Tricks Tricks:
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
Watch that video by Vindman. Putin is an asshole, but he knows that the threat of nuclear is all he needs to stop NATO from action. But he's not so far gone that he thinks he could survive using nuclear assets. And with the message from Beau, it's unlikely that the yes men Putin has surrounded himself with would have the balls to obey an order to use nuclear weapons, knowing they would take the fall for their use. And knowing that the repercussions would be the most severe ever brought against a country in the history of ever.
That's quite the gamble to take on what could amount to the end of the world.
It's a pretty serious situation. The world did nothing when Russia invaded Georgia or Crimea. They did nothing when Russia bombed civilians, and hospitals, in Syria. And they are using the same tactics now in Ukraine, and even calling Bashar Al-Assad for 14,000 Syrian fighters as an installation payment on keeping him in power, to be used in Ukraine.
At some point, the west has to either shit or get off the pot. A line has to be drawn, or Russia will keep using the threat to take back former USSR countries it thinks will make it stronger. And the west will have to look on as people in places like Mariupol are forced to kill stray dogs for food.
At some point we either have to leave non G-20 countries to their own defence, or we have to draw a line.
Tricks Tricks:
$1:
The world leaders, with some exceptions, have little to do with Putin and his maintaining power. Thats' on Russians. The ones who vote for him, and the ones that vote for him because he's jailed his opposition. Read the thread Scape posted:
You don't actually believe their elections are legit though do you? And yes, have energy dependence on Russia absolutely gives him power because it gives Russia power. And he has been "Russia" for two decades. But it isn't just Putin. It's also keeping our reliance on Saudi oil, or selling them weapons. Or propping up dictators because it serves our purpose against an "enemy" (see Taliban vs Russia).
Stop playing into these fuckers hands.
No, I absolutely believe 'elections' in Russia or Belarus are total shams. But some Russians actually support him.
Tricks Tricks:
$1:
Scape Scape:
That will give you an overview of the last 100 years of History, as told by Russian Dictators to their people. They truly believe Putin is right, because that is the narrative they have been fed. Putin has done everything from controlling the media and even creating a mirror internet to make sure his message is the one people read.
I have no doubt there is a portion of the population with enough brain worms that they follow him without question. We see it in the U.S. regarding Trump. But that doesn't explain away Germany, and other EU countries, insisting on making itself reliant on Russian Energy.
I'm also sure that the fear that Fukushima put into Germany to get rid of their nuclear power, also was played upon by Russia to get Germany and Europe more dependent on Russian energy. That is the point of the Nordstream 2 pipe, to make Russia less reliant on Ukraine, leaving them open to annexation.
The faster we move to renewables, the less hold Russia has.
Tricks Tricks:
And again, this goes beyond Russia. We need to stop our reliance on China too. We saw the mistake that was during the pandemic. I'm not saying be isolationist. I'm saying do business with people who when push comes to shove, aren't going to whole sale murder a group of people because of a label.
And Saudi. And dictators in general. Most dictators only keep hold because of trade with the West.