re: Putin prepared to go scorched earth

Thought there was a sinking of a US ship that led to the Spanish American war?

USS Maine.

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You’re an idiot. Roosevelt may have been a scumbag but that didn’t make hitler the good guy. Ukraine did nothing to deserve this and imperfect though they may be they shouldn’t be attacked by a strongman who opposes everything our founding fathers held dear and this board generally purports to cherish.

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NATO could have listened to the warnings from Russia for the past two decades. How would you react if a military force, SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO FIGHT YOU, kept advancing further and further into your sphere.

What would you do if you warned Ukraine to stop killing Russian loyalists in Dunbas and they continued to kill innocent civilians.

Ukraine is not the innocent babe they are made out to be, and they are certainly more than willing to whore themselves out as a laundromat for the MIC of the US.

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He's been vocal about restoration of former ussr territories for decades, I don't know why any of it's surprising to anyone at this point.

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Decades huh?

So where have all of the previous occupations occurred? Georgia?

I mean, he is an a-hole that desires glory.

However, his past actions have indicated to me that he is at least somewhat calculating.

Occupation makes no sense to me, no matter the rhetoric involved.

We will agree to disagree.

Peace.

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How so? Before WW1/WW2, America stayed out of affairs that didn't concern America.

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The US was invested in the global system well before the fed. The Monroe Doctrine is one example, which literally required the US to take a 'position that didn't concern' America, although it did in a geopolitical sense. While it wasn't always applied consistently, it's a good clear example of a doctrine that defined potential American interests. Another example is the Perry expedition and the opening up of Japan. Another example would be efforts under Grant to smother out any European influence in Latin America. The effect of this was so great that Venezuela asked the US to invoke the doctrine in 1895 during a dispute with the British.

When the entire hemisphere was effectively under US control did you see the US seek to challenge traditional European powers. The point of cementing US influence in one hemisphere was directly related to challenging rival influence elsewhere. This is just the realities of geopolitics.

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NATO could have listened to the warnings from Russia for the past two decades.

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Who drove NATO expansion? Or rather, why did former Warsaw Pact states seek an immediate alliance with NATO, as did Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary form the Visegrad group in 1991 with the aim of joining NATO and the EU?

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The US was invested in the global system well before the fed.

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Invested may be a stretch.

Associated, yes.

Invested...not the term that I would use.

We would not be going through this if Donald Trump were President. I've said it before. I'll say it again. Joe Biden is an unmitigated disaster. The world laughs at Joe Biden. So does Vlad Putin.

Not good.

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Who drove NATO expansion?

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Who? Nobody. It was a moment of opportunity that those nations chose to take advantage of ($$$). The implosion of the USSR set in motion quite a lot of change.

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joining NATO and the EU?

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Money talks.

Nope. As much as I hate Russia's unprovoked aggression, the Ukraine is corrupt and our idiots in DC keep wasting money in their defense. I hope for a swift end to the war and the money drain. Frick them both, and the idiots on DC too.