of lying in Russia. The inability to think of yourself or your people in any critical way can lead to the worst atrocities, and disaster because you can get to a point where you are literally watching a nuclear reactor explosion, and be conditioned to say everything is fine, just turn the pumps on, and tell everyone its safe. No worries here.
Russia would be far less affected by sanctions than China. Russia exports commodities - it just need a few countries to buy for it to work around sanctions with great effectiveness. China exports goods and services and is far more dependent on western countries and financial systems. Sanctions would be devastating to China. That's why people need to not make sweeping generalizations and in stead focus on sound strategic strategy that involves strong defenses against their military and an even strong defense and counter to his counterintelligence and influence strategy.
This is kind of silly. If that was a real question, new sanctions wouldn't have already started here and in Europe.
What? I know lots of Russians who don’t like Putin. Difference is you can’t go against Putin politically. @basso You remember this dude ? Or
WH changes tune, says Russian troops to rebel areas are Ukraine ‘invasion’ https://nypost.com/2022/02/22/jon-finer-says-ukraine-is-under-invasion-from-russia/
The idea that siding with an aggressive Russia is viewed as OK by the republican party is something I never thought I would see. I don't expect much of anything from politicians but it's by far the ugliest of all the crap I've seen in the last few years. I don't care about Trump or Biden's incompetence, but our democracy really feels like it's on the fringe for the first time in my life. I really wish democrats would grow a spine.
"I think what you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do." ~ Joe BIden 1/20/22 Gee, wonder if Putin had any reaction to this.
