Thread: How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?

Originally Posted by Neo

you're talking twaddle again... so where are these 'rules of engagement' ??

They are implicit in the fact that no major powers have engaged in any such activity since the end of WWII.

Annexation was common throughout history before then.

In order for the world to prosper international relations have to be conducted within frameworks conducive to peace.

Putting and end to powerful countries taking land off weaker countries just because they have the might is one of the major strides forward that the human race made in the last 100 years.

Vladimir's little tribal land raid in the Crimea has much more serious repercussions than it would seem at first because it undoes the progress that has been made at much cost in the 20th century.

He will be made to pay a much higher price than any short term gain for cheaply trashing the advances that the species has made in the last century.

Originally Posted by Neo

it's hemoclysm... if your going to try and be a smart arse by throwing about out dated Greek terminology at least try to spell it right

I prefer my own spelling. It looks more British.

I am assuming the etymology is blood related.

Originally Posted by Looper

Originally Posted by Neo

you're talking twaddle again... so where are these 'rules of engagement' ??

They are implicit in the fact that no major powers have engaged in any such activity since the end of WWII.

In order for the world to prosper international relations have to be conducted within frameworks conducive to peace.

Originally Posted by Neo

Originally Posted by Looper

Russia might be able tactically to get away this bollocks in its own backyard in the short term but the world will remember and in the long term Russia will pay the price.

the world has already moved on apart form you who thinks its still 1812 and harry who can't find his own arse with both hands

The world has not moved on when there are still gullible tossers like yourself that admire the "strongman" and don't see the thieving murderer.

Until it's too late.

Originally Posted by Neo

I don't admire Putin... and what I see sheep. I'm just here to knock big holes in your pathetic arguments.

Maybe you should try doing it then. I thought you were a sheep kinda guy.

quick on the draw there harry...

anyway, it's getting fucking boring now, Loopers been clowned but is too dumb to realize it and you've proved once again you'd have difficulty finding your arse with both hands let alone where Crimea is on a map..

you ladies have fun with your big man crush

baaaa

We know where he's going.

Baltics need anti-aircraft protection against Russia, Lithuania says
Baltics need anti-aircraft protection against Russia, Lithuania says | Reuters

SIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania (Reuters) - NATO should permanently deploy anti-aircraft weapons in the Baltics to deter Russia, Lithuania's president said on Thursday as the United States put Patriot missiles on display after including them in an exercise in the region for the first time.

The permanent deployment of the advanced air defense system would be the next step in NATO's new deterrent in the Baltics and Poland, which includes ground troops on rotation. Moscow says it is an unjustified military build-up on its borders.

"It would be really meaningful to have such weapons in the Baltic region. It would ensure a greater security for all our countries," Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters on Thursday, standing in front of Patriot missiles deployed as part of a two-week NATO exercise.

"We would gladly host them," she said of the missiles. "We are always ready".

Since Russia annexed Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and began providing weapons and troops to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, NATO has stepped up its deployments in the Baltics, eastern Poland and around the Black Sea.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were once ruled from Moscow but are now part of NATO and the European Union, are set to triple their defense spending by 2018, compared to 2014, in order to deal with any threats from Russia.

But with small militaries and limited budgets, the Baltics are reliant on help from allies for advanced capabilities, including long-range anti-aircraft weapons.

(A warm invitation for a permanent stay...)

^Well they can hardly expect anything less given their reckless readiness to take the gloves off.

The soviet union is over. Communism is over. Russia backed the wrong ideology. They need to get over it and move on.

They cannot expect anything else from former soviet republics than them turning to the west for the first taste of real opportunity in several generations.

Nobody is threatening Russia just because eastern Europe is no longer under their control. They need to take a chill pill.

Sure they had a legitimate claim on Crimea. The sad thing is though that Russia probably could have got Crimea back without trashing the rules and dragging the world back to the political dark ages.

Given the political unrest, the history of Crimea and the ethnic population the whole episode could have been played out safely:- Legitimate calls for a secession referendum from the Crimean population based on history/ethnicity etc.. A couple of years of political pressure. Ukraine would have to come round and listen according to the rules. A legal referendum could have followed and a peaceful transition.

But the smash and grab knee-jerk reaction from Putin with a swift illegal annexation when he sensed Ukraine as a whole turning towards the west is a disaster for world politics and shows what a short-sighted, anachronistic, dangerous loose cannon he really is.

Originally Posted by Looper

The sad thing is though that Russia probably could have got Crimea back without trashing the rules and dragging the world back to the political dark ages.

Exactly. I'm sure Ukraine would have done a deal for some cheap gas.

It's not like Vlad couldn't afford to give it away eh?



SPECIAL REPORT-Putin's allies channelled billions to Ukraine oligarch | Reuters

Originally Posted by Looper

The soviet union is over. Communism is over. Russia backed the wrong ideology. They need to get over it and move on.

When two do the same it is not always the same...

When the old Breschnew invaded in 1968 Czechoslovakia - following an invitation letter from the communist leaders - world community was enraged (as a matter of fact, not the powers, they had other headaches in that time).
It was not by USSR but by a "coalition" (Warsaw Pact armies).

Now, another "coalition" is moving in an opposite direction - on a invitation letter (or hasn't been issued?) - no enrage...

Originally Posted by Klondyke

following an invitation letter from the communist leaders

Oh yeah. Democratically elected no doubt

Originally Posted by Klondyke

It was not by USSR but by a "coalition"

A coalition of the...

Let me think of an adjective....

No, 'willing' does not spring to mind

Looper, you obviously did not get my point (sorry for my English): I do not question the "willingness or unwillingness" of the powers 50 years ago but of the ones today.

Perhaps, you will better understand how the dangerous Mr. Putin can put it on:

Die of laughter (13) - Vladimir Putin Jokes
(it is also about the former soviet republics, about Ukraine, about sanctions, about Snowden, also about his admiration of Trump)

Originally Posted by Klondyke

I do not question the "willingness or unwillingness" of the powers 50 years ago but of the ones today.

I watched a little bit of Putin's comedy routine (thanks for that! - ...he should probably stick to his day job as an ex-KGB tin-pot dictator). But I do not get what point you are trying to make.

You are saying that the former eastern bloc countries, who are aligning themselves with the west when they get the opportunity now that they are out of soviet control (much to Mr. Putin's frustration), are not doing so willingly or are being coerced perhaps by malign western forces?

Originally Posted by Looper

I watched a little bit of Putin's comedy routine

Why not to spare more of your valuable time to watch more of that "comedy"? (or do you think that the "unpleasant" questions were pre-planned?)

It would surely enlighten you. It's not only funny and witty, but it is also very educative. Where do you get your knowledge of the world history from, anyway?

Perhaps you could advise me where I can listen to such first-hand description of contemporary politics by another power leader? (no need to be under oath).

I remember the WH press correspondences during GWB where he himself had appeared very scarcely, he had surely lot of more important things to do than to answer unpleasant questions. And when he did come for few minutes, he had a paper in front of him with (first) names and the seating positions of people allowed to ask a question.

That time there was a discovering of a newsman nobody knew him, neither his newspaper, who had a unprecedented access to WH (even not always documented), under false name. His task was to ask prepared questions that GW was able to answer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gannon

On other hand, there was an older lady sitting there - Helen Thomas - she was covering all presidents from JFK to Obama ("Dean of the White House Press Corps”). During GWB years she was relocated from her long time first-row chair to the last row after:

In March 2005, she confronted Bush with the proposition that “your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis” and every justification for the attack proved false.

“Why did you really want to go to war?” she demanded.

When Bush began explaining his rationale, she interjected: “They didn’t do anything to you, or to our country.”

“Excuse me for a second,” Bush replied. “They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al-Qaeda. That’s where al-Qaeda trained.”

“I’m talking about Iraq,” she said.
Helen Thomas Dead: Pioneering White House Reporter Dies At 92 | HuffPost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Thomas

Not exactly the quoted exchange, but similar.
(The "clear articulation" of GWB, it has to be a real enjoyment to listen for people who dislike the Putin's "comedy"...

This is also nice:
Why Iraq?

How is possible that the "American people" (as Bush says in almost every his sentence) allow their POTUS to say so many lies within few minutes - and then again throughout the whole 2 x 4 years?

Only one old woman (out of 300 mil.) has the guts to tell him that?

(For such they had spent the big money to select the best of the best?)

Originally Posted by Klondyke

How is possible that the "American people" (as Bush says in almost every his sentence) allow their POTUS to say so many lies within few minutes - and then again throughout the whole 2 x 4 years?

yeah, cuz it's only the US that has leaders that lie like that.

Originally Posted by fred flintstone

it's only the US that has leaders that lie

Tis true, gargle, is your friend.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by fred flintstone

it's only the US that has leaders that lie

Tis true, gargle, is your friend.

Google came up with this....looks a bit like Pinocchio with that pointy nose

Ukraine’s Poroshenko strips Mikheil Saakashvili of citizenship

Mr Saakashvili, who led Georgia from 2004 to 2013, became a Ukrainian citizen in 2015 after accepting an offer from Mr Poroshenko, a university acquaintance, to help speed up reforms. He became regional governor of the strategically important Black Sea region of Odessa.

Ukraine’s state migration service said on Wednesday that Mr Poroshenko had cancelled Mr Saakashvili’s citizenship because he did not reveal criminal investigations against him in Georgia. Mr Saakashvili was already exiled from his native Georgia and stripped of citizenship there in 2015. He is currently in the US.

Kiev’s decision to remove Mr Saakashvili’s nationality comes a day after Donald Trump, US president, suggested in a tweet that Ukraine had tried to undermine his election campaign last year by backing Hillary Clinton.

https://www.ft.com/content/8e0fe436-...6-c6bd07df1a3c

(Poor Mischa, first the dangerous Mr. Putin grabs his land, now his friend Peter kicks him out, will his friend John help him to a new passport?) (ask Taksin, he knows where to apply...)

(Not the Georgia of Jimmy Carter - Gruzia of Josef Stalin)