Old Greek
Veteran Member
IMHO that's exactly what this is. Their grift machine is dying!!
WAR Pentagon Chief: If Ukraine Is Defeated, NATO Will Be At War With Russia
- Thread starter jward
- Start date
Teeja
On the Beach
I wish people would stop referring to this current U.S. regime as "Nazis". With few exceptions, Nazis were anti-homo, anti-communist, pro-family, patriotic and generally good people. And NO, there were not 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis... that is a complete and utter fabrication created by Zionist bankers. Yes, several hundred thousand Jews (and other people) died during the war due to disease, famine and war, but NOT 6 million. But feel free to repeat the liberal leftist mainstream media narrative regarding the so-called "holocaust".
This U.S. regime is COMMUNIST, not Nazi. They are pro-homo, pro-communist, anti-family, against everything America stands for and generally wicked people. Please use correct terminology.
This U.S. regime is COMMUNIST, not Nazi. They are pro-homo, pro-communist, anti-family, against everything America stands for and generally wicked people. Please use correct terminology.
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Cedar Lake
Connecticut Yankee
Anyway, yesterday President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian Federal Assembly. Briefly spoke about Europe/Ukraine and mostly about Russia's domestic agenda.
A long read, but worth it. Insightful speech.
Putin also responded to Macron's recent threat of introducing western forces into the war in Ukraine. (It is well know that such forces are already there).
Putin:
The West has provoked conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions around the world while consistently propagating falsehoods. Now they have the audacity to say that Russia harbours intentions of attacking Europe. Can you believe it? We all know that their claims are utterly baseless. And at the same time, they are selecting targets to strike on our territory and contemplating the most efficient means of destruction. Now they have started talking about the possibility of deploying NATO military contingents to Ukraine.
But we remember what happened to those who sent their contingents to the territory of our country once before. Today, any potential aggressors will face far graver consequences. They must grasp that we also have weapons – yes, they know this, as I have just said – capable of striking targets on their territory.
This is again followed by an offer to talk:
Indeed, just like any other ideology promoting racism, national superiority or exceptionalism, Russophobia is blinding and stupefying.
The United States and its satellites have, in fact, dismantled the European security system which has created risks for everyone.
Clearly, a new equal and indivisible security framework must be created in Eurasia in the foreseeable future.
We are ready for a substantive discussion on this subject with all countries and associations that may be interested in it. At the same time, I would like to reiterate (I think this is important for everyone) that no enduring international order is possible without a strong and sovereign Russia.
www.en.kremlin.ru
A long read, but worth it. Insightful speech.
Putin also responded to Macron's recent threat of introducing western forces into the war in Ukraine. (It is well know that such forces are already there).
Putin:
The West has provoked conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions around the world while consistently propagating falsehoods. Now they have the audacity to say that Russia harbours intentions of attacking Europe. Can you believe it? We all know that their claims are utterly baseless. And at the same time, they are selecting targets to strike on our territory and contemplating the most efficient means of destruction. Now they have started talking about the possibility of deploying NATO military contingents to Ukraine.
But we remember what happened to those who sent their contingents to the territory of our country once before. Today, any potential aggressors will face far graver consequences. They must grasp that we also have weapons – yes, they know this, as I have just said – capable of striking targets on their territory.
This is again followed by an offer to talk:
Indeed, just like any other ideology promoting racism, national superiority or exceptionalism, Russophobia is blinding and stupefying.
The United States and its satellites have, in fact, dismantled the European security system which has created risks for everyone.
Clearly, a new equal and indivisible security framework must be created in Eurasia in the foreseeable future.
We are ready for a substantive discussion on this subject with all countries and associations that may be interested in it. At the same time, I would like to reiterate (I think this is important for everyone) that no enduring international order is possible without a strong and sovereign Russia.
Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly
Vladimir Putin delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly. The ceremony took place in Gostiny Dvor, Moscow.
www.en.kremlin.ru
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Looks like the Third World War has started!Russian jamming is now messing up GPS signals for Norwegian aviation practically every day
Pilots flying the Finnmark region see a sharp spike in disturbances of navigation caused by Russian electronic warfare units located on the Kola Peninsula.
Read in Russian | Читать по-русски
By
Thomas Nilsen
February 26, 2024
All countries in northern Europe bordering Russia are now reporting widespread jamming that could pose a risk to both shipping and aviation.
In the far north, Norwegian Communication Authority says it has received about disturbances to the GPS navigation 44 days in 2024. That is practically every day.
“So far this year until February 22nd it is registered disturbances in 44 days in the airspace over Finnmark,” says senior engineer Nicolai Gerrard, to Dagens Næringsliv.
According to the Norwegian Communication Authority, the reports started to spike as Moscow launched its full-scale war on Ukraine.
There were 122 days with GPS jamming that hit Norway’s northeast corner in 2022 and 294 days in 2023. In 2021, before Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to attack Ukraine, GPS jamming in the airspace over Finnmark were reported 18 days.
February 25: Red marks areas with high GPS jamming. Green is low. Russia’s Northern Fleet has several electronic warfare units near Severomorsk, in the Pechenga region near the border with Norway and Finland. The red area marked on the Norwegian side of the border is the final approach for civilian aircraft landing from west to east at Kirkenes airport. Screenshot from GPSJam.org
GPS jamming reports are coming from pilots on the airliners SAS, Norwegian and Widerøe as well as civilian air ambulances flying in and out of Kirkenes airport and the smaller airports along the coast of Finnmark, like Vadsø, Vardø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg and Mehamn.
Since late last year, the Baltic Sea region has also seen a sharp increase in GPS jamming, both in frequency and size of affected areas. Russia’s military has activated jamming around airports inside the country as a countermeasure to stop Ukrainian drone strikes. Some of the disturbances seen in border regions are caused by such interference, while other jamming is more deliberately aimed at the neighboring countries’ airspace.
GPS jamming reduces positioning accuracy and could also with intense interference cause the receivers in cockpit of civilian planes to lose positioning altogether.
Both police and national authorities have told the Barents Observer previously that Russia’s jamming affecting Finnmark region jeopardizes public safety.
“We depend on good GPS signals to quickly locate areas with people missing in extreme weather like we have today,” Deputy Chief of Police Trond Eirik Nilsen with Finnmark Police District said to the Barents Observer.
Chief of Police Ellen Katrine Hætta said her department has raised questions about the GPS jamming in meetings with Russia’s security police, the FSB.
“I have addressed the problem and explained the consequences for search and rescue. FSB said they would look into the matter,” Hætta said to the Barents Observer.
In addition to police cars, GPS navigation is used by other emergency response services like ambulances, fire trucks and civil defense units.
It was in 2018, simultaniously as NATO’s exercise Trident Juncture took place in Norway, that the first distruptions of GPS signals in Finnmark region were reported. Similar disturbances were reported from Finnish Lapland. Both Norwegian and Finnish authorities tracked the source of jamming to Russia’s Kola Peninsula.
Over the next few weeks, the large-scale NATO exercise Steadfast Defender moves north with the Norwegian-led Nordic Response taking place in the border areas with Sweden and Finland above the Arctic Circle. Russian jamming is now messing up GPS signals for Norwegian aviation practically every day
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
It feels like the start of WWI, slow, but steady. The trenches didn't just dig themselves overnight...
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I agree with you to a certain extent.
But there are a couple of things to consider.
1) the Donbass region VOTED to go with Russia, in the form of help (Tiawan) and later VOTING in for Annexation. We may debate on whether that was a valid vote (Dominion) or not, but the people of the Donbass don't seem to be rejecting it any (Demoncrats and Republicans on the 2020 Presidential election ?).
2) Contrary to what @von Koehler stated Putin in his speech made clear his intent was to protect the Donbass, and not invade Europe. It would be total foolishness to do that anyway. It's a lose-lose scenario. And he is not the one who will not negotiate with the west, it is the pre-conditions laid down by the west that prevent it.
3) No doubt Putin didn't mind that. As he wanted as a minimum space between Russia and NATO.
4) One reason the US used Ukraine is the insane belief, they could defeat Russia. Not to mention the corruption in feeding back kickbacks.
5) you guys have been a bit hard on von Koehler without understanding his background, which is: at least family in East Prussia was overrun, maybe killed, murdered, forced to leave, if not himself. And with that comes a deep, and I mean a DEEP hatred of Russia. I have similar feelings towards Russia as my mother was from East Prussia, and was in Berlin when it fell to the Russians. If you wanted to see eyebrows knit together and fire coming out of eyes, say something nice about Russia in front of my mom. There wouldn't be nothing left but smoldering shoe prints on concrete. But even though I follow that with no problem, facts on the ground, in some cases prove different. Trust but verify. If you were in TX when Santa Anna came through, you'd feel the same way about Mexico.
2 cents
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Responses, in the same order:
1. As with Crimea's vote, the Donbass received "guidance" on how to vote.
2. I do not have the sources and quotes at my fingertips, but Putin gives lots of speeches. In some, he has said that Ukraine is a starting point.
3. That smells a lot like "breathing room". You know it does. The world would (rightly) condemn us if we tried to carve off a buffer in Mexico to stop the current invasion. Same thing.
4. Used Ukraine for defeating Russia in what way? Do you sincerely believe that the US wants to conquer them? I truly think it's all about the graft and the ability to hide shady shit in the middle of the country, while we bribe Zelensky to leave it alone.
As I said, whatever nonsense Putin didn't like in Ukraine, he could have used other very effective means to stop it or redirect it. He invaded instead, thinking it would be easy, and that in the US in particular, he would have strong support, with Biden being so disliked. He made a mistake there, an unforced error.
It's not a binary choice, where Biden (and by extension, the West) is an asshole and Putin is a Saint and a defender of freedom because he opposes Biden. WE are caught in middle between the players of this very dangerous game they're playing.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
von Koehler
Has No Life - Lives on TB
8:48 minutes
Some background information about Russia and Ukraine.
2:47 minutes
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Johnny Twoguns
Senior Member
I approve this message! The entire West is now controlled by the same cabal, and is purposely being destroyed by it.
Johnny Twoguns
Senior Member
Sure he is. Same was the USA is perfectly justified in taking control of 50 miles inland in Mexico from the USA border and bombing bridges since the invasion AND destruction of the USA is being aided and abetting by the Mexican government. Ditto for the importation of enough fentanyl to kill every single man woman and child in the USA.
Same as we are fully justified in taking control of a port or part of Venezuela to send back all the criminals and murderers they have sent us since now they are now refuing aircraft from landing and returning their vermin.
I study history. Every country has the right and the necessity to protect itself.
It has been obvious for 30 years that the same powerful criminals that control the West also have been at work to dismantle "Russia" and also destroy that peoples.
vector7
Dot Collector
Restricted Daily: Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the country's strategic nuclear forces are now on full alert, a move that signifies a significant escalation in tensions. This decision comes amid mounting geopolitical tensions and is likely to have far-reaching implications for global security.
Thanks to Warmongering Democrats and RINOS
View: https://twitter.com/x_Silli_x/status/1763405699806003296
Thanks to Warmongering Democrats and RINOS
View: https://twitter.com/x_Silli_x/status/1763405699806003296
Pentagon Chief: If Ukraine Is Defeated, NATO Will Be At War With Russia
by Tyler Durden
This is the single most important, dangerous and highly revealing statement from a top defense official in the West in a long time... It also demonstrates the precarious urgency of the moment and the huge stakes going into the November US election. The world truly stands on the precipice of a nuclear nightmare with the following fresh assertion of Biden's Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said before Congress on Thursday:
What's more is that this came the very day that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned things could easily spiral toward nuclear war in the scenario that NATO sends troops to Ukraine. Watch:
According to the fuller context of the Pentagon chief's statements, he emphasized that more Washington funding is crucial for Ukraine in order to prevent a situation where "one country can redraw its neighbors’ boundaries and illegitimately take over its sovereign territory."
"We know that if Putin is successful here, he will not stop. He will continue to take more aggressive actions in the region. And other leaders around the world, other autocrats around the world will look at this and will be encouraged by the fact that this happened and we failed to support a democracy," he added.
"If you are a Baltic state, you are really worried about whether you are next. They know Putin. They know what he is capable of. And, frankly, if Ukraine falls, I really believe that NATO will be in a fight with Russia," Austin said.
What is even more alarming about this statement is that everyone now knows that Ukraine forces are in retreat at this very moment, especially after the Russian capture of the city of Avdiivka, and surrounding villages.
Bloomberg on Thursday issued a report predicting total collapse of the Ukrainian front lines by summer, as the headline suggests (Ukraine Sees Risk of Russia Breaking Through Defenses by Summer): "Ukrainian officials are concerned that Russian advances could gain significant momentum by the summer unless their allies can increase the supply of ammunition, according to a person familiar with their analysis," the report says. According to more from Bloomberg:
US DoD/Flickr
So the consensus narrative and belated mainstream media admission is that Ukraine's military is a mere months away from clear defeat, and the top US defense chief just said NATO will go to war with Russia "if Ukraine falls".
The conflict has reached a dire and perilously unpredictable moment indeed, and clearly the already slim chances of jump-starting serious peace negotiations to end the war are slipping away fast.
Pentagon Chief: If Ukraine Is Defeated, NATO Will Be At War With Russia | ZeroHedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zerowww.zerohedge.com
US DoD/FlickrWe, the People, are led by monsters seeking out not only our own blood, the innocent blood of others. When will this stop. When Will They Be Stopped? In the coming war, there will be few responsible punished, but MANY innocent will suffer and die. All this for money.
An armed citizenry cannot be bull rushed into insanity, without paying a grievous cost. We rapidly approach what can only result in a blood soaked conflagration here, in the USA, caused by the current Administration of Traitor Joe Biden. Ladies and Gentlemen, before that time comes, prepare to defend yourselves. Plan, prepare, arm up, train up- rinse and repeat. Be better than the treasonous arseholes that will come to enslave or kill you and yours. If they see that they cannot win, easily, they may not strike. Irregardless, be prepared.
”Ain’t no guarantee that hep’s gonna come ridin’ o’re th hills, guidons flutterin’ in th‘ wind to save yuh. Yer on yer own, Pilgrim.”
This country is in danger deep, but most folks seem to be too damned stupid to know that they’re standing in a dynamic, ever changing kill zone. The enemy only goes by one rule. Kill those that are not useful.
Think about it…
OA
Toosh
Veteran Member
LOL - NATO is already at war with Putin - they just don't come out and say that. Plus ... when you consider that the US has had our fingers in Ukraine for a long time and the US funds 80% of NATO's budget, it could be said that the US is (has been for 2 years) in a proxy war with PUTIN.
Dobbin
Faithful Steed
The entire justification hinges around the "domino theory." One nation falls to "communism" (which Russia is no longer) and the fear is the dominoes will continue to fall.
It's the same justification that was used in Vietnam - except of course most of the countries which surrounded South Vietnam were all ready fully dominated by the Communist Chinese - although not necessarily "card carrying members." Think more "owned trading partner" - which is where the US has devolved to with regard to China today.
Think these surrounding South Vietnam countries as "democracies" (it's a name) each with a "figurehead elected President/Leader." Seems frightfully similar to the situation in the US today.
Sorry. Most of the Deep State, Democrats, and RINO Republicans think of Tucker Carlson as a "traitor" for having exposed Russian intentions in a fairly reasonable way.
One of many articles with this tone. ‘Traitor to journalism’: Boris Johnson calls out Tucker Carlson for ‘ludicrous’ interview with Putin
Dobbin
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
If this is true, that is, the delivery was accepted, then the axes are coalescing now. Bad schnitt could happen at any time.
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Lone_Hawk
Resident Spook
Dobbin,,
Oh, I get the line they are throwing. I'm asking the actual question, what interest of ours is it? As I see it, we are the bad guys this time around...
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Please don't misunderstand, I think we're making a mistake in giving Zelensky all this money and aid. I KNOW he's exploiting us, and Biden (and his controllers) is using the situation to masquerade as a wartime president. It's foolish and incredibly dangerous.
But what you are suggesting, and what Putin is actually doing has been justified by the sorts of arguments you're endorsing, many times. In WWII, it was called Lebensraum.
I am not trying to insult you, and I'm damn sure not meaning to call you a Nazi. I only point out that it's a tempting concept, and perhaps Zelensky and Biden's graft make it look especially so.
Everyone is trying to play us ground-dwellers for fools. And they don't mind if we die.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
There is more than one bad side of this box we're trapped in.
mzkitty
I give up.
Yeah, especially after seeing that video of the Russians apparently moving their missiles a day or so ago.
Lone_Hawk
Resident Spook
Attention!!
Attention everyone!!
CNN and Vox, the two most authoritative sources on the face of the planet have spoken.
Putin is bad, Russia is bad, well, both of them are worse than bad, Resident Biden has told us so, and well, also that black dude in the Pentagon, what's his name.... Austin, yeah Austin.
This discussion is now mute...
Attention everyone!!
CNN and Vox, the two most authoritative sources on the face of the planet have spoken.
Putin is bad, Russia is bad, well, both of them are worse than bad, Resident Biden has told us so, and well, also that black dude in the Pentagon, what's his name.... Austin, yeah Austin.
This discussion is now mute...
Lone_Hawk
Resident Spook
Yeah.... a poop sandwich on a lot of fronts....
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I get that and agree with most, except one:
That has been the explicit goal of the west from the beginning. Defeat Russia and the west would divide the spoils (resources) and cut Russia up into smaller states that they could control. Why they thought Ukraine, the largest European state in land mass, could defeat Russia the largest land mass in the eastern hemisphere, is beyond comprehension.
O and BTW I don't think Putin and Russia are Saints, and I think, like the US, needs to stay within their borders. BUT being a Bible thumper, as you know, they have a part to play in the future in the ME, when they get their just due. And when they do, the whole mentality of the entire earth will change. It's coming on them and they can't outrun it.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
I truly don't remember an explicitly goal of the West to end Russia and parcel it out. It certainly isn't in NATO's charter that I know of.
As for the Saint Putin business, I've seen that said in specific by some people.
As for the Saint Putin business, I've seen that said in specific by some people.
jed turtle
a brother in the Lord
Did you listen to Carlson’s interview with Putin? If you had, yu would have been schooled in the history of Russia in particular to “the Ukraine” back when Ukraine was the foundational homeland of the Rus. Yu would also have been informed of the machinations of Stalin and Khrushchev that “created “ another Soviet “state” out of Russia’s western frontier. The entire ”country of Ukraine” was made up and had gone through centuries of absorption by other European empires and re-transformation back into the home lands of Russia. Not to mention being the wide open plains that permitted repeated invasion of Russia from France and Germany. It would be wise to recognize that Russia has already vowed “never again” about western invasions as well as invasion by COMMUNISM, which our little Nazi-like government is currently attempting to foist upon Russia...
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Ask Nuland.
Unless you want to go back to the beginning of the Ukraine war thread and look for it, just take my word for it now. You can trust and verify later. Lol.
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Putin presented a very slanted history.
ETA: Please consider that Germany made similar arguments for the Anschluss, then the greater Reich. If you are a world leader and have a goal to achieve, it's often beneficial to present history in a beneficial way.
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CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Very boring day had nothing much to do. So went looking. It should be noted that this is from Feb. 2023, so a year ago. And it should also be noted that if one elite wanted it so did the others. And if Soro's wanted it so did Nuland.
Soros says Russian defeat in Ukraine would trigger dissolution of 'Russian empire'
MOSCOW, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros said on Thursday that if Russia was defeated in the Ukraine war it would result in the dissolution of what he called the 'Russian empire,' something he said would be greeted by former Soviet republics.
Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Soros said the United States would support Ukraine, but that President Joe Biden had warned Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy that there were limits and that World War Three had to be avoided. Soros didn't disclose the source of his information.
A hedge fund manager turned philanthropist, Soros said that the Russian army was badly led, ill equipped and demoralised, but that President Vladimir Putin had turned to the Wagner mercenary group to thwart the Ukrainian military.
"The countries of the former Soviet Union can hardly wait to see the Russians defeated in Ukraine because they want to assert their independence," Soros told the Munich Security Conference, according a text of his speech released by his office.
"This means that a Ukrainian victory would result in the dissolution of the Russian empire. Russia would no longer pose a threat to Europe and the world," he said. "That would be a big change for the better."
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the nuclear-armed superpower split into 15 independent republics, though Russia remained by far the most powerful of them and the holder of the world's biggest nuclear arsenal.
Putin casts the war in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people against any attack.
'REGIME CHANGE'
The United States has denied Kremlin claims that it wants to destroy Russia, the world's biggest commodities producer.Soros said that Putin's bet on the Wagner mercenary group, founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, appeared to have worked in the short term.
"The gamble worked," Soros said. "Ukraine faced a strategic choice: either get bogged down in holding Wagner at bay or hand Russia a propaganda victory and preserve its limited resources for a counterattack."
Ukraine, he said, had a narrow window of opportunity in Spring once it got the weapons promised by the West.
On China, Soros said that President Xi Jinping's 'zero-COVID' strategy had shaken trust in the Communist Party.
"The current situation fulfills all the preconditions for regime change or revolution," Soros said of China. "But this is only the beginning of an opaque process, whose repercussions will be felt over a longer period of time."
"In the short term Xi is likely to remain in power because he is in firm control of all the instruments of repression," Soros said.
"But I am convinced that Xi will not remain in office for life, and while he is in office, China will not become the dominant military and political force that Xi is aiming for."
Soros casts Russia, by far the world's biggest country by territory, and China, the world's second largest economy, as the leading members of a group of ascendant "closed societies" where the individual is subservient to the state.
read://https_www.reuters.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Fsoros-says-russian-defeat-ukraine-would-trigger-dissolution-russian-empire-2023-02-16%2F
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
The West Is Preparing for Russia’s Disintegration
Amid war in Ukraine, some strategists are setting their eyes on the “decolonization” of Russia itself.
Russia’s poor performance on the Ukrainian battlefield, and the growing belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat shouldn’t be taken at face value, has emboldened Western analysts and Russian dissidents to publicly call for “decolonization” of Russia itself. They are referring here to the vast Russian Federation, the successor of the Soviet Union that consists of 83 federal entities, including 21 non-Slavic republics.The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, an independent U.S. government agency with members from the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and departments of defense, state, and commerce, has declared that decolonizing Russia should be a “moral and strategic objective.” The Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum, comprising exiled politicians and journalists from Russia, held a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this year and is advertising three events in different American cities this month. It has even released a map of a dismembered Russia, split into 41 different countries, in a post-Putin world, assuming he loses in Ukraine and is ousted.
Western analysts are increasingly pushing the theory that Russian disintegration is coming and that the West must not only prepare to manage any possible spillover of any ensuing civil wars but also to benefit from the fracture by luring resource-rich successor nations into its ambit. They argue that when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the West was blindsided and failed to fully capitalize on the momentous opportunity. It must now strategize to end the Russian threat once and for all, instead of providing an off-ramp to Putin.
But many others see a rump Russia as a more severe threat to global peace and security and warn against emasculating an enemy that, even when weaker than the West militarily and economically, still possesses almost 6,000 nuclear warheads, armed militias, and vast resources trapped in a sparsely populated landscape bordering China.
Janusz Bugajski, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, has recently written a book called Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture. He argues that Western sanctions have squeezed Russian economy and there is a “disquiet in numerous regions over their shrinking budgets.” He advocates against providing security guarantees to Putin.
Others who agree with this thinking say Putin’s defeat in Ukraine will destroy his strongman cult and expose him as a weak leader. Once the elites in the non-Slavic republics sense Moscow is neither rich enough to fill their pockets nor militarily strong enough to crush their dissent, they will rise.
Sergej Sumlenny, director of the European Resilience Initiative Center in Berlin, and a former chief editor at Russian business broadcaster RBC-TV, said Putin has controlled the diverse nations by corrupting their elite and by instilling the dread of a Chechnya-style conflict.
In 1991, after the Soviet Union crumbled, 14 of Russia’s nations declared sovereignty. The bloody campaign in Chechnya a few years later was designed to discourage and dissipate independence movements, while Putin’s heavily centralized policies brought the supposedly autonomous republics firmly under Moscow’s control.
But the war in Ukraine has exposed Putin as a disillusioned, feeble man not worthy of the image he had cultivated, Sumlenny argued.
“He was seen [in Russia] as a leader who could defeat anyone, and Ukraine was seen as so weak that it would be defeated without any effort,” Sumlenny told Foreign Policy over the phone from Berlin. “But now, everyone, including the ruling elite in republics and regions, can see that Moscow neither has the money nor a strong army.
“If you are a mafia boss the worst thing that can happen to you is that your subordinates suddenly realize that you are not as strong as you claimed to be.”
Read More
The West Is Preparing for Russia’s Disintegration
Amid war in Ukraine, some strategists are setting their eyes on the “decolonization” of Russia itself.
foreignpolicy.com
This article is from April 2023. Course all these articles are from 2023 when the elites thought Ukraine was going to win, they could decolonize Russia, really make a fortune. The Ukraine war has been about money in more ways than one.
jward
passin' thru
As I surmised, some, if not all, of the intent was to twist the American public's arm into providing more aid for Ukraine...
but . . .responsible statesmen do not play with such fire nor juggle poisoned blades so near innocents, I thought.
Sputnik
@SputnikInt
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says if Ukraine falls he really believes NATO will be in a fight with Russia
View: https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1763258974667694543?s=20
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Yep, psychological manipulation.
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Pentagon Chief: If Ukraine Is Defeated, NATO Will Be At War With Russia, at the rate the Ukraine is losing ground on the battlefield, NATO will be at war with Russia, this year.
Is NATO prepared?
Lone_Hawk
Resident Spook
Human nature throughout time. The victor writes the histories and everyone paints themselves in the best light. We do the same. But unless your goal is to get a whole bunch of people killed, I just don't see a goal in starting this in the first place, which in my opinion we did.
blueinterceptor
Veteran Member
If this had legs the leader of every nato country would be making the case on their respective national television stations on the necessity of preparation for war.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
NATO = USA. Is the USA prepared to go full on war with Russia? No. We can't even take care of the Houthis in Yemen.
LightEcho
Has No Life - Lives on TB
What we have been watching in Ukraine is not the way the world warring will proceed. This opening act is more like two men insulting each other before reaching the point of a duel. But when we get to that point of real war, it won't be a duel.
Who in Europe can the US count on? Name one country you would like to have by your side going into a rowdy bar where you know a fight is going to happen. I pick none. They will leave us bleeding on the side of the road and snicker as they run off. But let's say someone out there was our friend. Which one has the manufacturing capability to support a war machine?
Now consider our enemies. We have friends when we pay off their leaders (and give 10% to the big guy). But there is NOBODY wanting to fight alongside us. In fact, most of the world is our enemy. China pretended to love us as long as we were a market that could be bled. They stole our technology and infiltrated everything here. We are a picked melon and the worms have already bored into the meat.
When it starts, there will be no trenches. Not even artillery. Nothing like WW1. Very soon, the horror will surpass anything that has gone before.