The General Political Thread

[joer5835]

Putin has no interest but his own. And I very strongly doubt he wants to 'save' Europe. If anything, I think he would rather see it divided and weak.

[Rutger Müller]

Putin has no interest but his own. And I very strongly doubt he wants to 'save' Europe. If anything, I think he would rather see it divided and weak.

a country having their own intrest in mind... what a monster

[Theodin]

No, but he might invade Belarus.

Lmfao I like that

[Duuring]

Not sure more refugees is what we need right now.

[Conway]

Putin has no interest but his own. And I very strongly doubt he wants to 'save' Europe. If anything, I think he would rather see it divided and weak.

a country having their own intrest in mind... what a monster

I mean, Putin does what he wants. I don't think Russia or its people really factors into any choice he makes.

[Theodin]

Not sure more refugees is what we need right now.

The Belarusians would integrate much better though

[Edwin]

The EU is a common enemy in the eyes of Le Pen and Putin, let's not sensationalize any of their intentions. Putin can also play a nice part in tying up some loose ends, like ISIS.

As for Putin making any land grabs of consequence - I put my faith in the nuclear deterrent.

[Duuring]

Imagine you are the leader of any of the NATO-countries with nukes.

Lose a bit of Lithuania, or nuclear holocaust?

Lose a bit of Poland, or nuclear holocaust?

Lose eastern Europe in its entirety, or nuclear holocaust?

[Edwin]

Take a bit of Lithuania, or nuclear holocaust?

Take a bit of Poland, or nuclear holocaust?

The nuclear deterrent goes both ways - any land loss is due to the EU failing to protect its member states sufficiently. The responsible falls onto the cash cow union. They must accept the fact that they must also embrace the downsides of forcing a political union.

Lose eastern Europe in its entirety, or nuclear holocaust?

let's not sensationalize any of their intentions

[Conway]

Take a bit of Lithuania, or nuclear holocaust?

Take a bit of Poland, or nuclear holocaust?

The nuclear deterrent goes both ways - any land loss is due to the EU failing to protect its member states sufficiently. The responsible falls onto the cash cow union. They must accept the fact that they must also embrace the downsides of forcing a political union.

Lose eastern Europe in its entirety, or nuclear holocaust?

let's not sensationalize any of their intentions

I mean, I'd honestly say Putin would steal eastern Europe given the chance.

[Duuring]

How likely is it the west will be willing to trigger nuclear holocaust just because Putin invades one or two countries? Zero. Nuclear weapons aren't going to keep anyone safe.

[StevenChilton]

Its economy is in the shit, its demographics are terrible, but Duuring seriously believes Russia is poised to annex parts of Eastern Europe. Lol.

Even if Russia had the capability to do that (it doesn't) it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Doing that would provoke Eastern Europe into ever greater reliance upon Brussels and would re-invigorate EU integration at a time when it's falling apart. That's probably why EU officials are busy putting out propaganda about the 'Russian menace' to the East. He would be far better off, as Putin knows perfectly well, sitting back doing nothing and watching the EU fall apart. He'll probably give things a subtle prod in the right direction with a coordinated leak to WikiLeaks or whatever every once in a while but that's about it.

Anyway even if pigs fly and Russia does decide to invade Europe and do a reverse Hitler/Napoleon the UK will be perfectly safe because we're an island. Putin only has one aircraft carrier that barely floats (it needs its own support ship to pull it along in case it breaks down, which is quite often). I mean just read this it's hilarious and should dispel any thoughts you might have that Russia is some kind of military superpower: https://warisboring.com/your-aircraft-carrier-is-a-piece-of-crap-f3f52d299588#.mksi3nys7

[Edwin]

"Sovereignty" is an unrealistic goal for such nations located in eastern Europe. Let's not pretend like the EU isn't after power just as much as Putin.

[Conway]

Its economy is in the shit, its demographics are terrible, but Duuring seriously believes Russia is poised to annex parts of Eastern Europe. Lol.

Even if Russia had the capability to do that (it doesn't) it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Doing that would provoke Eastern Europe into ever greater reliance upon Brussels and would re-invigorate EU integration at a time when it's falling apart. That's probably why EU officials are busy putting out propaganda about the 'Russian menace' to the East. He would be far better off, as Putin knows perfectly well, sitting back doing nothing and watching the EU fall apart. He'll probably give things a subtle prod in the right direction with a coordinated leak to WikiLeaks or whatever every once in a while but that's about it.

Anyway even if pigs fly and Russia does decide to invade Europe and do a reverse Hitler/Napoleon the UK will be perfectly safe because we're an island. Putin only has one aircraft carrier that barely floats (it needs its own support ship to pull it along in case it breaks down, which is quite often). I mean just read this it's hilarious and should dispel any thoughts you might have that Russia is some kind of military superpower: https://warisboring.com/your-aircraft-carrier-is-a-piece-of-crap-f3f52d299588#.mksi3nys7

Russia could easily annex the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine without much opposition. I'd say it'd be a struggle against Poland or any other European country but it could definitely wipe the ones I mentioned. Its not like it would though.

[StevenChilton]

without much opposition

The Baltic states are in NATO and the EU, two organisations with a mutual defence clause, and are countries with large numbers of foreign military personnel stationed there. I think that would be a war Russia couldn't possibly win. Similarly I think if Russia tried to annex all Ukraine that would inevitably pit them against NATO.

Belarus is the only place Putin could take easily, it's an isolated country already within Moscow's orbit. Nobody's going to go to war to defend it. But the likelihood of Russian troops crossing the border anytime soon is very low. Putin doesn't want to upset the current momentum in the EU towards disintegration.