Russia wants an open Eurasian bloc stretching from Lisbon to Vladivistok

[KORG 4,756]

Guess what, idgaf what nato did in the middle east. The topic at hand is Putin trying to take over Europe. Keep up.

"Yeah, but this thing happened in the past" GREAT! When you buy a time machine  let us all know and we'll go sort that **** out. Until then quit living in the past hoping for a miracle.

Jesus christ, some people literally have no grasp on reality.

[TEANUS 16,140]

In all seriousness, @Gov Hooka, I truly wonder where your thoughts would lie with what Russia is doing then?? Should the US and NATO just stay out of it and leave Ukraine out to dry since they’ve already done soooo much damage to the world anyway??

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

5 minutes ago, Gov Hooka said:

Y’all wanna cap for an alliance that’s ruined nations and led by nations who have interfered in elections, couped govs, invaded and military occupied (and continue to do so)

Who is you?  I only see you excusing the country that killed thousands and left their bodies to rot on the streets, while the rest acknowledge NATO also did bad things. Everybody knowsn only Middle Eastern deaths matter and only they are allowed to suffer.

[PartySick 172,539]

26 minutes ago, Gov Hooka said:

American hegemony is unparalleled, every consider why the dollar is the reserve currency worldwide and why 70% of global trade happens using it???

Is a semi-unified currency a bad thing?

The US is one of the biggest economies on the planet. Something like a quarter of global GDP is the US alone and we're the largest importer and exporter of goods. It would make sense that American money is used most commonly, especially if the US is actively involved in whatever transaction is happening, wouldn't it?

I don't see the hostility in the US' economic influence is what I mean. Not trying to argue against your point, more so wanting you to expand on it to let my monkey brain grasp it 

This also seems like something that's up @Economy's lane

And it's technically on topic since it has to do with NATO which would definitely have something to say about Russia's...choices 

[PartySick 172,539]

8 minutes ago, KORG said:

Guess what, idgaf what nato did in the middle east. The topic at hand is Putin trying to take over Europe. Keep up.

"Yeah, but this thing happened in the past" GREAT! When you buy a time machine  let us all know and we'll go sort that **** out. Until then quit living in the past hoping for a miracle.

Jesus christ, some people literally have no grasp on reality.

It's still happening now though, isn't it

The consequences of Western interference in the East are all over the place. I mean, we (the US) JUST stopped occupying Afghanistan eight months ago after 20 long years of war and decades of string pulling before that.

And I'm sure @Gov Hooka can name a dozen more current conflicts happening right now where the West is saying one thing about Russia and doing another somewhere else.

I'm still team #TheyreAllAssholes though so ignore me if I'm being too cynical

[MACATL 2,128]

And I want a million dollars handed to me.  Neither is happening.  

[PartySick 172,539]

20 minutes ago, TEANUS said:

That and because they’d been so alarmed by that point by Germany’s movements in Europe and Japan’s in the Pacific. There’s a very strong possibility we would’ve gotten involved in some capacity regardless, but yes, Pearl Harbor was the ‘final straw’.

And yuuup, that’s what it’s meant to do. In the agreement, no one can step into another country’s territory without massive consequences, so no one wants to go that far. Imagine if Ukraine had already been a member of NATO, Russia would have truly been in hot water if they had still decided to attack. At this point they made their move because of the threat of Ukraine having that protection in the future

I need to brush up on my World War history then. It always was my favorite subject but the complex webs of stupidity humanity has woven over the years really stumps me sometimes

Well Putin can rest easy knowing that he singlehandedly unified the West and assured that every Ukrainian went from "Russians are my brothers" to hating Russia with a firey passion that only victims of human rights violations can understand.

If anything, he's solidified Ukraine's and other nations' resolve to join NATO asap. Like I said, the stupidity leaves me stumped. He could have just sat there and lived in his palace 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, TEANUS said:

Any international topic has to become an anti-American discussion because somehow everything is America’s fault. Russia is literally discussing taking a hold on the continent of Europe and the first commenters turned it into a discussion of how America ‘destroyed’ the Middle East, as if internal conflicts haven’t been constantly revolutionizing and sending it into peril since the dawn of time

Many things americans did have saved nations... world war 2 everyone

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

Who is you?  I only see you excusing the country that killed thousands and left their bodies to rot on the streets, while the rest acknowledge NATO also did bad things. Everybody knowsn only Middle Eastern deaths matter and only they are allowed to suffer.

Well Russia has attacked Syrians very badly, and tested their weapons on them...

[Luc 4,776]

29 minutes ago, PartySick said:

It's still happening now though, isn't it

The consequences of Western interference in the East are all over the place. I mean, we (the US) JUST stopped occupying Afghanistan eight months ago after 20 long years of war and decades of string pulling before that.

And I'm sure @Gov Hooka can name a dozen more current conflicts happening right now where the West is saying one thing about Russia and doing another somewhere else.

I'm still team #TheyreAllAssholes though so ignore me if I'm being too cynical

I still need to learn more about Afghanistan myself, but as far as I know the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in the 80s in the Soviet-Afghan war, which left about a million dead. The US funded organizations that fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Some of these organizations radicalized - as is bound to happen when people see so much death, and developed into extremist groups like the Taliban (which became the government) and Al-Qaeda. Years later Al-Qaeda initiated 9/11, leading the US to invade Afghanistan, because the US found taht the Taliban didn't do enough to fight Al-Qaeda in its own territory, in a war that cost about 200k lives.

I think the source of the conflict in Afghanistan ultimately lies with the Soviet invasion and subsequent radicalization. The US made mistakes, but their intentions were better than the intentions of the Taliban and the intentions of the Soviets.

At the same time, I fear that the traditional US tactic of funding insurgents like they're now doing in Ukraine does not have a good track record. The insurgents that are funded by the West often radicalize, and I hope that doesn't happen to the same extent on the Ukrainian side. But overall I'd say that, if we consider geopolitics a zero-sum game of influence spheres between NATO, Russia and China, I'd rather have the Euro-Atlantic influence sphere as big as possible. And people who live in 'neutral'/border territories like Ukraine and Georgia tend to agree. Not because the EU and US force them to, not because of their hard power, but because of their soft power: in the end, people want to have a say and people want to be prosperous. Russia has nothing to offer. 

[Fresco 1,688]

These Russian spokespeople quoted in the article are saying that Putin wants to be the dictator of the land from the western-most city of Europe to the eastern-most city of Russia. That's the boundaries of the next world war. He won't get Europe. He will never be the dictator of Europe. I'm glad Nato exists and is committed to a unified force of power to destroy any Infiltrating Russian military incursions. Putin needs to stay inside the lines and keep his desires to inside Russian borders. 

Opec could be useful if agreeing to produce more oil, but that group seems to be interested in keeping high oil prices.

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

9 minutes ago, AnnaNicoleSmith said:

Well Russia has attacked Syrians very badly, and tested their weapons on them...

Exactly. Parts of Aleppo were completely pulverized, Russia killed and destroyed humans lives, infrastructure and historical buildings. But hey, that doesn't matter because have you heard about Iraq? And what about Afganistan?

[PartySick 172,539]

8 minutes ago, Luc said:

At the same time, I fear that the traditional US tactic of funding insurgents like they're now doing in Ukraine does not have a good track record.

Yeah, this is what I meant by "pulling strings". Though, we also invaded directly under the false allegations of WMDs, overthrew a whole ass government (that I believe we helped to install in the first place) which led to a rise in the influence of ISIS and related groups as people were displaced or removed from representation by our attempt to "free the people"

That's not even mentioning the individual instances of us just straight up sending rockets through homes. And how many drone strikes were carried out on targets that we were "pretty sure they're a terrorist"

That whole area was chewed up, spit out, then blamed for being soggy.

8 minutes ago, Luc said:

But overall I'd say that, if we consider geopolitics a zero-sum game of influence spheres between NATO, Russia and China, I'd rather have the Euro-Atlantic influence sphere as big as possible. And people who live in 'neutral'/border territories like Ukraine and Georgia tend to agree. Not because the EU and US force them to, not because of their hard power, but because of their soft power: in the end, people want to have a say and people want to be prosperous. Russia has nothing to offer. 

Agreed

[FfFfFfFF 58,120]

1 hour ago, TEANUS said:

 Nothing else he’s done yet would be as consequential globally as this 

If you are referring to this statement specifically, I see it as the equivalent to NAZI Germany's propaganda and doctrine they developed in the interwar period. They convinced themselves they are entitled to Lebensraum and that they are the race fit for European domination and so on. This is not a declaration of war or official statement in any way or capacity, but still worrying because of the implications and worldview that has behind. If Russia feels entitled to the whole of northern Eurasia, this is no good, but surely won't start WW3.

[Magui 2,654]

I saw the word Lisbon in that sentence and literally felt fear. Anyone associated with Putin and his regime just leave Lisbon out of your dangerous, inhumane and criminal mouth please.  I'm at the point of despising everything coming from any Russian politician. Russia as country deserved a lot better, unfortunately end up ruled by a despicable man and his regime.