Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I would agree that we should end our military neutrality. Currently we spend about 0.3% of our gdp on defense. As recently as the early 1980's that figure was about 1.5%. I think we should be looking to work back towards that number and as a first step we should formally join the new EU defense force.

We would be idiot's to join NATO at the moment, we can't house our own, HSE is a disgrace, so it's better to spend those much needed billions on defence?

It's completely stupid, our location by itself means neither the US nor the UK want us compromised and we're hardly in the top 10 for receiving a nuke.

We can’t house our own???

What do you even mean by this statement?

I dont think NATO is the way to go but definitely increasing our military spending and becoming part of the EU alliance is a smart move. We don't need to be getting dragged into **** shows like Afghanistan.

A strengthened EU alliance with strong France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Poland and Holland would be a serious disincentive for anyone taking liberties. It would be the 2nd most powerful military in the world. That group can then choose to support the US or not depending on the circumstances. And I don't see a possibility of the US and EU going head to head at any stage.

In this world unfortunately: the one we live in.

Or rather it's acceptable up to a point and that specific point is decided primarily by the larger and more militarised nations. We haven't reached that point with Ukraine obviously; and it's unlikely we ever will based on current evidence.

Utterly toxic to the West at any rate. Not really sure what way things could go between Russia and India/China/Brazil/etc.

I think it would be a similar situation to Iran, regarding tourism, in the sense that the average person is probably friendly enough when treated in a friendly way, but you'd be pretty nervous dealing with the authorities in case they decide to detain you for some arbitrary reason. Therefore, yeah, I would expect tourism to Russia from the West to drop off fairly precipitously for the next few years at least.

Russia is looking to form stronger bonds to its east. I mean, I don't doubt that China/India and Russia can do business, but it has to be a surface-level partnership at the end of the day. The countries would share little to no cultural similarity. I have this mental image of Russians packing into the cinema on a Friday night to watch the latest Neeraj Pandey blockbuster and having to grit their teeth like they're getting as much out of it as they would the latest Mission Impossible. Maybe the Russians would crowd around the TV with snacks of an evening to watch Chinese ping-pong. Or maybe not.

After they've eaten their cabbage soup.

Brand might ve toxic but business don't do moral decisions. The companies linkend with names like Coke, McDonalds, Adidas wouldn't be quickly coming back but I bet a subsidiaries registered in Kayman Islands of all companies that are not facing the average Joe on social networks would be back in Russia as soon as they could make money there. Russia has tons of different raw materials and trading bans can be worked around using China, Israel or other countries that are not in the hard line trade ban group. Since 2014 at least 10 EU countries suplied banned goods to Russia. Toxic customer brand just makes the stuff more expensive. And nobody asks a Bosch CEO is they supplied electronic parts to Russian transporters. The CEO is asked for business results.

the Uk might object to their neighbour and former colony joining the EU army, they might invade and split the country like north and south Korea...oh wait

I think even greedy/shortsighted companies do have some memory for the pain suffered when they get beaten up and robbed of their property. Russia seems to be gearing up for that (e.g. they have already taken all the leased Western civilian aircraft that were on their territory when war started and sanctions came in).

I think there could be an escalating situation for the companies that try and carry on, caught between Western govt.'s bringing in more sanctions which will force them to exit Russia in the end (a slower process...), and Russia's crooked system which can be "fixed" by decree of Putin (can happen almost overnight!) so their assets are expropriated and gifted to a crony of the regime.

I don’t agree with this. Naval invasions are incredibly difficult. The D day invasion took 4 years to plan by two of the biggest army’s in the world at the time and the German defences in Normandy were thin on the ground with their forces spread over two other major active fronts in the East and in Italy. We could be a very difficult country to invade. The entire western sea board would be a nightmare to land for any invading army. The wild Atlantic coast is a powerful natural defence. A few concentrated defence installations and a decent well funded defence force on the more favourable landing points on the south and east coasts and no one would bother invading us. Look at Odessa and the hesitancy the Russians have about landing there. Unfortunately since February the world of hard power has reared its ugly head. We are well adept at soft power. A small concentrated investment in hard power would do this country no harm at all. If we just give up and say there is no point then we are leaving ourselves wide open. It might seem pointless but the world has changed over the last month and being a helpless weakling depending on others is no longer acceptable .