Why will Putin invade Ukraine; How shall NATO respond?

Putin said years ago the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 was "the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century". Not because he's a commie, he doesn't care about the Soviet economic system, but he feels Russia deserves world power status on eyelevel with the US. So now he wants to enter history books as "reuniter of the great Russian people" and reestablish an empire as powerful as the Soviet Union was.

Last year, Putin wrote in an essay that "the Ukrainians are not an idependent nation", but "vital part of historical Russia", just like Belarus. A bit like Hitler felt Austria and Sudetenland are not supposed to be independent, but had to be reunited with Germany. Putin has already annexed Crimea and Donbas, the next will be "die Zerschlagung der Resttschechei".

Outright, uncalled for aggression is always justified best by claiming to be a victim who just defends himself. Which is why Putin spreads the lie NATO is a threat for Russia -- while in reality, NATO is not a threat to Russia as it is, but only to the Russia Putin wants it to become: To the dream of a new Soviet-size Russian empire that rules over half of Europe.

And of course, Putin is afraid of an Ukraine that embraces freedom and democracy. That might give the Russian people bad ideas, too, they might feel it's worth toppling Putin's tyranny.

We saw in 1938 how well it worked out for the West, when the West gave Hitler the green light for annexing Sudetenland.
 
Are you kidding? Obviously, the photo on the vehicle was taken at the times of pro-Russian uprising.
It is from 2014 or older. Put it in the google search, then you can see it on pages hat were posted in 2014.


No, thanks. You can do it yourself.
No, thanks. We know that some Ukrainians like to paint swastikas on their stuff.



No one ever seriously denied far-right activists and battalions taking part in the fight against pro-Russian forces, stooge. But I am not going to discuss it over and over again here. Move to Russian forums for such entertainment.
Can´t remember that I posted the pics for you. You are just pissed.
 
Yup. Should the Russian Parliament recognize the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. . . if Ukraine is dumb enough, to try and stop Russia, I don't think they will be getting any help from NATO, as long as Russia stops there.
Putin is going to do what Hitler did... a little country here...a little country there...then another and another------UNTIL the world stands up to him. Biden isn't going to--the Germans aren't going to. And even worse, this time like Japan did last time, CHINA is then going to attack as seeing no US action as a sign of weakness or any evenual US action as that the US is weakened by fighting another war. We are in the 1930's all over again. It's going to get really ugly really quick with no good answers----just if we are lucky we will make the least worst choice of the possibilities.
 
You are utterly misinformed, beyond repair.

These images are evidence enough for everything.
Putting up photos means NOTHING. Why did Ukraine elect a Jew for President?
Your lame smear attempt is similar to putting up photos of the KKK and saying they reflect USA. Maybe that would be more accurate if Trump was still President; KKK likes Trump.
 
Our military, of the United States that is, is not prepared to fight and defeat a near peer enemy military such as the Russians. When I entered the US Army in 1991 and reached my first duty station our forces were returning from Desert Storm. When the United States deployed its military forces during the lead up to Desert Shield/Storm its doctrine strategy was mass force on force or division vs. division combat. At the time we fully expected Saddam's full military might to be near peer and to put up a "worthy" challenge to our own military. In short, we went into Kuwait as if we were facing the Russians. We used artillery en masse, flew countless air sorties to soften up the enemy, and went about fighting that war as if it were a reenactment of WW2.

Up to around 1998 we (the US Army) continued to train to fight division vs. division sized engagements both in desert and (in a European style environment) against the Russians (and Chinese, perhaps on the Korean Peninsula). In other words, the US military of that time was ready, willing, equipped and able to fight near peer adversaries, such as the Russians.

All of that changed after 9/11 and the kickoff of the global war on terror. From about 2001/2002 US Military doctrine changed . . . for the worse. We very rapidly (in Theater, no less) trained our forces to fight insurgent enemy forces, including unconventional terrorist guerillas, who were often decades behind our own soldiers in gear, weapons and general capabilities. We taught our military forces and their tactics to become dependent on absolute friendly air superiority, and we gave them a false sense of confidence in the process. After drilling into our soldiers' heads for twenty years how to fight under friendly controlled skies and zero enemy artillery or armor capability, we've pretty much ruined them for the bigger, division on division fights against a nearly equal near peer enemy.

Army doctrine of the last twenty years has essentially been a combination of rapid advance under the cover of friendly fighter/bomber/air cavalry who were always there to use for airstrikes and fighting from easily/completely controlled forward operating bases and green zones, many of which could be very easily resupplied. In other words, in most cases, our conventional military learned to fight as a reactive, occupation force who ALWAYS had allied air power on speed dial and almost always had safe, static walls to retreat behind.

If we get into an actual shooting war with Russia in Eastern Europe the skies will not only be contested for a very long time, but for the first time since the fucking Vietnam War our military men and women will have to worry about being on the receiving end of airstrikes and mass artillery barrages. They will have to unlearn how to be a dominant force of occupation fighting against terrorist and insurgent rabble, and how to deal with an enemy who is pretty much as capable as they are, both on the ground and in the skies. We're just not ready for that, and we need about decade to un-fuck ourselves and retrain our forces for near pear combat on a massive scale.

Our politicians and military leaders alike are well aware of everything I've mentioned above and will sure as hell take it into consideration before jumping into war against Russia. At least . . . I hope the Biden administration isn't that suicidal—suicidal enough to challenge a near peer military in an all-out war. On top of all that, there's that little issue of us and the Russians both being nuclear armed powers.

Let Russia have Ukraine—if it comes to that. But it won't come to that. Chances are very, very low Putin sends in the troops.
Thanks for your informative post.
I hope you are right and Putin will not invade, but if he does and NATO lets him get away with that, do you also say "Let China invade Taiwan"?
 

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