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Superpowers or former superpowers follow their own logic.
Well, I don't see what Putin has against Finland and Sweden joining Nato. Did he think we'd be on his side?
Whatever, if he comes here i will fight to the last bullet.
I guess it would help to think of history and try to understand the other side. Russia is a country that was invaded by the Germans, so it does make sense for Russia to want some buffer zone in order to feel safe. After all, only we in the West think that we are the good ones, to Russians we are the bad ones.
I am from the West myself, and I don't even trust the West, especially not the Americans, the Brits, and the Germans. So why would Russians?
Well, that one-sided view is the problem with all such conflicts. Same in Spain. People in Catalonia are officially Spaniards, but don't want to be.
How is it a "one-sided" view? I'm just stating the fact.
I'm sure, there are plenty of Germans who don't want to be Germans, plenty of Americans who don't want to be Americans and plenty of Russians who don't want to be Russians and so on.
There are also plenty of men who want to be women and probably plenty of kats who want to be dogs.
How is it a "one-sided" view? I'm just stating the fact.
I'm sure, there are plenty of Germans who don't want to be Germans, plenty of Americans who don't want to be Americans and plenty of Russians who don't want to be Russians and so on.
What do you want to do about them?
Where they live in a well-defined and/or historical region and are the vast majority there, the region should be split if that is what people there want...
I kinda understand the puffer zone theory. Italy is still scared by our mighty military, so they don't want to give us back South Tyrol up to this very day... The very idea of the Bundesheer being stationed south of the Brenner makes them shiver
I understand the buffer-zone policy, but if the outskirts of NATO are 50 km from St. Pete and the Baltic states just voluntarily join the other alliance to be sure they will never ever be under the yoke of Russia, Putin should suck it up and move on. Let him create the Eurasian Union with all those yurt-living Mongolians, Kyrgystanis and Belarus.
Who would want to be a part of that alliance? Russia can try to make a bloc on its own, but do not dare to touch any Western nation. Period.
Whatever, if he comes here i will fight to the last bullet.
I could see that. You guys have it in your blood. You have too much 'experience'. You know right now it's 'quiet' at your end up there. No doubt you guys probably have a 'Mannerheim Line' all set up and ready to go! I know Finland is on the ball militarily.
All in all, I'm sure NATO is now busy as it should be. Commitments need to be reinforced. Recently, I see some pundits here note that the US should watch and perhaps 'back off' a bit or we'll p*** Putin off even more than he already is. I'm figuring something with NATO now will set him off and Lavrov will be on a podium lambasting Western policies. I'm not sure what mr. Putin thinks of Europe but he has to be taxing their concept of a specifically 'ordered' Europe.
I don't want to be under Russia's yoke, but just as little under Brussels' or Washington's yoke, but unfortunately in Europe we still are thanks to our spineless politicians...
I could see that. You guys have it in your blood. You have too much 'experience'. You know right now it's 'quiet' at your end up there. No doubt you guys probably have a 'Mannerheim Line' all set up and ready to go! I know Finland is on the ball militarily.
All in all, I'm sure NATO is now busy as it should be. Commitments need to be reinforced. Recently, I see some pundits here note that the US should watch and perhaps 'back off' a bit or we'll p*** Putin off even more than he already is. I'm figuring something with NATO now will set him off and Lavrov will be on a podium lambasting Western policies. I'm not sure what mr. Putin thinks of Europe but he has to be taxing their concept of a specifically 'ordered' Europe.
Whatever, but if Russia enters East Ukraine there has to be consequences. So Russia won't. It will sit back and relax.
While I agree on Putin's view regarding Nato expansion as the major problem, I wonder why he needs buffers. Nobody dares attack Russia, so Russia is safe, even if Nato put a million soldiers along Russia's borders.
If anything Russia should develop its weapons and nukes further so that no defense shield in the world can stop them from flying into Europe and beyond. Maybe they could work together with China in that area which is making huge progress in all things military.
I don't think Russia need buffers in the military sense but more in the economic sense. Nations can be brought to their knees if you can cripple their economy. We all see what happened to Iran economically when the United States was determined to economically isolate them because they wanted to develop their Nuclear industry as provide another source of energy and to maybe protect them from the same fate that befell their neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe be from Putin's point of view is that since the end of the Cold War Putin views the United States as by its actions is behaving as Russia is still the Soviet Union and has been doing it best behind the scenes keep Russia in a weakened form as to be no longer a threat to United States national interests in the foreseeable future. You have to realize the level of fear in the United States there was of the military might of Soviet Union during the Cold war and that now the people in charge of the U.S. security establishment remember that time very vividly. The last thing they want is that same entity to reappear in the future that is able to check the hegemony of the United States. The United States want to curb Russia's possible future military or economic expansionism beyond its borders by backing in countries on Russia's borders political leaders hostile to Russia (not that's the hard to do considering history of the region). Russia main national interest is in developing an economic trade bloc with countries on its periphery as to give it a sense of economic security and prosperity. The United States by showing such an extreme interest in toppling Yanukovich and replacing him with someone on their pre-approved list as witnessed by the leaked conversation of Victoria Nuland the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine only confirmed suspicion that the United States is interfering in the political affairs of Ukraine behind the scenes for the express purpose of thwarting Russia's goal of forming an economic trade bloc.
Well, to be fair all those "ethnic Russians" are Ukrainians in the first place, ain't they?
They are. The problem is, you can't tell the difference between Russians/Ukrainians living in those areas and Russians that live in adjacent areas on Russian side. But there is a much bigger difference between Eastern Ukranians with Western Ukrainians. So basically claiming those areas for EU is not a right thing to do, because culturally these people are really Russians - both ethnic Ukrainians in those areas and ethnic Russians alike.
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