Russia, US, Ukraine, and the Future

[Ludicus]

if you think that means the US is entitled to set the agenda, that's not really an alliance then. More like some feudal arrangement between the lord and his servants.

Realistically, that is what any hegemonic power does.

[StarDreamer]

Croatian president says Finland, Sweden cannot join NATO
But the final decision is not in his hands, as it will be made by the Croatian Parliament.

I think the full statement had something that he wouldn't accept it unless something something Bosnia Herzegovina, talk about a completely separate issue.

The Croatian PM then called the President an embarrassment(for Croatia) and a Russian stooge. Luckily that idiot of President has no say in this case.

[Lord Thesaurian]

That could be something worthy of admiration if you're the only nations able to do it. But is it something worthy of admiration when it's the result of disregarding the wishes of your allies?

Yes, this war is going on on European Soil. It could impact European NATO members. Their interests, and the way they are served should be leading in determining NATO's course. Europe wants the war to end. It wants to be secure from Russian aggression. But in saying this should be achieved by using the Ukraine conflict to militarily weaken Russia for the foreseeable future Austin spoke out of turn.

And sure, you can argue it's the US doing the heavy lifting, but if you think that means the US is entitled to set the agenda, that's not really an alliance then. More like some feudal arrangement between the lord and his servants.

The US is in many ways the only nation that can “do it.” It’s just that I’m not surprised blood is thicker than water, metaphorically speaking. The US isn’t an empire; we built a system of alliances on shared interests that fostered common values, and that remains the case today. The open door swings both ways. I haven’t seen a NATO leader criticize anything Austin said publicly or otherwise, and as far as I know, he made those remarks during a trip where he announced a 40-nation coalition to back Ukraine. But if you’re aware of his comments causing fissures in the alliance, I’d be interested to know how it fits into the material energy pressures on the alliance based on potential changes in European policy. The oil ban is a positive and unexpected development, for example.

[Ludicus]

Lithuania Cancels Donation Of COVID Vaccines To To Bangladesh Because They Did Not Condemn Russia...


Did Somebody Say Imperialism?: Ukraine Between Analogies

(...) Nonetheless, the impressive project in coalition-building behind a punishing wave of sanctions to impoverish ordinary Russians stands as a symbol of enduring American power and influence. Lithuania cancels a shipment of 440,000 Covid vaccines to Bangladesh – the most densely populated nation on earth – in punishment after its government fails to join condemnation of Russia (...)

(...) It matters, actually, that Russia is a second order imperial power. The first days of the attack on Ukraine were not as barbaric militarily as America’s ‘shock and awe’ in Baghdad in 2003, and not because Putin is more humanitarian than Bush. Putin’s position is weaker: he sent in troops without a major bombing campaign to paralyse communication and transportation links in the invaded country, and so his troops have stalled, in part because he faces hurdles alien to American imperialism.

When he acts aggressively, Putin has to worry about provoking countermeasures from his imperialist rivals. He simply does not have the alarming freedom of manoeuvre that America possessed after 1989. No rivals were likely to cause the dollar to tumble by swift and united action as has first befell the rouble after this invasion, and this is even without spiralling military confrontation through the possible future involvement of other states. It was possible, then, to speak of American imperialism in Iraq without having to look over our collective shoulder to worry too about the dangerous imperialism of America’s rivals.

In Ukraine, by contrast, to speak of Russian aggression without reference to other powers is to distort the picture. If Russian imperialism were on the global scale of America’s – if Russia recruited Mexico and sought to recruit Canada to a ‘defensive’ military alliance, with Russian missiles stationed there and pointing towards New York – then for Russian citizens to talk only of American imperialism would be to exacerbate the problem at home (...)

---

Kenya. A critique of Europe’s double standards. Drawing parallels between Putin’s invasion and the colonial drawing of borders in Africa. The reality is more complex, what’s going on is an inter-imperialist conflict, but he isn’t entirely wrong.

[fkizz]

Not at all.Russia is a nuclear power. China seeks to become the world's next superpower.The US is the only superpower.

China is a trade superpower. Russia is a military and nuclear superpower. I know it's tempting to say Russia military is weak given current settings, but I'm not getting tricked.

If you want to blame US for whatever non sense, you have to include Russia and China in this. Otherwise you talk as if Russians and Chinese instead of being people, like we are people too, are instead a bunch of very primitive individuals.

The idea of putting US as some sort of master of the world while Russia and China have no agency is extreme/intentional naiveness.

Different forces were at play after the revolution. To create? no. The Captains of April, and no one else. How dissent in the military brought democracy to Portugal

Before, during after different forces were at play. The simple fact that it's a national meme to disagree on what was the spearhead force is ironically a signal of this.

That bothers you? what is a colony? definition: a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country.

We could show minimum courtesy and not allow East Timorenses get slaughtered (we had military means to put a former Dutch colony in deterrance) while people here stroked their egos on how much human rights they defended.
But no, not even that dignity was had.

On what is a colony? Going by definition without political charge, refers to a latin farm settlement outside old Italian boundaries.

[Cyclops]

Realistically, that is what any hegemonic power does.

Like what Russia is doing. Trying bloodily, and so far unsuccessfully, to enforce hegemony over Ukraine.

[Coughdrop addict]

Like what Russia is doing. Trying bloodily, and so far unsuccessfully, to enforce hegemony over Ukraine.

Yeah but Russia is entitled to do so because...uh...reasons......But what about the United States?

[Alastor]

An interesting, if not particularly surprising story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61343044

The US provided intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Moskva, Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, several US media report.

[Muizer]

The US isn’t an empire; we built a system of alliances on shared interests that fostered common values, and that remains the case today. The open door swings both ways. I haven’t seen a NATO leader criticize anything Austin said publicly or otherwise, and as far as I know, he made those remarks during a trip where he announced a 40-nation coalition to back Ukraine. But if you’re aware of his comments causing fissures in the alliance, I’d be interested to know how it fits into the material energy pressures on the alliance based on potential changes in European policy. The oil ban is a positive and unexpected development, for example.

I think you underestimate how much the dependency on the US, especially militarily, is being leveraged by the US. And that includes not publicly questioning American leadership.

[Mithradates]

According to information released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the Russian frigate ‘Admiral Makarov’, which was believed to be at the Sevastopol naval base, was hit and sunk by Ukrainian Neptune missiles

[Lord Thesaurian]

I think you underestimate how much the dependency on the US, especially militarily, is being leveraged by the US. And that includes not publicly questioning American leadership.

The US certainly has leverage, but to say that has precluded allies from public dissent is inaccurate, so I’m not sure what value the assertion has to your premise. I’m not suggesting it’s impossible allies are upset by Austin’s remarks, but come on:

Joe Biden sought to clarify his call for the removal of Vladimir Putin, saying he wasn’t seeking regime change after European allies raised concern and critics said he was further inflaming tension with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron and the U.K. government distanced themselves from Biden’s stunning comment, which capped a speech in Warsaw to rally support for Ukraine against Russia.

https://time.com/6161391/biden-putin...hange-ukraine/

[nhytgbvfeco2]

According to information released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the Russian frigate ‘Admiral Makarov’, which was believed to be at the Sevastopol naval base, was hit and sunk by Ukrainian Neptune missiles

Can't wait for the Russian MoD to respond with:
"No, it isn't on fire."
"Okay, it's on fire due to ammo explosion, but didn't sink."
"Okay, it sank."

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Can't wait for the Russian MoD to respond with:
"No, it isn't on fire."
"Okay, it's on fire due to ammo explosion, but didn't sink."
"Okay, it sank in a fierce storm."

Fixed it for you.

Russian warship Admiral Makarov ‘on fire after being hit by Ukrainian missile’ (msn.com)

[conon394]

If this pans out question - Is anyone in the Russian navy:

A Actually trained
B Actually manning their stations
C Activating their defense systems or reporting to damage control?
D Is this just a test by Putin to see how much ineptitude he can spin inside the Russian Media bubble. Err The Black is a hell hole of bad weather frankly its amazing any ship even gets to Odessa, oh look breaking news see the Romanian navy sunk yesterday in bad weather.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Germany to send self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine

Germany will start training Ukrainian soldiers on how to use the long-range artillery next week before it sends seven Panzerhaubitzen 2000 artillery systems to Ukraine.

Germany to send self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine | News | DW | 06.05.2022

The deeper reason is the Netherlands will already send 5 Panzerhaubitzen 2000 to Ukraine, but ukrainian batteries use normally 24 artillery guns, so 5 is not enough for a battery, but with 7 more you have at least the minimum for a battery.

With the Panzerhaubitze 2000 ammunition will come and they can use US 155 mm ammunition, which was lately send to Ukraine.

And Cobra radar will come:

»Cobra«-System: Was der deutsche Späher der Ukraine bringen könnte - DER SPIEGEL

COBRA (radar) - Wikipedia

[Ludicus]

Like what Russia is doing.

Have you read the full article? read the full article, Cyclops. It's worth reading. Very well written, Salvage’s article “Did Somebody Say Imperialism?” spares no one,

(...) When Putin unleashed his first and to date his most violent orgy of imperial devastation in the region, against Chechnya in 1999, he did so with Western support. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed. Tony Blair responded: ‘The Russians have been subjected to really severe terrorist attacks’. He visited Putin’s hometown to help boost the latter’s election campaign, to protests from Amnesty International. Russia was then an ally, and no less murderous. Since then, as realist analysts from John Mearsheimer to Henry Kissinger have long warned, Ukraine has been victim to a swelling clash between two power blocs. In 2006, Dick Cheney visited Lithuania and said of the pro-American transformation of the Baltic states: ‘What is true in Vilnius is also true in Tbilisi and Kyiv, and true in Minsk, and true in Moscow’.

The hunger to spread was paraded publicly. American insistence on eastward NATO expansion – allied to Ukrainian nationalism and its eight-year war against Russian speakers in the eastern Donbas region – opened the space for militaristic rhetorics of both self-defence and humanitarian intervention on Putin’s part.

(...) On Matveev’s reading, Russian imperialism is now less usefully analysed through the lens of capital accumulation; its motives are now security and pride for the Russian state, and the rebuilding of a Russian empire. Whether or not we accept this privileging of the political over the economic, such work is helpful in understanding the particular importance of Ukraine – birthplace of the Rus, and so of Novorossiya – to Russian expansionism.
At least part of the motive for war now is an ideology of Russian might as the property of an expansive historic civilisation. The conception of Russian security afforded by this tradition involves holding imperial sway, analogous to America’s Monroe Doctrine of intolerance towards other powers supporting proxies in its backyard

Talking about the backyard of empires, according to Cato Institute, “In the U.S. “backyard” has a friendly connotation”. Please Stop Referring to Latin America as "America's Backyard"
Do you know that Trump asked about launching Patriot missiles into Mexico US backyard?
-----
There are those who claim the irrelevance of the U.N. to the war in Ukraine. And yet, 3rd humanitarian evacuation from Ukraine's Mariupol underway

The third evacuation began on Thursday morning, and Guterres refrained from speaking about any of its details before it is completed in order "to avoid undermining possible success."

We live in dangerous times. Spain arrests Ukrainian blogger accused of 'high treason' by Kyiv...

Anatoly Shariy has lived in the EU for 10 years, and has been accused of peddling Kremlin propaganda.
A Ukrainian blogger and politician accused of “high treason” by Kyiv has been detained in Spain, police said Thursday.
Shariy strongly denies the allegations, and once vowed to give €1,000 to anyone who could demonstrate any pro-Russian content in his posts.
It remains unclear why Spanish authorities moved to detain Shariy now, given that Ukraine’s security services first filed charges against the blogger in February 2021. The blogger will now reportedly be transported to Madrid, where a judge will decide on his extradition to Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s constitution, high treason carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Spain frees Ukrainian politician facing alleged treason - ABC

[conon394]

Talking about the backyard of empires, according to Cato Institute, “In the U.S. “backyard” has a friendly connotation”. Please Stop Referring to Latin America as "America's Backyard"
Do you know that Trump asked about launching Patriot missiles into Mexico US backyard?

Not that I don't believe that is the kind of rambling stuff Trump would mouth but I also lack respect for people who served as appointed officials but waited for the book deal check to actualy talk about it. Thus I have some doubts about their veracity or need to up sell point with great stories. Would have been if you just resigned and started saying that bad in the day.

[Ludicus]

Not a I don't believe that is the k ind of rambling stuff Trump would mouth

How do you know that the former secretary of defense Mark Esper is a liar? let's suppose he is lying.What do you have to say about Cato's Institute statement? is it true that "in the U.S. “backyard” has a friendly connotation”? isn't Latin America US's backyard? take some time and read the Open Veins of Latin America

Trump, to be fair, got one thing right,

it doesn’t make sense that Russia and Ukraine aren’t sitting down and working out some kind of an agreement. If they don’t do it soon, there will be nothing left but death, destruction, and carnage. This is a war that never should have happened, but it did. The solution can never be as good as it would have been before the shooting started, but there is a solution, and it should be figured out now—not later—when everyone will be DEAD!”

---
And why do people keep insisting that “The US isn’t an empire”? The United States became an empire in 1945. The Myth of American Exceptionalism - Foreign Policy

This unchallenged faith in American exceptionalism makes it harder for Americans to understand why others are less enthusiastic about U.S. dominance, often alarmed by U.S. policies, and frequently irritated by what they see as U.S. hypocrisy, whether the subject is possession of nuclear weapons, conformity with international law, or America’s tendency to condemn the conduct of others while ignoring its own failings... Whenever American leaders refer to the "unique" responsibilities of the United States, they are saying that it is different from other powers and that these differences require them to take on special burdens.

Yet there is nothing unusual about such lofty declarations; indeed, those who make them are treading a well-worn path. Most great powers have considered themselves superior to their rivals and have believed that they were advancing some greater good when they imposed their preferences on others. The British thought they were bearing the "white man’s burden," while French colonialists invoked la mission civilisatrice to justify their empire. Portugal, whose imperial activities were hardly distinguished, believed it was promoting a certain missão civilizadora. Even many of the officials of the former Soviet Union genuinely believed they were leading the world toward a socialist utopia despite the many cruelties that communist rule inflicted. So when Americans proclaim they are exceptional and indispensable, they are simply the latest nation to sing a familiar old song. Among great powers, thinking you’re special is the norm, not the exception

[conon394]

How do you know that the former secretary of defense Mark Esper is a liar? let's suppose he is lying

I don't. I mistrust somebody who if that was part a of a serious conversation and a direct question did not resign his position immediately and go to the press. To find out now long months later in a very self enriching book deal does not however induced credulity. Or rather it strikes me as the BS Trump would say and maybe (what is his side of the story) because he is the kind of person who talks like he is hanging out at the bar all the time. Yes I know he does not drink. But tell all book deals again do not inspire me to see honesty actions and Esper does not have that in his favor.

isn't Latin America US's backyard? take some time and read the Open Veins of Latin America

Left out the 5 centuries part huh? So the US was founded 5 centuries ago?

Trump, to be fair, got one thing right,

Did he? So when the US manages a dark operation to take Newfoundland. Promising investment and unrestricted fishing rights ... And that funds a conservative rebellion in Alberta for free Alberta... The important thing is for Canada to talk and reach a settlement on its sovereignty being carved up right? Never-mind if Canada has a democratically elected government.

[fkizz]

Have you read the full article? read the full article, Cyclops. It's worth reading. Very well written, Salvage’s article “Did Somebody Say Imperialism?” spares no one,
Talking about the backyard of empires, according to Cato Institute, “In the U.S. “backyard” has a friendly connotation”. Please Stop Referring to Latin America as "America's Backyard"
Do you know that Trump asked about launching Patriot missiles into Mexico US backyard?
-----

You showed indifference towards treatment we gave to ex-colonials, south american got their independence countries in the 1800s independence movements, why do you suddenly care about ex-colonials if it's about attacking the US in some form?

There's Russia and China at the very least in the equation.