Who would have thought attacking Russia with American missiles could have a bad outcome
Since day one, lying Johnson (and his successors) and the blithering idiot Biden have pumped up Zelenskyy and the impossible goal of recovering Ukrainian lost ground, including the disputed Crimea. Nobody has worked for peace and a negotiated, diplomatic resolution, and Iâve been saying that for two years. Now look where we are.
Zelenskyy, aided and abetted by the UK and US has marched his people up to the top of the hill, now with Trump about to arrive I donât know how heâs going to get them down again. I just hope we donât have a nuclear incident first.
Iâm pretty freaked out by all of this and the incompetence of Western politicians. I wonder what Barbara Tuchman would make of it?
Iâm curious how you would propose to end Putinâs expansionism westwards if not by drawing a line in the sand and supporting front line states?
Frankly, I donât think this latest decision will make any difference to the prospect of wider war in Europe (the war in Europe has already started) as appeasement has never proved to be a successful tactic in avoiding war.
Sorry @John_Scully, as you know this is one of the few things that we disagree on and the other Johnâs post above says it all and I couldnât have put it better.
The war has started, and we should be doing everything possible, short of physically joining in, to defend Ukraine from Russian colonialism. I would compare it to Britain re-invading Ireland or Mexico invading Texas, both of which I am sure the world would not stand by and allow.
In other words we are thankfully not following the examples of 1914 and 1939, when we should have been supporting defence against an aggressor rather than jumping in all guns blazing.
Putin has threatened nuclear escalation before and had his bluff called. He is a bully and we all know you should stand up to bullies not give them an inch, or they just ask for more. A certain Austrian gentleman is the classic example of that - he was given Sudetenland but didn;t stop there.
Putin invaded Ukraine proper because he was given a free pass when he took Crimea.
Ukraine should have been given more help earlier, not less - if a few rockets fall on Moscow it might make the people around Putin decide they have backed a loser.
I know you donât like Biden, but if Trump had been in charge Ukraine would have been overrun long since, and the Baltic States and Poland would be next.
That may still come to pass, since the Orange Idiot will probably try to âdo a dealâ with Putin and make things much worse once he gets into office.
Also, you are reading too much into inflammatory newspaper articles - you are smart enough to know that they love headlines like âUS and Europe fear nuclear escalationâ when the Governments concerned are well aware that Putin is simply engaging in psychological warfare. Russia would be toast in seconds if they ever did use nukes, and he knows that. There is no point in being dictator of a heap of smouldering rubble. Not to mention that the Russian nuclear missile force is in the same state of disrepair due to corruption and neglect as its conventional forces. Still dangerous, but itâs known to be in a bad state and not reliable.
Also I wish youâd stop calling Biden âGenocide Joeâ - the Israelis would have done what they did in Gaza regardless of what any US President said - Netanyahu knows that the US cannot afford to withdraw support from Israel for fear of tilting the balance of power in the Middle East, and US public opinion does not allow a US President to abandon Israel, however much we disapprove of their actions.
Amen to that. This practice of ascribing âBeanoâ level nicknames to world leaders just adds an air of infantilism to comments which are sometimes founded and well-expressed.
Only one thing to pick out of that Chris, you might well be right in thinking that Trump might have given away Ukraine, but I doubt Putin would go further west in invading NATO states. As long as Nato in Europe sticks together and stands firm, he would have no chance of succeeding. He canât even grab all of Ukraine, if Ukraine had been in Nato, my opinion is that he wouldnât have tried.
For that reason I do think that Moldova and Georgia are vulnerable though.
You may be right - he would certainly be unwise to do so - but I suspect that the Poles and the Baltic States would not agree with you, based on their own bitter real-world experience of Russian expansionism.
If Putin had had an easy ride in taking over Ukraine, and had not had his forces ground to a pulp instead, who knows what he might have been emboldened to do?
Kaliningrad - maybe the Poles and Lithuanians should amass troops (in Ukranian uniforms) along their border. Give Vlad the destroyer something else to think about.
All this about WW3/Nuke attacks etc. What do the Russian people think about all this and surely they should be just as scared if not more because it wonât be just the west but the rest of the world against them even if some have been cosying upto Vlad. I would be very afraid if I lived in Russia now.
Possible of course, but I would exchange the word âwouldâ above to âmayâ.
Orban in Hungary apart (and I can hardly credit the extreme memory loss or denial of 1956), the alliance in Europe has been pretty encouraging so far. One of the reasons that I do not tremble at the prospect of the Trump presidency.
True. Despite the behaviour of zealots, we must try to always believe that not every Russian is a bad Russian. There is much to salvage if they can be released from the cold hard grasp of their president.
