Sweden and (especially) Finland have a NATO-in-all-but-name position with the US as it is. An attack on either would probably bring the US in no matter what the rest of the EU does. And if the USAF goes in, Russia's position degenerates rapidly.
For that matter, both Sweden and Finland have enough air forces to make a huge difference. Russia's military has not lived up to their bragging.
In more concrete news, some of the destroyed Russian vehicles that people have been posting pictures of on social media are being identified as command units for support formations like artillery. These are
not supposed to be coming under direct fire.
What even is Putin's goal here with this war against Ukraine? What is he trying to do? Has he gone mad or finally senile?
Is he trying to rally for something? Is this a ploy to keep himself in power? Is it just a mindless landgrab? Or does he really thinks Ukraine is some nest of evil in a delusional fantasy?
Like, I knew there was considerable tension between the two states, but this was all very sudden. I can't keep up with this.
And the "de-nazifying" quote. It makes me uneasy. Such an act of labeling can easily be abused to kill anyone he doesn't likes.
What is happening?!
Part of it is that he seems to really be drinking his own Kool-aid, but there's more to it. Russia's badly mishandled COVID, the population is increasingly restive, and that's making both Putin and the oligarchy nervous. Internationally, Russia's influence is waning badly, to the point where their only real "weapon" against the rest of Europe is fossil fuel supplies. Europe is aggressively shifting to renewables because of climate concern, which will leave Russia in the dust. Nuclear weapons are of very limited use as a diplomatic "big stick".
Russia's other industries (particularly agriculture) are enough to make them a reasonably prosperous middle-of-the-road nation, but Putin isn't satisfied with that. He wants the Great Power status that the Russian Empire once held, or the former Soviet status as one of the world's two Superpowers. Within a few years, that dream and goal will be as dead as the Tsars as Russia becomes increasingly irrelevant on the world stage. The sort of reforms you'd need to genuinely reverse that trend would require dismantling the oligarchy, which will take Putin out.
The classic solution to this is a Short Victorious War. You leap on and crush a weak neighbor, proving to your citizens that you are a strong leader (and, hopefully, getting some loot to pump into the economy and provide a period of prosperity), show the rest of the world you're a force to be reckoned with, and give yourself time to build a new Big Stick or improve other parts of your situation.
Except that the war has proved it will not be Short even if it is eventually victorious, and the international response is "Slava Ukrainia!".
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Topic: Maybe the WWIII thread (soon) (Ukraine) (Read 68774 times)