Is there already a dedicated thread already on the evil ****?
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Ah, I thought this was the thread announcing his death.
Which gets me to wonder: what after Putin? When a strongman goes, there usually is a mediocrity-filled vacuum. Is Medved the ordained successor, or will a gang of would-be strongmen slug it out to see who can become the Corruptor-in-Chief?
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I doubt the sod will die any time soon. I was wondering if there was a thread on him specifically because he seems to be morphing from just low-level murdering and globally malevolent tyrant to seriously dangerous warmonger, which is rather scary what with nukes and so on. I'm wondering how reliably rational he is, hoping he doesn't have a screw loose about restoring the injured glory of the USSR a bit like Hitler was driven to get revenge for Versailles.
Edit: my concern today was prompted by an NYT piece about how he is militarising Russian society and promoting paranoia and normalisation of the idea of war in Russian political and public discourse.Last edited by Evariste Euler Gauss; 22-12-2021, 14:13.
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Coincidentally I read this rather depressing twitter thread today
https://twitter.com/DAlperovitch/status/1473362460673515527?t=QIEqlG4ZdLxKqjyhZDEMoQ&s=19
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To put an optimistic spin on the situation, Putin is not going to invade the whole of Ukraine, just the relatively small Russian-speaking areas in the east which are already occupied by Russian separatists. He has made some reasonable demands in asking for NATO to stop its activities in the Baltic states. Surely a deal can be done in which Ukraine would drop its application to join NATO and apply to join the EU instead?Last edited by Chris1963; 22-12-2021, 16:20.
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Yeah, joining Nato was the first item on the agenda for the baltic states on independence, slightly ahead of joining the EU. I remember showing a clip of peter hitchens making the argument that Russia should be allowed have its protective sphere of influence, to my polish flatmate, and he started swearing angrily in polish. People who live near Russia really want to be protected from Russia.
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For a bit of balance, doesn't Russia have some justification for fearing "the West"? The last two times Europe was united under one ruler the very first thing they did was invade, and pretty much the raison d'etre of NATO is to have as many nuclear warheads as possible pointing at Moscow.
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Plus why are these Ex-Warsaw pact countries opening their borders to the US and allowing them to set up numerous bases with all kinds of weapons pointing directly at Moscow. That's quite an aggressive posture and more likely to get them invaded rather than saving them from an aggressive Russia. Finland, a country that has had a recent history of animus with Russia and the Soviet Union did not feel the need to join NATO to protect itself.
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Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View PostFor a bit of balance, doesn't Russia have some justification for fearing "the West"? The last two times Europe was united under one ruler the very first thing they did was invade, and pretty much the raison d'etre of NATO is to have as many nuclear warheads as possible pointing at Moscow.
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Originally posted by Tactical Genius View PostPlus why are these Ex-Warsaw pact countries opening their borders to the US and allowing them to set up numerous bases with all kinds of weapons pointing directly at Moscow. That's quite an aggressive posture and more likely to get them invaded rather than saving them from an aggressive Russia. Finland, a country that has had a recent history of animus with Russia and the Soviet Union did not feel the need to join NATO to protect itself.
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Originally posted by Tactical Genius View PostPlus why are these Ex-Warsaw pact countries opening their borders to the US and allowing them to set up numerous bases with all kinds of weapons pointing directly at Moscow. That's quite an aggressive posture and more likely to get them invaded rather than saving them from an aggressive Russia. Finland, a country that has had a recent history of animus with Russia and the Soviet Union did not feel the need to join NATO to protect itself.
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Well yeah, its clearly a rational position for ex Soviet states and ex Warsaw Pact states to want protection from Russia. It's also clearly a rational position for Russia to be wary of a hostile alliance expanding closer and closer to its border. It's not obvious that there is an easy way to reconcile both positions. In the longer term you'd want to build up trust, economic interconnectedness etc (y'know try and emulate the way that France and Germany have moved to decrease their rational fear of each other) but that doesn't seem to be the direction of travel at the moment.
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