"The 1980's are calling to ask for their foreign policy back."

This is why it's good to hold off until you can actually write the piece before tweeting.

It is interesting that the two countries which are expected to be at war shortly are just about the only ones denying that that is the case.

For anybody wanting to keep ahead of the game, Bellingcat has provided info on how you can ID Russian equipment that shows up in videos and photographs. This also includes civilian vehicles that might be used by the Russian military.

It's almost as though the rest of us are creating a problem which never existed, like two drunk blokes being egged on by their mates.

Yes I'm sure being surrounded by Russian troops has absolutely nothing to do with it.

And NATO ones.

As the Ukranian President continuously asks Western leaders to stop exacerbating matters.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/politics/white-house-ukraine-messaging/index.html

Because of the Russian troop buildup.

Because of the threatened expansion of NATO.

We can trace the tit for tat back decades.

The real question is how do we break that cycle in a way both sides can tolerate?

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How so?

I've posted a link to a NATO document detailing exactly that plan.

The problem is, however, Putin. He needs this distraction to shore up his falling popularity at home. If he wasn't ginning up excuses to invade Ukraine ala what happened to Poland in '39, he'd be doing the same thing somewhere else, with the odds of the rest of the world telling him not to do that, considerably lower.

At least with Ukraine, the odds of it being nothing more than a bunch of dickwaving that doesn't get innocent people killed are slightly better than if Putin masses forces at the border of the former Soviet Republic of Obscuristan that nobody outside of that nation and Putin's head gives two shits about.

Good. Fuck Russia and Russians. Some of the worst people on the planet. I speak from personal experience, business and travel

If the nations of NATO are untrustworthy and war mongerers, which they are to an extent, they still are leaps and bound ahead of fucking Russia

Who are you better off with, unfettered - NATO or Russia?

Who’s the aggressor here, it’s Russia. To act like NATO is just warmongering is disingenuous as fuck, but we know how you feel about the US.

Aggressor against whom?

I live in a NATO state, one much more likely to be directly affected than you, but the fact remains Ukraine is not such a state.

Make it one and you're creating a perceived threat.

Put troops in a shooting war with Russia and you're starting ww3.

A status quo which doesn't involve global war.

Uh, Ukraine.

So you’re a NATO fan then, why didn’t you just say so

I'm a fan of peace.

NATO is just as capable of triggering war as any military entity if mistakes are made.

Exactly.

Not the US, not NATO, not the UK.

There are long standing issues between Russia and Ukraine, not the least if which involve sovereignty of Crimea.

We can act as diplomats, neutral third parties, negotiators, intermediaries, choose your poison, provided we are acting to de escalate a potential disaster.

What we can't afford to do is voluntarily become a combatant.

Do remember, the warmongers you are speaking to live thousands of miles away across an ocean that Russia cannot get through like he can in europe. it is NIMBY so they do not give a fuck.

This is why america is always warmongering. The main bulk of our land is never going to see armed conflict like europe, the middle east, and russia would. Even China is more threatened by this than the US would be. Aftrica is more involved than we are way over here, so we can pump our muscles all we want because american neighborhoods are well out of range, and even if some non-nuclear ordinance did get through it would only beat the war drums.

However, from a corporate standpoint a conventional war would be awesome for the US MIC and the US would be a safe place to do some manufacturing of other goods when cities get bombed out and you need stuff to rebuild.

Great news for the world is Biden is so fucking stupid he thinks the republicans will vote with him, so he is also stupid enough to think MAD will work to deter Putin from fucking everyone with a nuclear war if he looks like he is going to lose. He actually thinks Mitch McConnel is his friend.

I am thinking I might want to make a little end of the world stockpile of heavy narcotics.

The boy does not think it is going to knock on his doorstep. Wearing a mask and getting vaxxed are horrible impositions on his freedumbs during a pandemic. He has no respect for the lives around him, and he has less for the people of Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the rest of the world. It is all about his feelings and he feels powerful when the US fucks with other people. This is why he loves the GLBTphobia and racism of his heroes.

What's even worse is that one of these incidents could become the trigger for something larger.