Posted on 03/04/2022 1:06:26 PM PST by Meet the New Boss
The Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted from two immense strategic blunders, Robert Service says....
It rankles Mr. Putin that Ukraine would seek to join the West—and not merely because he wants it as a satellite state. He also “can’t afford to allow life to a neighboring Slav state which has even a smidgen of democratic development. His Russian people might get dangerous ideas.”...
Mr. Service says the key to understanding Mr. Putin is his adamant belief that Russia is “a great global power” and that the Russian sphere of influence should extend to as many of the former Soviet republics as possible: “There’s no state that’s more important to him than Ukraine.”...
In Mr. Putin’s view, according to Mr. Service, Lenin committed a primordial sin in 1922 when the Soviet Constitution set up a federation of republics with their own boundaries within the Soviet Union. “This made possible the breakup of the U.S.S.R. into separate independent states in 1991,” Mr. Service says. Mr. Putin, like Stalin—who fell out with Lenin over these constitutional arrangements—would have liked all these republics to have been merged into a Greater Russia, ruled from Moscow.
“Putin despises democracy,” Mr. Service says. “He believes in the right of the leadership to impose the authority of the state on society.” ...He also believes in the importance of the secret police as an adjunct of government. In this, Mr. Service points out, many of his methods are “reminiscent of the Soviet period,” even if his ideology isn’t.
Mr. Putin “sees himself messianically,” Mr. Service says—as a leader come to deliver Russia to its destiny.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Thanks
The more territory it conquers, the more it has to fear being attacked. Who knew, right?
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee ……
I can’t recommend that lecture by Mearsheimer enough.
“ 2. The election of Obama’s puppet in 2020.”
C’mon man.
Can we get a break?
“Putin despises democracy,” Mr. Service says. “He believes in the right of the leadership to impose the authority of the state on society.” ...He also believes in the importance of the secret police as an adjunct of government.“
Can you imagine? So he’s from DC?
“Putin despises democracy,” Mr. Service says. “He believes in the right of the leadership to impose the authority of the state on society.”
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Mr. Service’s point here is beyond dispute. And what’s also beyond dispute is that the Democrat Party in the USA has precisely the same belief. I believe it’s commonly referred to as TOTALITARIANISM!
Totalitarianism is a form of government and political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control and regulation over public and private life. Wikipedia
“The Two Blunders That Caused the Ukraine War”
1. The election of Obama in 2008.
2. The election of Obama’s puppet in 2020.
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Absolutely beyond question!
The Biden Administration keeps cheering on how painful their sanctions are. How Putin has nothing. If true and he has nothing else to lose wouldn't he set off a nuke? Earlier this week for 2 days every station said Putin had gone insane.
Seems a drone strike on someone so dangerous makes better sense.
So I don't know what or who to believe.
What’s the problem? Sounds just like our “democracy”.
= = =
Funny how we laud the Ukraine and Russian protestors demonstrating against Tyranny.
But denounce the Canadian Truckers the school board protesting moms, and even our own 1/6 prisoners.
As far as I can tell, there are no right or wrong sides in this conflict, just sides with different interests. I appreciate that Russia wants Ukraine to be friendly, and that Ukraine was a key invasion route used by the Nazis. At the same time, Ukraine was a key invasion route of Germany used by the Soviets. It is strategically located.
If I were advising Putin, I would encourage him to work on offering a carrot, instead of just a stick. Nobody in their right mind would, looking at Russian results, align with Russia over the EU. But, nobody in their right mind would align with the EU if Russia stopped their aggressive behavior. All Russia has to do to be a winner is to stop being a bully and provide a reasonable alternative to the EU.
This is all an epic shit-show, and as far as I can tell, the only winner is the arms industry. (As an aside, I love your books).
“Putin despises democracy,”
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Where we in the US love the veneer of “democracy”, but where all our laws are actually created and refined by courts (especially the Supreme Court) and executive orders.
But to be fair the government does allow “the people” to actually decide important issues like which counties are “wet” and “dry” was well as how many deer we can kill during hunting season...ya know...the really essential cultural issues.
At that time the nascent Kievan state was already fighting with the nascent Kingdom of Poland over the area around Lviv/Lwow.
Then the Mongol Empire obliterated the southern states in and around Kiev.
As the Mongol tide receded, Muscovy formed its own state but the western parts of the Kievan area wound up conquered by the Lithuanians (who joined with the Poles) while the eastern parts still were dominated by the Mongol successors, the Tartars.
The four centuries of Lithuanian and Polish control of the area from Kiev westward made the Ukrainians linguistically and culturally distinct from the Muscovites, while their prior history and Orthodoxy made them also distinct from most Poles and Lithuanians.
Poland itself disappeared during the partitions, by which time the Czechs had also lost any political autonomy under the Hapsburgs. If both the Poles and Czechs can have their own state, I don't see why the Ukrainians can't, despite whatever the latest Muscovite despot wants. By the early 19th century there were a lot of nationalisms without nations in Eastern Europe, including the Serbs, Greeks, Romanians and Bulgarians. To pretend they aren't "real" nations just because some former imperial master says so is nonsense.
“blunders”. Maybe miscalculations.
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I think your point is considered a type of logical fallacy commonly referred to as a distinction without a difference.
Obama was never eligible.
His getting into office required the assistance of the GOP to violate the Constitution.
His getting into office allowed for the complete corruption of every agency of our government and set up what they did to Trump.
And pitched on his head, pumped full of lead was Dangerous Dan McGrew.
Today that would be Dangerous Vlad Putin.
Russia ahs been invaded twice in the past 200 years from the West. In the same time frame it has attacked its western or southern neighbors at least 25 times.
Who has reason to be afraid of whom?
“The two blunders that caused the Ukraine War”
This is just a guess you understand but my two choices would be.
OBUNGHOLE and BRAINDEAD!
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