Ukraine., And the re-emergence of the Russian "bear". Options

[SirWilliam]

Hello one and all.
As a change I thought I would leave brexit and that wretched virus that I can't remember the name of, and look at a much more worrying situation in eastern Europe.
It seems strange that no one, to my knowledge, has pointed to the similarities to the Sudetenland situation in '38. And we know how that ended don't we children, to the one now facing us. One look at the map will tell you the real reason why he wants to annex the Ukraine, but we seem more interested in the "proper" use of pronouns than standing up to a bully who could well send the world back to the stone-age quicker than the most ardent of green activists could ever wish for. Hitler, after drafting the Munich agreement despite the Brits and Frogs believing it was a Czech agreed one, then used it as an excuse to unleash one of the worst disasters to hit this planet since the Chicxulub meteorite.
Considering that most of the European politicians are of a similar mindset to our own feckless individuals, I would image that comrade Putin is quite buoyant of success, before the West takes any action.
History does repeat itself, and usually when we don't learn from it.

[je suis Charlie]

Russia will do whatever Russia wants, lots of hot air expended, lots of posturing but in the end? Nobody has the will nor the capacity to stand up to them. I'm willing to bet they won't stop at Ukraine either.

[SirWilliam]

Russia will do whatever Russia wants, lots of hot air expended, lots of posturing but in the end? Nobody has the will nor the capacity to stand up to them. I'm willing to bet they won't stop at Ukraine either.

Time and time again the "nuclear deterrent" has once again proven to be anything but. Putin knows that the "west" will not confront him directly as one SS20, (are they still around?), dropped on Paris or London and we would run around like headless clucks. So he will either secure the area east of the dnieper river and turn north to the Baltic, or, and who knows what is going through his head, carry on to the Polish/Slovakia border, and if we don't stand up to him then you can say goodbye to your freedoms for ever because he will continue to the Atlantic.
On a positive, it is a nice day to think about getting the garden sorted.

[Phil_D11102]

Time and time again the "nuclear deterrent" has once again proven to be anything but. Putin knows that the "west" will not confront him directly as one SS20, (are they still around?), dropped on Paris or London and we would run around like headless clucks. So he will either secure the area east of the dnieper river and turn north to the Baltic, or, and who knows what is going through his head, carry on to the Polish/Slovakia border, and if we don't stand up to him then you can say goodbye to your freedoms for ever because he will continue to the Atlantic.
On a positive, it is a nice day to think about getting the garden sorted.

Actually it was that unused nuclear deterrent that stretched the Russian Bear and the Warsaw Pact to the breaking point.
NATO, with their professional troops and agreement to deploy cruise missles in 5 countries won the day over the bear who couldn't compete and it"s allies who simply became too disgruntled to put up with then bear anymore.
It is that simple.
It was NATO not the loony smelly left that won the day. Do you think a peace camp ouside the Kremlin would last 5 minutes.
Sadly, just like after WWI, the losers are again upset and NATO year in and year out have been keeping less combat trrops in a position to be deployed quickly. The only good thing post Cold War is the former Warsaw pact countries joing NATO.
The nuclear deterrent did work, but we didnt learn from past history.

[Turin Machine]

Actually it was that unused nuclear deterrent that stretched the Russian Bear and the Warsaw Pact to the breaking point.
NATO, with their professional troops and agreement to deploy cruise missles in 5 countries won the day over the bear who couldn't compete and it"s allies who simply became too disgruntled to put up with then bear anymore.
It is that simple.
It was NATO not the loony smelly left that won the day. Do you think a peace camp ouside the Kremlin would last 5 minutes.
Sadly, just like after WWI, the loses are again upset and NATO year in and year out have been keeping less combat trrops in a position to be deployed quickly. The only good thing post Cold War is the former Warsaw pact countries joing NATO.
The nuclear deterrent did work, but we didnt learn from past history.f

It's perhaps telling that Ukraine once held a third of the Soviet Union's atomic weapons and agreed to denuclearise after a treaty was signed that in effect guaranteed Ukrainian safety and independence. A treaty that was signed with, yes, Russia as co signatory. One wonders if Putin would be so blase about slaughtering civilians had Ukraine held on to a few tactical nukes? 🤔