A honeytrap me thinks.

There's a strange innocuous American habit of helping yourself to towels and things from hotels, as if you've paid so much for the room that you are entitled to take extra souvenirs. And that American student Otto Warmbier in North Korea was arrested for taking a poster from a wall. When in Rome Moscow.....

Actually, back to this thread, there is no "NATO vs Russia", thank goodness, but even as a theory, posting the idea like this carries the danger of gradually bringing the idea alive in ordinary people's minds.
IMHO, of course.

The winters are bloody awful, it would have been nice if Slartibartfast had placed it around 20 degrees further south in version 2. (Sorry for off topic and to people who have no idea what we're talking about).

Well, in Earth Mk II they did give him Africa to do. He did it with fjords for a lovely baroque feel, which was apparently "not equatorial enough"...

There is no pleasing some people!:ugh:

That's the trouble with working for hyperintelligent pandimensional beings. Never satisfied.

“Russia has no moral right to abandon its compatriots living in the Baltic countries.” Russian Foreign Ministry

First Russia sends Russians into Western countries then they claim they need to “protect” them. The basis for terrorist Russia’s invasions and aggressions. Not to mention setting off chaotic protests and sabotage operations.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....66a37b4438.png

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....498802c09f.png
​​​​​​​

tho TBH there are a lot of Russians who are long term residents of the Baltic states. Trouble is this sort of announcement leads to people being forced to make a decision or get pushed out as potential 5th Columnists

Sounds reasonable, deploying a light brigade to Ukraine tends not to end well.

Video.Russia is exploiting the refugee crisis by relocating individuals from Syria, Iraq, and Africa to the borders of Belarus and Poland.

Credible sources indicate that Russia is intentionally inciting these refugees to engage in violent actions, such as throwing stones and clashing with Polish border guards, in an effort to stir public opinion and create disturbances.

This strategy is part of a hybrid warfare tactic against Poland, orchestrated with the help of Belarus's Lukashenka.

Recently, over 140 illegal migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East attempted to forcefully cross from Belarus into Poland, exhibiting aggressive behavior and assaulting Polish forces with branches and stones.

​​​​​​​In the past three days alone, 824 migrants have tried to illegally enter Poland from Belarus, with Belarusian border guards failing to intervene.

https://www.politico.eu/article/germ...ar-bundeswehr/

Serving the Vaterland: Germany debates reviving conscription

Trump proofing Europe
 

Trump proofing Europe

"Though a second Trump presidency is not a foregone conclusion, Nato members are gearing up to Trump-proof the organisation and reviewing their defence strategies."

https://theconversation.com/trump-pr...ce-wwii-228334

and

https://theconversation.com/ukraine-...-or-not-226844

Trump proof = being responsible for one’s own security.

The corollary of that is Europe telling Trump where to put it and the loss of US influence in Europe.

And then come crying, pissing and moaning, cap in hand like the grasshopper to the ants, since you security leaches can't be bothered to invest in your collective security posture. Hiding your heads in the sand is just too easy and cheaper. W warned you Obama warned you, and Trump Warned you and you kept your heads in the sand.
And as a result, Putin found you bent over and rammed it in good. You are just lucky that his military leadership made enough mistakes to fail.

For safetypee: while what they call Trump proofing is a good idea - better late than never - why didn't they call it W proofing, Obama proofing?
Those two also called Europe out for their negligence.
Here's the funny bit: if the increase in spending and readiness is made, you then remove the root cause of Trump calling Europe out.
His core message (while in office) was "pay your share" and that was responded to negatively by Europe.
What was that old oil filter ad? (Fram oil filters). Pay me now or pay me later.
Let that sink in.
His recent remarks, with him not in office, was trolling. (1)
You all bit. He lives rent free in your heads.
I suppose the result is good enough. (Again, as often before, I don't think he'll win in November, but if Trumpaphobia will get the necessary assets allocated on your side of the pond, GOOD!)
{1} = To be fair, there is a portion of his base that would be interested in leaving NATO, but they are still a minority.

Plus it will likely kick off a massive nuclear uparming. Europe alone needs to urgently increase its arsenal to at least 1000 to 1500 nuclear warheads with a potentially even higher final target. It should be enough that not a single Russian would survive. That should be priority #1. Conventionally we currently see that Russia fails to conquer a 40Mio people Country. We need to stockpile enough ammo but otherwise should be mostly OK. Except for Air Defence including massive BMD to counter also the nuclear numeric advantage. On the nuclear side of things Russia is still a massive force to reckon with. This needs addressing.

Come off it Lonewolf 50, you know the US likes to be needed and tell other folk what to do. The more other nations get to be able to do it alone, the less the hold you have in them.

What you believe is for you to believe, which does not equal fact.
There is no single American political view. There are a variety of viewpoints, to include the "no, we are not the world's policemen" bloc, who were extremely vocal after the Wall came down (Required reading for you, the case of Army Specialist Michael New). A similar strain after WW I, with the successful torpedo of Wilson's grand designs/League of Nations/etc was called "isolationist" and yet American involvement (particularly in commerce) all over the globe (particularly in Asia) increased after WW I. (Much to the chagrin of some of our neighbors in the Carribean region).
You are old enough to know of, or at least be aware of, the successful four-year lobby for the US to stay out of Bosnia since it was a European security problem. (Circa 1991-1995).
Other required reading for you: Walter Russel Meade, Special Providence.
You have claimed some affiliation/attendance/work/experience at Maxwell.
You do not demonstrate it.

I perhaps came away from Maxwell with a different perspective. Have you ever heard the phrase American Imperialism? That is where I met it writ large when working with he students. I was able to enlighten then and explain being American does not actually give you an automatic right to move armoured divisions into other countries just because you feel like it.

Depends on what year you were there, obviously, and your own hands are not clean. Hypocrite much? Yeah, you sure do.

In other news. How nice to hear them say that.