Sounds like the mineral deal got done today and it’s pretty beneficial for Ukraine. Hopefully a first step in supplying Ukraine aid so that Russia will come to the table and end the war.
I want to say there’s no way Russia does anything as colossally stupid as invading Finland, but I realized I now live in a world where you can’t say “nobody would be stupid enough to….”
Unless Putin is expecting help from a real power that I wont name. This show of aggression seems monumentally stupid
I have lived in and traveled to Finland for 30 years. My closest friend’s family lost land to the Soviet Union in WW2. I had Christmas dinner in Finland with another grandparent years ago that fought in ww2 and showed me pictures of the snow trenches while pointing to all of his army buddies. While crying. Because they all were killed by Russians and he was the only one that survived. My other friend was one of the first female fighter pilots in Finland. She’s great. There is no love lost. I promised my friends that if anything ever happened, I would return and fight Russians. But that was brave talk from a college kid with his Finnish buddies in a sauna. The reality is that the Finns, while relatively homogenous, have gotten a bit soft. Just like many of us. Yes they have mandatory service and technological advantages, but they would just prefer not to be fucked with and left alone. They wouldn’t want to fight. The question is, will they channel the strength from stories passed down by grandparents and great grandparents, or would the softeness of enjoying a western standard of living prevent them from a quick strike response to end things relatively quickly and/or do what needs to be done? Of course, part of me would love to find out. But I can’t imagine leaving my wife and kids to join in. Same for my Finnish friends.
Lots of Finns (or Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, etc. - wherever they choose next) would would die in a war with Russia. Particularly if the US sits out, which is looking more and more likely. Russia would likely use tactical nukes knowing a US-less NATO doesn't have the means to respond.
In general, ideology is the strongest motivational force. That ideology has been ingrained in stories spanning generations. While an attitude of “That’s great but it won’t happen to us” may have crept in, you can bet your ass they’ll spring into action should it occur. And the resolve will be strong, a la Ukraine (but better funded).
President T ended the war within the first 24 hours of his presidency completely in line with his campaign promises!!!!
Putin’s war timeline is on par with Bush’s “Iraq will be the start of democracy sweeping across the Middle East”. Not sure Vlad is 30 steps ahead like Fox News proclaimed.
the fuck they don’t- England and France absolutely have offensive nuclear capabilities. Enough to wipe Russia out with their own M.A.D. the thing not discussed is that the batch of countries mentioned above have gutted their militaries by giving their arms to Ukraine Poland is rearming but the timeline is long- the others have no plan or resources which is why NATO has forward deployed German, French, and British battalions to these countries Russia cannot fight Ukraine and a US less NATO at the same time- it would need to defeat Ukraine & Moldova in the next months to be able to even consider taking on Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, & Finland. Russia would need Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus to fight with them. (Serbia would likely do stupid shit in this scenario as well)
I’m shocked Russia could not make a spring / summer move knowing the us wouldn’t be there with arms shipments to UkR. It might be as revealing a development to me as the lack of immediate air superiority in the early days of the incursion
ehh Sinking of the Moscow was a bigger deal but this is pretty bad for Russia they have no ability to replace those planes