8 ms·
Putin’s Strategic Error
- warlog 5y ago
- civilized 5y agoIf Yanukovych was so loved, such a legitimate leader of the people, why didn't he stick around? Couldn't he handle a few protesters? The current president is in mortal danger from the Russian Army every single day and hasn't left Kyiv. Democrats didn't flee the US when a couple thousand Trump supporters made trouble in the Capitol. The Governor of Minnesota didn't flee the country when people got mad about George Floyd and had huge, occasionally violent and dangerous protests. Yanukovych wasn't facing the entire Big Bad West. He wasn't even facing unrest on the scale of the incidents mentioned above. He was facing a few Ukrainians who didn't like him. And he fled. He fled not just Kyiv, where the unrest was. He fled the entire country. With no intent to return. Without saying so much as a word for himself and his supposedly legitimate, democratic, will-of-the-people government. He wasn't marched out naked by the Evil All-Powerful West and guillotined. He fled. Like a pathetic, weak coward who believed in nothing. Which is what he was. If you're too much of a baby to exist near your people, maybe you don't have the right to rule them, even if you were elected. Hardly a coup. Hardly
- keewee7 5y ago>the US/west backed coup to remove a democratically elected leader You are pushing eight-year-old Russian disinformation. I don't even think the Russians believe it anymore. The Ukrainian people removed a corrupt dictator in a democratic revolution in 2014.
- mitchbob 5y agoArchived: https://archive.ph/d7xZ4 https://archive.ph/d7xZ4
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gamechangr 5y agoAny HN contributors that have more info....will Finland now join NATO like the article suggests or is that over simplified?
- late2part 5y agoOne aspect is to look at the inverse decision and effect. Will NATO allow Finland to join NATO knowing that it will anger Russia and possibly provoke violence? The recent decision by the USA to not proxy jets from Poland to Ukraine is telling.
- TillE 5y agoAmerica doesn't want to literally fly MiGs from Ramstein to Ukraine, which was the bizarre solution proposed by Poland. They're not against it in principle. As the article says, attacking an EU member would already provoke a massive response. Finland joining NATO is a relatively small step, even if Russia cries about some perceived aggression.
- Arnt 5y agoThey're not against precisely what in principle? Read this: https://nitter.net/PentagonPresSec/status/1501336450012528647 https://nitter.net/PentagonPresSec/status/150133645001252864... Doesn't it sound as if flying from a Polish NATO base would be a different matter? Doesn't it sound as if in his mind, departing from Poland would raise serious concerns for just Poland rather than for the entire NATO alliance?
- petre 5y agoWe should probably stop worrying what "Russia" or more precisely Putin thinks. He has attacked their neighbours, so why would other neighbouring states worry about retaliation if joining NATO or the EU? Russia is currently a retaliatory state, just like Nazi Germany. They will retaliate anyway when they get the chance. We should stop treating Russia with gloves. They need to be treated exactly like Iran or Soth Korea.
- euroderf 5y ago
- TillE 5y agoI don't think there's much appetite within the EU for rapid expansion; we're still grappling with Poland and Hungary's violations of the union's shared principles of liberal democracy. The EU needs significant reforms before it's likely to start admitting new members. But certainly in the abstract, I agree there's a sense of drawing together, with the vast majority of Europe against Russian aggression. Finland probably should join NATO, as any benefits of neutrality must be dwindling under the EU's sanctions of Russia.
- rasengan0 5y agoAnother perspective: https://youtu.be/MDpTACez5cY https://youtu.be/MDpTACez5cY
- noduerme 5y agoEh, what's the point of jamming GPS if you're not anticipating inbound guided missiles?