We are becoming the Weimar Republic, in which social degeneracy reigns, inflation is out of control, and a fertile nest is created for autocratic goons to lead the country into disastrous foreign adventures.03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:04 amI definitely think Putin was afraid of Ukraine joining NATO. It would be like Russia and Mexico linking up for us. I get it. I still think Putin is a big bag of excrement but I understand his concerns. Now he has made his move and quite frankly don't see how he is able to just pull out and say oops. He is now going to see this thing through to the bitter end. I just hope our morons in Washington don't get us into a war with Russia. I am also not looking forward to 10 dollar a gallon gas but it could be coming. Biden is a complete idiot and will refuse to do anything to stop it. It is real easy for rich elitists in Washington to deal with five dollar a loaf bread, ten dollar a gallon milk and 4 dollar a dozen eggs. We the people means absolutely nothing to that bunch of corrupt scumbags. Our politicians are just as bad as Putin and his crooked regime.Paladin wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:53 pm Nuclear primacy is the condition in which a nuclear power can defeat another nuclear power by eliminating its nuclear weapons before they can be launched against them. The reason why NATO ABM sites have been built in Poland and Romania is to push their reach closer to Russia’s European borders. This already increases the threat to Russia immensely. By capturing Ukraine and incorporating it into NATO, Ukraine could then potentially serve as a much, much closer missile launching site for NATO missiles pointed at Russia. The Ukrainian border is less than 500km from Moscow.
The Rise of U.S. Nuclear Primacy (PDF)
Putin will probably win because he laid down the nuclear gauntlet early in the game. He has stated that he would regard NATO military intervention on behalf of Ukraine into his war as a direct attack on Russia, and has threatened to use his nukes if that happens. He knows that no SANE leader will take that risk. Bei Den Jo is a bumbling old fool who is wrong about nearly everything, but he’s merely incompetent, not psychotic. Our goal should be to keep his hands tied until he’s out of office…by whatever means.
So other than NATO supplying Ukraine with weapons, the Ukrainians are going to have to fight this war by themselves. It has become a matter of attrition. Can they hold out long enough to make this invasion so costly to Putin that he is forced to withdraw? And if he succeeds in conquering all of Ukraine, how long can Ukrainians carry on a NATO supplied insurgency? The Chechens fought Putin's Russia to a draw, where they have maintained some degree of autonomy, even though they are led by a deeply unpopular Putin ally. The result is a Chechnya where the rule of law is whatever some warlord says it is. In fact, that’s a pretty good description of Russia.
Russians are a disarmed populace, so the only way for them to overthrow Putin (assuming that they would even want to get rid of him) is if NATO smuggles weapons to them. He’s already stated that he would use nukes to "defend" Russia if other nations interfere in his expansionist dreams. What would he do if weapons traceable to foreign powers were found in the hands of his subjects? (Yes, they are merely subjects, when they have no hope of removing him through the peaceful electoral process.) The odds are that he would interpret any move to support a rebellion against him as "an attack on Russia". In the minds of kings, an attack on the king is an attack on the country—and make no mistake, Putin's self image is "Tzar", even if he doesn’t publicly state it. His actions proclaim it loud enough. I support Ukraine’s right to exist as a free and independent nation. Putin is a pig who deserves to burn in hades. But it’s going to HAVE to be Ukrainians (and Russians) who settle his hash. Unless we are willing to engage in nuclear war, all we can do is clutch our pearls and wring our hankies from the sidelines…and he darn well knows it.
The ONLY way I can see for Ukraine to defeat Putin’s invasion is to bleed Russia dry, the way the mujahideen bled the USSR dry in Afghanistan. Make it cost Putin so much that it threatens to topple his gov’t at home.
