""War May Be Necessary": Russian Lawmakers Push For" Topic

… Donbass Independence Recognition

"The speaker of the Russian State Duma is calling for parliamentary consultations over the question of the status of the Donbass region of Ukraine.

In a move the West would without doubt see as a huge political provocation, there's a push among pro-Kremlin lawmakers to formally recognize the independence of the war-torn, Russian speaking region from Ukraine…"

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Armand

I wonder which Russian cities or regions we should consider freeing as well?

Kaliningrad.

Sabre rattling, posturing, etc., until the shoot'n starts. But I don't think that is going to happen.

So, Putin's puppets back him up and that's news?

I can't believe we are even negotiating with him, AND apparently if reports are correct, agreeing to respond to his concerns in writing.

Much like a child (Kim Jong Il for example), he should just be ignored, and punished if he acts out too badly.

Much better to ignore him, treat him like the irrelevant pariah he should be, and deal with him harshly when and if he does something stupid, like invading and seizing Crimea, supporting rebels in Ukraine, etc., etc..

He'd hate that, which is the point.

Why even acknowledge him as a player on the world stage?

Glup!

Armand

Would somebody please give Putin a Snickers Bar.

Thresher…because Russia IS a player. World stage can be debated, but it is THE major player in its region.

Putin is no child. He is clever and calculating, more so than any of our leaders.

Ignoring Russia is not an option. Most of Central and Eastern Europe rely on Russian gas supplies for their energy. If Russia wanted to turn off the tap for any reason it would be catastrophic. So treating Russia "harshly" isn't so simple…

Most Europe is dependend, but especially one of the most important economy in the world, that of Germany (almost half of its natural gas comes from Russia, also see now the project Nord Stream and mostly diplomatic tone it has amidst NATO-Russia crisis, in contrast to other countries).

Central Europe including Poland recently lowered dependance on Russian gas a lot (Gasoport, Krk, Baltic Pipe). The Germany raised that depedance (NS, NS2, killing nuclear energy).

And it not Kaliningrad, it is Królewiec. Get used to this name.

Would somebody please give Putin a Snickers Bar.

Send bags full !

Russia is pretty irrelevant, economically, with a smaller GDP than France, Italy, the UK, Korea, and even Canada, AND the state of California.

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The only reason they are relevant is that they still have a lot of nukes left over from the Cold War, as well as aircraft, tanks, artillery, etc., and energy resources.

Militarily, they are quite powerful since most of Europe has unilaterally disarmed after the end of the Cold War.

I agree, Putin is very smart, ruthless, tough, and crafty. One does need to begrudgingly admire him for that, since most of the West's "leaders" are so weak and literally dumb, by comparison. A sad state for democracies around the globe, but a fact nonetheless.

Putin plays a bad hand well…

Apparently there has also been debate about using a limited nuclear strikes on Europe to warn us off because we wouldn't escalate over a couple of cities…! Granted it seems to have been the nuttier wing of Russian politics, but scary these idiots would even publicly discuss such a tactic.

IMO sooner or later constantly telling your population there is extensional threat, which doesn't exist, is going to work out badly. Human nature unfortunately would indicate that the true ending of the Boy Who Cried Wolf is that the villagers pre-emptively go out and kill all the Wolves.

Thresher wrote:
I agree, Putin is very smart, ruthless, tough, and crafty. One does need to begrudgingly admire him for that, since most of the West's "leaders" are so weak and literally dumb, by comparison

I don´t consider Macron (France) or Scholz (Germany) weak or dumb. Russia should improve its economy by trading, not bullying its neighbours. If he tries to gain some acres of soil by invading Ukraine, he is dumb. Plan dumb.

I don´t consider Macron (France) or Scholz (Germany) weak or dumb.

But they don't "wield the power, etc.", that the USA use to. Plus Germany wants the pipeline deal to go thru.

As I have said, I still don't think he will invade. He knows how costly that would be. And to what end ?

The problem about thinking how costly it will be for Russia is that in Europe France & UK tought the same for Hitler and Danzig (now Gdansk): "He'll be a fool to make war for a single city!" With these ambitious dictators the fact is that they don't have to answer to their electors, don't have ANY respect for the international laws, and above all they thinks of us as a weak willed people. Ther's a frightful similarity in these times with the '70s, when, after the 'Nam,Russia's behaviour worstened, with a lot of "liberation" wars surging in the world, only that nowadays there are TWO dangerous foes,Russia AND China.

Again, both Putin & Xi are apex predators … the smell blood in the water.

Gdansk was not good for the health of Mr Hitler AFAIR.
The only danger to Putin are economic sanctions which would pi§§ off tthe ultra rich in his country.

I am still confused by the calmness of the ukrainian leaders, there is much less talk about war than expected. And they welcome talks in the "Normandie" frame.

They are preparing for war … but like me, they are pretty sure it won't happen. For a number of reasons … IMO …