I don't see how Putin Russia wins, even if they take Ukraine cleanly (they won't, it's going to be a long struggle at best).
I know his statement is entirely politically incorrect, but I don't find it to be offensive, he just shouldn't have said it out loud. Speaking as a minority, I also feel more empathy for people that are the same ethnicity as I am vs other race.
Stop 99% of what kind of missile? Are we talking about ICBM's or medium range type missiles, how old are the Missiles they think they can stop and how many areas are these defenses deployed and how many can they stop in these particular places. We all know what the military thinks they can accomplish and what is actually capable are usually 2 very different things. Are any of these defensive systems actually deployed? I'm getting numbers like 40, 50 and 80% when I research missile defenses and all of those systems are not high level ICBM's.
I'm starting to agree with this in some form or another - but if it's going to happen, it has to happen fast. I think the most viable option is establishing a no-fly zone for humanitarian purposes. Or using drones and cruise missiles to interfere with Russian forces. Putin doesn't want to die (which will happen if he launches even one nuke), and establishing that we are only protecting Ukraine and not invading Russia will prevent anything overly stupid on his part. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape the world in favor of democracy. If Russia "wins" Ukraine, then it establishes several precedents: 1. No one will mess with anyone who has nukes, giving free reign to China, Iran, North Korea and others to pull whatever **** they want to pull. 2. Given the UN bailing on their agreement with Ukraine to give up nukes in exchange for protection, there will be no more voluntary disarmament. 3. Every country in the world that doesn't have nukes is going to make it an absolute priority to get them. 4. The world order of peace and no-country-conquering-anyone-else that has existed for the past 30 years will be shattered. People look at places like Syria and terrorism to point to the evils in the world today, but it's been the most peaceful period in all of human history. When Mojoman and others complain about the western world order, that's what they are complaining about. There are no good solutions here, but letting Russia have Ukraine after the resistance they've shown and the help they've begged for seems like the worst option.
Not sure about that, he might want to go out in a blaze of glory and he also might think he has a place he can withstand nuclear strike and somehow regain power.
It's gone on for 6 days, and you're ready to start an actual NATO-Russia direct war - something that didn't happen in 55 years of Cold War because of the risk of nuclear annihilation, because it's a .. bad precedent? Sorry but thats insane. What there is a lot of precedent for is launching a dumb optional war of conquest/occupation you can't win with no upside, and it's usually not good for the launching power.
He's megalomaniac who craves attention. There's nothing in his profile that suggests he's suicidal. On the latter, he might have a bunker that can withstand a nuclear strike. But he'd never regain power - he'd be dead the second he ever showed his face or popped out of that bunker.
I appreciate this post and your perspective. Over the years you've grown to be one the posters I respect the most here. It's a hard subject because there are many times when people make something out of nothing, and it's painful to watch as it has a negative effect not only on the people who did or say x, but also in a broader sense. I also think people are far too quick to demonize people with bias when much of it is a product of society and how we are raised and not some intrinsic quality or belief of the person.
I am just hoping that protests escalate in Russia and empower someone close to Putin to take the matter into their own hands and execute him. DD
The other thing that didn't happen in 55 years of Cold War was the USSR trying to conquer a democratic country. The mutual unstated agreements from the Cold War have already been broken. Do you wait until Putin tries to take Finland or bullies some NATO country, or do you make your stand now when you have Russia on the ropes in the moment? I don't think anyone is saying NATO vs Russia is a good thing. But letting him take Ukraine at this point may actually be worse in the bigger picture. Because he ****ed this up so badly, it may be the West's best opportunity to make its stand.
As much as I find the whole trucker convoy to be a bunch of losers, I don't like these kinds of posts. It's such a thing now that some douchebag posts something stupid, and than someone else uses it to describe the whole entire population that group belongs to. How many times do we see @Commodore @basso @TheresTheDagger take some random tweet of someone we never heard of and use it to demonize an entire group of people?
