General Politics Discussion (X) [ARCHIVED] • Page 875

no, david. Putin is not the head of NATO.

 

Appreciate the summary as I have paid next to zero attention to this story until now haha

 

While NATO does push global north hegemony let’s not forget it is the threat of imperialism that has caused it to expand once again.

NATO represents a hard barrier for Moscovy’s conquests, which is why Putin’s demands before the invasion involved promising to never expand NATO eastward (so they can invade), remove troops from the eastern states (so they can at least be cowed, if not invaded after they get kicked), and to not conduct military activity in eastern europe, the caucuses, or central asia (so they aren’t prepared when Moscovy decideds to take back their former vassals, whether they want to or not).

Even with NATO expanding not being on everyone’s “want to” list, it is completely disingenuous for one to not act like states join NATO to protect them from overly-ambitious authoritarian regimes.

It’s not so one-sided.

 

In general I agree that more countries joining NATO is heading in the wrong direction for the entire world (even though it is an understandable decision and likely the smart one for the individual country) but I would say that Russia invading Ukraine altogether and even putin's recent decision to place nuclear weapons in Belarus are both much more "major blows to the world" than Finland joining NATO / NATO going from 30 countries to 31. This is more of an unintended yet entirely predictable consequence of the invasion itself.

 

I also don’t think this will escalate the war to newly imaginable catastrophic levels. It’s merely a comfort blanket for Finland.

They (Russia) aren’t going to do anything. They don’t want nukes flying, and they know NATO isn’t an invading force. Their rhetoric is just for internal propaganda.

They invaded Ukraine for their own specific reasons. They wanted the newly discovered natural resources and the borders on the sea, and wanted to reunify separated USSR states, and they saw Ukraine as the first step of all that. They didn’t want Ukraine getting friendly with the west because they felt that would screw their chances.

They don’t really have the same interest in Finland. I’m sure this pisses Putin off and it’s going to make internal propaganda harder, but he’s not going to nuke anyone, or escalate the war in Ukraine anymore than he already had planned, over this.

 

Yeah if you look at the map, there is very distinct areas where Russia has open access points for invasion, ever since the USSR failed and the lost most of those access points, there has been a drive to regain control over them. Whether that is soft power or hard power control.

 

It’s because cities are too scary

 

I can't tell if it's just where the live cameras are placed, but the crowd seems at best evenly split, if not leaning towards anti-trump right now...

 

Florida Democratic Chair Nikki Fried, Sen. Lauren Book arrested during abortion bill protest

 

MTG is reaching the "find out" stage.

 

"Utter pandemonium" Lol

Seems pretty tame, honestly.

 

And NATO Doesn't run Russia or control the Russian military, but that hasn't stopped you from blaming them for the Ukraine War lol

 

yeah, why would it?

 

Because you're smart enough to not be wrong/not be a hypocrite!

 

i agree. i am neither on this issue.

 

MTG got exactly what she wanted, video of her being screamed at and at least seemingly in potential danger. She is an evil, empty, and shameless vessel who will capitalize on any attention, especially negative, to reinforce her brand. Just like Trump wants a mugshot to sell on t-shirts. I’m so tired.

 

I continue to be fascinated with the obsession to deflect all blame from Putin/Russia for their own actions when they're not even a state worth defending. It'd be one thing if they were some great socialist or communist state but they're not even that. They're just trying to emulate shitty American foreign policy and it's somehow even worse even if it is currently smaller scale.

 

this entire thing is ridiculous.

 

She was in absolutely zero danger, or at least no more danger than she is any time she goes out in public.

Like I've been in rowdier crowds after an April baseball game.