Even he isn’t dumb enough to intentionally fire a bullet at a NATO member, as it would not go well in his favor.
Yet. That’s the problem with his behaviour and the reason why we need to see this as a lead up. He’s pushing boundaries, testing our resolve, finding cracks and stoking divisions. He’s not going to attack a NATO member yet, but sooner or later he will find the right time, the right member, to strike and expose our weakness.
The one thing I kinda thought the boomers who predominantly run shit would be good at was to remember what level of economic commitment is required to win a real, serious military conflict (and Afghanistan and Iraq don’t count - they were fully asymmetric conflicts). But it seems they can’t even do that.
Well Afghanistan and Iraq are really the only two wars which the boomers can be said to have “fought” in the sense of being the largest voting bloc, well represented in the administration - basically running things.
They were post-WW2 children so they weren’t really running things during Korea and Vietnam, or the Cold War generally. The two conflicts you mentioned are just about the two best examples of “Boomers’ Wars” you can find, so to say “they don’t count” is funny because it should at least illustrate why the current situation is not so surprising. They don’t know how to fight a war - they were born when their parents just won a fucking big one.
it might be Ukraine or their associates
Gotta stop you right there. Ukraine orchestrating this attack is not in the realm of possibility.
I agree with your other points, but given Putin’s track record with things like this I think it’s absolutely relevant to mention the very real likelihood that this was orchestrated by Russia and will be used to escalate. Of course you are right that time will tell. But I for one appreciate the reminder of Putin’s history in this regard and to be on guard for how this awful event and the tragic lost lives of innocent victims will be used by the Putin regime for his own nefarious purposes.
This has been my understanding of the conflict. Ukraine has been steadily and openly moving toward greater integration with Europe / The West, and therefore away from Russia’s control.
Trying to understand “Why is Russia doing this?” , the initial invasion, destruction of power infrastructure, dams, occupation of power plant, mining farmlamd, destroying schools and malls, every time the answer is simply: If we can’t have it, no one can.
I missed these updates when reddit closed sync. I’ve been following the war since day 1, or more accurately, since Crimea was invaded in 2014. I’m really happy I can follow them again. I can’t believe it’s almost a quarter million Russian casualties, this war needs to end.
Are there any other active communities on lemmy I should follow for Ukraine updates?
It’s not wise to underestimate the enemy. We need to stop this them as soon as possible. Time only helps them. Even with their ratshit military they can still hurt a lot of innocent people.
Maybe that’s that problem.