This is great news and NATO benefits hugely from this. I have to hand it to putin for bringing further solidarity across Europe and NATO.
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Sweden Is a NATO Member
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Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#402Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#403[flagged]
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#404Yes, this is a great way to fight against Putin, but... As a Swedish citizen, I think this means in the future Sweden's forces will be dragged into another Iraq-like war down the line. Sooner or later the US or NATO will be the Putin of today, and I don't look forward to that.
It's important to remember that NATO wasn't involved in the invasion of Iraq. That was a US/UK invasion, with a small contribution from Poland and Australia.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#405Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah. We should thank people that put him there. Checks notes - The United States. Huh?! Wait. Putin got voted person of the year 2007?
> We should thank people that put him there. Checks notes - The United States. Huh?! There's nothing inherently wrong with an administration exercising soft power to help a favoured politician in another country – even if they sometimes turn out to be dictators – but in this instance I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the United States "put [Putin into power]", assuming you're referring to the United States' i…
> administration exercising soft power to help a favoured politician in another country – even if they sometimes turn out to be dictators
You know. It would be fine if it was a few times thing. But US has a long history of putting dictators into power, calling them allies, then turning against them and invading/killing them. Which only seems to benefit the military and cause chaos everywhere else.
> That the United States "put [Putin into power]" assuming you're referring to the United States' inaction after the FSB apartment bombings?
No. The economic shock therapy.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#407Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know, do you see Germany trying to reclaim territory right now? Is Austria laying claim to Hungary? What kind of argument is this?
If you haven't noticed, Russia is actively reclaiming territory it claims as historically Russian. Why does it stop at Ukraine?
That summary only works if you leave out like 90% of the full story but I'm not going to attempt to convince you of anything. Shrug.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. It's really doubtful Russia will commit to nuclear war. 2. If it does, it will do that regardless of whether or not NATO enters the war or not. Russia has signalled it has no intentions of stopping its war of conquest
I'd be curious what details you're drawing on to make those conclusions. Regarding #1, do you think this is the case if Ukraine, for example, gains enough traction to attack Russian border cities as a means of preventing a Russian regrouping and counter-attack? Or is the word "commit" doing a lot of heavy lifting here? Regarding #2, I've heard two scenarios that would counter this. If Russia wins in Ukraine, they lik…
> Regarding #1
Too much in Russia depends on the West. I'm not even talking about its industrial capacity which can't even produce military equipment without foreign components.
Their children study and live in Europe and the US. Their families live in Europe. Their business interests are in Europe.
I really doubt any of them will risk a nuclear war.
> Regarding #2
They've been quite vocal about this for a long time: they will continue war until stopped. At least until they claim all/most of the former USSR territories. Some of those territories (the Baltic states) are in NATO.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#409So is the world closer, farther, or the same distance from nuclear war after this?
It's closer to WWIII, of course. Our extinction is imminent. It's always been just a matter of time!
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're confused. The US doesn't control the EU in any way. Or maybe you're not confused and you just object to the US and/or EU, but that's your problem, not theirs. Terminology note: 'independency' is an archaic form of 'independence' which in this context means a self-governing state as opposed to being controlled by another state. This might be confused with 'interdependence' which is a natural reality of almost e…
If you define "control" narrowly enough, nothing controls anything. But if you use a plain reading of "control" as in "can and will influence the actions of", it seems like "doesn't control in any way" is trivially false.
In this context 'control' means having power over. If you're not independent then another country has power over your actions. Mere influence is insufficient since the influence runs two ways, which is the case between the EU and US.