No Troy, we do a lot.......but all without risking a new world war. Putin is a wayward/incomputable person........we sit back and watch them burn on fire and do nothing.....I think it is the U.S. fault......
No, Putin has enough land mass and minerals.....but on the one hand with the emergence of the Ukraine Russia lost important strategic positions around the Black Sea and on the other hand the oriantation of the Ukraine towards West Europe, to become a member of the European Union and in the end of the NATO is completelely against the interest of a Russia lead by a man like Putin a formerly KGB man.putin wanted ukraine for it's minerals and land mass.....and waited for an opportunity....
In my eyes the US president, the EU and other countries react in an approbriate way. Sanctions will hit and week Russia and will cause a lot more problems to Russia than to the sanctioneers.with our weak president he found his chance.......china will also start in with the land they want.....russia is a self sufficient nation.....putting sanctions on them will do more damage to the sanctioneers
*China ain't got no dog in this hunt and is presently neutral.
I think the word you are looking for, Guru, is: incomputinable!Putin is a wayward/incomputable person.
China is always weary of others mingling from the outside in a country's internal affairs (i.e. they want no outsiders to engage in the horrible ways f.ex. dissidents and/or Uryghurs are treated by the Chinese government). Thus, it's difficult to picture, that Russia's attack on Ukrainian sovereignity is China's cup of tea (pardon the pun!). But I think, we can rest assured, that they are following the reactions to the Russian aggression from especially the US and to a lesser degree from Europe with great interest (read: Taiwan!).China ain't got no dog in this hunt and is presently neutral.
I think the word you are looking for, Guru, is: incomputinable!
Rudolf, I got you the first time round.....though of course nothing to laugh at, I was just trying to make a black humour joke: incomPUTINable!No Jens, I think incomputable is the right word. Native speakers here will know it the best.
Jens, I was too much focussed at I would used the wrong word so I didn't realize your black humor.Rudolf, I got you the first time round.....though of course nothing to laugh at, I was just trying to make a black humour joke: incomPUTINable!
The bbc item is well worth reading. ItAbsolutely. I thought this article from the BBC outlined their dilemma quite well.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-60492134
Switzerland has also come down off its perennial fence to realise it can't sit by and let it's banks and businesses keep supporting this regime which is a great change, along with the change in policy of Germany towards NATO and military funding/support.
This could hopefully unite Europe and NATO like we haven't seen since the wall came down. It'll just be us stuck out on a limb trying to straddle allies over the Channel and Atlantic and being stuck halfway between both!
I am concerned about friends and family in Denmark. If Putin gets away with doing this in Ukraine, the next in line will be the newer NATO countries, like those on the Baltic. I have seen the large radar array on Bornholm aimed towards the east. I suspect it would be an early target in any conflict. MikeI think the word you are looking for, Guru, is: incomputinable!
However, I don't think, one can call Putin wayward - as you youself say, he was a former KGB man. He is running a very high risk by the invasion of Ukraine - but don't tell me, that every step, taken so far, hasn't been meticulously calculated and scripted.
Angela's historical analogy with Hitler is quite apt, especially with respect first to the German annexation of Sudentenland and then the occupation of rest Czekoslovakia cf. Crimea and the rest of Ukraine. Not to speak of the Mad Hatter revanchism they seem to share: Hitler's hatred of the Versailles treaty, Putin's frustration over the dissolution of the former USSR - and their imperial dreams of latter day glory spawned by that hate and frustration.
A very good thing, though, is the clear stance the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, now has taken by leaving their 'apeasement policy' (due to bad conscience towards the Russian people for obvious historical reasons). I think the refusal to approve the 'North Stream 2' gas line, is an important step and message. The impact might for a start be worst our end - Europeans without sufficient energy and maybe freezing a winter or two. It might on the other hand contribute to speeding up the green transition in Europe. The cancellation of 'North Stream 2' would, I think, in the long run be a hard stroke for Russian economic interests, as natural gas is one of their very few important commodities for export.
The political, cultural and financial embargo might, if used with skill, also in other respects put pressure on Putin. That is, if the European countries and the US can succesfully agree on quite hard sanctions as f.ex. the proposal of barring Russian banks from using the SWIFT payment system.
I can barely bear to think of the hardship and losses the Ukrainians might suffer, if they succeed in prolonging and slowing down the conquest of their country. Though, if the final victory of the Russian army, that somehow seem inevitable, becomes a costly affair, both economically and in lifes lost, maybe Putin's words about the Ukrainians being a brotherly people and Ukraine being an artificial state formation, might hit him like a boomerang.
It seems, that no one like Vladimir Putin has done so much over the recent years to further the Ukrainians sense of belonging to a common nation (with the exception of The People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, of course). And if the losses on the Ukrainian side, including civilian losses, rise, the interrelatedness between Russians and Ukrainians might make the situation untenable internally in Russia for Putin and reveal his lies about the reason for the invasion (a liberation and denazification) for exactly what they are!
The information about the widespread protests in many Russian cities against the war, is already a light in darkness. The protesters might be small in numbers, but taking into consideration the violence and hardship the protesters were sure to be met by by Putin's repressive, totalitarian regime, one might assume that these brave people represent, but a much vaster number of Russians sharing their view. Interesting also to notice, the other day, the reservations stated in public by a high ranking official from the Russian foreign office. Maybe, this might hint at not all being in total unison and marching in time, even within the government apparatus!
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