2014-03-14, 21:58 | Link #321 | |
Cross Game - I need more
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma
Age: 44
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That's what I'm trying to say. Russia's position and influence in Ukraine was not under serious threat. Just be patient and wait a while and the tide would naturally turn back to Russia - even if the Ukraine successfully integrated with the EU, Russia would still have a more dominant position in the Ukraine then some distant nation like France. Heck, Russia might even have been able to take advantage of the situation- let the EU pay for Ukraine improvements until they fail. That way when Ukraine came back to Russia, Ukraine would need less money from Russia. Instead Putin has escalated the situation. Now Ukrainians are going to be hostile to Russia for a generation. Why? Because Russia invaded them. Like I said, this action in Ukraine put's Putin's short term advantage above Russia's long term interests. Some day Putin will be dead, but Russia is still going to have to live with his decisions. Is Putin really so weak that he couldn't absorb a short term loss in Ukraine influence? A loss that was obviously going to be reversed at some point (just as the Orange Revolution petered out and reversed in Russia's favor). Obama is almost as bad. He's made foreign policy decisions based on what he thinks will make him look good back home (like the current empty threats), and doesn't seem to care about the long term effects that will continue after his Presidency.
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2014-03-14, 22:09 | Link #322 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Russia says intercepted US drone over Crimea: arms group:
"A United States surveillance drone has been intercepted above the Ukranian region of Crimea, a Russian state arms and technology group said Friday." See: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-says-in...180430584.html |
2014-03-15, 03:28 | Link #323 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Moscow, RU
Age: 35
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2014-03-15, 08:55 | Link #324 | |
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
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Depending on how far Russia encroaches into the Ukraine, and how badly they trash the Ukrainian army, Poland might have to deal with the very real possibility of their border being within striking distance of Russian ground forces. And even if it was only a hypothetical worst case scenario, Poland still has to prepare/plan around a counter against it.
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2014-03-15, 09:12 | Link #325 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Moscow, RU
Age: 35
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2014-03-15, 17:05 | Link #327 |
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
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Kaliningrad Oblast is pretty small and isolated from Russia proper though, and by itself doesn't really represent a threat to Poland...it's also a highly productive economic region. The kind of military buildup needed to be a threat to Poland would risk having the fighting taking place in one of Russia's economic breadbaskets.
I guess that also brings up the question of how much Poland trusts NATO. It's an unlikely scenario, but I bet allot of Polish leaders aren't exactly enthralled with the track record of Western Europe coming to their defense.
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2014-03-15, 18:21 | Link #328 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
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That's the question. You know, like asking if Austria is worth defending when WW2 started. The Polish clearly don't want to risk the possibility that NATO would sacrifice them to save the planet. Appeasement happens; Poland remembered all too well how that worked when the Allies needed Stalin's help. When it comes to the crunch the Polish has no one but themselves to count on.
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2014-03-15, 20:43 | Link #329 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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U.S. Denies Claims of Drones Intercepted Over Crimea:
"Senior U.S. military and intelligence officials denied reports in Russian media Friday that U.S. drones of any kind are flying over Crimea in Ukraine. The Voice of Russia, a division of the Russian news agency Interfax, had reported that an “American scout-attack drone” was intercepted while performing reconnaissance in Crimean airspace, according to the Rostec state corporation." See: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukr...-crimea-n53231 |
2014-03-15, 21:26 | Link #330 | |
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
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That's why Poland is probably keeping at least the possibility that they can't rely on Western Europe somewhere in the back of their head.
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2014-03-16, 03:58 | Link #332 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Moscow, RU
Age: 35
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source: http://translate.google.com/translat..._6013177.shtml
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2014-03-16, 11:26 | Link #334 | |
Senior Member
Author
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Philippines
Age: 47
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Last time some years ago they shot down a Georgian drone with an air-to-air missile, all of which everything was captured by the drone's camera in a few seconds before it was destroyed.
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2014-03-16, 11:29 | Link #335 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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2014-03-16, 13:52 | Link #336 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Moscow, RU
Age: 35
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The thin is - emergency mode can be different. In one case drone can just land at the point it lost it's connection, but it can be also programmed to behave differently in this situation. So... will never know
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2014-03-16, 14:05 | Link #337 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Exit polls
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_4975491.html 93% vote to join russia, with a supposed 80% turn out... Considering how only 60% of the population is ethnically Russian, with the other 40% being made up of mostly Ukrainians and Tatars, the results are more than a little suspicious. But considering how there wasn't an actual "no" option on the ballots, it was obvious that this vote was going to be rigged from the beginning.
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2014-03-16, 14:42 | Link #338 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Moscow, RU
Age: 35
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