Russian invasion/Ukraine....updated 2/28/2022.

That would take some work, given the length of the video. I can tell you that at 3:10, guys driving a Russian POW get him to say "glory to Ukraine" and "glory to the heroes"

 

I still don't think he'll go nuclear, and here's why:

1) He's familiar with the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction

2) Survival is always a dictator's primary motive.

This is all rather simple. Vladimir Putin is a bully and bullies operate by striking fear into their opponents. Unfortunately, his threats are a product of the weakness he perceives in Western "leaders", and they've given him every reason to think they are weak. He has invaded Ukraine because he perceives weakness and he threatens the West because he perceives weakness.

However, one leader has stepped up and it came from the place that most people, most particularly Putin, least expected - Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been a revelation and an inspiration, and his courage and determination has shamed Western "leaders" into growing a spine.

Naturally, we should be concerned with Putin's nuclear saber rattling but we can't let him intimidate us and paralyze our response to his aggression. Make no mistake, Vladimir Putin is at war with the West - he's been at war with the West his entire life - and it's about time we recognized that.

 

And hitler only wanted a land bridge to eastern prussia from Poland... How did that work out?

 

Wars are dickwaving contests, and in Zelenskyy's now-famous line you see the difference between the men in Ukraine and the boys in Washington and Brussels. The men run towards the sound of gunfire and the boys run away from it. Had our boys been men we wouldn't be having this discussion. Our so-called "leaders" showed fear and weakness and an abject lack of solidarity with the Ukrainians, and that and our boy president's debacle in Afghanistan last Fall did not escape the attention of the revanchist warmonger in Moscow nor his sponsor in Beijing.

It's not a difficult concept, much less anything new:

 

Really?

I don't seem to recall that being the arrangement he worked out with Stalin.

However, I do recall the one he worked out with Chamberlain in Munich - it went something like this:



Paper....little plastic "Reset" buttons....cheap talk about standing up to revanchist warmongers instead of action...

See a pattern there?

No one here is talking about making concessions. What are you trying to say - Putler wants WWIII?

 

Is that where you got the line in your signature?

 

So... You want war with russia then... Will you go fight? It must be hard for someone on your side of the political spectrum today, after kissing the feet of your putinesque candidate, the one who's actually a Quisling and would sell out anybody for a new hotel.

 

The parallels with WWII continue unabated. Western leaders continue to wring their hands over taking any military action to stop the aggressor, still being afraid to provoke the aggressor, still afraid to start a greater conflict.

There is no material difference between Germany attacking France and Poland then, and Russia attacking Ukraine now. One country is attempting to take another by force.

The dynamic of the aggressive strongman leader versus "weak" leaders who want peace is more or less the same. In the modern scenario, NATO might be to Putin what the Soviet Union was to Hitler, which would make this wider conflict virtually unavoidable no matter what NATO does.

On the other hand, Putin may not have such aims and may only want Ukraine, but is it right to stand back and let him take it then? It goes against every value we supposedly stand for if we do.

Putin started this war and put us in this position. Do we allow him to get his way? Do we let him finish the fight he started on his terms, or do we finish it on ours?

 

No, but those are indeed the same words!

 

I noticed.

 

8

Oh, my. Obviously, I'm not the one having a hard time here. Did you vote for the paper-waving contortionist who was more flexible with Putin than a bachelor party stripper?



And how did that quisling's post-2012 "flexibility" work out, hmm?

FYI, my point concerned preventing wars.

Would you care to explain the point of your little exercise in revisionist German-Polish history ( #28 ) ?

 

You mean like Trump took the word of Putin over those of the intelligence agencies?
And when he gave warning to the russian before bombing that syrian airbase so they could remove their assets from there?
When he sold out the Kurds?

Didin't you write the following:

"As for an out, I think he’s had one in mind all along. I’ve always thought that what he really wants is a land bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula and he’ll “settle” for that and lifting sanctions in return for giving up the rest of Ukraine and leaving Zelensky in power. "

And how can you seriously come here and don't ****ing know that Hitler demanded the same bloody thing from Poland and its refusal was the catalyst for the invasion? If you don't know about how WW2 played out, just ask! I can recommend many good books on it.

 

You mad bro?

Yeah, you mad.

Does this look like just a land bridge to East Prussia?

 

Ah, the last play of somebody losing a debate… You didn’t even read what I posted.
The Danzig corridor was the excuse Hitler used for his invasion of Poland. Do you really think that IF the poles had give him that he wouldn’t have invaded them nonetheless?

Do you really think that if Ukraine had give him that corridor he’d be satisfied and not ever bother Ukraine again? Really? Did he want a corridor when he invaded Georgia, Moldavia?

 

Putin wants a loyal Ukraine that is as useful to him as Belarus is now. He wants a conquered Ukraine to be part of Mother Russia again.

Fortunately, this he will never have.

 

Wow-wow-wow... Looks like Ukraine is winning on all fronts. Where I can send a congratulatory card?..

 

Penticton, BC

 

The story in 2 pictures ...

 

Thanks, but really, why the video? You must know that most here on this forum don't understand the language. I watched long enough to regret clicking on it, and I'll never get those wasted minutes back!

So, what do you think we should be doing in Ukraine? How would you handle this? Sorry, but just disrespecting world leaders because you don't like them, and slamming whatever they have done, without including the details of how you would handle isn't going to fly.

 

You'll have to ask Zoom. There are a lot of Russian speakers involved in this thread, though.

 

I've already explained how I would have handled this, and this Ukrainian official who shares my position will reiterate and reinforce it for me:

Of course, the Ukrainian official is right.

As I pointed out in the post you responded to, showing fear and weakness is what doesn't fly.

Here's another lesson from History world "leaders" didn't learn. This is what Winston Churchill said to Neville Chamberlain after he showed fear and weakness to Adolf Hitler at Munich in 1938:



And war was what the world got.

Peace through strength. Weakness leads to war.

 

"Weakness" doesn't lead to war. It's strongmen who regard peaceful nations and their leaders as "weak" who start the kind of war we are seeing now.

 

History doesn't care what you think, Durandal. Weakness has led to war more times than we can count. The aforementioned example at Munich in 1938 is but the most famous and egregious example of that fact.

To riff on your own words, it's strong men who stand up to strongmen who prevent wars from happening. The official in Ukraine gets that. Ronald "Peace Through Strength" Reagan got that. Winston "You Chose Dishonor and You Will Have War" Churchill got that.

It's why nations arm themselves.

It's why they form alliances.

It's what kept the peace in Europe during the Cold War, and it's what helped destroy the Soviet Union that Putin is attempting to resurrect before our very eyes.

 

You're being biased. You're buying into this awful partisan rhetoric that seeks to blame a president who isn't a member of your party of choice for the actions of a foreign dictator.

 

Putin obviously did in 2014....it worked and now again in 2022. Weak Presidents and Vice Presidents. All the folks that voted for our toddler President are just as at fault.