Politics

Invading western Europe?
For what? This is the key question, please memorize it till I get down to point.

Soviet union, was communist regime having doctrine of spreading and supporting communist idea and revolution globally.
The threat of communist ideology spreading globally created the Nato.

Next what happened soviet union collapsed, and Russia turned to capitalist system.
Soviet communist system collapsed.
No more communist spreading doctrine.
Cold war was won by west.

So, now with modern capitalist Russia we come back to basic question of the reasons for Russian invasion:

Why should they invade?
- Oil? Nope. They have it.
- Gas? Nope. they have it.
- Rare earth minerals? Nope. They have it.
- Territory? Nope. Largest country in the world, with large depopulated mainland areas, yet to be populated. Not to mention the largest portion of arctic they already control for resources.

Generally speaking, Europe, the old continent poor and exhausted with natural resources, has nothing to offer what "imperialist" Russians would find worthy of invasions.

In order to launch invasion, a country regime needs to announce this policy, and inform its own populations. Generally, building a pro-war sentiment and national public opinion takes years to build by state propaganda.

So, far Russians never stated any claim against any European (EU) or Nato state. They were just fine doing business with them selling cheap oil and gas. Until we cut them out from business.

Winter 2021: I was working in Kierkeness. Most remote arctic Norwegian town, on Russian border.
Population sentiment was friendly. Russian fishing fleet refueling there, etc... Fishery agreements well established, all smooth, no frictions, easy border crossings, mixed marriages, etc.

Next we come down to what is general population in Europe, and how they form the opinion?

Well, we are multicultural, multiethnic, and multireligous society.

So we have diversity starting from traditional communities, up to first, second or third generation of Immigrants.
Traditional communities are generally divided in left or right political spectrum, and then Pakistani, Indian, Moroccan, Fare east Asians, Chinese, withntheir views, etc

And they all look differently at everything, including Russia.

The same present main stream (anti Russian) political narrative does not sit equally to each of these groups, and in general, I think all of them just want what Europe was promising once: Stable economy, friendly community, joint market, and good living.
The immigrants did not arrive here to fight with Russians.
Traditional Europeans family (German, British, French, you name it), generally with one child, does neot want their one and only to die on eastern front.

I find this to be joint sentiment and the dream for peoples across the Europe.
The dream of good life, not a war of attrition, what generally becomes from war with Russia.

And as the war in Ukraine brings no fruits, the sentiment over the conflict is people are tired of this endless war, pointless money wastage, disastrous human losses, while the prices grow, and the living standard drops....

I must inform you that the situation you describe from 2021 now is very different..
First Kirkenes in north east Norway..

The border with Russia is now effectively closed.. No more trade over the border.. The russian General Consulate in Kirkenes is still operational...they do nothing but propaganda...all employees are SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian federation). The population is divided...about 10% are russians through marriage..

Norwegian waters.. Russian vessels all over our gas and oil pipelines in international waters researching...for what purpose..?

Finland.. There is a fine motorway from Helsinki to the russian border on the way to St. Petersburg. Almost no traffic.. Border is closed..all the other border crossings from Finland to Russia effectively closed.. Finland are building a border fence all along the border..

Same story in the Baltic states..
 
Macron criticizing Trump is tantamount to a court jester claiming that he should be allowed to advise a duke.. for no other reason than they serve the same court..

Im pretty sure no one in the US other than you gives more than a taco bell turd about Macrons opinion on anything..

Personally I value it less than Starmers or Van Der Leydens..

Theyre all buffoons.. just buffoons of different flavors..
I do hope you include Trump in your statement that they all are buffoons...I cant think of any politician more buffoon-like ;)
 
IMO the Ukrainian war is a diversion for what they are doing in northern and central Africa, “”
  • The Russian defense ministry's special unit took over from the Wagner Group, which was restructured after its leader’s death in 2023.
So he just "died"? Was it a heart attack? Sudden stroke? Maybe Long Covid? Allergic reaction to seafood?
 
I am not sure she even did that. In congressional testimony, she sounded like a truculent teenager arguing with her parents or teachers rather than dominating the debate with facts.

I’ve told my wife many times that I liked her tenacity.
She didn’t seem to have the full sentence staged in her head while talking. It seemed to be childish conversation, made up as she talked.
 
I see Pam Bondi was just fired, I'll be interested to hear this story!
 
I do hope you include Trump in your statement that they all are buffoons...I cant think of any politician more buffoon-like ;)

Ive said more than once Im not a huge fan of Trump as a human..

Regarding his policies... some of what he wants I can very much get behind and support.. other things, Im a good bit less supportive..

All of that said... when I look across the playing field of European leadership.. I dont see anything better.. theyre simply more polite.. but in many cases genuinely worthless to their people.. And I couldnt care less if a politician is polite.. I care that they deliver for their people..

Starmer? I complete bag of garbage that has done nothing positive for the people of the UK that I can see since he took office..

Scholz? Totally worthless..

Macron? Less valuable than Scholz..

Von De Leyen? Even less valuable than Starmer..

Sanchez? De Weaver? Schoof? Costa? Wilders?

There are a handful that I think might be reasonably ok.. but what real impact do they have on the EU or their home country?

Metsola seems fairly "center" in her politics and appears to be level headed... but its honestly hard to judge from this side of the Atlantic.. she doesnt make the press here often.. and generally when she does she's not much more than a byline.. Kallas is much the same.. seems level headed and reasonable.. but we dont see or hear much about her over here to really have any idea if she is good or not..

Tusk seems to be the only senior leader of a European country that gets any level of press in the US that appears to not (by US standards) be a member of the lunatic left fringe or a member of the hard right fringe.. that at the same time appears rational, level headed, and able to look at all sides of an argument..
 
Well she sums it up about the UK politicians and what they have done and are doing...not sure when she drew breath..goes off like a MG42....and unfortunately what she says is the truth


Shes not wrong at all..

Europes leaders (not just the UK) have failed Europe..

And now rather than owning their mistakes and doing anything to correct them, they find it easier to point fingers, blame someone else, and let minority fragments of the population dictate the terms of existance of the majority..

Sadly, Im not sure the US is more than a decade behind... Let Gavin Newsome or anyone of his ilk take office and we'll rapidly catch up with the UK in no time at all..
 
I see Pam Bondi was just fired, I'll be interested to hear this story!
Well, MAYBE if she had actually prosecuted even one Democrat she would have kept her job...pathetic. Patel should get busy as well. What do they think they were hire to do--let the swamp creatures continue to dominate?
 
Ive said more than once Im not a huge fan of Trump as a human..

Regarding his policies... some of what he wants I can very much get behind and support.. other things, Im a good bit less supportive..

All of that said... when I look across the playing field of European leadership.. I dont see anything better.. theyre simply more polite.. but in many cases genuinely worthless to their people.. And I couldnt care less if a politician is polite.. I care that they deliver for their people..

Starmer? I complete bag of garbage that has done nothing positive for the people of the UK that I can see since he took office..

Scholz? Totally worthless..

Macron? Less valuable than Scholz..

Von De Leyen? Even less valuable than Starmer..

Sanchez? De Weaver? Schoof? Costa? Wilders?

There are a handful that I think might be reasonably ok.. but what real impact do they have on the EU or their home country?

Metsola seems fairly "center" in her politics and appears to be level headed... but its honestly hard to judge from this side of the Atlantic.. she doesnt make the press here often.. and generally when she does she's not much more than a byline.. Kallas is much the same.. seems level headed and reasonable.. but we dont see or hear much about her over here to really have any idea if she is good or not..

Tusk seems to be the only senior leader of a European country that gets any level of press in the US that appears to not (by US standards) be a member of the lunatic left fringe or a member of the hard right fringe.. that at the same time appears rational, level headed, and able to look at all sides of an argument..
Poland seems to have better leadership.
 
Poland seems to have better leadership.
Poland is led by Tusk.. the one guy I pointed out that doesnt appear to be on the lunatic fringe.. that also seems level headed, listens to reason, and appears to always act in his peoples best interest despite what the EU might demand, etc..
 
Peace in our time???

On Thursday, Iran's state-run media reported that Iran and Oman are drafting a protocol to supervise traffic through the strait.
 
The link below is to NATO Chief Mark Ruffe stating, perhaps berating the European NATO members that "we" need each other,

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1D3piQmqv8/?mibextid=wwXIfr

For those with poor Internet connection Chief Ruffe said,
"If anyone thinks they can defend themselves without the US, keep on dreaming..."
"For Europe, if you really want to go it alone, forget you can ever get there with 5% (GDP Contribution), it will be 10%. You have to build up your own nuclear capability, that costs billions and billions of Euros, in that scenario, you will lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, the US nuclear umbrella. So hey, good luck..."
 
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Well she sums it up about the UK politicians and what they have done and are doing...not sure when she drew breath..goes off like a MG42....and unfortunately what she says is the truth


Her monologue hits the mail on the head.

This short clip comes to mind regarding the current British elite.

 
None of the peoples you listed above had anything to do with a war in Ukraine--ONLY PUTIN initiated such action...care to comment on Chairman Putin's role? Perhaps the Russian endgame? Why Russia was not content to join the community of European nations?
Hmmm? Good question.
Let me try.

Why Turkey has not joined EU, they applied as early as 1997?
Turkey is interested to join, prima facie, just by that fact.
Suffice to say, somebody does not want them in.

In Russian case they were not interested. They never applied to join.
If they never applied to join, my logic states they were not interested.

Btw, neither I was interested to join EU (and I can provide more details why).

I voted on referendum against joining EU, but nobody listened to me.
I am of course, narrow minded, small person, and when I discovered after joining EU, that I need a bunch of stupid paperwork (2 months to make) just to buy a box of hunting ammunition in neighboring country local gun shop (where was cheaper) I lost my trust in any idea of free market of Europe., which was the basic idea of EU in mass media.
Free market. hahaha

I could elaborate with more significant outcomes of this union to my country, if you wish.
But so far will try to stick to other questions that you noted. Suffice to say at this point, EU si not perfect model to use as a measuring stick of good or bad..

Endgame by Putin?
Now is too late, and in my opinion end game is not up to Putin.

In case he gets heart attack today, next president will continue.
Its the system.
They integrated in constitution that Ukrainian eastern regions are Russian. They are part of the country.
And to make their claim, they are paying in blood dearly. It is not easy to pull out just like that.
Ukranians are paying in blood even more.
(if you google KIA exchange between russia and ukraine, ratio is about 8 to 10 dead ukranians exchanged against 1 dead russian, numbers of body exchanges should be exact, whatever the source is)
There is no way back.
One country will have to give in.

And end game will be till Russians achieve their goals, for as long as it takes, while the western countries are having second thoughts and disagreements about their support for Ukraine.
In reality of the ground Russians continue to move on, inch by inch, for last 4 years, with adjusting to war economy, never running out of shells, drones or missiles.

Also lets not forget, that latest American security strategy by WH sees russian federation not as enemy. Something to think about.
I did provide exact qoute few months earlier on this thread, feel free to search.

Other option of end game, is they will economically collapse (as we all hope for), but I dont see this happening, they have a large market via BRICS, and that is about half of world population.

The big picture.
I think we are transitioning from monopolar world (pax Americana) to multipolar world.
The ongoing wars in Ukraine and Iran, have speeded up the process.

The big final endgame will be new global balance of powers between major emerging countries with their supporting large economies.

In that picture, EU at this point has lost its compass, as it seams they lost American mentorship and support, facing energy crises, economic recession, immigration problem and needing urgently to create their new security and economic strategy, while in the same time aligning the interests of the 27 member states. (quite a mess, wouldnt you say?)

Didnt president Trump mentioned earlier, to consider pulling out from Nato?
European countries Spain, Italy, denying USA usage of airplane bases? (something unheard of till now)
So everything is in question.
 
It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of Albertans and Canadians concerning this topic. Will a vote even happen. If a vote happens what are the results.

I’m just a curious outsider with an inquiring mind.

 
Actually, the evidence you need to bomb a country and kill their leadership matters a lot. If say Taiwan decided to enrich to 60% would it be okay for China to kill their leadership and destroy their country? If the Ukraine went to 60 would it be all good for Russia to invade?

That's why the United States has traditionally worked so hard to create a rules based order. To prevent the kind of international anarchy that short term transactional only thinking engenders. Trump sows the chaos but he won't be around to reap it. The wild west was cool on TV but not so much fun to live in.

Context matters, Iran has been saying/shouting the US is the “great Satan” and “Death to America” while making overt efforts to create weapons capable of doing so.

Smuggling a nuke into the US could be done through the Texas/Mexico border or use a missile from Mexico. The Mexican cartels might even help.

When someone says frequently and loudly they intend to kill us, yes, that legally and morally makes lethal force in response justifiable..

In sharp contrast, to my knowledge, Taiwan has never stated “death to China” and taken overt steps to carrying through.
 
I must inform you that the situation you describe from 2021 now is very different..
First Kirkenes in north east Norway..

The border with Russia is now effectively closed.. No more trade over the border.. The russian General Consulate in Kirkenes is still operational...they do nothing but propaganda...all employees are SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian federation). The population is divided...about 10% are russians through marriage..

Norwegian waters.. Russian vessels all over our gas and oil pipelines in international waters researching...for what purpose..?

Finland.. There is a fine motorway from Helsinki to the russian border on the way to St. Petersburg. Almost no traffic.. Border is closed..all the other border crossings from Finland to Russia effectively closed.. Finland are building a border fence all along the border..

Same story in the Baltic states..
Why worry?

Just sign a Peace Treaty with Russia.

It's what you suggested Trump do with Iran.
 

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