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Vladmir Putin says that the end of the USSR was a catastrophe. What can be more nostalgic about an empire than that?
The US had colonies (such as the Philippines, Cuba, land in Panama, islands in the Pacific). They’re long-gone. Most Americans probably don’t even know that and surely don’t care, and nobody much would want those areas back.
I still find it hilarious when liberals consider USSR an empire but the eu/nato are some sort of Unesco money-givers lol. By that logic we should admit the obvious: USSR was Russian empire and the EU is a German-French empire. The first one failed, the second one is currently sinking, all good times.
I still find it hilarious when liberals consider USSR an empire but the eu/nato are some sort of Unesco money-givers lol. By that logic we should admit the obvious: USSR was Russian empire and the EU is a German-French empire. The first one failed, the second one is currently sinking, all good times.
I’m not liberal if you mean left-wing. The USSR was an oppressive empire. The EU is a voluntary union of member states (even though its democratic deficit is well-known, states whose populations want to leave can do so if their national governments allow).
I’m not liberal if you mean left-wing. The USSR was an oppressive empire. The EU is a voluntary union of member states (even though its democratic deficit is well-known, states whose populations want to leave can do so if their national governments allow).
I bet the USSR were calling the monarchy oppresive but considered themself voluntary and enriching. I don't even have to bet it just read Marx, Lenin, Engels. You know terrorist regimes call themselves "freedom fighters". In any case, does it matter? Only delusional pro-eu imbeciles like the Belgian Verhonshtaff or whatever his name is hype the eu these days. I am now waiting for the euro to reach 0.9 vs the dollar and Germany to become as glowing as North Korea in the night and then Verhofspaft will say again "the eu is amazing", it just gets funnier and funnier when liberals say it with every month lol.
I still find it hilarious when liberals consider USSR an empire but the eu/nato are some sort of Unesco money-givers lol. By that logic we should admit the obvious: USSR was Russian empire and the EU is a German-French empire. The first one failed, the second one is currently sinking, all good times.
The USSR was the inheritor of the Russian Empire. That's undeniable. The Union, unlike the EU, was not a voluntary organization, except perhaps under Lenin, who claimed to allow an amount of self-determination. The Baltics voted with their feet and left.
Even now, after the loss of territory in 1990/91, the "Federation" is not a voluntary association. "Moscow" maintains cohesiveness by various means, usually by managing to install its own strongmen in the leadership of the ethnic republics. Sometimes there are crackdowns on suspected separatist movements. Moscow tends to see separatist bogeymen where there are none. It's paranoid about losing more territory.
The EU is a trading bloc, like the North American Treaty Organization countries (Canada, US, Mexico), and other economic blocs. Membership is voluntary, obviously. Norway isn't a member, and the UK opted out. Surely you can see the difference between an empire (or the remnants thereof), and an economic bloc?
I still find it hilarious when liberals consider USSR an empire but the eu/nato are some sort of Unesco money-givers lol. By that logic we should admit the obvious: USSR was Russian empire and the EU is a German-French empire. The first one failed, the second one is currently sinking, all good times.
There hasn't been a German-French empire since the Franks and that was over a thousand years ago. There is a large degree of autonomy within the EU, France and Germany often have disagreements on policy, and neither of them jointly or separately have a majority of the votes in its various institutions nor the raw population or GDP (though it did swing more in the favors once the UK exited, that's still not the case post-Brexit). There generally has been a greater dilution of both power and wealth in the EU from France and Germany as the EU expanded and countries within it with lower GDP per capita generally saw higher annual real world growth rates. To me, this is a pretty weird equivalency you're making. I'm curious, what's your background? Is your viewpoint pretty popular where you're from?
The only person who bears any responsibility for the current mass murder in Ukraine is Vladmir Putin.
Ukraine has every right to be independent and to join any alliance that it wants.
Despite that, Ukraine was not a candidate for NATO membership (other than being a member, like Russia, of the Partnership for Peace).
Ukraine is a democratic, peaceful country that was attacked despite that.
If Putin didn’t like Ukraine turning away from Russia, Putin ought to look in the mirror. Being allied with a murderer is generally unappealing. Perhaps Russia should become a peaceful democracy. Then perhaps it would have friends.
I guess you are an American. How would you feel if Mexico was allied to China and China develops military bases in Mexico, even in the border regions? Or if Canada was allied to China or Russia?
BTW Bush made an announcement of his support for Ukraine for NATO, wheren he was president https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epyHOz-Pbs Since then US Presidents have supported Ukraine entry into NATO.
How would you feel if the Russian or Chinese Government president said that with Mexico or Canada part of their military alliance? That is how Russia feels about NATO prospects in Ukraine.
Or if you in Europe, how would you feel if Eire or Italy became allied to Russia and Russian military bases will be installed there?
BTW Austria has been neutral and it doing very well. SAme what was Finland was up till recently.
Of course nothing can justify Putin invasion of UKraine, but the seeds of tension were largely created by the US and NATO.
You talk about democracy, then what about Saudi Arabia then and the oil rich gulf states? After all they supposed to be friends with the West and the USA. Saudi Arabia has a very poor appauling human rights record too. BTW the US is selling high tech weapons to Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia is using it in it war in Yemen. BTW Saudi ARabia and UAE are using high tech weapons from the USA and WEst to mass kill civilians in Yemen.
The U.S., over successive administrations, sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to governments that have carried out, over years, airstrikes on hospitals, markets, food production facilities and prisons: [Those] attacks have killed thousands of civilians,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, director of the Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict and Human Rights Project at Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute. “It does not serve them well in the court of public opinion, or in the annals of history.”https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...-crimes-yemen/
Yet the USA and Western governments are silent on it. Sure they talk about democracy in Europe, and with-it human rights, but who cares what happens in the MIddle EAst, despite the West military aid to regimes so they commit massacres there.
I guess you are an American. How would you feel if Mexico was allied to China and China develops military bases in Mexico, even in the border regions? Or if Canada was allied to China or Russia?
BTW Bush made an announcement of his support for Ukraine for NATO, wheren he was president https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epyHOz-Pbs Since then US Presidents have supported Ukraine entry into NATO.
How would you feel if the Russian or Chinese Government president said that with Mexico or Canada part of their military alliance? That is how Russia feels about NATO prospects in Ukraine.
Or if you in Europe, how would you feel if Eire or Italy became allied to Russia and Russian military bases will be installed there?
Given neither the US nor NATO has built any bases in Ukraine, I don't see the parallel. The US hasn't invaded and occupied Mexico, and I fail to see why any Ireland or Italy would want to be associated with Russia, much less aligned.
I guess you are an American. How would you feel if Mexico was allied to China and China develops military bases in Mexico, even in the border regions? Or if Canada was allied to China or Russia?
BTW Bush made an announcement of his support for Ukraine for NATO, wheren he was president https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epyHOz-Pbs Since then US Presidents have supported Ukraine entry into NATO.
How would you feel if the Russian or Chinese Government president said that with Mexico or Canada part of their military alliance? That is how Russia feels about NATO prospects in Ukraine.
Or if you in Europe, how would you feel if Eire or Italy became allied to Russia and Russian military bases will be installed there?
BTW Austria has been neutral and it doing very well. SAme what was Finland was up till recently.
Of course nothing can justify Putin invasion of UKraine, but the seeds of tension were largely created by the US and NATO.
You talk about democracy, then what about Saudi Arabia then and the oil rich gulf states? After all they supposed to be friends with the West and the USA. Saudi Arabia has a very poor appauling human rights record too. BTW the US is selling high tech weapons to Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia is using it in it war in Yemen. BTW Saudi ARabia and UAE are using high tech weapons from the USA and WEst to mass kill civilians in Yemen.
The U.S., over successive administrations, sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to governments that have carried out, over years, airstrikes on hospitals, markets, food production facilities and prisons: [Those] attacks have killed thousands of civilians,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, director of the Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict and Human Rights Project at Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute. “It does not serve them well in the court of public opinion, or in the annals of history.”https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...-crimes-yemen/
Yet the USA and Western governments are silent on it. Sure they talk about democracy in Europe, and with-it human rights, but who cares what happens in the MIddle EAst, despite the West military aid to regimes so they commit massacres there.
This parallels pretty weak given there were no NATO bases in Ukraine, though this war has certainly made this far more likely.
There's also an incredible lack of thought put into this comparison. Russia invaded Ukraine. There was no real provocation or justification for it. Even if you were to believe this was justified, there was part of that repeated shelling upon civilians, residencies, schools, etc. including many with no discernible military strategic value whatsoever. There are mass graves of civilians including children in fairly large scales and in multiple areas that were Ukraine to have been successfully taken over would have likely never have been uncovered and documented. I'm no fan of imperialism, including past acts of US imperialism, but there is at this point no moral whataboutism nearly on the same scale and severity.
It would not be being forced to give up their land for cash, but for peace & survival (cash would be just something they could hope to get, that somewhat levels the loss of some pieces of the country). Russia will not stop any time soon, and the West will not help adequatly because nobody wants to escalate a world war unless directly attacked. Remember, when Hitler went after Poland, nobody did anything of consequence to help - only when he attacked their own countries (which Putin doesn't seem to want - his ambiotion is limited to re-acquiring emancipated parts of the former USSR). The US did not enter the WW2 on the Allies side because of good heart, sense of justice, desire to help & protect Europe, but because the US itself was ultimately attacked, because of Pearl Harbor.
When Hitler invaded Poland England and France immediately declared War on Germany. Your right though nothing of consequence happened until those 2 countries were attacked.
WASHINGTON: As tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine on the Black Sea, the US is upgrading several Ukrainian naval bases to give American and NATO warships the ability to dock just miles from Russia-controlled Crimea.
Centered at the Ochakiv Naval Base and the military facility at Mykolaiv — 40 miles east of Odessa and less than 100 northwest of Crimea — the American-funded effort includes reinforcing and upgrading existing piers and adding a new floating dock, security fencing around the bases, ship repair facilities, and a pair of brand-new Maritime Operations Centers from which Ukrainian and NATO forces can direct exercises and coordinate activities.
The upgrades come after last November’s incident where Russian warships fired on and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is still holding the crews.
Now we know why Russia was so determined to take Mykolaev.
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