The Sage of Main Street
Gold Member
Script Won't Sell Without Vlad the ImpalerNo, Russia isn't attacking the Ukraine for "discrimination and mass murder of Russians".
That's a Putin lie.
Saying that Russia gets to dictate Ukrainian foreign policy is also a little arrogant, don't you think?
But the Ukraine wasn't anywhere close to joining NATO. So, again, more Putin lies.
Shall I tell you why Putin wants the Ukraine?
1) Grain and other agricultural products.
In 2010-2011 Russia and the Ukraine had a bit of a drought. Their exports of things like grain and wheat dropped massively.
What happened? The Arab Spring happened.
Imagine if you could control oil countries by controlling their food.
FAOSTAT
www.fao.org
You can see here, 2010-2011 about 4 million tons for Ukraine, down from 12 million the previous year. Russia down to 11 million tons of exports compared to 16 million the previous year.
2) Military ports. They want a permanent base on the Black Sea.
3) Putin has actually gone after the Ukraine ever since he got the top job in 1999.
In 2003 Russia wanted the Ukraine to join a Eurasian Economic Space. Up to this point in time from the end of 1999 Putin had been on a charm offensive with the Ukraine.
However Putin was trying to influence Ukrainian politics by getting rid of politicians he didn't like, in typical Putin fashion he poisoned Yushchenko and Yushchenko won the election and was president for five years, meaning Putin turned against the Ukraine.
The Ukraine moved towards Europe. I mean, what else would a president and a country with a presidential candidate that Putin poisoned do? It's pretty obvious that Putin posed a threat to the Ukraine in 2005.
Putin merely built up to this over time, weakening the Ukraine and the west didn't really care that much.
4) We can see where Putin interferes the most, and it's with former USSR countries. He wants to bring them all back under Russian control.
Russia has NO CHANCE of winning a war against the US. It's just a matter of how many casualties they could inflict.
Nobody would come to Russia's aid. Iran isn't strong enough to do it, and it's sphere of influence is Muslim countries. China wouldn't, it has way to much to lose, and that's about it for decent allies.
If the US went to war, the UK would follow with a Tory govt, France would be there quicker than the US, Poland would be there.... That's already a military force that would overwhelm. If Japan got involved, very likely, seeing how they want their former lands back, Russia would be fighting two fronts they couldn't hope to keep up. Putin knows it, which is why he bluffs so much.
Americans have been brainwashed to believe in comic-book superheroes and supervillains.