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All this talk of war with Russia is just paranoid BS. Russia is just not capable of winning a protracted OFFENSIVE war with the EU, NATO, America or anyone else. They have just over a million men in their armed forces TOTAL. It would be folly of the worst kind for them to try anything like that. Do the research for yourselves before you start spouting off, you look like fools.
Russia is FULLY CAPABLE of DEFENDING itself and if necessary bringing down the opponent with them should somebody be STUPID enough to try something. The scary thing is that there are powers in this world who have been stupid enough and arrogant enough to try. It cost them terribly.
Most of those dumbarses came from Europe. It seems Europeans are some of the bloodiest people in human history, for the better part of the last millennium there has not been a place in Europe not scarred by war. About the only constructive purpose NATO serves is to keep Europeans from one anothers throats. That NATO can be thanked for, its inability to exist without and enemy negates everything else good about the organization.
The politics of the American MIC and the corruption endemic in the west ensure the knifes edge at all of our necks. People make choices, some people make choices for others and sometimes they aren't that good and lead to bad things happening. Russia isn't seeking conflict, the corrupt of the west are.
It's pretty simple people. Figure it out or you just might suffer the consequences.
fully agree , the aggression is towards russia this past two decades , if the soviet union had hung on , how do you think the usa would react if canada and mexico joined the warsaw pact , the aggression towards russia is motivated by a need to grab its many resources and to eliminate a threat to american hegemony in eurasia , as usual , you follow the money
like the uk before it , the usa has an insatiable appetite to dominate and for other nations resources
putin is probably not a nice guy but its understandable why he is so popular in russia , he is a patriot and good for his own people
fully agree , the aggression is towards russia this past two decades , if the soviet union had hung on , how do you think the usa would react if canada and mexico joined the warsaw pact , the aggression towards russia is motivated by a need to grab its many resources and to eliminate a threat to american hegemony in eurasia , as usual , you follow the money
like the uk before it , the usa has an insatiable appetite to dominate and for other nations resources
putin is probably not a nice guy but its understandable why he is so popular in russia , he is a patriot and good for his own people
He is really not all that good for his own people, and that's where I see a problem. He is still collecting dividends and taking credits for "restoring order" after Yeltsin's disastrous presidency, but what he is really all about ( Putin that is,) is serving the interests of the ruling class, and everything that supports the structure that serves that class. And if the national interests coincide with the interests of this class, they will be pursued, if not, then not. However when it comes to the interests of the ruling class, they are going to be served first and utmost, even if they go against the national interests.
As for the "Russian people" - they need to fit into this scheme of things, or else.
A lot of Russians understand it, but historically they are used to sacrifice their well-being in the name of state security, and at this point the whole situation is not an exception. Putin so far ( while protecting the interests of the ruling class) "acts decisively" on the world stage, so people for the most part are willing to overlook his inadequacy ( and Russian dependency on foreign investments/banking) on the home front.
Not all of course. In fact the last video from FB, that I posted on "Russia's" thread, came about because of this very subject. This is the video of "Russian celebrities" during the regular New Year parties on TV, put in the context of the "Satan's ball" from Russian classical literature ("The Master and Margarita.")
I don't disagree with you Erasure but aren't most all nations making use of such a ruling structure you outline? America certainly does, Europe too.
There are variations in the themes but where the rubber meets the road what is the difference? He'll, people are by nature feudal, we want to have leaders because we know if we did not chaos would be all we had.
Russian government is not perfect nor is any other.We all have different standards and perceptions of what our society should be what people should be, what people should behave and even think like.
Really, if Putin and his people were to step down would the next group do any better? All corruption and all the blemishes on Russian society would magically disappear right? I doubt it.
I think Putin does the best he can with what he has to work with. Russia's challenges and the situation stem from the conditions imposed on it by the forces of space and time (geography/history/current events) and people from outside trying to impose their ways of thinking and living upon all things Russian.
Excluding Russia, demonizing Putin and Russia in general does no one any good. The world is lesser for it.
I don't disagree with you Erasure but aren't most all nations making use of such a ruling structure you outline? America certainly does, Europe too.
There are variations in the themes but where the rubber meets the road what is the difference? He'll, people are by nature feudal, we want to have leaders because we know if we did not chaos would be all we had.
Russian government is not perfect nor is any other.We all have different standards and perceptions of what our society should be what people should be, what people should behave and even think like.
Really, if Putin and his people were to step down would the next group do any better? All corruption and all the blemishes on Russian society would magically disappear right? I doubt it.
I think Putin does the best he can with what he has to work with. Russia's challenges and the situation stem from the conditions imposed on it by the forces of space and time (geography/history/current events) and people from outside trying to impose their ways of thinking and living upon all things Russian.
We are talking about somewhat different things.
As I've pointed before, Putin and Co are bad news first of all for Russia and her future. This class of "new Russians" doesn't create anything of value; it doesn't facilitate any breaks-through in technology and science traditionally important for Russians, it doesn't take care of intellectual potential of the country, it's indifferent to the moral and mental health of the society. What it essentially is preoccupied with, is emulating someone else's success ( namely the US.) But since the economic model they deem "successful" is in fact incompatible with Russia to begin with, they end up being the "middle men," the brokers in peddling Russian labor to "foreign investors," and cutting their "percentage" in the process, in order to support their lavish style of life. See, as corrupt as Western governments/upper classes might be, they never the less assure the progress of their own nations - they work on the laws improving the well-being of the enterprise, the lot of their citizens and many other things, that do not preoccupy "new Russians." What "new Russians" are preoccupied with most and utmost, is assuring their never-ending privileges and taking care of a structure that assures their uncontested position. And this uncontested position includes international affairs, where the military expenditures become a necessity for them. With other words, their success strangulates Russia in terms of REAL positive developments on one hand, yet assures her potential danger to the West, since when the brokers are not happy with their percentage, they start throwing the hissy fits.
So as you can see, there is corruption and then there is corruption.
Quote:
Excluding Russia, demonizing Putin and Russia in general does no one any good. The world is lesser for it.
Well at this point "excluding Russia" is not going to work - the world ( Western world including) will have to deal with Russia the way it is; it doesn't make sense any more to point at her "moral flaws," since as I've already said before, it was the West - ironically enough, American liberals that brought this evil forth ( I DO consider Putin's forces as evil indeed) and Putin's Russia, being a warped image of America can't be changed by now for a number of reasons. At that, Russia turning ultra-right ( instead of the moderate left as god intended her to be after the fall of the Soviet system,) is probably the reason why American liberals lost their bid so unexpectedly as well in the latest turn of events. After all, why such traditionally-left country as Russia should serve the golden calf, while America founded on "right" ideas, enjoy the perks of the liberal thinking?
As they say god works in mysterious ways, so I'd say the music that plays in the video(s) above is going to be pretty much a theme song for the upcoming year))))
fully agree , the aggression is towards russia this past two decades , if the soviet union had hung on , how do you think the usa would react if canada and mexico joined the warsaw pact , the aggression towards russia is motivated by a need to grab its many resources and to eliminate a threat to american hegemony in eurasia , as usual , you follow the money
like the uk before it , the usa has an insatiable appetite to dominate and for other nations resources
putin is probably not a nice guy but its understandable why he is so popular in russia , he is a patriot and good for his own people
I believe it was a mistake allowing the Baltic states as part of NATO. They should have followed Finland example. Also the US should have never set up a military shield in Romania and Poland.
I of course believe Putin has too much power and his regime does crack down on dissidents. But Nato with its missiles surrounding Russia and having bases on former Soviet territory does not help the situation and has inflamed it.
Russians are not known for using fragile and sophisticated technology but rather brute force. .
No ****? Isn't it Russian Su-35 which is one of the most advanced fighter ever, holding multiple world records?
Russians don't rely much on electronics to fight that's for sure, because it DOES NOT WORK for real wars.
US and its allies spent billions on supporting Syria rebels fighting legitimate government and promoting refugee crisis in EU - Russians finished all up in a few months using decade old technology, not because they don't have the latest one, simply the old stuff is cheap and works well.
***** soldiers from NATO can only fight in video games.
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