(06-24-2023, 02:29 AM)727Sky Wrote: I do believe if I were Putin I would regret the day I started the invasion of Ukraine.
I don't see that he had much choice.
The Ukrainians were looting his land-based pipelines as badly as BLMers flash mobbing stores and pilfering everything they can grab.
Then ... America ... puts an embargo on the Nordstream1. Putin waltzes into The Ukraine the very next day.
These facts cannot be disputed. And, when they are held in context as indisputable, Putin didn't start it ... The proxy-Obama/Clinton administration did. An embargo is an act of war. And they've got a complicit media (worldwide mind you) that craftily attempts to avoid these foundational facts.
The importance of the Nordstream2 coming on-line? Well ... Putin could turn off all the overland pipes that were being diverted by The Ukrainians at-will. And that's why both pipelines are now blown all to Hell. Think of this and how the US has taken practically the whole of Europe hostage.
The only things Putin is really guilty of are: sending in 200,000 green troops who weren't supplied for war; For letting Zelensky arm Ukrainian civilians with small arms; For allowing the West to control a steady escalation of hostilities; And, for trying to capitalize on the establishment of a land bridge between Mother Russia and The Crimea.
And Putin? Putin is an old man now. How much longer does anyone think he wants to remain in the position? Everyone wants to retire at some point. Putin's just the face of the enemy. Have you noticed how that enemy's face has changed since the end of WWII? Because I remember the face of the enemy being the whole of the Soviet military back in my day. And, now, it's down to one or two men.
Good conversation in this thread. Everyone should feel free to destroy my arguments. I'm damn sure taking nothing personal.