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See also Anne Applebaum: > Putin is preparing to invade Ukraine again—or pretending he will invade Ukraine again—for the same reason. He wants to destabilize U
by throw0101a 5y ago
See also Anne Applebaum:
> Putin is preparing to invade Ukraine again—or pretending he will invade Ukraine again—for the same reason. He wants to destabilize Ukraine, frighten Ukraine. He wants Ukrainian democracy to fail. He wants the Ukrainian economy to collapse. He wants foreign investors to flee. He wants his neighbors—in Belarus, Kazakhstan, even Poland and Hungary—to doubt whether democracy will ever be viable, in the longer term, in their countries too. Farther abroad, he wants to put so much strain on Western and democratic institutions, especially the European Union and NATO, that they break up. He wants to keep dictators in power wherever he can, in Syria, Venezuela, and Iran. He wants to undermine America, to shrink American influence, to remove the power of the democracy rhetoric that so many people in his part of the world still associate with America. He wants America itself to fail.
> These are big goals, and they might not be achievable. But Putin’s beloved Soviet Union also had big, unachievable goals. Lenin, Stalin, and their successors wanted to create an international revolution, to subjugate the entire world to the Soviet dictatorship of the proletariat. Ultimately, they failed—but they did a lot of damage while trying. Putin will also fail, but he too can do a lot of damage while trying. And not only in Ukraine.
* https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/putin-ukraine-democracy/621465/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/putin-ukra...
* https://archive.fo/bmQmO https://archive.fo/bmQmO
It would also explain the Russian operations with regards to Brexit and the 2016 US election: the more chaos the West has, the better it is for Russia.
See also funding of more extreme political parties in the EU, with a focus on the far-right in recent years:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia–European_Union_relations#Russian_political_influence_and_financial_links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia–European_Union_relation...
- iqanq 5y agoI suspect "Anne Applebaum"'s loyalty doesn't lie with America.
- Arubis 5y agoWithout arguing over content, why the quotes? Applebaum is well documented as existing.
- dang 5y agoWe've banned this account for repeatedly posting unsubstantive comments, flamebait comments, and this sort of comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- pbronez 5y ago[flagged]
- zeepzeep 5y ago> the alternative is strong men using cruelty to extract wealth at any cost. That sounds like America now...
- dang 5y agoPlease don't fulminate, use HN for political or ideological battle, post in the flamewar style (including nationalistic flamewar, god help us), or take threads on generic tangents, especially generic ideological ones. (Oh, and one more thing: or use allcaps for emphasis). All this is in the site guidelines—would you mind reviewing them, and sticking to the rules when posting here? We'd appreciate it. The idea on HN is curious conversation. Comments like the one you posted one, and the others you posted to this thread, nuke that. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- zozbot234 5y ago> Democracy forever. Human rights forever. Freedom of speech, commerce, association and religion forever. Are you familiar with the Economist? They were saying this stuff in 1843, way before it became popular. They're the real deal!
- irthomasthomas 5y agoRussia has been holding the same military drills for over a decade without triggering this panic. [0] Also, calling Ukraine a democracy is a bit of a stretch. They shut down 3 tv stations critical of the government, and imprisoned a political rival. I am sure there are people here that would love to shutdown RT, but we don't do that in a democracy. [0] 2020: Russian Military Exercises Near Ukraine. 100 to 120 thousand troops. No WW3, no threat of nukes. https://empr.media/news/conflict-zone/russian-military-exercises-near-ukraine-border/ https://empr.media/news/conflict-zone/russian-military-exerc... earlier: 2016 https://www.vox.com/2016/9/1/12729426/russia-troops-ukraine-border https://www.vox.com/2016/9/1/12729426/russia-troops-ukraine-... 2017 https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2017/09/13/whats-putin-up-to-the-russian-military-buildup-on-europes-border-raises-tension/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2017/09/13/whats-putin-up... 2018 https://archive.is/0gqL0 https://archive.is/0gqL0 2019 https://radiolemberg.com/en/ua-articles/ua-allarticles/almost-100-000-russian-troops-poised-for-offensive-against-ukraine https://radiolemberg.com/en/ua-articles/ua-allarticles/almos...
- throw0101a 5y ago> Russia has been holding the same military drills for over a decade without triggering this panic. [0] This post hasn't aged well. :)
- tim333 5y agoSeems different this time.