Office_Shredder said:
is Russia really going to launch nukes over that?
I think yes. Make no mistake Putin is not the only Russian to actually be willing to level US off the map if need be at the expense of losing his own beautiful ill gotten palaces and other nice things, including the cities of his own country.
Quite frankly it is maybe good that Putin is the one in Kremlin right now, Russia has had people in Kremlin in the past who have been even more aggressive and there are people who would also like to take Putin's place now who are more aggressive than him.
It's not like his the best but definitely not the worst person to have authority over Russia.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky once said that being a NATO country in Europe is worse than not being a NATO country in Europe, when asked why, he replied, because if there is a war between NATO and Russia they would first obliterate the countries having NATO soldiers on them. If anything , again risking being unpopular, which I believe I already am so much like Russia I have nothing to lose
,let me say this one thing.
US is partly to blame for all of this, After WW2 US approached former foes like Japan and Germany with peace and good diplomacy, the result was that they formed friendship as much as one can call it such, the result is that Japan is a prospering and peaceful country and Germany , one of the worst evil empires in history turned into a prosperous and safe country and an ally.
How did the US approach Russia? Well first of all they thought that they are all powerful and acted arrogantly , some members even now here think that it was the US that destroyed the USSR which is naive at best, I have met many Americans who think like that and they all also shared a rather naive look at history in general. USSR collapsed because of the will of the people of the USSR , Americans sure tried and also lost a lot while trying, but eventually it was the people from the inside and the absurdly idiotic economic policies, those were the real reasons why the USSR fell. What should the US have done? Simple, tried to befriend Russia and especially Russians, just like it did with Japan and Germany.
Putin claims that, among other, things Ukraine tries to get WMD's , is that true? Likely not , but then again US said the same about Hussein and it was also untrue. Why am I making this comparison?
Because unless we see that both Russia and US have made bad decisions and lost while doing so we cannot start from an equal footing. US should have not looked to the former USSR as some great enemy they have finally outlived, instead they should have opened up and shown Russians that war is meaningless and prosperity is better than Putin and propaganda.
Once people see that then people like Putin cannot hold on to power because they lose this main attraction of theirs which is the "perpetual outside enemy" threat against which only a "strongman" can defend.
I will say it again, NATO went too far, once you have a man like Putin in Kremlin you can't really hope to just fulfill the wishes of every country bordering Russia and not get a result like this. Especially the larges country in Europe that has the longest most sensitive border with Russia. NATO should really get better strategists, honestly.
PS. Don't read my opinion as me being on someone's side. I'm just putting 2+2 together. Peace in world is not just a wishing contest or a love parade, its first and foremost a wise strategy and plan to both keep aggressors at bay while not destroying balance.
Since NATO cannot simply oust Putin then they need to take his wishes into account when making a move.
And truth be told as I said before, Putin is not the only man in Russia who doesn't like the idea of Ukraine in NATO. Ehh this is a never ending circle I guess.