But what is obvious is he would want to control over the doings of Finland. — ssu
Replace "Ukraine" in his speech with "Kazakhstan", "Belarus", "Baltic countries", "Azerbaijan", "Uzbekistan" and so on, even including "Finland". And think about where the train of geopolitical thought of this senile grandfather may take him next.
All this ended very badly for everyone in 1979. And it will end just as badly now. Afghanistan was destroyed, but the USSR also received a mortal wound.
BTW, as a Slavic speaker, how would you interpret the word "Ukraine"? To me, it sounds very much like this was not the name of a people but of a geographical area, inhabited by a plurality of nationalities and controlled by various countries at different points in history. If so, Putin may have a point regarding the legitimacy of the "Ukrainian" state. — Apollodorus
War is entertainment. There's a reason it sells newspapers (or whatever the modern digital version of that expression ought to be). — Isaac
One way to guarantee you don't understand what's going on is to dismiss the protagonist as "mad". — Baden
I agree that just saying "he's mad" is intellectually lazy and boring. — ssu
During the pandemic, analysts had noticed a change in Mr. Putin — a man who isolated himself in a bubble of social distancing without parallel among Western leaders. In isolation, he appeared to become more aggrieved and more emotional, and increasingly spoke about his mission in stark historical terms. His public remarks descended ever deeper into distorted historiography as he spoke of the need to right perceived historical wrongs suffered by Russia over the centuries at the hands of the West.
But if we look at the history of states worldwide, it's clear that the legitimacy of a state is a very complex phenomenon. Germany, for example, became a nation state only a 150 years ago, Italy 160 years ago. One would expect a legitimate nation state to have a history spanning back much longer than that. Other states came into existence and disappeared, changed their shape. So where exactly is the legitimacy of a nation state? Note how the UK isn't exactly a nation state, while the US requires an entirely different concept of "nation" to consider it a nation state. — baker
How about polls about NATO membership in Ukraine. Is that enough for you?What? How is that evidence that Ukraine wouldn't have wanted to join anyway? — Isaac
Does Putin think that capturing Kiev and installing a puppet regime and things will be fine? Those troops have to stay and occupy a huge country of 44 million people. — ssu
One way to guarantee you don't understand what's going on is to dismiss the protagonist as "mad". — Baden
It's really a serious question, not just propaganda. — ssu
Putin may well come out on top — Baden
People talking about big issues and people in high places as if those were topics suitable for pub conversations, in that lowly manner. — baker
I wouldn't want to underwrite any form of credibility that Putin has. — Wayfarer
Russia clearly will prevail militarily but I believe that it's a political disaster on all fronts and that in the end he and Russia will loose through having done it. — Wayfarer
Sounds like you don't want to give a fully objective analysis because Putin is a bad guy. — Baden
Yes, well,... we have had Donald Trump, you know. And others. Not hard to find, actually.His speeches and conduct do not indicate the measured reasoning of a rational statesman. — Wayfarer
The US imposed sanctions on Putin.
Don't know how much it matters. — Manuel
I think here what is notable is the change to his earlier speeches and texts. Yet a lot is quite the same, actually. Perhaps Vlad doesn't try to be nice to people, but shows what he feels. — ssu
How relevant are these? Is this more serious than was previously expected (the sanctions), or is it more or less "normal"? — Manuel
You know, I've come to this conclusion myself too. Trump as the self centered narcissist genuinely admires the strong man Putin and Trumps actions have to be viewed from this perspective. But for Trump reality is a reality show, while Putin genuinely seems to view things that he is doing from a historical perspective. Hence his actions now are responses to things that happened decades ago.Putin is just the kind of man that Trump dreams of being but unlike Trump he has a at least a modicum of executive ability. — Wayfarer
Things promised earlier. I think the basic problem is that you cannot make really hard sanctions as they will start to hurt you a lot. Now that would really show resolve, but I don't think that people care so much of the plight of the Ukrainians to have problems themselves. I think Germany doesn't have any interest to have rolling blackouts and an energy crisis especially when it's still winter.How relevant are these? Is this more serious than was previously expected (the sanctions), or is it more or less "normal"? — Manuel
Russia is the main EU supplier of crude oil, natural gas and solid fossil fuels
The stability of the EU’s energy supply may be threatened if a high proportion of imports are concentrated among relatively few external partners. In 2019, almost two thirds of the extra-EU's crude oil imports came from Russia (27 %), Iraq (9 %), Nigeria and Saudi Arabia (both 8 %) and Kazakhstan and Norway (both 7 %). A similar analysis shows that almost three quarters of the EU's imports of natural gas came from Russia (41 %), Norway (16 %), Algeria (8 %) and Qatar (5 %), while over three quarters of solid fuel (mostly coal) imports originated from Russia (47 %), the United States (18 %) and Australia (14 %).
President Biden announced a sanctions package against Russia that is specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue! ... So long as your energy-related transactions are channelled through non-sanctioned non-US financial institutions, for instance a European bank, you are in the clear. Biden meant what he said. These are a sanctions designed not to sanction. America has introduced sweeping sanctions against all the major banks of Russia that do everything but block the most important transactions that might actually impose severe costs both on Russia and America’s major European allies. Nor are the carve-outs limited to energy, they apply to Russia’s agricultural commodity exports too. So long as the transactions run through non-US non-sanctioned banks, the US Treasury raises no objections.
It's also a clear sign of his "madness" that he's been warning the world for years that if NATO keeps expanding, he will respond aggressively — StreetlightX
(once again)Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it. — Santayana
Due note please the friendly attitudes that obviously Ukrainians had before Putin started bombing and annexing their country. — ssu
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