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A 'wolfsangel' is not a Nazi symbol

The Baltics joined NATO and it has been peaceful here ever since. Anyone that thinks joining NATO is some kind of aggression is bonkers, it's a defensive pact plain and simple.
 
I disagree.

And, I don't believe US administrations were brought up at all, so I don't know why the current administration and their supporting policy has anything to do with what's been discussed so far.


"The possibility that NATO enlargement—particularly but not exclusively to Ukraine—helped cause the Russia-Ukraine conflict, instead suggesting without quite saying that homegrown Russian “imperialism” is to blame. In turn, you call for the alliance to admit Ukraine once the conflict ends. I don’t think either this diagnosis of the war’s origins or the recommendation for NATO policy going forward is quite right.

For sure, Russian imperialism is a driver of Russian behavior. Still, whereas you present Russia’s imperial impulse as a better explanation for its invasion of Ukraine than NATO enlargement, I see these as complementary. Russian leaders and many Western analysts warned from the 1990s onward that NATO enlargement would inflame Russian nationalism and imperil East-West relations. Correlation is not causation, but it is striking that what former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and others warned about is exactly what has happened. Put another way, Russian nationalism and imperialism did not develop in a vacuum. By providing nationalists such as President Vladimir Putin with a cause and challenging Russian claims to influence in its near abroad, NATO enlargement shaped the thuggish Russian nationalism we see today. Further NATO enlargement to Ukraine promises to reinforce the situation by playing into the basest of Russian identity." -
Joshua Shifrinson
Of course you disagree, you might as well be a bought-and-paid-for Russian shill at this point. I see no other possible way for someone to conclude that Russia is doing anything other than aggressive, revanchistic expansion.

I am glad you posted this quote though because it proves my point. The "basest of Russian identity" is that of aggressive military expansion. I don't know or care who this Joshua Shifrinson is but he has done a marvelous job of obfuscating reality. NATO was created, and continues to exist, because non-hostile actions by other nations will always be seen as antagonistic by the Russian psyche in order to internally justify their expansionist goals. The level of cognitive dissonance that exists in their mind is staggering. On one hand they are deathly afraid of being "invaded" but on the other they must push themselves ever closer to the very people who they believe wish to invade them. If this invasion was successful then Russia would just have another NATO member on their border : Romania.

You could argue that Russia's goal was not, and is not, to annex the entirety of Ukraine. Even if this were true it does not change the fact that, given a regime change, it would still be in Ukraine's national interest to pursue some way to prevent a future attack by Russia. The only other option for them would of course be to adopt a kind of relationship that Belarus has with Russia : one of master and servant. Since that is hardly a desirable outcome for any sovereign nation - being adopted by Belarus solely as a means to keep its dictator in power - this alternative isn't one at all.
 
For symbols those are Runes and Nordic symbols. Nazis just stole them and Far Right groups in Ukraine use them as well. Not all far right groups with runes are Nazis tho. People seem to forget more socially acceptable in the East for these symbols to be used especially in a military setting (Westerners collectively gasp in horror).

So I guess I’m not sure why anybody gives a shit about military symbols in a video game from a proxy war taking place half way across the world?

Meanwhile in Just the month of February we had almost 75 people on the terror watch list caught trying to enter America and those are the ones we caught. AZOVs spicy symbols aren’t really all that important.
 
Do you enjoy reiterating what other people say in a different manner? That is exactly what OKNewPlan just said. The Russian Federation is the successor to the Soviet Union.
Yes, but if this can soak into your water logged brain... one's defenses are another's aggression. As useless as NATO is, it was established with good intentions go defend against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union sees this as an act of aggression towards itself hence seeing NATOs continue advancement to the East amongst its borders to being a hostile act.
 

-bZ-LongTrang1

-bZ- Member
Donator
"The possibility that NATO enlargement—particularly but not exclusively to Ukraine—helped cause the Russia-Ukraine conflict, instead suggesting without quite saying that homegrown Russian “imperialism” is to blame. In turn, you call for the alliance to admit Ukraine once the conflict ends. I don’t think either this diagnosis of the war’s origins or the recommendation for NATO policy going forward is quite right.

For sure, Russian imperialism is a driver of Russian behavior. Still, whereas you present Russia’s imperial impulse as a better explanation for its invasion of Ukraine than NATO enlargement, I see these as complementary. Russian leaders and many Western analysts warned from the 1990s onward that NATO enlargement would inflame Russian nationalism and imperil East-West relations. Correlation is not causation, but it is striking that what former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and others warned about is exactly what has happened. Put another way, Russian nationalism and imperialism did not develop in a vacuum. By providing nationalists such as President Vladimir Putin with a cause and challenging Russian claims to influence in its near abroad, NATO enlargement shaped the thuggish Russian nationalism we see today. Further NATO enlargement to Ukraine promises to reinforce the situation by playing into the basest of Russian identity." -
Joshua Shifrinson

Let me respond to this with an image:

Russia.jpg
 

-bZ-LongTrang1

-bZ- Member
Donator
Nyet. NATO was originally formed to provide security against the Soviet Union.

NATO served multiple purposes. Lord Ismay said it best about NATO that it had been created to:

“keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

NATO also served to prevent any member states from reverting to or adopting authoritarianism (and is falling short in this regard lately).

NATO also prevents conflict between its member states. For instance, Germany, Britain, and France haven't gone to war with each other in eighty years. This is the longest those three countries have gone without armed conflict between them in centuries.
 

Firedoc

-bZ- Member
Donator
Please if you are going to cite Wikipedia don't it just makes you look silly.

If you want to know and cite the true motivations and the relevance of NATO I suggest going here and read up: https://www.nato.int/
 
NATO served multiple purposes. Lord Ismay said it best about NATO that it had been created to:

“keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

NATO also served to prevent any member states from reverting to or adopting authoritarianism (and is falling short in this regard lately).

NATO also prevents conflict between its member states. For instance, Germany, Britain, and France haven't gone to war with each other in eighty years. This is the longest those three countries have gone without armed conflict between them in centuries.
If you think NATO is still a good thing, ya is goofy. It started off good, sure. But it has since outgrown its usefulness.

The reason Germany, Britain, and France haven't gone to war with each other is because they're happy that America has been protecting them since then aaaaaand footing the bill :).
 
Yes, but if this can soak into your water logged brain... one's defenses are another's aggression. As useless as NATO is, it was established with good intentions go defend against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union sees this as an act of aggression towards itself hence seeing NATOs continue advancement to the East amongst its borders to being a hostile act.
If Russia wasn't so keen on being an aggressive warmongering state to its neighbors then perhaps these countries wouldn't feel the need to join a defensive alliance. Russia invaded Georgia and the world did nothing. Russia then invaded Ukraine in 2014 and annexed its territory and the world still did nothing. Now that Russia is invading Ukraine again the world finally decided that enough is enough.

Unfortunately Ukraine is still too much of a shit-show to actually accomplish retaking their stolen territory and the US and NATO are being a bunch of pussies and refusing to actively get involved because they fear Russia's expired nuclear arsenal. I'd bet that the majority of their arsenal doesn't even work. Combine that with the US' anti-missile technology and I would absolutely be willing to call their bluff. Maybe New York or Washington DC gets vaporized in the process but it's a gamble I am willing to take. Think of it : a world where the Russian Bear is finally relegated to being a minor attraction in a sub-standard zoo. Just turn the rest of Russia into a gas station and bordello since that's all they'd be good for after it's over.
 
The reason Germany, Britain, and France haven't gone to war with each other is because they're happy that America has been protecting them since then aaaaaand footing the bill :).
At least I agree with you here. Britain's Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self with its only redeeming feature being the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Germany is a neutered dog, although that is probably by design ; best that German autism be spent towards manufacturing heavy machinery I guess. France is marginally better than Britain and Germany but they suffer from being intractably French.
 
If you think NATO is still a good thing, ya is goofy. It started off good, sure. But it has since outgrown its usefulness.
It never ceases to amaze me how many brainwashed domestic Americans think this is true.
I guess Finland and Sweden recently broke decades of foreign policy neutralism because NATO is so useless.
 
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It never ceases to amaze me how many brainwashed domestic Americans think this is true.
I guess Finland and Sweden recently broke decades of foreign policy neutralism because NATO is so useless.
No, just an American. And yes, it's bad. I'd say borderline useless but every other country in NATO benefits from it except the US and it's just an obsolete union of other shitter countries.
 
No, just an American. And yes, it's bad. I'd say borderline useless but every other country in NATO benefits from it except the US and it's just an obsolete union of other shitter countries.
NATO is a relic of a bygone era, this is true. If I had my way the US would retreat from much of the world and stop being the world's police. Lord knows that the countries that benefit from us ( aka all of them ) don't appreciate the Pax Americana.

Unfortunately I don't have my way so the reality is that the US is going to remain the policeman. However since I don't like half measures if the US is going to do this then we need to do it completely. No pussy-footing around with things. If other countries step out of line then they need to be put back in their place forcefully. This includes Russia so NATO - primarily having stood as a bulwark against Russia for nearly five decades already - must continue to remain an important part of that.
 
No, just an American. And yes, it's bad. I'd say borderline useless but every other country in NATO benefits from it except the US and it's just an obsolete union of other shitter countries.
I wonder where the Pearl Harbor sequel will be in order for USA to re-learn the same lesson again.
 
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