Monday, December 6, 2021

Putin Makes the Case For NATO's Existence

Russia has been massing troops and equipment on the Ukranian border for months.

Putin, very much like a certain German leader 84 years ago, does not repect the territory of his country's neighbors. He has shown no compunction about using military force to conquer adjoining territory.

One thing seems counterproductive: Both Putin and his asset, The Orange Menace, tried to cripple NATO. His involuntarily-retired asset said that NATO was obsolete. But Putin, by his conduct, has been showing that the Western military alliance is indeed very relevant. Putin has been also making the case for other European nations to ramp up their military spending and to not cooperate with Russia.

Sad to say, this may also result in dismantling and deorbiting the ISS.

11 comments:

  1. I'd venture there's even odds won't have to dismantle the ISS, there's enough debris in that cloud to knock it out of orbit. It would be some point on the planet's good fortune if it goes the other way, but that's pretty unlikely.

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  2. NASA has been looking into "commercial alternatives" to the ISS for a while now, and even granting some money for designs and working prototypes. Russia has been sour on the ISS ever since they were no longer the only ride there and back.

    -Doug in Sugar Pine

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  3. " Sad to say, this may also result in dismantling and deorbiting the ISS. "

    Hopefully, a careful dismantling / de-orbiting, rather than yet another demonstration of Putin's disregard for pretty much every other space-faring country.

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  4. Ars Technica article on alternative space stations...NASA announced grants for three different ones...but Congress hasn't yet funded them

    https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/12/nasa-sets-sail-into-a-promising-but-perilous-future-of-private-space-stations/

    Putin is the grand Poohbah of a disintegrating Russia; he has total power over everyone and everything...but it's all a collapsing failed kleptocratic state. Like Trump, he cannot bring his country to vibrant health...so he is considering a "short victorious war" to distract the Russian peoiple from the hellhold Russia has become.

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  5. NATO member countries were not contributing, letting the US keep things working...essentially hiding behind the USA's skirts while they spent the NATO funds on Social Programs. All Trump wanted was for the NATO members to actually live up to their commitments.
    At least get your facts straight when spewing TDS hatred.

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  6. Trump said NATO was obsolete. That is a fact. Your utter love for him blinds you.

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  7. B
    You're wrong. The kick on the euros is the quite small GDP percentage they spend on their militaries. Which needs to change in order to confront ramshackle and reduced but still large enough and nuke armed Russian forces playing the same old game. Putin knows that without oil revenue his goose is cooked. Better grab some lebensraum while all that old commie cold war ordnance still works.

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  8. Trump said that NATO was obsolete because it didn’t protect against terrorist attacks, which of course is the primary mission of all transnational military alliances, big and small. /s

    LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.

    “I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-nato-obsolete/trump-says-nato-is-obsolete-but-still-very-important-to-me-idUSKBN14Z0YO

    B, was the Orange Guy misquoted? Or is Reuters just another liberal-biased news service because it quoted him accurate?

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  9. So saying NATO is obsolete because it doesn't fight terror somehow makes him want to dismantle it? IIRC, he was pushing the Euros to actually fund NATO as per treaty.

    Now I see. You folks can't think, only Feelz. You apparently jump to conclusions based on innuendo, rather than fact, and think that your hatred of an elected leader gives you leave to impute things that are unsupported by facts and often just aren't true.
    But I guess when you depend on others to tell you how to think then that is how you live your life.


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  10. B 12/07/2021 5:33 PM
    So saying NATO is obsolete because it doesn't fight terror somehow makes him want to dismantle it?


    That’s the excuse Trump gave. Or do you believe he was misquoted in some way?

    IIRC, he was pushing the Euros to actually fund NATO as per treaty.

    Yes, he also gave that excuse, but is it in fact backed up by the facts? IIRC, it was based on a
    misunderstanding of how NATO is actually funded. You might want to research your assertion here.

    Now I see. You folks can't think, only Feelz.

    Yes, yes, you’ve finally found us out. Using the facts and logical reasoning, we are using them as
    cover for what our feelings tell us to do.

    Gotta say, for an American, you’re diabolically clever.

    https://youtu.be/CyBcHUe4WeQ

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  11. Dear, dear B, lets consider this a little. Trump wanted increased NATO contributions to reduce US funding. He wanted the reduced US defense funding to allow tax cuts. Ergo, Donnie believes that tax cuts prevent terrorism? I guess that means that if NATO increased funding it would increase terrorism, thus if Donnie was being logical, he would have demanded NATO spend nothing??

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