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To: delta7

NATO is a defensive alliance. It wants borders to be settled. Admission could be part of a negotiated peace in which borders, wherever they are, are recognized; but, not before such a peace.

In theory, admission could have been affected back when Ukraine’s borders were non-controversial. But, that would have been premature. Nobody anticipated Russia sliding into corruption and economic decline, and then turning more and more paranoid and belligerent.

Also, it wasn’t clear back then that Ukraine wanted to join the west. More probable back then, Ukraine would be a country of transition from west to east, with a mix of languages, religions and cultures.

Again back then, it was thought, or maybe I should say it was hoped that Russia - spurred by its great wealth in natural resources - would gradually develop economically and politically and maybe join NATO or make NATO obsolete. (We had similar hopes for China.) But, Russia succumbed to what we call “the resource curse,” with oligarchs scrambling to steal as much and as fast as they could. About a dozen of these oligarchs have died so far this year by slipping on a bar of soap and falling over a ten-story balcony.

Now we find ourselves where we are, engaged in a limited war the exact meaning of which in constantly in play. Russia is losing very badly and the Russian Federation risks collapse. The former Soviet Union hung on for twenty years in Afghanistan before it collapsed. I really don’t think this war will take so long, the pace of this war being much quicker. And, nobody can be sure what Putin will do in response to the accelerated pace of losses Russia is facing.


9 posted on 10/01/2022 5:14:23 PM PDT by Redmen4ever
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To: Redmen4ever

Russia is losing very badly and the Russian Federation risks collapse. The former Soviet Union hung on for twenty years in Afghanistan before it collapsed. I really don’t think this war will take so long, the pace of this war being much quicker. And, nobody can be sure what Putin will do in response to the accelerated pace of losses Russia is facing
——-

You have got to be kidding? Vlad has crippled the EU and their economies, destroyed Ukraine’s economy, manufacturing, currency, military, have made them a welfare nation all the while making billions of dollars and this statement says the Russian Federation is collapsing?….they just became bigger, the ethnic Russian provinces hold 60 percent plus of the Ukies wealth and Russia is collapsing???

Please, please stop drinking from the western MSM whiskey bottle.


22 posted on 10/01/2022 6:51:54 PM PDT by delta7
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