Is there a WWIII fanfic thread somewhere this can be taken to?
He would have nuked the military forces and then threatened to nuke the cities, his own included, is my best bet.
Then again, he did order the destruction of Paris, which the relevant commander(s) ignored.
In other news, that clip linked above, the translation is accurate (helps to have a Russian speak sitting one metre away…)
In more news, apparently a largeish column of Belarusians is at the border and the men are just…refusing to advance.
Until 2013, I had the daughter of Putin living in my town with her Dutch husband.
When the MH17 crash happened, they decided to leave because relations between Netherlands and Russia got worse. She would have made quite a good deterrent.
It’s actually something not discussed because there’s nothing logical about nuclear warfare. If the opponent knows exactly where your line is, that’s where they will step up to.
Then you’re not paying attention. Or something.
As has been pointed out, the countries you mention are part of the NATO alliance. Many of them have actually been reinforced in the last week with NATO units, including elements of US ground forces.
And they’ve been flying air patrols over some of these countries as well.
Yeah. I like Scott’s suggestion:
Let’s give this stuff a rest in this thread. We know where the delimitation lies. There won’t be a NFZ and NATO won’t be directly bombing convoys in Ukraine with its drones
Agreed. Nuclear wars somewhere else please. Accompanied by no-fly zones.
The first statement is wrong, which makes the seconf question make no sense.
My hypothesis is that Putin is acting like a late medieval king who will do absolutely anything to conquer what he views as his land.
He’s less likely to try that if we throw everything we have into the Baltic, and make it clear that his forces would never get an inch of ground. It needs to be our new West Germany.
Sweden and Finland in NATO could be a big help with that.
That still leaves Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Kazakhstan as part of the Soviet Union (did I miss any?) which seems to be the land that he claims, and whose nationhood he rejects, but they aren’t as much of a threat.
Putin put it on the table. It’s part of the reality we have to deal with.
Which part do you mean? The important part it will take a lot of political will in China to help Russia, it’s not like they’re going to another baker down the street. Russian gas pipeline to China was an attempt to diversify but last time I’ve heard it barely pays for itself.
This shit will get out of control.
Some reports are that the ship was struck by a missile, others that it struck a mine. Apparently it was being forced by Russian forces to help shield their amphibious approach to Odessa.
If you want something idiotic, a Texan congresscritter wants to bring back privateering against Russia.
If true, this certainly would explain why morale is low among Russian troops:
Nothing like pissing off your troops by screwing them over, all to support a cover story no one bought for a single second.
I don’t know if actually true, but what people are saying the video is saying translates accurately, as mentioned above.
IT is certainly very plausible.
The proximity to Den Haag would have been perfect to commute to his war crimes trial.
Giant Convoy is just too big a target to ignore
Zylon
5561
Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort caused by attempting to hold conflicting ideas in your head. What you describe here is the complete absence of cognitive dissonance. A more appropriate term would be doublethink.
Good timeline map of the conflict:
NATO also needs to figure out what to do about Kaliningrad. The Russians must be thinking about it too.
