They can’t manage Ukraine, are in dire economic straits, are scraping the bottom of the barrel for manpower …
Putin doesn’t care about all this. Lavrov and the other sycophants are hailing their leader for whatever he does (maybe he really thinks that things go well in Russia). Putin is indifferent about the economic strain of ordinary Russians, he will drink their blood, and doesn’t care about the soldiers in the meat grinder.
There is no “Russia threat rhetoric.” There is a Russia threat.
So the threat is Putin is a psychopath (no argument) and might do something batshit crazy before someone finally throws him out a window? While that may be valid, not sure it justifies billions on war machinery, or even the media frenzy recently. I wonder about ulterior motives, perhaps a media push to support right wing politics?
IMO it definitely doesn’t justify spending billions on war machinery. Especially because the countries just use the military spending to fuel growth of domestic arms companies. They could learn a lot from Ukraine about how to spend on defence with limited resources, but prefer to just throw obscene amounts of money on their MIC.
But if you start to depend on arms manufacturing for your GDP goals, you are bound for more war in the future. Spending on defence quickly becomes an end in itself… So if there was a political will to provide an off ramp for Putin to end this war, both sides would have to come to an agreement which provides mutual economic benefit. This is not happening although it’s hard to imagine any way for Ukraine and Europe to win the war militarily in the near future. Instead Ukraines population (like Russias) is slaughtered, its infrastructure obliterated, with no promising outlook for the future whatsoever…
I really don’t understand why Europe doesn’t push Ukraine to give up territory to secure a future for its people. Yes, Putins war is unjust, violates international law, but the human cost is so enormous… Someone has to put an end to this madness. And now the rest of Europe must suffer too because expenses for health, social security, education, mobility, etc. etc. are reduced to spend more money on defence. It’s irresponsible and stupid.
Putin doesn’t care about all this. Lavrov and the other sycophants are hailing their leader for whatever he does (maybe he really thinks that things go well in Russia). Putin is indifferent about the economic strain of ordinary Russians, he will drink their blood, and doesn’t care about the soldiers in the meat grinder.
There is no “Russia threat rhetoric.” There is a Russia threat.
So the threat is Putin is a psychopath (no argument) and might do something batshit crazy before someone finally throws him out a window? While that may be valid, not sure it justifies billions on war machinery, or even the media frenzy recently. I wonder about ulterior motives, perhaps a media push to support right wing politics?
IMO it definitely doesn’t justify spending billions on war machinery. Especially because the countries just use the military spending to fuel growth of domestic arms companies. They could learn a lot from Ukraine about how to spend on defence with limited resources, but prefer to just throw obscene amounts of money on their MIC.
But if you start to depend on arms manufacturing for your GDP goals, you are bound for more war in the future. Spending on defence quickly becomes an end in itself… So if there was a political will to provide an off ramp for Putin to end this war, both sides would have to come to an agreement which provides mutual economic benefit. This is not happening although it’s hard to imagine any way for Ukraine and Europe to win the war militarily in the near future. Instead Ukraines population (like Russias) is slaughtered, its infrastructure obliterated, with no promising outlook for the future whatsoever…
I really don’t understand why Europe doesn’t push Ukraine to give up territory to secure a future for its people. Yes, Putins war is unjust, violates international law, but the human cost is so enormous… Someone has to put an end to this madness. And now the rest of Europe must suffer too because expenses for health, social security, education, mobility, etc. etc. are reduced to spend more money on defence. It’s irresponsible and stupid.
If you think surrendering territory would put an end to it, you’re an absolute fool. It would do the opposite.
deleted by creator
No, it’s about preparing for Russian aggression.