05-18-2024, 09:38 PM
vision63 wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
[quote=special]
Poland and Finland? I would think they would go after the 3 Baltic countries first.
I'm certainly no expert, but I think overtaking the Baltic states doesn't really give them much advantage. Getting Poland and Finland squeezes the Baltic states into a vice to be dealt with sooner or later, and more importantly Russian ends up adjacent to NATO countries.
I'd like to see Russia try to touch a Baltic state. It would accelerate Putin's absolute demise. I'm not the anti-war guy everybody else is. Russia is losing hundreds of troops a day now. That would turn in thousands overnight. Russians would quickly get rid of Putin themselves.
Yeah, I think this is mostly bluster. Knock off Ukraine and then use the fear to get "the West" to leverage whatever concessions he can and then lay low and prepare conditions for the next taking back of whatever historical era of the mother nation his imperialistic impulses leads him. After a bruising war with Ukraine, even if he "wins", I don't think he will want to try to take on NATO for a bit - unless Trump becomes president.
I wonder, though, if this rhetoric from Russia could end up being somewhat counterproductive. It seems plausible that this rhetoric could lead to greater military aid to Ukraine - I mean if Western Europe thinks Putin is going to come for them anyway, why not take him on more strongly in Ukraine? What's to lose?