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Those two things don't seem connected at all. Blame Germany for emboldening Putin. Russia accumulated a huge war chest due to energy exports, mostly to the re

Those two things don't seem connected at all. Blame Germany for emboldening Putin. Russia accumulated a huge war chest due to energy exports, mostly to the rest of Europe. A large part of that was gas for Germany. That could have been avoided with some timely nuclear power. It also made Germany (and other parts of Europe) quite vulnerable because gas pipelines are hard to replace (and LNG is expensive). Remember that the war started in 2014, not 2022.

WalterBright 2y ago
I don't think it was a coincidence that the massive invasion of Ukraine was just a few months from the feckless abandonment of Afghanistan. I know that there were relatively minor attacks on Ukraine before.
- reducesuffering 2y ago
  Putin's justification essay[0] was before the Afghanistan withdrawal. "It was published on Kremlin.ru shortly after the end of the first of two buildups of Russian forces preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022." If you think Biden's behavior encourages Putin's aggression, then surely you think Trump's is worse? "You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?” Trump recounted saying. “No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Historical_Unity_of_Russians_and_Ukrainians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Historical_Unity_of_Rus...
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    Putin's essay was a test for Biden. Biden failed it. We had no wars under Trump. Plenty of wars under Biden. As for Trump's quote, expecting allies to pay the share they agreed to is not weakness, it's strength. And they paid. If you and I were buddies in combat, that doesn't mean I carry you on my back. It means we watch each other's back. And if either of us didn't, we wouldn't be buddies anymore. Remember Gaddafi and Reagan? Gadaffi FAFO. Reagan fixed his wagon and there was lasting peace with Gaddafi after that.

WalterBright 2y ago

I don't think it was a coincidence that the massive invasion of Ukraine was just a few months from the feckless abandonment of Afghanistan. I know that there were relatively minor attacks on Ukraine before.

reducesuffering 2y ago
Putin's justification essay[0] was before the Afghanistan withdrawal. "It was published on Kremlin.ru shortly after the end of the first of two buildups of Russian forces preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022." If you think Biden's behavior encourages Putin's aggression, then surely you think Trump's is worse? "You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?” Trump recounted saying. “No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Historical_Unity_of_Russians_and_Ukrainians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Historical_Unity_of_Rus...
- WalterBright 2y ago
  Putin's essay was a test for Biden. Biden failed it. We had no wars under Trump. Plenty of wars under Biden. As for Trump's quote, expecting allies to pay the share they agreed to is not weakness, it's strength. And they paid. If you and I were buddies in combat, that doesn't mean I carry you on my back. It means we watch each other's back. And if either of us didn't, we wouldn't be buddies anymore. Remember Gaddafi and Reagan? Gadaffi FAFO. Reagan fixed his wagon and there was lasting peace with Gaddafi after that.