Tweet
Originally posted by simplicio
View Post
We do pick and choose which countries to become entangled, many African countries have a low priority, which is why Marines stood in the Congo watching Rwandan bodies float down the river during the Rwandan genocide. And we re evaluated our policies.
East European countries like Poland and Hungary joined NATO for several reasons, defense against Russia is but one. If we did not fear Russian expansion, Russian hegemony in the region, I wonder if we would have taken the risk of alienating the Russians by accepting those countries.
East European countries like Poland and Hungary joined NATO for several reasons, defense against Russia is but one. If we did not fear Russian expansion, Russian hegemony in the region, I wonder if we would have taken the risk of alienating the Russians by accepting those countries.
We rejected the total war strategy of WWII. The mass bombings of Vietnam was different the the air campaigns over Germany where we targeted civilians. Hanoi was largely unscathed, except for areas of military importance (even the the precision was imperfect). In the early fifties we trained soldiers for the nuclear battlefield, while questioning its strategic value. MacArthur broke with Truman over that issue, Truman rejected the use of the A bomb, which would have sealed off the Chinese.
The policy of containment was analogous to Obama's response, massive aid to Ukraine, but limited so as not to prod the Russian bear, a balancing act, which was similar to cold war responses of judicious use of aid.
What makes a nation? The English swallowed Wales at (or before) the rise of the modern nation state, and the Welch see themselves as an integral part of Britain, even if uneasy. The Irish were swallowed up into the empire and the English could never incorporate Ireland fully. The Russians did not swallow Crimea until Catherine the Great, just before the nineteenth century. We have an uneasy relationship with Puerto Rico taken by 1900 but never fully absorbed.
Russia sees its former territories as a natural extension of its nation, similar to our view of the western hemisphere as our doorstep. Smedley Butler was a Marine who single handedly made the Americas safe for the corporations, and became the Marine's Marine (writing the small wars manual which was dusted off for our current wars). We treated the former Soviet Republics as part of the Russian sphere of influence, with the major exceptions being the Baltic States and Ukraine. Belarus was basically re-incorporated without protest, a tacit recognition of existence of that sphere of influence.
The policy of containment was analogous to Obama's response, massive aid to Ukraine, but limited so as not to prod the Russian bear, a balancing act, which was similar to cold war responses of judicious use of aid.
What makes a nation? The English swallowed Wales at (or before) the rise of the modern nation state, and the Welch see themselves as an integral part of Britain, even if uneasy. The Irish were swallowed up into the empire and the English could never incorporate Ireland fully. The Russians did not swallow Crimea until Catherine the Great, just before the nineteenth century. We have an uneasy relationship with Puerto Rico taken by 1900 but never fully absorbed.
Russia sees its former territories as a natural extension of its nation, similar to our view of the western hemisphere as our doorstep. Smedley Butler was a Marine who single handedly made the Americas safe for the corporations, and became the Marine's Marine (writing the small wars manual which was dusted off for our current wars). We treated the former Soviet Republics as part of the Russian sphere of influence, with the major exceptions being the Baltic States and Ukraine. Belarus was basically re-incorporated without protest, a tacit recognition of existence of that sphere of influence.
Russians might not be enslaved by their history, but they sure try to repeat it. The same people, have had various forms of a state or regime (all within the twentieth century). And at every time, they always saw expanding their territory as the buffer against invasions and encroaching foreign powers.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/...r-prank-a69221
2) Again, what Putin does in ithat region is a regional problem. The EU borders that region and Putin wants good relations with the EU. Let them hash it out.
Comment