The British standard of living has risen since the British gave their colonies their independence. I have read that what the British were getting from their colonies financially was less than it cost to administer and occupy them.

The Russians should have learned from their last effort at empire building. The Warsaw Pact was not a defensive alliance of like minded countries united by socialist solidarity. It was an empire conquered in war and held together by force. As soon as Mikhail Gorbachev indicated that Russian soldiers would no longer shoot at demonstrators Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe fell. The Eastern European countries adopted democratic governments. The electorates voted to join NATO.

It is not acceptable for Russia to invade a country because Russians think at some time in the future another country will invade through that country. NATO is a defensive alliance. NATO countries have no intention of invading Russia.

In saying that I am reminded of our own War in Vietnam. Vietnam was unimportant to our security and out economy. Dwight Eisenhower in his memoirs estimated that as many as 80% of the Vietnamese supported Ho Chi Minh. We should have left Vietnam alone. Nevertheless, it was possible to protest against that war. Millions of Americans, including me, did. It is not possible for Russians to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

Sweden and Finland to join NATO as quickly as possible.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ts-objections-to-finland-and-swedens-nato-bid

Thinskin

 

Putin wants less NATO. He is getting more NATO.

 

Ukrainian citizens support accession to EU and NATO - poll
Interfax, July 1, 2022

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - Ukrainian citizens are demonstrating unanimity as regards their expectations about accession to the European Union and NATO, according to the finding of a public opinion survey conducted by the National Democratic Institute and the Kyiv National Institute of Sociology.

"Ninety percent of respondents at the national level want Ukraine to become a member of the European Union. The lowest level of support was at 84% in the east and south of the country. The majority of respondents - 73% at the national level - back [Ukraine's] accession to NATO," the Ukrainian media said, citing the poll results, which were published on Friday.

Furthermore, 87% of respondents expressed optimism over Ukraine's future.

"The Ukrainians are committed to the country's democratic development, and 94% of respondents note that a full-fledged functioning democracy is important to them," the poll results show.

https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/80862/

Way to go, Putin. You really stepped in it this time. I do not think your grotesquely fat general will turn the situation around for you.

 

Finland and Sweden.



Thinskin

 

...FUCK RUSSIA...

FUCK UKRAINE...

...and most of all...FUCK NATO.

 

With its War in Ukraine Russia is in much the same situation we were in during our War in Vietnam. President Eisenhower estimated in his memoirs that as many as 80% of the Vietnamese supported Ho Chi Minh. The Russians had the sense to avoid sending in ground troops to fight American forces. They did ship weapons to North Vietnam. Eventually those weapons and other Soviet support, enabled the Vietnamese Communists to defeat us.

The vast majority of the Ukrainians have made it clear that they do not want to be conquered by Russia. As long as they want our weapons I think we should give them weapons.

I do think that the war should be restricted to Ukraine. During the War in Korea Gen. MacArthur wanted to bomb Communist China, but President Truman did not let him, and eventually fired him.

 

FUCK HIM AND THE COUNTRY UKRAINE.

 

Iran, Russia, China To Run War Drills in Latin America

Iran, Russia, and China are gearing up to run a series of major war drills in Latin America in a show of force meant to signal how these militaries can reach the United States.

Venezuela, under the leadership of anti-U.S. socialist president Nicolás Maduro, is scheduled to host the war games in mid-August, according to a report by the Center for a Secure Free Society, a think tank that tracks malign regimes. Along with 10 other nations, Russia, China, and Iran will move their militaries into the Western Hemisphere for war drills that will "preposition forward-deployed military assets in Latin America and the Caribbean."

The war games, known as the Sniper Frontier competition, show that these malign regime from across the globe are uniting and "getting ready to make a loud statement that the region is ready to embrace the multipolar force," according to the think-tank report, which focuses on Latin America's embrace of authoritarian regimes. A key portion of Russia's "military is prepping to bring, for the first time, some of these military games to the Western Hemisphere"—even as Moscow is bogged down with war in Ukraine.

The war drills are one of the starkest signs to date that Latin America's coalition of anti-U.S. regimes is working to boost relations with Russia, China, and Iran. Maduro recently wrapped up a diplomatic tour of the Middle East in which he inked a 20-year strategic deal with Iran that laid the groundwork for an Iranian oil tanker to dock in Venezuela and offload Tehran's illicit crude. "The strategic deal between Iran and Venezuela is meant to mirror similar strategic agreements that the Islamic Republic signed with China and Russia in recent years," according to the think-tank report. Latin American regimes also are inking military pacts with Russia.

"Russia and its allies Iran and China are about to make a major show of force with the army games competition in August in Venezuela. But it's important to understand that this force is molded by cyber-enabled, digital disinformation that is at the heart of how this kind of joint military exercise is used to legitimize authoritarian states and delegitimize democracies in the Western Hemisphere," Joseph Humire, a national security analyst and executive director of the think tank, told the Washington Free Beacon. "By normalizing military movements of U.S. adversaries in the Caribbean, we run the risk of weakening the moral legitimacy of democracies in Latin America."

There are also signs that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the country's paramilitary fighting force, is boosting its presence in Latin America.


In early June, a Venezuela cargo plane flying in the region "was discovered to have members of the Qods Force, the elite unit of Iran's revolutionary guards, on board," according to the think-tank report. "Gholamreza Ghasemi, a known weapons trafficker for the IRGC and manager of Qeshm Fars Air, was piloting the Boeing 747-300M that returned to Buenos Aires along with 4 other Iranian nationals and 14 Venezuelans."

After the plane was grounded, "documents, personnel effects, and electronics were seized by Argentine authorities who discovered images of tanks, missiles, and other pro-IRGC paraphernalia on one of the mobile devices," hinting at a larger Iranian-backed plot unfolding in the region.

Ghasemi reportedly made at least 13 trips from Iran to Venezuela in the past year and a half, raising red flags with the FBI and the Israeli government.

As Iran and Venezuela increase their military and economic ties, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega—an ally of Venezuela's Maduro—renewed a military pact with Russia "authorizing Russian troops, planes, and ships to patrol the Central American country's borders and conduct joint military training exercises," according to the report. The military agreement was signed amid Russia's war with Ukraine, indicating that a presence in Latin America remains a priority for Moscow even as it faces pressure on its own borders.

Russia has been waging covert espionage operations in Latin America. An accused Russian GRU military intelligence agent was recently caught trying to obtain an internship at the International Criminal Court. The spy "had been cultivating his cover as a Brazilian national for years and may not have been working alone," according to the think-tank reports.

 

Jordan Peterson drops the Mike on this subject.

 

fuck for ecology (fake pic)

 

I have a better idea. Go away and leave us alone. You never contribute anything to discussions here but irritable attitudes and obscene words.

 

Aces is as welcome here as any of your lamebrain friends and, for that matter, you dog.
He contributes far more than most of your friends at least.

 

Is full of shit...

 

After listening to this for about fifteen minutes I turned it off in disgust because of Jordan Peterson's arrogant personality and his defeatism. After acknowledging that Putin is an evil tyrant, Peterson seemed to think that we should let Russia conquer Ukraine anyway because Putin very badly wants to conquer Ukraine. Well, it seems to me that Ukraine very badly does not want to be conquered.

If this talk is really valuable, BigSuzyB, tell us what Peterson says in your own words. If you cannot do that you do not understand yourself.

 

You probably think they would not dare be doing that if Trump was still president.

 

If they want to protect Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from an American invasion, that is fine with me, because we do not intend to invade those countries.