Who else is he going to go after of any consequence that wouldn’t result in a war with NATO? To buy in to your position means you have to believe Putin wants a war with NATO. Why on Earth would Putin want a war with NATO when he can barely handle Ukraine?
Medvedev has finally been arrested. He was seeking asylum in Norway, got in a fight outside a bar in Oslo, and then he kicked one of the officers when he was arrested. Ex-Wagner Group commander arrested in Norway for attacking police He almost lasted a whole month before blowing his asylum case to bits. (I didn't know Medvedev was a former Wagner Group platoon commander.) Maybe the Norwegians will play Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" as they send him back to Russia.
Ahhh I see now. You guys are slurping up the propaganda hook, line and sinker that Putin will next move on NATO territory, which is silly. That would be a suicide mission for Putin. And these are supposedly the people who did not know Putin would truly invade Ukraine until just days before it happened? But can now predict he will start a war with NATO? LOL.
Your fundamental lack of knowledge about what motivates Putin and his mental pathologies, renders your comments uninformed. Putin thought not only could he take Ukraine in a catwalk but that it was manifest destiny. He feels the same about Eastern Europe. As he descends more into madness he’ll start hostilities with other countries as soon as he sees fit. Most important is a state of war. Makes it easier to repress the populace and maintain an iron grip on power. For a relative pittance we can chase him out of Ukraine and finish the job of neutering his military. As bad as it’s going he has no shortage of people to throw in the meat grinder.
An interesting story about Taiwanese who are fighting in Ukraine. Why Taiwanese are volunteering to fight in Ukraine
While a country the size of Poland would be safe for a while do you genuinely believe that Putin would not try to reincorporate the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) back into Russia by force if he succeeded with establishing a puppet government in Ukraine?
Maybe that explains the exodus of Russians from Russia. https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/88095 At least 200,000 Russians have left the country since Putin’s draft began. As More Russians Flee Over Putin's War On Ukraine, Other Countries Are Reaping The Economic Benefits
You don’t seem to get it. If Putin attacks the Baltics, he may as well be attacking Gainesville. The US, Canada, Britain, France and Germany (among others) are all required to defend the Baltic states under Article V if they are attacked. We already have troops there now. The Russians would immediately be trading bullets with American soldiers. No, Putin does not want that. He would be hanging himself.
Suuuurrrrre … Putin has no Baltic expansionist plans. It’s all Biden-propaganda. Because, you know, countries like Sweden and Finland that fiercely clung to neutrality for over over 70 years suddenly turned to NATO. Why is that? I don’t think it’s because they have great coupons to Chic-Fil-A.
I mean, if we are making it up as we go along, UF will finish 16-0 next season. As long as we can just wish things into existence to support our narrative, why not?
Making it up? Here’s a suggestion. Go back and read the articles at the start of the War. You’ll get the picture. Because your Soviet propaganda machine that you clearly digest is it “news,” it’s what Putin’s machine wants you to believe. It’s why it lacks any consistency or clarity.
Not even the Biden administration believes Putin wants to invade the Baltics. If you think Putin’s end game is a full-scale war with the US and NATO, then you haven’t been paying attention at all. Even at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, the Soviets were not giddy about the idea of a war with the U.S. I can’t blame them.
China may be planning on supplying Russia through Belarus. ISW explains why Lukashenko is going to China
China supplies Belarus, Belarus supplies Russia. take it up with Belarus. last guy in Belarus that objected fell off of a balcony
I'm guessing this is what was used to strike Mariupol. If they can reach out 100 miles now, that is a major change. Hopefully they have targeting data or people infiltrating to gather it. this is welcomed news Ukraine uses 'US missiles with a 100-mile range' in new attacks (msn.com) Ukraine has launched a series of surprise attacks on Russian troops and supply lines in Mariupol – the first strikes on the city since it fell to the Kremlin last May after a brutal three-month siege that left the key port in ruins. There were at least 18 strikes last week over three successive days – the most recent on Friday night – in a significant ratcheting up of Ukrainian efforts to retake its captured southern corridor, the strip of coastal land that links to Crimea. There is speculation the explosions – which took place amid Kyiv ’s warnings of a Russian offensive to coincide with the war’s first anniversary – may have involved newly donated long-range US rockets with a range of almost 100 miles. Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said: ‘Our military destroys Russian terrorists who invaded our city called Mariupol. And believe me, distance is not of great importance to us today.’ Ukraine uses 'US missiles with a 100-mile range' in new attacks Analysts believe the new initiative heralds the launch of Ukrainian efforts to drive a wedge through to the coast between Russian forces in the east and south of the country. There is talk of a major spring offensive once their military is boosted by Western weapons. Moscow has turned Mariupol into a significant garrison for its forces, believing that the Sea of Azov port was too far away to be hit by the nearest Ukrainian forces, about 60 miles away in the fiercely contested mining town of Vuhledar. Mariupol sources say the attacks, targeted with the aid of local sympathizers, hit ammunition dumps, fuel depots and a military barracks based in a steel plant, resulting in 50 Russian casualties in the first wave of explosions on Wednesday. There were 12 reported strikes that day, then five the following day – including at least two more on the Illich steel and iron works and one near the airport. Another explosion took place at about 10:30pm on Friday. Earlier this month Washington announced that it would almost double Kyiv’s strike range with the supply of the ground-launched small diameter bomb, a precision-guided rocket that can be launched in any weather and defeat electronic jamming. Russian propagandists claimed these bombs were used in the Mariupol attacks – although the strikes could have involved long-range kamikaze drones already used for attacks on bases in Crimea and Russian airfields. After the first attack last week, Russian-appointed officials sought to reassure residents by claiming their air defenses had shot down two Ukrainian drones.Almost half a million people lived in the industrial port of Mariupol before the war, but following Russia’s bombardments that flattened much of the city, it is thought only about 90,000 Ukrainians remain under occupation.
this shouldn't play well on the homefront. have to wonder if any of these are getting seen in Russia Russian Troops Say They're Being 'Sent to the Slaughter' in Video to Putin (msn.com) Russian troops fighting in Ukraine have said they are being sent "to the slaughter" in a recorded message for President Vladimir Putin. Mobilized soldiers from the Siberian region of Irkutsk said they had been sent into battle "without any support," including weaponry, ammunition and intelligence, according to independent Russian investigative outlet, The Insider. The mobilized Russian soldiers, under orders from separatist commanders from the Donetsk region, were "sent to storm the Avdiivka fortified area without any support, artillery, communications, sappers, or reconnaissance," one unnamed fighter told the Russian outlet. They were sent "to the slaughter," he added. The soldier described an attitude of Russian soldiers being expendable in the minds of anonymous commanders, with sustaining injuries being the only option of getting home alive.
You might be the one who doesn’t fully get it. Of course, Russia is not going to execute a direct attack on NATO the same way they brazenly invaded Ukraine. The first element you’re not considering is that they will come with subterfuge, the same way they invaded Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. If you recall, in both cases, there was no massing of conventional forces nor use of much supporting arms. What happened was great formations of well-armed, well-organized “militias of ethnic Russians” sprang from the aether, seized key terrain, and then begged for material support from Russia, which, though just as surprised as anyone at these spontaneous uprisings, was instantaneously prepared to hand it over. The second element you’re not considering is that fracturing NATO is all part of the plan before moving against the Baltics. Seizing Ukraine and Moldova in rapid fashion was a part of that plan (which is not going swimmingly, but Russia intends to get that back on track this spring). The idea was to intimidate the Eastern European member states along the lines of “See, NATO can’t protect you. It’s in your interest to deal directly with us from now on.” The idea here is that a few years from now — after Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus are well absorbed into the new Empire, and after Russian disinformation campaigns have had a chance once more to erode at democratic institutions and the trust between NATO member states — an uprising of poor, oppressed Russian minorities occurs in the Baltics. Russia assists, of course. How could they not? The Baltics cry out for NATO help, but countries like Hungary, Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria all insist that Article V does not apply, since NATO cannot be used to put down internal rebellions in member states. Besides, look what happened in Ukraine. Russia always wins eventually. Do we really want to risk nuclear war over three countries that are historically part of Russia anyway? We broke our word to the noble, peace-loving Russians by letting them into NATO in the first place. Just give Russia what it wants, and we’ll have peace in our time …
