emotutu

Exo

That's some pseudo intellectual bullsh*t. Taking out tanks is much harder.

__________________
LastFM

SUPREME POO BAH MODERATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

TheBig3

The Left can't accurately assess this war because it's entire position for the last 100 years has been "all problems are a result of Western aggression."

I wish we could like posts.

__________________
I've moved to a new address

The Batlord

Not all the left. Just some dip****s on the left. I mean it's understandable if some leftists never move on from "America bad" even if it's frustrating as hell and makes them analytically useless.

__________________

rubber soul

Actually, war was invented in Mesopotamia around 2700 BC. Then you had the ancient Egyptians, the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Mongols, the Huns, and finally, the Europeans in general long before the Americans came on the scene. And I know I'm missing more than a few aggressive nations, these are just the ones that came to the top of my head.

And, yes, the US is hardly innocent when it comes to war either, but don't blame them for the Russian invasion of Ukraine (except maybe for the enabling of Trump in particular). This one is all on Russia and no one else.

__________________

TheBig3

I'm not. The U.S. should be funneling in provisions and weapons to the Ukraine by all means possible.

But I don't think Russia is a bad country.

__________________
I've moved to a new address

TheBig3

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying here, but I also don't think Putin is a rational actor.

__________________
I've moved to a new address

TheBig3

What won't make a difference? Us proving weapons or us "not being involved?"

I mean pretending you're not doing something when you are is how Russia gets most of what it wants, and Iran to a large degree. The reason for it is to hold up appearances and let other countries pretend there's no crisis.

But again, Putin never thought it would take this long to overthrown Ukraine. This reads like a major miscalculation on any number of fronts.

• The people of Russia are pissed
• International banks are freezing out Russian money
• Ukraine is fighting back a lot harder than they expected
• NATO unified a lot more vocally than anyone expected

The problem is NATO is an unwilling coalition. We tried to cancel NATO in 1991/1992 but since only the UK and the US were interested in stopping Russian expansion, and Europe wasn't, it remains in place.

That said, iirc NATO effed up by telling Ukraine to disarm its nukes.

__________________
I've moved to a new address

The Batlord

Duh another country joining NATO strengthens NATO. Just like Ukraine being in Russia's sphere of influence strengthens Russia. All those former Soviet states joined NATO for a reason and Russia isn't willing to give Georgia or Ukraine the option to choose for a reason. Of course hegemonic powers are going to try to undermine each other but America absolutely had no need to put in Putin's head that he should dominate Ukraine. Russia wants to do that America or no America.

__________________

TheBig3

Maybe, it's hard to know how he sees things. The only thing I feel comfortable in saying is: He wants to reestablish the Soviet Empire; he won't go after NATO countries. The Baltics should be easier to take than Ukraine.

__________________
I've moved to a new address