The Ukraine Situation

Thanks for posting the link Steve. I had wondered if they had changed the UN Charter regarding voting in the UN Security Council which is the only vote that counts. The General Assemble can vote whatever it wants and no real action is taken. It still takes a unanimous vote in the UN Security Council for the UN to go to war.

There is a way around it but Russia and China are not boycotting the UN Security Council now to make the even possible.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/educat...-nations-korea

Bob

Well this is interesting, multiple sources

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...edium=referral

That is a shift for them, I am also seeing that Finland is thinking about sending arms

It seems the Europeans are finally waking up. Germany is reconsidering the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and building up their military spending.

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Both World Wars were escalated by treaties with "All for One" clauses like Article 5, I would like to think we have learned from the past..

It is quite apparent that we haven't ..

The USA is war weary, other than the Washington Elites, I haven't heard one person on either side of the aisle call for US troop involvement.
Personally, yes I want to help, but I don't think the USA or NATO is in any position to get involved right now..

2/3 of NATO haven't paid what they owe in years, perhaps this might incentivize them..
Sweden and Finland were warned about joining NATO, but they also have pretty capable forces that would really help bolster NATO and deter Putin if they joined..

Russian Federation's foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said yesterday: "Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries and their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and face some military and political consequences."

Looking at a map you can see why that is a fear for Russia, the Baltic is easily choked off, BTW can somebody explain Kallingrad to me ?? I don't get that arraignment at all. Yes I already searched it and read but it still makes no sense..

Although I have zero proof my opinion is that Ukraine was denied NATO membership because everyone felt this was coming, the opposite was also a possibility that NATO membership might have stayed Putin's hand.. It is also my understanding that Ukraine deployed troops to Afghanistan with NATO, how does that work ???
We won't really know until Putin threatens a NATO country ..
My biggest fear right now is the Media Talking Heads mentioning that, "Cyber-Attacks" could trigger Article 5, talk like that worries me ...


I admire the Ukrainian people and their spirit to fight, but I fear for innocent lives, not sure if you have seen and heard the vid of the Russian APC crushing a fleeing Ukrainian car, that is pretty shocking as to how brutal war is ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCBaH1Pjywc


My understanding is the civilian in the car survived as of now

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Kaliningrad is the Westernmost city in Russia and is sandwiched between two other countries, as I recall Poland and one of the Baltic republics. It is cut off from Russia proper and you have to go through one of these countries to get to the rest of Russia. However it is part of Russia with mostly Russians residing there and administered by Russia. As I recall travel documents are issued to folks who need to travel back and forth. It's all a WWll thing with treaties and all that.

It's kind of like if Boise was part of Canada but you had to travel through the U.S to get there and back.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Kaliningrad is the Westernmost city in Russia and is sandwiched between two other countries, as I recall Poland and one of the Baltic republics. It is cut off from Russia proper and you have to go through one of these countries to get to the rest of Russia. However it is part of Russia with mostly Russians residing there and administered by Russia. As I recall travel documents are issued to folks who need to travel back and forth. It's all a WWll thing with treaties and all that.

It's kind of like if Boise was part of Canada but you had to travel through the U.S to get there and back.

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Like I said I searched it and I read all that, I guess my question really is why is it still open,, But I guess that would be too provocative to shut it down

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

It's kind of like if Boise was part of Canada but you had to travel through the U.S to get there and back.

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This a better example and it does exist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle

Bob

it's a big and very prosperous city and the biggest port on that sea. That's reason enough.

I get the Boise being part of Canada analogy, it makes a lot of sense.

What about West Berlin, there was a time not that long ago when Berlin was firmly inside East Germany and there was a Motorway with a fence on each side of it to get there (Berlin Corridor).

One of the reasons that Canada is not keen on Quebec separating is that it would cut the country in half. A passport to go from Ontario to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia maybe?

For Russia, the obvious prequel solution would have been to....


join NATO.

Seriously I am afraid we are going to get sucked into this one quite deeply. Putin is obviously losing his marbles. I think we have a new Hitler out there, at least the expansionist, "Liebensraum" part. Is it any different from "manifest destiny"? I like to think that by now the world has learned that it is wrong to expand one's borders at the expense of another country.

Ukraine is NOT a NATO member and we have no legal obligation to come to their aid, nor does NATO. However I do believe that Putin needs to be stopped, and territorial gains rolled back to where the borders were at the time of the breakup of the USSR. Ukraine ought to be an independent nation and able to determine its own destiny without being invaded and punished or even annexed by another country. Ukraine is at least nominally a democracy, and the installation of a pro Russian puppet government would be a terrible thing to happen. And if it can happen to Ukraine, it can happen to other countries. NATO is not as cohesive as it was pre-Reagan. Article 5 had very strong and sharp teeth, back then. I am afraid that smaller countries could be rolled up by the Russian expansionist juggernaut while NATO tries half hearted measures and the US waffles on engaging directly in a European war.

One thing you can be sure of, though. Big business thrives in a war. Buy NASDAQ ETF's and futures, that's all I will say.

It is what it is. Does that give Mexico a right to want it back?

Well it would be fun to see them try