I will respond to this but I'm not being argumentative - I'm still trying to understand the real truth in this and what is the rational direction - so this is intended as a conversation, not a debate.
I don't know that it's changed or have we just realized (again) how crazy it is for someone to have that much power? This is not new for example, Jesus (the historical person, not the spirit), several Ceasars, Stalin, Hitler, Roosevelt, Mao, even MLK were all single people who held a lot of power.
Realize he has been consolidating the USSR again for decades and we let him do it. The Media said next to nothing while he annexed Crimea. The current Ukraine conflict has been a shooting war for 8 years already. As for where will he stop, It's very possible he just wants to reconsolidate the USSR. I don't think he has ever said otherwise - beyond complaining about NATO at his back door. Yes, Putin is ruthless and maybe a little crazy, but this was all very predictable. I'm also not so sure China will be there for Putin. If you look at their foreign policy decisions they tend to play both sides pretty well.
Taiwan will soon be like Ukraine. We are moving those production and supply capabilities to safer places. So Taiwan will also be expendable and not worth a confrontation with China over. In a sense, China may be waiting for the US to get what we need out of there so they can go in with little opposition. Typically, the Chinese are very strategic about things and think well beyond their dictator's lifespan (unlike Russia).
I don't really see a next. People don't realize how superior we are to Russia. We have been spending 10 times their military budget for as long as I can remember. It would not be easy, but we would win a conventional war and I expect a NATO wall to be waiting for the Russian occupation of Ukraine. I don't think Putin would go there because it would lay bare the fact that he is actually pretty weak.
I think it means nothing. Even if he uses a tactical. It is a fact that with nukes, "the enemy of war is war itself." It makes no sense, especially to an empirest. It's more likely Putin would disappear to some country with extradition agreements and live like a king for the rest of his days. Remember during the 50s and 60s we were all exploding all sorts of experimental test bombs all the time. The US dropped 2 on Japan with fairly localized negative impacts. Even N. Korea has exploded them underground fairly recently. So I think the Dr. Strange Love ending is a myth. Besides, narcissistic bitches kill other people but never kill themselves.
NATO is going to stop on their borders - they won't threaten Putin in Russia. So we're not going to push Putin that far into a corner. His bigger problem will be his own people and using nukes on them doesn't make sense either.
Humm, not sure this is the case. To be honest I have heard many officers say nukes are a PIA. They are costly to maintain and secure and can't be deployed. But the power is largely mythical and part of an outdated doctrine of assured mutual destruction. Frankly, smaller countries like Pakistan worry me more. Also, people don't realize that virtual wars, germ warfare, and hyper-accurate conventional weapons are at least as menacing as nukes.
A lot of things. I am told that when we react perfectly to a situation (like we have thus far in this crisis), it's because the situation has been gamed out and the strategies pre-evaluated. I have also been told that things don't go public until there is something bigger and badder already in place. We know of electromagnetic projectiles, lasers, all sorts of viruses and bacteria, EMP weapons, thermo-baric, sound disruptors, remember the Neutron bomb?
That was a different time. It's much more complicated now and this is a pretty different situation, right? Cuba was our security, this is the security of a nation we have no obligation to help. We warned Ukraine, they did not want to be a NATO country. We told them Russia's every move, they were upset that our saying Russia was going to attack was hurting their economy. The President of Ukraine is an admirable guy who certainly has his nation at heart, but there are times when discretion is the better part of valor. Had he joined NATO, this would not have happened. While Putin looks like a strongman, the truth is he's taking Ukraine because he wants it and he can. The moves made by the Ukrainian president left his country isolated and ripe for the picking.
Yes, and that is how it should be. Decisions like this need to be studied from as many perspectives as possible.
This ain't a schoolyard my friend! I wish all that was at stake is an arse whipping!
