Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

I know we don't like it here on Boards but if he were to stand up in the UN and defend this Putin would have plenty of whataboutery and precedent to bring up.

Absolutely, I've done so many times.

Now everybody will have to pay a heavy price because Biden never heard what rat in the corner can do

The only positive for him is that it might improve his ratings

What are the practicalities of holding a country of 44 million, is it even possible? The amount of troops you would need to commit to such a task must be massive on top of defending your borders or even potentially continuing onto the balkans as has been suggested is his plan.

It's as much a canard as "Russia on the doorstep" that America was concerned about in 1962. So, while it won't serve as an bullet proof excuse for Russia's actions against the Ukraine, it's a legitimate concern and too simplistic to write off as a mere "canard". In fact, it's the only legit thing they've had to say on the matter.

As for Putin's expansionist desires, you'll get no argument from me on that. He's always been a threatening force in that regard, so none of this should come as an actual surprise really.

As to your last sentence, this is always the way when two states co-exist in an uneasy sphere and Ukrainian and Russian tensions go back a long, long, way. They've never had a particularly cosy relationship.

Learn the different between your and you’re, to and too and its and it’s

Gatling has been consistently posting high calibre stuff.

Ban him, ban him. Is that your response to losing the argument? (And ironically, I bet that you argue avidly for “freedom of speech”

This pledge by Putin to "Denazify" Ukraine is bizarre and genuinely scary stuff. Ukraine is the only country in the world apart from Israel that has a Jewish leader (who had relatives killed in the Holocaust). The two far-right candidates got less than 2% of the vote combined after 2014. The "Nazi" thing is entirely a fictional construct from the Kremlin.

The thread isn't about NATOs past though, you want to discuss that start a different thread and stop with the constant whataboutery

How about learning the difference between 'different' and 'difference' yourself?

Honestly I don't think a prosperous stable Russia,(that doesn't threaten it's neighbours ) had anything to fear from NATO - hell there's no boots on the ground response from NATO in Ukraine ,because they're not there .. and they've been invited ..

But Moscow doesn't want that sort of relationship with it's neighbours , it wants Ukraine and Belarus as buffer zones , if your going to leave scorched earth as you retreat to Moscow it's better if it's not Russian earth ..