Russia/Ukraine tensions - Any concern?

The British news media has a long tradition of dubious prioritisation of stories. Clearly there's been a lot going on over the last couple of years, with covid and increasing fears over the urgency of the climate crisis, but...

Along with growing tensions with China over Taiwan (again, seldom mentioned by the BBC) there is clearly something potentially very worrying taking shape on the Russia/Ukraine border. This is seldom mentioned by the BBC on it's prime time news, but finally it has surfaced on their news homepage, instead of buried as an afterthought on one of their international pages.

Russia has a history of brinkmanship and pressuring the west, when it's seen to have 'weak' or incompetent leadership. With over 100K troops poised on the other side of the Ukraine border, and accusations by Kiev of a planned coup to topple the government and install a pro Moscow regime, where do you think this will lead?

Storm in a tea cup, or BANG!!

Putin Biden to Zoom

NotAProghead wrote: I think <span style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">storm in a tea cup.</span>

🤞

It appears that one of Moscow's biggest concerns is Ukraine joining NATO, as per Latvia and Lithuania. There is some legitimacy to his concerns, as NATO is encroaching ever close to the Russian border.

That said, it's hard to say which side is actually the most paranoid. What exactly does Putin think NATO is going to do? Invade Russia? I don't think so.

I hope this is another example of Putin playing to the gallery at home, and testing the west, although if Georgia and Crimea show us anything, it's that he's not all mouth and no trousers (as we say in England)

Then there's the joint military exercises Russia and China held earlier in the year, and the tension with China and Taiwan. It all seems a bit dicey right now..

omphaloskepsis wrote: ...I agree with the previous posts. Plus...  I don't think Russia attacks Ukraine unless NATO pours a bunch of troops inside Ukraine. Hopefully, the NeoCon's won't antagonize Russia into a war.

Indeed, and the Ukrainian defence minister has said he didn't want NATO troops fighting on Ukrainian soil, but wanted arms and logistical support. So long as Russia doesn't declare that a 'red line' there may not be conflict

Sean Trane wrote: I wish the EU (and NATO) would stop meddling in there, and I have even less trust in the Ukrainian regime than I do in Moscow. Would most of these ex-Soviet nations treat their respective Russian minorities (even the majority in Latvia) with respect and not think of them as second or third class citizens, Russia wouldn't be in there meddling in.

Hi, Hugues,

I'm a bit shocked by your post - are you still reading those Kremlin official papers till now?!

Russia has such a long history of being peace loving pacifists.

Blacksword wrote: moshkito wrote: Hi, I think that some folks are playing with fire, and all I can hope for is that this does not turn into another Vietnam! It has the makings of it already.  But all in all, this kind of thing has been going on for thousands of years with many "conquerors" and we still think they are movies and were not real people! It couldn't happen today with real people, right? Yeah, that's what many people thought before WW1 & WWII..

But modernism is said to have ended after the WWII. Most people couldn't predict the 2nd WW after the first. But, it is also said that the immediate aftermath of the first WW caused the 2nd one. I'm not a postmodernism guy, but I think it created an "atmosphere" that hasn't give way to the 3rd World War. Of course, anything can happen still. Modernism would be great in ideal societies, but we seem to be far away from that. Long live postmodernism!!! Till we understand why modernism was great, but we weren't ready for that!

^ Yes, but also the minorities and the fringes of the societies were understood better with postmodernism. Many problems are yet to be solved, but we at least are aware of those unlike in modernism. I don't think that we're "progressing" as humanity in the literal sense. But, after postmodernism, we might do that.

Edited by Shadowyzard - December 07 2021 at 09:44

Edited by Lewian - December 07 2021 at 11:14

snobb wrote: Sean Trane wrote: I wish the EU (and NATO) would stop meddling in there, and I have even less trust in the Ukrainian regime than I do in Moscow. Would most of these ex-Soviet nations treat their respective Russian minorities (even the majority in Latvia) with respect and not think of them as second or third class citizens, Russia wouldn't be in there meddling in. Hi, Hugues, I'm a bit shocked by your post - are you still reading those Kremlin official papers till now?!