Belarus mythbuster: what's it like to live in "Europe's last dictatorship"?
Interesting stuff.
Schild und Schwert der ParteiI've always wondered what people say will happen to Lukashenko's Belarus after he dies.
Russia goes "NOM NOM NOM!"
Trump delenda estNo! No, no, no, no, no! Swooping in to save the day and stabilise the unstable is not at all the same as a territorial grab! <Russia crosses her fingers behind her back>
edited 5th Jul '14 7:42:08 AM by Euodiachloris
Well these situations are also dependent on if Putin's successors take the same approach as he did with the other ex-Soviet States.
[Wrong Thread]
edited 5th Jul '14 11:46:06 PM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling OnIt had plenty of soft power. The anti-Vietnam War movement and CND are particular examples.
edited 10th Jul '14 8:17:06 AM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der ParteiWill Transnistria be the next Crimea? Crossposted this in the Ukraine thread.
Trump delenda estNot really. Crimea has a lot of advantages. And its logistically easier to get to and defend. And is more important to Russia historically.
Russia's Extended Family Is Falling Apart:
Those are places where nobody would think that Russians live, but if you analyze these countries' immigration statistics, you will see that Russians have gradually come to comprise a significant percentage of their populations. Serbia and Montenegro have had a difficult time gaining recognition in the European Union's system for determining who is a "local" and who is an "outsider."
Bulgaria cannot pride itself on seamlessly integrating into the EU either — not to mention Greece, where the affirmation "Long live Russia and Greece, and forget America!" sounds frequently, even after Moscow imposed a ban on the imports of Greek agricultural products that spelled ruin for numerous Greek farmers.
And obviously, the members of this Russian extended family are happy whenever they happen to meet each other. And whether we want it or not, Ukraine — or at least a large part of it — is part of this family also. Ukraine and Russia are in conflict, but family members often quarrel. The main problem is that, apart from the immediate thrill of recognizing one another and the recognition of common everyday difficulties, there is nothing more to make it a viable family relationship.
When Russian leaders launch into their anti-Western rhetoric, they find support beyond Russia's borders. Those sentiments resonate with many in Eastern European countries as well. This, in large part, is because the West tends to show little interest in anyone or anything not directly connected with the West, and has done little to achieve real and meaningful integration with others.
The EU itself is a good example: Some member countries receive preferential treatment, some carry very little importance in the organization, and some non-member states know they will never receive an invitation to join.
But anti-Western rhetoric alone will not solve anything. Russia needs a constructive program for how it will help itself after it is done complaining about the fools over in Brussels and Washington. Currently Russia has no such program, but it does have an embargo on European agricultural products that will in no way increase love for Russia among such countries as Greece.
Cross-posting this from several other threads:
The Russians have recently announced their discontent at NATO's plans for a new 5,000-strong high-readiness force in reponse to the deteroriating relations regarding Ukraine. Although such a move would effectively disregard the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act in which “in which the Western alliance agreed to not permanently station a substantial number of combat troops in Eastern Europe”, the BBC article on the subject states that “NATO insists that while there will be pre-positioned supplies and more exercises in Poland for example, these will not be permanent new bases.” Obviously, “. . . that is not going to cut much ice in Moscow.”
The Moscow Times reports that “a Russian general has called for Russia to revamp its military doctrine, last updated in 2010, to clearly identify the U.S. and its NATO allies as Moscow's enemy number one and spell out the conditions under which Russia would launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the 28-member military alliance.”
I’ve got a feeling that the wind just got a lot colder in Europe don’t you think?
I think I have...
edited 4th Sep '14 6:33:32 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling OnI think you got this thread confused with the European politics thread.
edited 4th Sep '14 5:29:44 AM by tricksterson
Trump delenda estEstonian Counterintelligence Officer Abducted to Russia at Gunpoint. What.
Seriously. I can't comprehend. What is this I don't even
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisUseful information is useful. And what better source could they find?
edited 5th Sep '14 8:50:13 AM by Quag15
One that doesn't have to be beaten with a rubber hose to cooperate, I think.
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisFrom a user's comment in a Diplomat article:
If you're the Russian president, do you actively seek open conflict with NATO? Probably not; NATO's conventional forces are still stronger than Russia's, and Russia would likely need to use tactical nukes in order to prevent any NATO columns from reaching Moscow. Russia may devastate NATO forces with such a strike, but Putin would simply become emperor of a nuclear wasteland.
Rather, the way you attack NATO is by undermining the very fabric of its existence: collective defense. Nibble at the edges, whisper in their ears, and undermine the confidence in NATO's commitment to upholding Article V. By poking a member like Estonia, a comparatively weak member of NATO, Putin is essentially trying to remind all NATO members that the US will not send Marines off to die for some Eastern Europeans. If Putin can successfully convince NATO members that the US will not follow through with upholding its obligations to collective defense, then the alliance falls apart.
The Kremlin is rolling the dice. They know the American public does not want a shooting war in Europe. The Kremlin knows the Europeans have become complacent with defense. The hope is that Russia can walk the finest of lines: poke and prod enough to undermine confidence, while at the same time not being so overt as to actually trigger a full NATO mobilization. It is an incredibly dangerous game being played.
It is akin to boiling the frog by slowly turning up the temperature and hoping it doesn't realize what's happening until its too late.
All to true.
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.Apparently, the Czech president Milos Zeman pulled something like that during the recent NATO meeting. He started spouting some pro-Russian bullshit, causing a controversy - I don't know the details, mostly because the local news site I read it on puts pretty much everything but the bare minimum behind a paywall. That's all I could glean from the lead, and thanks to their craft being somewhere around the level of grauniad, particularly in regard to the writing and editing quality, I'm not willing to spend a cent on it, much less the amount they ask for.
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisYeah, not holding my breath on this one. If Erdogan did for some reason attend the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Yerevan, he'd just probably be there to give some "everybody suffered" denial speech and later say "there, I did it, you're not getting anything else out of me, now shut up about the genocide already". Except without using the word genocide.
My tropes launched: https://surenity2.blogspot.com/2021/02/my-tropes-on-tv-tropes.html
Which in the case of Russia might come attached to tanks.
Trump delenda est