Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the border with Finland, in what NATO officials describe as the early stages of a long-term buildup, The New York Times reported Monday.
There is zero chance Russia is ever getting away with that
Is there? Given the rather reluctant support of Ukraine, which is about just enough to keep them in the fight, I’m afraid that at least some NATO members would rather give away a symbolic chunk of land than start a military confrontation. And yes, that would be the end of NATO.
But Ukraine is not part of nato, so although nato members were not happy, they risked a larger scale war by attacking directly. The point of nato is that Russia risks it by doing the opposite. And it only works if they aren’t bluffing.
They had security guaranties from the US and UK after giving up their nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union.
nato members were not happy, they risked a larger scale war by attacking directly. The
They did and do not risk anything.
It became very clear early on, that Russia was all bark and no bite. Russia couldn’t have escalated to an all out European war if they wanted to, while their main psuh was being shredded on a highway towards Kiv. The only option to do so would have been the nuclear one but Putin wants to be Tsar, not dead.
Also even by standards of international law (as if that would account to anything anymore) supplying all sorts of weapons to Ukraine is legal. Any so called red line Moscow drew in the sand has been crossed so far and nothing has happened.
Do you really expect Putin to pull the trigger if European troops enter the battle with the clear communication that they would restore Ukraine to its borders before 2014?
I don’t disagree that they should have responded when Crimea was invaded, a decade ago, or Georgia 15 or 20 years ago.
I think Ukraine deserved protection based on those agreements, which were made with world interest at heart.
The crux of the matter is that the USA can’t be trusted to uphold any agreement with Trump at the helm. The UK is providing assistance but insufficient on their own.
Ukraine is not part of NATO, so there was not the same clear line of action and response.
Whether Russia was bark or bite is irrelevant when you send your own citizens to die in a war, protecting a different country. You need the political will and popular will to do that.
Those red lines Moscow made have incrementally dropped, without escalation outside ukrainez which sucks for Ukraine but is what the other allies would want, short of peace.
Putin is a violent demagogue and the only response is to destabilise him, which means being the war and sanctions to all Russians so that he doesn’t have the political will not support to continue.
Appeasing him by allowing Crimea to be annexed will only mean he tries again there, or somewhere else in the future.
Romania and Poland had multiple opportunities to show something when shahed drones fly and crash/explode over their territory, they chose to do nothing every time. When these nations are so afraid of even destroying drones over their own aerospace muscovytes will invade whoever they want and other nato countries will just cower and pretend that everything is fine.
If even a cm of NATO is invaded and not acted on the alliance is worthless. For each nations safety, they must act or be defenceless going forward.
There is zero chance Russia is ever getting away with that, especially after burning all their bridges in Ukraine.
Is there? Given the rather reluctant support of Ukraine, which is about just enough to keep them in the fight, I’m afraid that at least some NATO members would rather give away a symbolic chunk of land than start a military confrontation. And yes, that would be the end of NATO.
But Ukraine is not part of nato, so although nato members were not happy, they risked a larger scale war by attacking directly. The point of nato is that Russia risks it by doing the opposite. And it only works if they aren’t bluffing.
They had security guaranties from the US and UK after giving up their nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union.
They did and do not risk anything.
It became very clear early on, that Russia was all bark and no bite. Russia couldn’t have escalated to an all out European war if they wanted to, while their main psuh was being shredded on a highway towards Kiv. The only option to do so would have been the nuclear one but Putin wants to be Tsar, not dead.
Also even by standards of international law (as if that would account to anything anymore) supplying all sorts of weapons to Ukraine is legal. Any so called red line Moscow drew in the sand has been crossed so far and nothing has happened.
Do you really expect Putin to pull the trigger if European troops enter the battle with the clear communication that they would restore Ukraine to its borders before 2014?
I don’t disagree that they should have responded when Crimea was invaded, a decade ago, or Georgia 15 or 20 years ago.
I think Ukraine deserved protection based on those agreements, which were made with world interest at heart.
The crux of the matter is that the USA can’t be trusted to uphold any agreement with Trump at the helm. The UK is providing assistance but insufficient on their own.
Ukraine is not part of NATO, so there was not the same clear line of action and response.
Whether Russia was bark or bite is irrelevant when you send your own citizens to die in a war, protecting a different country. You need the political will and popular will to do that.
Those red lines Moscow made have incrementally dropped, without escalation outside ukrainez which sucks for Ukraine but is what the other allies would want, short of peace.
Putin is a violent demagogue and the only response is to destabilise him, which means being the war and sanctions to all Russians so that he doesn’t have the political will not support to continue.
Appeasing him by allowing Crimea to be annexed will only mean he tries again there, or somewhere else in the future.
Romania and Poland had multiple opportunities to show something when shahed drones fly and crash/explode over their territory, they chose to do nothing every time. When these nations are so afraid of even destroying drones over their own aerospace muscovytes will invade whoever they want and other nato countries will just cower and pretend that everything is fine.