Posted on 04/04/2022 1:42:41 PM PDT by ransomnote
But Putin invaded Ukraine. It was a brutal invasion, and innocent Ukrainians are being slaughtered. /sarcasm (I wish)
Don’t forget Biden’s remarks in 1997 that Ukraine joining NATO was a line we couldn’t cross because that would provoke Russia into war. (I’m paraphrasing).
Thanks for posting this!
He adds that what happened before the Maidan revolution was Ukraine forbidding the Russian language:
“You have 40% of the population that speaks Russian.
now change that to calif and spanish...
Actually the current president and his capital city speak primarily Russian.
Estonia and Latvia joined NATO in 2004. They border on Russia.
This is argument makes no sense.
At present, NATO has 30 members. In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020).
Thanks for posting.
If you are Russia, letting the US and NATO set up shop 6 minutes time of flight from Moscow in the Ukraine, is a bad idea.
If you are Russia, having the US and NATO set up shop in Ukraine with major roads leading in to Russia, major rail lines with the same gauge leading into Russia, being able to literally take out much of their nuclear deterrent capabilities in the boost phase, and having access to multiple large airfields that can support strategic bombers or lift, is a very bad idea.
In fact, having NATO and the US set up shop in a country with 233 thousand square miles or terrain that includes forests and places where you can easily hide things, and with an infrastructure that can support a large military force indefinitely, that sounds like a very bad idea if you are Russia.
On the other hand. Maybe they shouldn’t worry. We can make them a promise that we will never expand eastward with NATO, never put troops on their soil, or never build and base a missile defense system in Europe. We’re the good guys and hold our promises, so they have nothing to worry about.
You have described Russia’s casus belli. Ukraine’s casus belli is Russian troops on its soil, pounding its cities into dust.
So is Russia going to invade Finland (again)? Because they are talking about joining NATO now.
Of course after seeing Russia’s performance in Ukraine, people are losing their fear of them. They can do a lot of damage. But they can be beaten.
Russia is reminding people why there is a NATO.
It was starting to unravel before. Russia was starting to look like a good neighbor. Countries were starting to depend on them... that was Trump’s point, if you are afraid of Russia, why are you depending on them? Why are you letting your militaries atrophy? And if you are not afraid of them, why do we fund NATO?
Russia has just reminded everyone why they need to fund their militaries and keep their powder dry.
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