Undersea Cable Cut in Norway

[SteyrAUG]

Uhm, who lost the Cold War, but not even a small margin?

It is interesting to look at PPP GDP numbers. Putin in invading about the only country in Europe with a lower per capita GDP. The 'best' land grab since the Jews got the only land in the middle east with out oil.... . Russia was going to have a hard time getting the Baltic states to want to get back into the Sphere, the baltics have higher GDPs per capita than Russia. Russia takes Belarus and Ukraine for the economic equivalent of the three stooges.

The complete irony(?) that people use the argument that Putin has been warning us for 30 years that he is going to attack his neighbors is somehow a rational reason not to extend security agreements to those threatened states is kind of.... rich? Lacking in any kind of strategic, logical, economic, moral, or any kind of sense? Dominate and decimate countries for 50 years, and then wonder why they might take military and political actions to make sure that doesn't happen again. Sure, that doesn't make any sense.

And stop with the 'THis isn't the SOviet Union" stupidity. Tsarist Russia, The Soviets, Putin oligarchy... it's all concentrated power in the Kremlin focused on subjugating the Russian people for the gain of a few while dominating their the neighbors in an empire by different names. Call it the "Kremlin" for continuity and commonality. I don't hate Russian people, I hate the leadership based in the Kremlin that has tried the empire game for what, 300 years+.

We are a threat to Russia? Uhm, no. Are we a threat to Putin, Uhm.... YEs. He's an autocratic leader that kills domestic and international opponents to keep his kleptocratic oligarchy limping along. Not only did he and his KGB bro's ruin the Soviet Union, they then doubled down and dumb and ran the Neo-Russian economy into the ground. They have a worse standard of living than Poland.

The line that Biden should use is that history is littered with tyrants who abused their own people, attacked their neighbors and ended up dead.

We 'forced' Putin into this??? If he hadn't screwed up the post Cold-War conversion of his economy, he wouldn't be in this situation. And we are supposed to let him rape his neighbors again, for the second time in some of these people's lifetimes because he can't manage an economy. Sure, that makes sense.

That he would threaten the world with nuclear war if he doesn't get to destroy his neighbors puts him in a class beyond Hitler. That is pure Mo-Fo evil, like the most evil thing that any leader has ever uttered. Ben Shapiro says that Putin isn't crazy, uhm- yes he is. Threatening nuclear war if you get in the way of his offensive war- that's crazy. Either let him take over your country, or he'll nuke that country... This is the argument for getting you back into his sphere?

Saying that Putin has any kind of moral or strategic rationale for what he is doing is.. I don't know what. Silly? Puzzling? Unhinged from reality? I don't care what he thinks, or if he feels wronged. You think he is going to act any better after he gets Ukraine? Satiated after he gets back East Germany?

The guy is bat-crap crazy. It's only a matter of time before someone Stauffenberg's him.

Wasn't Ukraine the "bread basket" of the Soviet Union? I remember in the 80s when the Russians had to import grain from the US after a bad harvest. Might not be oil rich, but there are resources there. But I think it's also symbolic, Putin wants to go down in the history books as the guy who rebuilt the Russian Empire.

Of course at this stage of the game it's starting to look like maybe he went a bridge too far. If this event results in him getting retired at home, that would be pretty ironic.

Also I'm not suggesting Putin is playing any kind of Master Level 3D Global Chess, in fact he's actually quite predictable. He does what he does when he thinks he can get away with it. He's done it before, there is a pattern. He presents himself as a capable and powerful leader who is restoring Russia to glory status and he's trying to bring that image to reality.

[SteyrAUG]

Putin has to keep showing that he has that nuclear wild card up his sleeve. It's all he's got.

If this invasion has shown anything, it has shown that the Russian military is crap.

I'm not talking about the speed of the invasion. To me it is a fairly reasonable pace. I mean the failure to exert air superiority and the readily apparent logistical and CC breakdown. It's a clusterfuq.

This level of ability to project force, NEXT DOOR to you, against a vastly "inferior" force is a shitshow.

That column, stopped because they are low on fuel, paints the picture. Piss poor logistics and control. Spread out to reduce air vulnerability, but unable to provide mutual support. No control of their envelope. They are lucky as hell that farmer in the truck wasn't just pulling covert recon for a bunch of his neighbors in the woods.

No wonder Putin is reminding us he's got nukes. He's showing his ass to the world. He's bent over and bare assed. If it wasn't for the nukes, and the weakness of the west, he'd be getting topped right now.

I'm also kind of surprised, I expect a LOT more capability. I guess it's a good thing for Ukraine. Hoping Putin gets over extended and has to walk this one back a LOT.

[Diamondback]

Well said, Steyr. There can be no peace in Europe until this psychopathic bastard gay lovechild of Hitler and Napoleon has the buzzards feasting upon his corpse. Until then it's either warfare, economic warfare, sabotage and terrorism, or preparing for one or more of these.

Let this be a lesson, NEVER agree to give up your arms!