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‘Cold War, Part 2’: How Putin is dragging America back to the bad old days

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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2.21.22
Welcome to the new Cold War. And like the last one, strap in for a long and costly military and diplomatic duel with the Kremlin. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized the independence of breakaway regions in Ukraine’s east, areas that Moscow has functionally controlled since 2014. The nearly hourlong speech had all the hallmarks of former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev’s finest: a winding, one-sided treatise about the Soviet Union’s alleged creation of Ukraine, laced with references to other Communist leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, that left little doubt Putin intends to right perceived wrongs and recenter Russia in a multipolar world — beginning with Europe. He then followed up by sending “peacekeeping” troops into the territories. The developments, which came after Russia massed an estimated 190,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders, are ushering in another high-stakes war of wills that threatens to divert U.S. and NATO military and diplomatic muscle from other growing challenges such as China, according to U.S. and European diplomatic and security experts. “Washington’s attention has been yanked back to Russia,” said Rose Gottemoeller, who served as deputy secretary general of NATO from 2016 to 2019 and negotiated arms control treaties with Moscow when she was at the State Department. “One of the implications here is that the focus like a laser light on China is not exactly what the Biden administration is ending up with now,” she added.

Russia’s latest provocations and NATO’s scramble to beef up Europe’s eastern flank with troops, arms and aid have echoes of the decadeslong standoff between East and West that defined the Cold War before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. “This will have wide-reaching impact across Europe,” said Jonathan Katz, director of democracy initiatives at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Katz argues that Russia’s threats against democratic Ukraine are only just the beginning: He also fears Russian efforts to destabilize adjacent areas “like the Western Balkans or the South Caucasus — spaces where there’s already strategic competition.” “Call that Cold War, Part 2,” Katz said. “Putin is reminding us of the relevance of hard power,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It is sobering and we should take note.” He said it is likely to compel the Biden administration to rethink a series of military and strategic reviews that are nearing completion. Regardless of how the crisis in Ukraine plays out in the coming days, its consequences are only just becoming clear, and portend a more robust U.S. commitment to a Europe that just a few years ago seemed to be at peace.


Although Putin will achieve a short-term victory, it will come at a high price. The Rubicon has been crossed.

Europe and NATO will rearm, and finding any common ground with the West will be impossible for Russia as long as Ukraine remains occupied.
 
Europe and NATO will rearm, and finding any common ground with the West will be impossible for Russia as long as Ukraine remains occupied.
I really don't see a scenario where Russia comes out ahead at this point. The only way his behavior would work was if the rest of the world didn't respond. The UN meeting made it very clear that the world takes Russia's actions very seriously.

Putin must have been having this would go the way of Crimea. Unfortunately for him that isn't at all how things played out.
 




Although Putin will achieve a short-term victory, it will come at a high price. The Rubicon has been crossed.

Europe and NATO will rearm, and finding any common ground with the West will be impossible for Russia as long as Ukraine remains occupied.
The bad old days go far further than the Cold War.

The leading cavalry commander in the American Revolution, Casimir Pulaski, originally served in the Bar Confederation against Russia when Russia was trying to keep Poland weak. It did this on purpose alongside how a strong Poland would empower landowning aristocrats to harshly oppress their peasants. Among those peasants were the Ukrainian Cossacks who were historical rivals. They fought time and again severe wars of retribution against the landowners and sought protection by the Russians.

The Bar Confederation lost, and Pulaski had a death sentence issued against him while in exile.

Now just imagine if those landowning aristocrats were their American counterparts. Who would Imperial Russia be standing up for then?

The really ironic part is the connection between the Seven Years' War and French and Indian War here. Poland endorsed the losing alliance of Russia, France, and Austria against Prussia which was an ally of Britain that fought against France in North America. That loss exposed it to getting dominated by Russia in the first place when it nominated a supposedly weak leader who did an about face and tried to strengthen Poland himself which only lead to the Ukrainians getting further partitioned away from Poland.
 
I really don't see a scenario where Russia comes out ahead at this point. The only way his behavior would work was if the rest of the world didn't respond. The UN meeting made it very clear that the world takes Russia's actions very seriously.

Putin must have been having this would go the way of Crimea. Unfortunately for him that isn't at all how things played out.
so.. what's stopping Russia and China from working together?
 
QUOTE
Although Putin will achieve a short-term victory, it will come at a high price. The Rubicon has been crossed.
Europe and NATO will rearm, and finding any common ground with the West will be impossible for Russia as long as Ukraine remains occupied.
END QUOTE

Yes , Putin has won the short term peaceful 'battle'--- as forecast.
No invasion, as forecast, and despite your repeated contrary assertions

Now the US has no reply .
Sanctions will hurt the US and could backfire horribly on the EU . Russia is awash with cash and natural reserves .
 
so.. what's stopping Russia and China from working together?
China is integrated in the global economy in a way the Russia isn't. Russia has sort of detached themselves economically in a lot of ways. China sees Russia as a bit of a liability. China has to play the diplomacy game and stay on the good side of international trade. Russia doesn't.
 
China is integrated in the global economy in a way the Russia isn't. Russia has sort of detached themselves economically in a lot of ways. China sees Russia as a bit of a liability. China has to play the diplomacy game and stay on the good side of international trade. Russia doesn't.
hmmm I believe it is more that China finds it more agreeable to stay on the good side of international trade.... for now.
 




Although Putin will achieve a short-term victory, it will come at a high price. The Rubicon has been crossed.

Europe and NATO will rearm, and finding any common ground with the West will be impossible for Russia as long as Ukraine remains occupied.
Welcome back to "mutually assured destruction".
 
It’s short sighted to claim the US isn’t wanting to go back to the Cold War Days. It is easier when the enemy is clearly defined such as Russia and it’s army verse a religious extremist philosophy spread over multiple countries in basement meetings. My army verses your army is something Americans get and understand. It has been part of our lives for so many generations we miss it when it’s gone. Going so far as to creat conflicts or get drawn into other countries wars to occupy our time until we have a good old fashioned stand off again.
 
It’s short sighted to claim the US isn’t wanting to go back to the Cold War Days. It is easier when the enemy is clearly defined such as Russia and it’s army verse a religious extremist philosophy spread over multiple countries in basement meetings. My army verses your army is something Americans get and understand. It has been part of our lives for so many generations we miss it when it’s gone. Going so far as to creat conflicts or get drawn into other countries wars to occupy our time until we have a good old fashioned stand off again.
It's easy when the Dementia Kid knows he dare not involve the US in armed conflict -- just talk which will be seen as hollow and stupid .
He is also deflecting from the ruined Covid narratives and his criminal failure at the southern border .
 
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