Politics

[Newboomer]

No one will use nukes. If someone did, the area nuked would be unihabitable from fallout for decades. So the nuker would not be able to occupy and the area would be contaminated and useless. Someone hits a button on one side, the other side hits a button and there goes humanity. No one will take that chance. A lot of blat and bellow, conventional weapons and ground forces.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Putin, and, Xi Jinping, are not stupid. They are taking action now, before the Democrats get slaughtered in the Mid-Terms, and the Republicans take control.

Something to think about.

And Iran and North Korea are waiting in the wings.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

But but ….. but we did a reset……

 

[CoElkHunter]

No one will use nukes. If someone did, the area nuked would be unihabitable from fallout for decades. So the nuker would not be able to occupy and the area would be contaminated and useless. Someone hits a button on one side, the other side hits a button and there goes humanity. No one will take that chance. A lot of blat and bellow, conventional weapons and ground forces.

You may be right. I believe Russia and more so China, want the natural resources of the countries they have their sights on. Going nuclear would destroy that for hundreds (maybe thousands) of years.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Urge your representatives to immediately cut off Russia's oil/gas supplies in-favor of same provided by the USA, et. al. Win-win! That'll force our dummy-in-charge to open a couple more pipelines he's sitting on for political gain with his welfare voters. Biden is essentially no different than all the corrupt leaders on the dark continent. Most of us did not vote for, and do not support his tired, old, corrupt, lifer, big gov't.

 

[Brent in Az]

Putin stated that if anyone interferes in the invasion of Ukraine, that they would meet retaliation in the likes that has never been seen before.

Bluster, or a veiled nuclear threat?

 

[Woodcarver]

Nothing is going to be done. Now here at home they fired a school administrator for saying that his relatives from California were terrified of tornadoes and he told them not to be worried about them just worry about the Indians that may raid us at night.

Sorry, had to laugh. The stupidity of people can be pretty amusing at times. Hopefully your school administrator is successful in his wrongful termination suit. I do like his sense of humor.
When I went back to TN for a high school reunion about 20 years ago, I had 2 people ask, not kidding, if we had a problem with Indians out there in the west.

 

[PARA45]

 

[Red Leg]

No one will use nukes. If someone did, the area nuked would be unihabitable from fallout for decades. So the nuker would not be able to occupy and the area would be contaminated and useless. Someone hits a button on one side, the other side hits a button and there goes humanity. No one will take that chance. A lot of blat and bellow, conventional weapons and ground forces.

I wish I was as certain as you. All it will take is one miscalculation and a train of escalation can be loosed over which no one has control. The results obviously would be catastrophic.

We were convinced back in the seventies that elements of the Russian military were confident of national survival in a nuclear exchange with NATO. We thought that was mildly insane, but last I looked, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are both thriving cities.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Barry Soetero wanted his legacy (some books, 1st blk guy, pride colors flying at the white house, 1st non-american to become pres, etc.) Putin (detests 1991 break-up of the USSR, loves Stalin, Lenin) is not getting younger, so becoming a hero at home by bombing the S out of, and scaring his old countrymen into coming home is the icing on the cake. Sacrifice them to try and make concessions with the rest of the world. Now, being that most of their revenues come from pipelines across Ukraine to the EU (and quite a few to Asia as well,) just have them replaced with alternative energy. The USA would be happy to help with that. Joe can stop erasing executive orders and sign a few new ones....

 

[flatwater bill]

The Union of Concerned Scientists says "In the US, the President can order the launch of nuclear weapons without consulting anyone. And US policy allows first use of nuclear weapons in a non nuclear conflict.....". They also worry that many of the World's 13,890 nuclear weapons are much less stringently controlled than those in the USA. I think an incorrect or hasty decision is a real possibility.....FWB

 

[BourbonTrail]

 

[Inline6]

I wish I was as certain as you. All it will take is one miscalculation and a train of escalation can be loosed over which no one has control. The results obviously would be catastrophic.

We were convinced back in the seventies that elements of the Russian military were confident of national survival in a nuclear exchange with NATO. We thought that was mildly insane, but last I looked, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are both thriving cities.

100% agree!

 

[Inline6]

@Red Leg given your background. What are your thoughts of Taiwan and China given the current situation? My feelings are not comforting given the sanctions handed to Russia.

 

[Ray B]

Anyone that thinks a city hit by one of today's nuclear bomb could survive as Hiroshima and Nagasaki did the Little Boy and Fat Man better try again.

 

[hyipl]

 

[Dragan N.]

Until yesterday, only NATO had advanced to the Russian border and not vice versa, or did I miss something?

If Russian troops,or warshaw pact states were stationed in Mexico and Canada, or if there were plans to do so, it is easy to guess how the Pentagon would react without being an expert military strategist.


To believe that the German armed forces of the 1980s would have intimidated the Russian bear and its empire is overly flattering.
Only the USA let them stay behind their iron curtain.
The Russians once had respect for the Reichswehr and the German Wehrmacht, but that was it. 80 years of beating us up about what military devils we were and a strong army of our own, powerful in Germany is unthinkable. Forget that. Nobody wants that here.


Any further enlargement of the EU would be a disaster for the existing EU, the financing of which is simply no longer affordable. And if Germany, as the driving force, sinks to its knees economically, all the countries in Europe will suffer a severe bout of pneumonia. That cannot be in anyone's interest.


I think the enlargement of NATO is a serious mistake and Putin, certainly not my friend, has been showing since this morning what he thinks of it and what he is prepared to do.



On the other hand, we have to ask ourselves honestly: are free peoples allowed to decide freely?


Just my 2 cents

We have an example of what happened when a new hemisphere country decided to go full blown communist and team up with an American adversary: Cuba. Not only did it almost lead to WWIII but to this day Cuba is still under American sanctions- 60 years later. Now I laugh when i hear it is because Cuba is a human rights abuser. I mean could anyone seriously believe that Cuba is a worse human rights abuser than China- America's largest trading partner? No, its because Cuba is on America's doorstep and it being a socialist country who is friendly with American adversaries does not sit well. This is contrary to the Monroe Docterine. For over a 100 years America has openly said that the New World- North and South America belong to it and that all other powers need to keep their hands off this region.

On the other hand the eastward expansion of NATO is a good thing and Russia is insane for opposing it. Oh and NATO is expanding eastward out of the goodness of its heart to help the poor Balts and Polacks.

I don't think Russia is the only one who is antsy about NATO's expansion, China ain't to happy about it either....

 

[Ray B]

The potential NATO inclusion of Ukraine is only a smoke screen for Russia. Putin's real reason for attacking Ukraine is because Putin wants to salve his feelings that were embarrassed when the USSR collapsed and Russia became a mere shell of its former glory and importance. Putin sees windows of opportunity, generally when the demonRats control the US presidency: Clinton-Yugoslavia; Obama-Georgia and Crimea; Now Bidet-Ukraine.

Putin is an empire builder and takes advantage of every opportunity to expand his influence. It wouldn't be so bad, but the present President is so feeble that you can count on China, North Korea and Iran pushing their agendas to the limit during the next three years.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

No one will use nukes. If someone did, the area nuked would be unihabitable from fallout for decades. So the nuker would not be able to occupy and the area would be contaminated and useless. Someone hits a button on one side, the other side hits a button and there goes humanity. No one will take that chance. A lot of blat and bellow, conventional weapons and ground forces.

That assumes that all sides can and will view it through such a rational lens. I am not convinced Putin fits that description so that is not a bet I would make. I think he has natural resource designs, coupled with his memory of the way it was. I also think his ego/hubris is larger.

 

[Ray B]

the various virtual scenarios of nuclear exchanges show several results- in addition to killing virtually all the people on earth- the clouds from the explosions and the incinerated dirt thrown into the air would result in massive cloud cover. The cover would reflect a significant portion of sunlight back to space and the surface temperature of the Earth would drop to below freezing.. Since such an action would save the world from the destruction of Global Warming maybe we should see if we can arrange for John Kerry and Greta Thundberg to fire the first rockets.