Nick
Administrator
That's Minute applause
That's Minute applauseYoure going to freak when you find out minutes silences don't bring people back to life!
Im sure James O’Brien was calling for increased military spending over recent years. Rather than everything being Brexit and the governments fault he’d be better off just accepting that we are dealing with an unhinged dictator.
The fact is the whole of the West have been naive in the extreme and not just militarily. Ratcheting down our own energy producing capabilities to meet environmental targets* whilst increasing reliance on people like Putin and allowing Russia, China etc to behave how they want when it comes to the environment ?! Maybe Putins not the only madman in office
*I support the targets by the way and do as much as I can on a personal level but seeking to achieve them whilst leaving the world exposed and reliant on dictators ?!! Crazy
Depressingly realistic.That's the key problem here.
If he gets away with Ukraine then nowhere is safe. If he gets a demilitarized Ukraine with a govt of his choosing then pulls his forces out then he's won. Then the thinking has to be why can't I do the same in other countries?
He could start thinking about the likes of Moldova, Estonia & Latvia. Russia can literally over-run Estonia in a day. Is the NATO going to get into a nuclear war over Estonia - a country with a population of just over a million people? Are they going to risk millions of lives for such a small country? Some will say yes but there will be those (maybe in NATO or EU who are geographically or politically far from Estonia) who say hang on is it worth paying the price. NATO Treaty has never been tested.
It also sets a precedent for other states with nuclear weapons. Would China follow through on its rhetoric on Taiwan? Could an increasingly militant India look at some of the territories it has ownership claims on?
UN again shown be an exercise in futility. India abstains because it buys so many weapons from Russia, UAE abstains because it is frightened Russia be significantly increase its supply of weapons etc to Iran.
‘If I can’t have it nobody can’ is my thinking
It's not about him being suicidal. He's a megalomaniac fantasist who believes he will win. When that situation changes and he finally realises he can't, he won't care about the destruction to the planet or other people. If anything his fury at the world for not letting him do what he wants would make it even more likely for him to press the button. As has been said "If I can't have it no-one can"
Basically he's like Hitler but with a huge stock of weapons that could destroy life on this planet before he disappears into his bunker to shoot himself.
BBC just had a guy on called Tara’s Kusio who is apparently someone Russian Ukraine expert in The Hague talking about how Putin is in danger of being overthrown in much the same way as Khrushchev. He was siting similarities such as erratic behaviour, detachment from reality etc. Pointing specifically to his decision to invade Ukraine. He believes that Putin and his closest inner circle just don’t understand Ukraine for starters, apparently they truly believed that the Ukrainian people would wave them in throwing flowers at the soldiers feet seeing them as liberators not attackers.
Id love itBe impossible to watch the game through the cringe
Even worse that that, Ukraine were encouraged/agreed to give up their nuclear deterrent in the 90’s. This has left left them further exposed although ‘Putin the nutter’ wasn’t around then.
I understand that we and NATO can’t get involved militarily as it could escalate to WW3 but we should be doing everything in our collective powers to arm Ukraine to help them defend themselves (crazy in a way as there is not a huge difference between that and us getting directly involved).
As I think SBD said, Putins ‘fear’ of having NATO on his doorstep can’t ring true as his actions have just accelerated more NATO troops on his border than ever before and any country not in NATO probably seriously considering joining to help defend themselves against this utter madman
Marty will walk outBe nice to see some sort of support for Ukraine at the match today. Sky News said that the FA have given clubs the go ahead if they so wish.
When you fixate on something you only hear what you want to hear, only see what you want to see.BBC just had a guy on called Tara’s Kusio who is apparently someone Russian Ukraine expert in The Hague talking about how Putin is in danger of being overthrown in much the same way as Khrushchev. He was siting similarities such as erratic behaviour, detachment from reality etc. Pointing specifically to his decision to invade Ukraine. He believes that Putin and his closest inner circle just don’t understand Ukraine for starters, apparently they truly believed that the Ukrainian people would wave them in throwing flowers at the soldiers feet seeing them as liberators not attackers.
So you don't think the psychology of the madman with access to the red button matters?This isn’t analysis, this is (quite literally!) the plot of Tenet.
Another nearly 2000 arrests in St Petersburg last night. Is it really the only city with protestors??
This isn’t analysis, this is (quite literally!) the plot of Tenet.
Marcus would booMarty will walk out
Hope this is true
It will turn into a guerilla style defence won't it.if russia does in the end take kiev what do they think will happen seems the people won't stop fighting
yeah house to house fighting, they've already armed a large part of the populationIt will turn into a guerilla style defence won't it.
Poland refusing to play their WCC against Russia, calling on Sweden and Czech Republic to basically do the same.
Yep they have seriously underestimated how hard the Ukrainian people would fight
The Russian embassy in France is seeking explanations from the French authorities over the seizure, Russia's RIA news agency said
What a joke, hope the explanation is telling them to fuck off
So you don't think the psychology of the madman with access to the red button matters?
Now, it could be that Putin wouldn't, and his threats over them are just there to stop us acting. But the fact we aren't acting says everything that there is a genuine fear he is mad enough to do it. Look at the reasons we've acted in the Middle east in the past. Like this but on a much smaller scale. But we got involved there, so why aren't we here?
Two reasons:
1. They had resources there that we wanted.
2. We weren't afraid of any comeback/annihalation because we knew their forces weren't equipped to do so.
Isn’t it only Hungry that are now stopping that now? Do keep up.I’m sure Mr Macron will puff his chest out while still taking gas reserves and refusing changes to the banking system most of the west are trying to push through
Putin is dangerous enough without having to resort to Dr Evil cliches. Since 1945 there have been plenty of psychotic maniacs with nuclear capabilities, but whatever the strategic setback, none have used them outside of Christopher Nolan films. In real life, “If I can’t have it, no-one will” isn’t a great strategy for accumulating the kind of power that tyrants like Putin have gathered over the decades.
There’s nothing naive about this. The risk of compromising our response because we’ve played into Putin’s madman posturing is significantly greater than the risk of Putin incinerating us (and himself, and his entire family) out of some cartoonish evil spite.
If that’s the case why haven’t Western forces intervened militarily?
China invade Russia? That would be a curve ball. I know you didn’t suggest it btw.China going be to number 1 as their economy going to dominate. much like Russia they have designs of regional dominancy just theirs is Asia and Russia's is Europe.
If that’s the case why haven’t Western forces intervened militarily?
I mean, there are all kinds of reasons, aren’t there? Russia’s military power is an important factor. But I seriously doubt that the only thing deciding our involvement is “Crazy man could push big red apocalypse button”. At least, I hope it isn’t - otherwise, to borrow a phrase, we may as well just let them get on with it.
The US would. They have nukes in Europe. That is a good enough reason to defend their Sovereignty.The military experts who I suspect know a little bit more than SBT were expressing significant concern that nuclear strategy is always and has always been in putins planning if there is aggression in non nato territory - if the west really want to cripple him the likes of Germany Italy and France need to starve their supplies - the Russian economy is fragile and although their own people would pay a very heavy price the collapse of its economy would you hope create some concern with its generals
Let’s be realistic here though. If Putin did start attacking Europe the US would not get involved.
The US would. They have nukes in Europe. That is a good enough reason to defend their Sovereignty.
The military experts who I suspect know a little bit more than SBT were expressing significant concern that nuclear strategy is always and has always been in putins planning if there is aggression in non nato territory - if the west really want to cripple him the likes of Germany Italy and France need to starve their supplies - the Russian economy is fragile and although their own people would pay a very heavy price the collapse of its economy would you hope create some concern with its generals
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