IF Russia had EVERY vassal state back, they would not stop there! Not as long as the current regime is controlling them. That has to be clear. I do not understand how people even can discuss this and blame Nato. Even russias own people do not think Nato would attack them!
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
It seems like a complete no-brainer for Finland at this point. They are already fairly close to the 2% of GDP on military spending, so no massive increase is needed.
It is absolutely not. Putin has even written about all this himself ffs. It is his openly stated ambition. He doesn't even recognise Ukraine as a nation. They are Russians in his own written words.
unfortunately you can’t “uninvent” nuclear weapons. If wveryone disarmed and a conventiknal world war started, each side would build them again and more likely to use them as already at war.
Mutual destruction hopefully prevents war but yiu never know.
Practical vs ideal.
In an ideal world you can, not accepting ukraine and still be on friendly terms, jobs creation, investment, bilateral partnership, etc.
One does not have to be in nato to prosper.
We dont accept new member for now but we welcome you nonetheless.
I'm paraphrasing that chicago lecturer btw
Tbf nuclear has been responsible for alot of war not happening... until the day it doesnt...
Without nuclear nato would have jumped on and bombed russia to stone age.
Yeah, one of the weirdest sanctions is Western universities kicking Russian students out/taking back their scholarships etc. Surely it works for Putin, not against him?
I get most of the sanctions even though they feck me over massively as a Russian citizen as they put a burden on Russian economy and instigate public unrest. How sanctioning poor students that got out of there to get a proper education, fleeing Putin’s regime, I have no idea.
He said that on live TV. Did you watch it?
Or did you read his essay about solving the Ukrainian question that he published last July (and then Medvedev published something similar a few months later).
Tbf nuclear has been responsible for alot of war not happening... until the day it doesnt...
Without nuclear nato would have jumped on and bombed russia to stone age.
Yep. Without nukes it's far more tempting for conflicts to become boots on ground etc. Nukes give the ability for the leaders and generals sending those men and women to die to also be impacted. Deaths from war have dramatically reduced since their invention. The single biggest contributor to peace in the last 70 years in my opinion.
The issue has always been what if you get a leader for which MAD doesn't apply because they've had a breakdown, are suicidal or whatever.
You mean Sweden? Norway were a founding member.
I think Putin has hugely miscalculated the after effects of this. He's likely to get another one or two Nato members on his doorstep, made China realise he's not a reliable partner, and created a fourth military superpower in a united EU.
It is quite literally part of the narrative that Putin himself used to justify this war to his Russian audience. He's written numerous tracts and articles detailing the reasons why Ukraine and Russia should be one. He even wrote a manifesto on the subject and made it required reading throughout the armed forces.
Here's an article he penned in 2021 - hosted on the Kremlin.ru website (wayback machine, Kremlin.ru is down).
You might even find you agree with it, but how is this a western invention if Putin wrote it and Putin speaks it?
To be fair, both the US and Russia went from over 30K to around 6K each. That's a massive reduction.
Of course, we should aim to reducing them more. It should be in the hundreds as soon as possible, and ideally to just a few under UN (to hit asteroids or whatever). The former could be done if there is willingness.
It'll be to create a long-term brain drain in the country, similar to how the EU also want to poach educated Russians to reduce the education levels in the country itself. The worry would be they go back and help the Russian economy after education. I agree, that it is a step too far and the Russian people are being massively impacted for something that's not their fault though.
Yeah, I can't comment on the state of Russian unis, but the fact a lot of those wealthy enough to do so seemingly want to send their children elsewhere speaks volumes to me.
I will just replay with one of his quotes:
Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain - Putin
So for ‘world peace’, Ukraine should lose its right to self determination. I am sorry but this narrative that west and Russia should be able to decide the fate of another country, just because it doesn’t have the same resources, is coming off as supremacist. Ukraine is fighting for its independence and self determination - their future course cannot be decided on whether someone in the western world feels safe and assured.
Tbf nuclear has been responsible for alot of war not happening... until the day it doesnt...
Without nuclear nato would have jumped on and bombed russia to stone age.
Indeed, this is what Churchill wanted to do at the end of WW2.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/b...d-churchill-want-fight-stalin-1945-152596?amp
Just read the goddam article and then come back and claim with a straight face that Putin doesn't pine for empire.
The great Russian army is a bit of a myth now, without the threat of nuclear and illegal bombs they've supposedly used, they'd have been picked off and decimated during this invasion. All Nato and US would have needed to do is take control of the airspace and the convoys wouldn't have made it past east Ukraine.
Noce idea but as soon as war started countries just build them again.
How does that work in reality though? Everyone disarms, some are put under the control of UN. North Korea or whoever decides to screw it and develop them again. Countries go to the UN with the view of stopping them via the nukes under their control. China vetos as an ally of NK. What do you do then?
I know that UK private schools have together agreed not to take money from Russians. I'm not sure what it means for the kids but there are a lot of very wealthy Russians with kids in places like Eton and Harrow.
That's the thing, it wouldn't be their own good will. They would become Russia regardless, but it's name. If they can't make a fundamental decision like that by themselves, that's not being sovereign, and that is again a war won without shooting a bullet, as ukrainian people would essentially be under russian ruling.
It would save him a war here, but this would likely be happening elsewhere right now, perhaps not in a full scale war, but an escalation away from starting, Finland is not in NATO too, maybe he'd actually be trying to poke and prod NATO members right now, who knows? Or destabilizing the treaty further until he can pounce? Building a war chest further, nord stream 2 about to open and flood his pockets more and more.
And if you think this war is bloody, it's a hard sell for russian people to attack Ukraine, it wouldn't be elsewhere.
There was a whole ass Russian Empire before the Soviet Union.
Putin has explicitly questioned the legitimacy of a Ukraine state and particularly its current borders, claiming that the east of Ukraine is Russian land and that Russia was robbed. He has repeatedly stated that Belarus, Ukraine and Russia are a Russian unity, and we can all guess who he sees as leading that "Union". In addition to Ukraine, he has meddled in Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan among others to bring regions or entire countries under his thumb. Belarus is a full on puppet state. No disrespect, but you are (willingly?) naive if you cannot see the imperialist mindset behind these actions.
No disrespect, but i think you are misinformed on this topic.
The thread below will give you a bit of insight.
They are going nowhere.
The solution is to build defences against them. The US is some of the way there, as we discussed in the military thread according to them it's 97% effective. Whether that's true or not, it needs to be 99%+ and with blanket geographical coverage before we can go head to head with a nuclear armed country.
Why? The only reason India and Pakistan have not gone into a complete war in recent times is nuclear bomb. Same for China vs India. On the other hand, look what is happening to Ukraine. It may sound weird, but I feel having nuclear bomb is the only guarantee that your country will not face full blown invasion.
Then you have an arms race though. As we are already starting to see with hypersonics etc.
Anybody who thinks countries should have nuclear weapons needs their head looking at. Absolutely no need for them and this invasion has shown that, because without Russia's threat of them this war is over.
It’s the complete opposite — giving promising Russian students/academics an opportunity to study/work abroad would lead to brain drain way more effectively. Just like it did in the 90’s.
If all of those students (mostly top of the pile, as it’s not that easy to get a foreign scholarship) are forced back to Russia, you’re giving all of that potential back to Putin.
Australian military strategist gives his thoughts, says Ukraine awaits 3 big military decisions:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe...s-will-have-to-make-soon-20220301-p5a0ly.html
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe...s-will-have-to-make-soon-20220301-p5a0ly.html
A bit naive to think if everyone got rid of their nukes, no one would make them in secret though surely? We don’t live in a perfect world and I don’t see how it’s better to disarm unless you can 100% guarantee everyone stays nukes free which to me seems impossible.
I am pretty sure that without nuclear weapons the West would have been involved in a major war at some point over the last 70 years
Agree. If Finland/Sweden join Nato, almost nothing Putin gains in the Ukraine could be worth the war for him. I wonder how the German rearmament announcement was received in Russian political circles. With he size of their economy and industrial capability, that's a massive boost to NATO and an eventual EU force.
I don't think there is any willingness for that to happen anyway.
Russia and the US downgrading to just a few hundred nukes should be the target though. They can still kill a few hundred millions, probably a billion with them, but no need to try to kill almost everyone. China realizes that which is why they have not gone crazy and have stopped building more. Same for France and the UK.
Oh, it’s a different point. Wealthy kids that have their parents pay for Eton & the likes are, mostly, children of Putin’s elite. This is absolutely justified (well, almost as there’s this children not being responsible for the actions of his parent ethical conundrum… but it’s their parent’s money).
I’m talking about genuine student scholarships that you have to work for to get one. They’re cancelling them all over Europe.