Why would they? They know they aren't "next". They know they don't your president to shut the gas off.
Geezus you redistributionist types are dense.
And that's where you're wrong. For how many years did Russia occupy Poland?[/quote
Oh gee...how many millions of Ukrainians did the Holodomor kill?
Seems like they were getting along fine until your pals Biden and Obama fugged it up.
Jim, I'm surprised you'd stoop to dishonest tactics.
You're a better man than this.
Dishonest?
You are joking?
You accused me of being pals with Biden and Obama, and only the very unobservant or the very stupid would not know that is not true.
I never pegged you as the low IQ type, so that leaves dishonest.
Oh sure...project dishonesty at me.
You were super excited about the last mega transfer of wealth in this country...and by all accounts are super excited about the current one.
While claiming to be "conservative".
GMAFB.
You need to pay closer attention before you cast aspersion upon others.
I'm not conservative, I'm libertarian. Nor am I "super excited" about "mega transfers of wealth" to Ukraine. I see it's in America's best interest to blunt the expansionary ambitions of an aggressive Russia. A strong, belligerent Russia's is not in the best interest of America, and if we can bleed Russia to the point they crawl back under their rock and no longer pose a conventional threat to the Western world for a few decades, while another country provided the blood, and we provide some of our old equipment, and a few billion dollar, I'll take that deal.
In the process we get a reinvigorated NATO, with the other member nations increasing their military spending going forward.
As for this war, to those of us who spent time in the business, it's no surprise. It was always going to happen. It wasn't a matter of if, but when, how many of the Soviet Era strategic choke points they recapture, and if they stop there or, or are stopped before they recapture all of them, many of which are in NATO held territory.
Russia's an expansionary nation. It always has been.
Since 1945 we've engaged in no less than the 63 following proxy wars against the Russians/Soviets and/or the puppet states, most of which you've probably never heard of, and many you probably can't find on a map. That's ok, men such as myself volunteered and gave a portion of our lives to the study and practice of war wouldn't have to.
Here's the list:
Chinese Civil War 1946 Iranian Crisis Greek Civil War First Indochina War, 1946-1954 Paraguayan Civil War Malayan Emergency Korean War Mau Mau Uprising, Kenya Vietnam War First Taiwan Strait Crisis 1954-1955 Second Taiwan Crisis 1958 Lebanon Crisis 1958 Nicaragua El Salvador Guatemala Congo Crisis Eritrean War of Independence 1961-1991 North Yemen Civil War 1962-1970 Dhofar Rebellion 1962-1976 Sarawak Insurgency, Malaya, 1962-1990 Aden Emergency 1963-1967 Dominican Civil War 1965 Chadian Civil War 1965-1979 Communist Insurgency in Thailand 1965-1983 Bolivian Campaign 1966-1967 Korean DMZ Conflict 1966-1969 South African Border War 1966-1990 Years of Lead, Italy, 1968-1982 Communist Insurgency Malaysia 1968-1989 Operation Condor 1968-1989, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Al-Wadiah War, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, 1969. Bangladesh War of Liberation, 1971 Yemenite War of 1972 Angolan Civil War 1974-2002 Ethiopian Civil War 1974-1991 Uprising in East Timor, Indonesia, 1975-1999 Shaba 1, Zaire/Congo, 1977 Ogaden War Ethiopia/Somalia, 1977-1978 Cambodian-Vietnamese War, 1977-1991 Mozambican Civil War, 1977-1982 Chittagong Hill Conflict, Bangladesh, 1977-1997 Shaba II, Congo/Zaire 1978 Uganda-Tanzian War 1978-1979 UDF Rebellion, 1978-1982, Yemen Chadian-Libyan Conflict 1978-1987 Yemenite War 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979-1989 Ethiopian-Somali Border War, 1982 Thai-Laotian Border War, 1987-1988 Afghan Civil War 1989-1992 Insurgency in Laos, 1975-2008 Georgian Civil War 1991-1993 Yugoslav Wars, 1991-2001 Syrian Civil War in Lebanon 2012-2017
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 1948 to present Myanmar conflict, 1948 to present Iran-Saudi proxy conflict 1979 to present Abkhaz-Georgian conflict 1989 to present Georgian-Ossetian conflict, 1989 to present War in Darfur, 2003 to present Syrian Civil War 2011 to present Yemeni Crisis 2011 to present
Russian Invasion of Ukraine, 2014 to present.
If you're observant, you'll notice a wide range of locations across the globe. They include area geographical strategic interest, places with strategic resources, and some very close to home including most of South and Central America.
Now get yourself a map of the world and a Red crayon. Your fingers are probably too big, so have your daughter help you color all the countries above red, and see what that looks like.
Looks at what this means for the sea lanes, Russian navel and shipping access to the oceans, all the places they could refuel, and this would magnify their ability to project power around the globe. Keep in mind, unlike us, Russia doesn't have 10 super carriers they can just park anywhere they like.
Here's a few clues for you: Korea and access to the Tsushima straight (Do you have ANY clue why that's significant?)
Tiawan and it's location in the First Island Chain (Do you even know what that is, and why it's important?)
Why's Russian interested in Vietnam?
How about Malaysia and Indonesia. Here's a clue, it's not for the cheap guitars they produce.
Italy, Greece?
Ethiopia, Yemen, Eritrea, , and South Africa, and I don't mean for the minerals, do you have any clue why these places are strategically important?
How about South and Central America, should we have let the Russian/Soviets have all of that?
Here's one for you, Georgia and Azerbaijan. I'm not saying it's important to us, but since you know so much about foreign affairs, war, conflict, and keeping America safe, can you at least tell me why it's important to Russia?
Afghanistan. What's the real reason the Russians were in Afghanistan? If you can figure that out, you'll be a step closer to figuring out why the Russians are in Ukraine.
I suspect all of this when right over your head. You'll give some answer about how you don't care about places across the globe because the only strategy you can glean from a map is the one for finding the best deer trails and fishing holes.
You should start with 1991 when the USSR collapsed. Prior, you have different geopolitical interests and goals. Go back even further and you have Czarist Russia and at that time everyone was Imperialist. For instance, the Holodomar is on Stalin and Stalin alone, period! Has nothing to do with today's RUSSIA and Putin. Russia is not the USSR.
The Cold War was like a game, you do this, I'll do that, tit for tat, we'll exchange Gary Powers for so and so, etc., etc. The specter of nuclear war was always there and a clean excuse for not to do anything stupid. We'll provide Vietnam with weapons, you can do the same in Afghanistan, etc.
You can make the assertion that Uncle Sugar is equally expansionist using our military (industrial arms $) for some excuse then to change the tune to spread democracy, read spread US hegemony (move in Halliburton $),
You forgot the promise not to expand NATO one inch further East. How was Russia a threat to us? Why expand NATO when the USSR is no more? Why did WE train and arm Ukraine to the teeth especially after installing a complicit puppet regime in 2014? How was Russia a threat to us? If you were Russia, would you get defensive? Why were Russians in Donbas treated as second class and shelled by the Ukes, killing 14,000 Russians. If you were Russian would you take offense? Why are the Russians concerned with a Neo Nazi movement in Ukraine after having lost 30 million plus of their people at the hands of Nazis during WWII? Crimea has been Russian since Catherine the Great, inhabited, as Donbas, by a large population of Russians. If you were Russian, why would you allow it to become a NATO aircraft carrier, keeping in mind the push to include Ukraine in NATO? Several efforts at peace negotiations in Gomel, Istanbul, the Chinese, etc. were refused by the West WHY? The goal of the Imperial Court centric ruling class is NOT to preserve Ukraine, but to crush Russia which stands in the way of the NWO, Globalist cabal. Ukraine is just a proxy.
We have not fought anybody, since WWII, that was a real threat to our people or sovereignty as the above is to Russia, can you not agree? Yet we have spent blood and treasure beyond our borders and caused myriad misery and upheaval. If the threats and concerns of Russia were mirrored on the USA, do you think we would do anything different?. We certainly wouldn't need the usual excuses.
The bottom line is, after the Cold War ended in supposed victory, we didn't line up and shake hands. Instead we decided to rub the enemy's (which was no longer an enemy) face in the dirt.