Nobody complained during the cold war? How old are you?
Taiwan is not a threat to China at all lol
Ukraine however has a very large land border with Russia, and hosting NATO troops & missiles along that border would be a credible threat. In terms of China analogies, Ukraine plays a similar role as North Korea (minus the mad chubby dictator) - its land that in the "wrong" hands would leave them very vulnerable. An unfortunate buffer state that gets shafted regardless because nobody really wants to help them, just use them. Similar for Belarus too.
That's a strawman.
The point is Cuba, and all the Central and S. American countries, are not free to pursue foreign policy positions (and internal policies for that matter) that are counter to USA's interests.
Soviet union expanded as far west as the baltic states and had missiles pointing towards every major european city and millions of troops along the european border,and nobody complained.
Today Russia also have missiles in Kaliningrad and all along the border of Europe,and still nobody complains,Only Russia against NATO doing the same.
If the west are going to go as far as nuking Russia, you can be guaranteed Russia will be getting nuked they wont be able to intercept them. This whole "existential threat" is nonsense, considering its mutually assured destruction nuclear war is "existential threat" to everyone and as such its just an excuse.
No one has ever suggested putting nuclear weapons in to Ukraine. The comparison with the Cuban missile crisis is not valid at all.
100% its pure sabre rattling he has no intention of attacking he knows he d lose.
Ukraine is not a threat to Russia any more than Taiwan is a "threat" to China. It's all just BS used to justify aggressive behaviour towards sovereign territories.
...wha??
Just as Putin props up Lukashenko domestically in Belarus, China would prop Putin up in Russia - they would not risk having a more western aligned person in charge, as it would leave them with uncertainty re: gas and mineral supplies, and also more exposed vs NATO. Putin isnt going anywhere until he dies from old age unfortunately.
Putin has unambiguously communicated that he sees that NATO, the US led anti Russian org as a security threat to his nation, due to NATO's continual expansion toward the Russian border.
It's really up to NATO to respond. They can't claim they didn't receive any notice.
If they want to keep on pushing him, grand so. Don't be surprised if the Russian bear lashes out then.
Yes, but until recently neither had any long range missiles on their territory.
Estonia purchased Israeli cruise missiles last year - no doubt Putin is feeling the squeeze and looking to avoid a similar striking capability from being deployed in Ukraine.
Long range "doomsday" weapons can be detected even if not intercepted, but having stuff at such short range (Kiev, Estonia, Latvia etc) could wipe out Moscow before they even get a chance to shelter or retaliate.
Obviously we don't know what's going on inside the inner circle, but I don't think there are any signs that Putin is under threat. Maybe he's just shaking things up, he has everything to gain from this build-up; Puts him front and centre as leader, distracts from domestic issues, appeases nationalists and hardliners, possibly gets concessions from the West, gets the military moving.
Obviously it would be economic suicide to actually invade, but as mentioned, I very much doubt he will. Bringing it to the brink brings him benefits, going over it doesn't.
Whatever the squibbling about who's balls are bigger.
Putin must be experiencing severe issues due to the lockdown the last year, economically or otherwise its clearly one of the major triggers for his cling to power actions. What impact has covid had to the economy / those that prop him up.
How do you figure that? considering all western powers have "doomsday" weapons that can reach moscow as is, they would be no more a "existential" threat than the current status qou
Timmy and Burger face with mental gymnastics, whatabouterry and constant deflection to protect and side with the likes of Putin and now throwing in Orban into the mix. What angry ,horrible little men you are. Give your heads a wobble lads
It is a numbers game especially when the "hizbollah" side of the argument in this case are vastly superior in numbers quality and pilot training hours.
Russia might have some initial success but once NATO ramped up to full scale the Russian Airforce would be wiped out leaving there ground forces to be mopped up and into the bargain russia cant afford a sustained war with the west there economy would collapse. Even if they "turned off the gas" germany only gets 36% of there gas from russia again it d be initially annoying but would be resolved and russia would be the ones suffering from turning off the gas as there economy is heavily dependant on the export of gas and oil.
So yeah in short a determined west easily mops the floor with Russia in a conventional war.
Putin will be backing down from this war and the west will concede nothing.
Latvia and Estonia are right on the border of Russia and are members of NATO
Can't both things be wrong?
Or are you one of those....
NATO bases and missiles based in Ukraine would pose an existential threat to Moscow.
Cuba is a sovereign country and should be allowed chart it's own destiny, but when the Russians were shipping missiles there? Nope, not allowed. Ukraine getting NATO membership is the same thing.
Ukraine is a sovereign country and should be allowed chart it's own destiny no matter what way that is whether toward the west or Russia.
Russia is once again terrorising their neighbours who are used to it.
If it's Ukraine today, and that's allowed by the free world, it will be Poland and the Baltics tomorrow.
Appeasement doesn't work with autocrats.
So, there you have it. Two major world leaders in a press conference, and one of them says that he is willing - albeit reluctantly - to resort to a nuclear strike against NATO because his conventional forces cannot hope to match NATO's. This is what's missing in so much analytical commentary on this topic. The nukes.
4 x B-52's in UK airspace, landing at Fairford later today ... rumour of 4 more
He's the Russian Eddie Hobbs.
There will be no full on war with Russia - if there were, it would pull China into the mix and NATO do not want that.
They want to stifle the influence of Russia and China, but not to go to war with them (certainly not together)
Under Trump there was a weird shift in diplomacy toward Russia, and a ramping up of anti-china rhetoric - likely because they realised that China are a bigger threat than Russia to US global hegemony, and that cosying up to Putin would make it easier to sanction and isolate the PRC.
Now Russia and China are closer than ever, looking at building pipelines, roads, and even shipping routes together - and they would certainly go to war to protect the other from NATO.
@BurgerFace Just saw there that Hungary is refusing to allow further NATO deployments onto their soil as part of this Ukraine pantomime....
No what they said was they don't need Nato troops deployed , because Nato troops are already deployed In Hungary.
Putin's $100 million superyacht has left Germany before repairs were done, some speculating it's to avoid possible sanctions. Whatever people say about him, I think it's inspiring how much he manages to save on a $300k annual salary.
Fierce bang of 'My Daddy is bigger than your Daddy' off this thread. I guess the proxy war has started already.
Ah you mean the overhyped s400 system thats never been tested in combat and the swedes have seen trough,or the overhyped hypersonic super weapons that Putin likes to brag about thats the same but doesnt work the same?
Or the s300/400/Pantsirs that Israel flyes circles around in Syria and Iran?
Or the old Su27 flying with vaccuum tubes or the desperate try to make an AESA radar to catch up with the west.?
Or the R77 missiles that India still laughs about together with the attempt to make a stealth fighter!
President Orban is very popular in Hungary for his double play and backstabbing,he must be loved by his people.
Amazing people like you that hates the country you live in,why dont you move to Russia,Einstein.
https://hungarytoday.hu/putin-orban-meeting-moscow-russia-hungary-russian-hungarian-relations/
That, and I seem to recall it was a few years ago, when the US was a bit distracted with other problems. The US Army has since started the largest re-organisation since the Cold War (Back to Divisions!), V Corps (US Army Europe Command) was re-activated a couple years ago and declared fully operational three months ago, and new equipment has hit the field to deal with the new fun toys that seem to be flying around (Esp Drones, missiles, etc).
I would be extremely cautious about using an assessment from five years ago, when it was already well acknowledged that the US had moved a bit too far away from conventional warfighting and applying it to today's state.
@BurgerFace do you gaslight this much in real life too?
Are you saying that a country DOESN'T have the right to put their own armies wherever they want within their own country? It may be unusual or suspicious but it isn't against international law.
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