If Russia tried any funny stuff with Poles they would end up getting chewed up and spat out. Not to mention the fact they would trigger article 5 and get hit with the full weight of NATO. That probably would cause a nuclear exchange given how badly Russia would be mauledFair enough for the standalone thread since this does look like being a multi-year affair.
Ex-President and Putin loyalist (on the moderate wing believe it or not) Medvedev basically alludes to the need to at least partially invade Poland.
Medvedev floats idea of pushing back Poland's borders
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.www.reuters.com
I dont think he believes half the stuff he says about Poland or about Europeans being Satanists. He is probably just posturing to keep himself in the political picture in an increasingly fascistic domestic media environment. Still an ex-President saying this isn't irrelevant and I'm not convinced it's a particularly wise move from Russia to be saying stuff like this. So I'm glad he did. It can't hurt pro-Ukranian solidarity. Decent UN vote with 140+ nations condemning Russia (showing it clearly isnt just NATO).
Completely ignores the fact France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Hungary distanced itself from the US and NATO to trade heavily with Russia and in some cases became dependant on its fossil fuels.For years, Putin didn’t invade Ukraine. What made him finally snap in 2022? | Anatol Lieven
This war is Russia’s fault. But European nations rebuffing Russia during the noughties did not help, says Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraftwww.theguardian.com
Probably not. The upkeep of Nuclear weapons is very expensive and very labour intensive. The Russians will be hoping that the budget they spent on their upkeep didn't get blown on coke, hookers and yachts like the rest of its military budget did.
I think we can very safely say that a large chunk of Russia's nuclear arsenal would not be up to scratch. However we can also say it only needs a tiny portion of it to work to change the world forever. They really are the ultimate double edged sword. on the one hand we haven't had another world war scale conflict, on the other, a mad regime like Putin's or Kim Jong Uns with nukes can just keep pushing and pushing, always threatening nukes if they don't get their way.
Fair enough for the standalone thread since this does look like being a multi-year affair.
Ex-President and Putin loyalist (on the moderate wing believe it or not) Medvedev basically alludes to the need to at least partially invade Poland.
Medvedev floats idea of pushing back Poland's borders
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.
I dont think he believes half the stuff he says about Poland or about Europeans being Satanists. He is probably just posturing to keep himself in the political picture in an increasingly fascistic domestic media environment. Still an ex-President saying this isn't irrelevant and I'm not convinced it's a particularly wise move from Russia to be saying stuff like this. So I'm glad he did. It can't hurt pro-Ukranian solidarity. Decent UN vote with 140+ nations condemning Russia (showing it clearly isnt just NATO).
Because that's economic and not military defence which is what Nato is for. We know Putin's Regime are not waging this war for economic reasons, although having China and India to take up slack from cutting off Europe.
He was saying it was an "aspiration" of Putin from the early 90s. Obviously this view became more warped as time went by and helped by the hardline nationalists in his regime.
How do we know it's not for economic reasons? The areas that Russia is claiming just happen to be the areas where most of Ukraine's heavy industry and fossil fuels are. By controlling the Crimea they control the sea lanes of the black sea, which in turn gives them control of a good portion of the world's wheat and fertilizer production.
Kudos to ALL nations that support Ukraine.
foreignpolicy.com
Because Russia's economy is roughly 14 times smaller than USA. It wants to be in top 3 politically but can't match that even conquering Ukraine.
Thats true but having control over the wheat and fertilizer production of Ukraine makes them a very real political player. They did have something similar with gas and oil and look at the impact that's had on global prices.
www.bbc.co.uk
