Originally Posted by
A_Van
May I please suggest that your free your mind from blind hatred (russophobia) and think calmly.
Since dismissing of the WarPac NATO has extended its boards eastbound so that St-Petersbourg is just an artillery shot away. Naive Gorby was fooled by his western friends.. And even later, Russia (led by drunk Yeltsin) was only dropping its bases and presense abroad.
I'm perfectly calm, thanks, and don't have any hatred of Russia or the Russians, though I think that your President is a corrupt, foolish, boastful and dangerous charlatan, and that Russia deserves a leader who more accurately reflects its many fine characteristics. The NATO nations are all democracies, and as such present no direct threat to Russia, though I can see that the desire of Poland and the Baltic states must seem to some Russian minds like ingratitude, and it must seem as though NATO's borders suddenly seem closer. But unless and until Russia or Belarus unanimously and overwhelmingly want to suddenly embrace Western values and join the party, NATO will never try to absorb or assimilate the Rodina. With respect, you need to look at NATO a little less hysterically, a little more calmly, and with much less suspicion, fear and paranoia.
Russia has frequently expanded through offensive military action (Georgia, Crimea, etc.) and has often maintained its grip on nations who wanted freedom from the old Soviet yoke. East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia. I can't think of a single instance of NATO doing the same. Ever.
Do you really have a military background? Telling such obviously erroneous things....Iskander is not a cruise missile system, it's a ballistic one. And totally withing the range as specified in INF.
A slip of the keyboard finger, Van, old chap, wrt to 'cruise missile', but INF range - that's debateable.
On the other side, it was US that unilaterally withdrew from ant-ballistic missile treaty in 2001. And started deploying anti-missile infrastructure in Europe. Now Russia has to answer and is answering.
Anti missile defences are inherently defensive.
Can you provide an exact verified quote?
Google is your friend, Van.
Total nonsense. Crimea separated from Ukraine under referendum.
That so-called referendum followed Russia's military intervention and forced annexation, and was entirely illegitimate, as the UN General Assembly affirmed.
And with no casualties in total contrast with what NATO did with Serbia when cutting out part of its territory and establishing a psuedo-state of Kosovo.
Hardly. Kosovo was formed or 'established' in 1990-1992 when it declared itself a sovereign and independent state in September 1992, following Milosovic's ruthless intimidation and cultural oppression of the ethnic Albanian populationand his deliberate restriction of Kosovo's special autonomous status within Serbia
. 113 UN member statesrecognise Kosovo, and only cynical Russian opposition prevented NATO's peacekeeping operation being able to gain the formal backing of a UNSC resolution.
The UN Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on 10 June 1999, placing Kosovo under transitional UN administration (UNMIK) with autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
International negotiations began in 2006 to determine the final status of Kosovo, but Russia frustrated attempts to agree a draft resolution calling for 'supervised independence' for the province.
A declaration of independence by Kosovar Albanian leaders followed the end of the Serbian presidential elections in February 2008.
Serbia and its ally Russia may not recognize this, but the bulk of the civilized world does, and it’s entirely in keeping with democratic principles and self-determination. The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion held that Kosovo's declaration of independence was not in violation either of international law, which do not prohibit unilateral declarations of independence.
Proof link/qoute, please.
Google is your friend, Van.
British politicians shout about that, no real proof. The same as for MH-17, BTW, for which there is a clear evidance that Ukrainian SAM did that.
The assasination of Litvinenko using Polonium and the attempted assassination of the Skripals by Novichok has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt. Russia's attempts to deny and obfuscate are disgraceful, and you should be ashamed of yourself for repeating this nonsense. The evidence on MH-17 is also pretty clear, if you take off your blinkers.
And what is your concern?
That totalitarian China represents a growing threat to its neighbours, and to international order.