"Putin wrote in a New York Times op-ed: “[I]f you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus, a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you.”
Putin seems SO insane that I don't think NATO, the United States, or anyone actually KNOW whether or not he would launch nukes if pushed too hard. MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doesn't feel like a concern for Putin. It seems like this could be what all of this boils down to. If Trump, who wishes he were as powerful and insane as Putin, so cavalierly threatened North Korea with "fire and fury," why would Putin who is, again, "powerfully" insane have any hesitation? Salon, whose sky is ALWAYS falling, did an article last week on this very subject. I sort of rejected the premise out of hand, thinking MAD, but then there's Putin.
By the way, if anyone in the US has Peacock or can get free Peacock with their Xfinity package, Sky News is covering this subject with wall-to-wall coverage that is far superior to anything we have in the U.S. I watched the entire emergency UN Security Council meeting last night from start to finish, without commentary or interruptions. Great coverage!
Ukraine's relationship with its neighbors has always been mired in conflict, but Stalin--a Georgian who hated the Europeanization that existed in both Kyiv and places like St. Petersburg (or, Leningrad as it was in the USSR era)--was certainly determined to destroy the sense of identity of all the nation-states that bordered the western region of Muscovy. This probably resulted in a certain sense of shared purpose on the part of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, even Belarus, which was part of the empire of the Kyivan Rus' for a very, very long time.
There are other histories having to do with Ukraine, Belarus, and the Crimea. They were the locations of shtetl life for my ancestors (who came from Kyiv, Minsk, and Odessa)--calling us "Russian" Jews was something of a misnomer, even though those regions were subsumed under the Russian Empire by the time of the great migrations away from Eastern Europe. I have Ukrainian friends who are militant about their anti-Muscovy feelings but don't accept or admit that the history of my ancestors in "their" country was a history of trauma. That does not mean, however, that I don't support and believe in the right of Ukraine to self-determination and sovereignty and view the history of Muscovy as an imperialist nightmare. Like most of the history of Europe and Asia. And a lot of the rest of the world, to be honest.
Putin's cynical manipulation of the Russian Orthodox Church (Stalin was an ex-priest if you recall) suggests to me that his intention is not so much the recovery of the USSR as the recovery of the Romanov Empire. I don't think he wants to deal with even the minor inconvenience of a Politburo. He wants to build an autocratic state in which his designated successor is dynastic on some level. The church officials would not want a return to soviet-era politics. They want to crown an emperor. Putin is likely interested in doing just that.
Timely and appreciated
One of the articles had this:
"Putin wrote in a New York Times op-ed: “[I]f you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus, a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you.”
Putin seems SO insane that I don't think NATO, the United States, or anyone actually KNOW whether or not he would launch nukes if pushed too hard. MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doesn't feel like a concern for Putin. It seems like this could be what all of this boils down to. If Trump, who wishes he were as powerful and insane as Putin, so cavalierly threatened North Korea with "fire and fury," why would Putin who is, again, "powerfully" insane have any hesitation? Salon, whose sky is ALWAYS falling, did an article last week on this very subject. I sort of rejected the premise out of hand, thinking MAD, but then there's Putin.
By the way, if anyone in the US has Peacock or can get free Peacock with their Xfinity package, Sky News is covering this subject with wall-to-wall coverage that is far superior to anything we have in the U.S. I watched the entire emergency UN Security Council meeting last night from start to finish, without commentary or interruptions. Great coverage!
Very informative and understandable. And that's no easy task, given the complexities!
the
PCP years. Putin Covid Plague.
Pass the Angel Dust bro!
I don't think Putin is insane (yes is Trump)
Putin is the wealthiest Judo dude on the planet and has a new young woman.
However I think he is very emotionally attached to his desires for a
"Mother Russia."
"Vladimir Putin called the collapse of the Soviet empire
“the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”
Land locked paranoid Russia has been around for quite a while.
And has produced violent leaders.
So VVP now has acquired two seaports
and seeks the resource of Ukraine.
For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter?“ The issue is not simply ideology.
(I have not fact checked these numbers.)
How the nation of Ukraine ranks:
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)
Ukraine is an agricultural country:
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.
Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
Ukraine is an industrialized country:
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
2-е Europe's and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU);
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defense industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million ton
I forgot to mention.
Putin will only last as long as the Russian Mob Oligarchs need him
an interesting opinion
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/briefing/ukraine-russia-war-pax-americana.html
Ukraine's relationship with its neighbors has always been mired in conflict, but Stalin--a Georgian who hated the Europeanization that existed in both Kyiv and places like St. Petersburg (or, Leningrad as it was in the USSR era)--was certainly determined to destroy the sense of identity of all the nation-states that bordered the western region of Muscovy. This probably resulted in a certain sense of shared purpose on the part of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, even Belarus, which was part of the empire of the Kyivan Rus' for a very, very long time.
There are other histories having to do with Ukraine, Belarus, and the Crimea. They were the locations of shtetl life for my ancestors (who came from Kyiv, Minsk, and Odessa)--calling us "Russian" Jews was something of a misnomer, even though those regions were subsumed under the Russian Empire by the time of the great migrations away from Eastern Europe. I have Ukrainian friends who are militant about their anti-Muscovy feelings but don't accept or admit that the history of my ancestors in "their" country was a history of trauma. That does not mean, however, that I don't support and believe in the right of Ukraine to self-determination and sovereignty and view the history of Muscovy as an imperialist nightmare. Like most of the history of Europe and Asia. And a lot of the rest of the world, to be honest.
Putin's cynical manipulation of the Russian Orthodox Church (Stalin was an ex-priest if you recall) suggests to me that his intention is not so much the recovery of the USSR as the recovery of the Romanov Empire. I don't think he wants to deal with even the minor inconvenience of a Politburo. He wants to build an autocratic state in which his designated successor is dynastic on some level. The church officials would not want a return to soviet-era politics. They want to crown an emperor. Putin is likely interested in doing just that.