youthathletics wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 7:54 am
It sounds like you just want to fight for the sake of fighting....without any consideration for the history of what has transpired. I appreciate you boiling it down to the simplest form....yes, Putin engaged first. But it did expand East -->
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topi ... tm#coldwar
NATO is damned near what we did in the US when we essentially stole it from everyone else.....Russia is and has been in that threatened position. When you look at the map there is only Ukraine and Belarus remaining for NATO to land lock Russia.IS that a bad thing? That may very well be the argument we should be having....
Asked differently....Can you blame Putin and the Russians for feeling like they are being blocked in and strong armed since the end of the cold war, and further accepting the olive branch from China.
Yes. I can blame them for this stupid ideology.
When folks say " you have to think like a Russian to understand Putin"....what they mean is to abandon all logic, and lower your IQ.
You know anyone in the UK dumb enough to think that they can "get their empire back"? Yeah, me neither. So...why? Why are the British realistic and worried about the 21st century instead of the 18th like Putin is?
Hillary and Obama offered Putin the keys to the economic kingdom, he said no. That's not backing anyone into a corner....that's offering them the door to a better life.
Ever think about those Russian hackers? Screwing around with social media and elections? Haven't you ever thought to yourself: "hey, what if these same computer guys.... instead of piddling their time around doing things that do NOTHING for the Russian people..... started a business like Uber. Or Facebook. Or Amazon. Or Tesla? You know: contribute to the world.
Putin is a moron. I wouldn't put him in charge of a Howard Johnson's, let alone an entire county with ABSURD resources at his disposal. He's piddled it all away. And what does he have to show for it? An utterly useless stretch of land with close to zero economic value.....and blowing BILLIONS for the land, not to mention all the death and destruction.
Putin will go down as one of the dumbest leaders the world has ever seen. The idea that he feels threatened by NATO is just.....dumb.
Who the F is going to invade Russia? And if so...for what? If you're going to "think like a Russian", you have to think like a reasonable, somewhat smart Russian, or the excercise is pointless. Putin is dimwitted fascist who only cares for himself. That's it. That's his "plan" for the Russian people.