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Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

bbc.com

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Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#44

If you are a Russian "president" and have domestic troubles like a crappy economy and lots of Covid, always remember the 34th rule of acquisition "War is good for business".

Until inevitably people start asking why they spent all that money, time and lives on it and where's their cut of the spoils.

Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#45
The NATO part seems curious. I was under the impression that NATO does not generally accept membership from nations that don't currently control their claimed territory, and that part of the reason Russia seems to like biting off small chunks of neighboring countries was thought to be that those nations couldn't reasonably join NATO as long as the Russians were there.

Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#46

I can't understand how some smart people still sympathize Russia and say it acts only for defense. Russia has made the first annexation in Europe since WW2 and effectively control another part of Ukraine. Right now it looks like Russian logic is that every free person in the world is a potential threat to Russia. Because threat is anything that you don't control.

> Russia has made the first annexation in Europe

What an interesting choice of regions to single out.

Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#47

If you are a Russian "president" and have domestic troubles like a crappy economy and lots of Covid, always remember the 34th rule of acquisition "War is good for business".

If you are president of RF and caused Covid-19 epidemic (search for "blast at Vector lab"), the most rational move is to increase tension and then try to trade peace for amnesty.

Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#48

I can't understand how some smart people still sympathize Russia and say it acts only for defense. Russia has made the first annexation in Europe since WW2 and effectively control another part of Ukraine. Right now it looks like Russian logic is that every free person in the world is a potential threat to Russia. Because threat is anything that you don't control.

It's more tricky than it seems. For example, do you support the right of people to self-determine? Should Scotland be allowed to secede from the UK and join the EU?

While elections in Crimea were clearly not "fair" and the method by which it "joined" Russia was nebulous, the peninsula is absolutely Russian-speaking. It's pretty likely that the population would choose to join Russia, if they'd been given the chance.

Not defending Russia here, but as I said, it's complex.

Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#49
post #2

From the guideline: "Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize". [1] The original article title is "Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions" [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Aye, fixed.

The more important guideline there is really 'Don't post regular news articles, for the most part'

Re: Is Russia going to war with Ukraine and other questions

#50
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any presumption that Russia politicians are not lying? They are the spokesperson of propaganda.

There's not, just like there's not any presumption that BBC reports about Russian forces are not lying. So one should weight all the information and choose which one to believe. I expressed my point of view which might be wrong. There's absolutely no reason right now for Russia to invade Ukraine. They had plenty of time before. They have to finish Nord Stream 2, so they absolutely don't want to impose any additional…

Do you think Zelensky is so stupid to star the war with Russia just because he is told to(no reason to believe this, probably russian propaganda again). He would end up like arab countries when they tried to destroy Israel... stub of state left. The reason is probably not war but russia alwyas has some reasons to send troops. Invade something here. Cause fog of war there. And do some other stuff. Maybe they are trying to hide that thair vaccine is total scam. Or they are blackmailing ukraine. Putin is in trouble so he is flexin like a school bully. If he invades Ukraine he is done for the west. Also when russia says that Ukraine started. It should be taken with the same seriousness as when Hitler claimed that Poland started.
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