old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:45 pm
[Putin learned from that. He is not invading & occupying countries. He's propping up endangered strong men, preventing regime changes & gaining strategic allies, influences & bases, with minimal investment.
Uh huh. Is he occupying Syria, or not? Yep. He is.
old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:45 pm
Silly comparison. There's never been any disagreement that Afghanistan was overreach -- the USSR's Vietnam. Putin learned from it.
Learned from it, and yet is now in three foreign countries. You'd flunk out of any Grad seminar with this nonsense.
Professor "Old salt, can you think of any downside for Putin's actions in Crimea, Ukraine, and Syria?"
Old Salt: "Not-a-one. Everything is coming up Putin!"
Professor "Come back when you've thought about this a little more, Mr. Salt."
old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:06 pm
Every time Putin does a Zapag exercise, he masses thousands of troops inside Belarus on the border. NATO can't ignore that. If our NATO allies thought Belarus was a viable buffer, they would not be positioning their troops inside our Baltic NATO allies.
Bluffing and posturing. Been doing it for 50 years. Rinse. Repeat. All of it wastes money.
old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:06 pm
The same reason the US Navy has home ports in Spain & Japan. We'd still have one in the PI & in Crete, if host countries would allow it.
And only needed if you plan on invading nations with Spec Ops, as the US has for 50+ years. If you don't do that, they're all utterly pointless. If Putin plans on doing this, he's going to need a lot more than Italy's GDP.
old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:06 pm
You clearly don't understand Nordstream. It gives Putin the ability to cut off gas transiting Ukraine & supplyin E EU, without disrupting supply to Germany & W EU. A method he has already used to starve Ukraine & divide E vs W EU.
Congratulation, you've found another magic bean. It's the only pipeline that gives leverage to one side of the pipeline.
Professor "Old salt, can you think of any downside for Russia if Germany shuts off Nord2?"
Old Salt: "Not-a-one. Everything is coming up Putin! And it turns out that Russia is magic, and not only do they not need money...they don't need to sell their energy products"
Professor "Come back when you've thought about this a little more, Mr. Salt."
old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:06 pm
Look at Putin's domestic support %'s. He's giving the Russian people what they think they want. He's got them believing the fall of the USSR was a western plot to loot & criminalize the country during the '90's.
You don't get it. When you run the media, you don't to do anything. All you need to do is TELL your supporters you did something.
Exhibit A: Trump. He just needs to tell FoxNation that all our trade deals are fixed, and GDP is far above Obama's. Do they believe it? You bet they do. Funniest part is, Trump doesn't need State Run media. They just need Fox. Fox is literally cramming the Federal government BS to its viewers, and they believe every single word....while at the same time, believe they are free thinkers, and don't trust government. It's insane. You could't explain this to an alien if you had a hundred years to do it.
old salt wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:06 pm
It's not slowing him down yet. He's doing business with China & the rest of the world which resents US meddling.
Well, I have great news. We have a Republican as POTUS, and the Mueller report is in----and according to you, that means Trump is cleared. Handcuffs are now off, and you're out of excuses as to why Trump hasn't stopped Putin from winning.
So I get to sit back and watch Trump flawlessly handle Putin over the next two years. Should be a treat to watch Trump show haranguing Obama how it's done. Got any popcorn?
You and I both know you're just toying with me, and you know doggone well that things are far from flawless in Putin-land. You just refuse to admit it. Stubborn, to the last. It's one of the reasons I like you, frankly. Have a great week.