Quote: (10-06-2015 06:45 PM)Bona fide Wrote:
Quote: (10-06-2015 05:34 PM)Guitarman Wrote:
I really think we've reached the point in the UK and USA where our own governments are the enemy and Putin and the Russians are looking like friends of the ordinary person.
Unless you a Russian of course.Because the intervention against radical muslims in a Farawaystan nobody-cares-about for ordinary Russians means just two things:
-less money for ordinary Russians (majority of whom already live in absolute poverty),forget about healthcare,pensions etc
-the bloody terror will return to the streets of Russia.Expect explosions, suicide bombers etc in Russian towns pretty soon.
The memories of the pointless war in Afganistan and catastrophic campaigns in Chechnya are still strong among Russians.
This intervention will deliver 0 strategic results, as the war in Afganistan in 80s did. It will cost Russia dearly, both financially and in manpower. It might even be a final spark and ignite some sort of a coup-d-étate in Russia. Russia has already suffered serious setbacks and loses in Ukraine. Syria will be the final drop IMO.The propaganda machine there is strong but so was the Soviet propaganda machine.
Basically what we have here is a small minded man pissed off that nobody has been taking him serious in the west for a long time. People guessing what is Russia's hidden agenda in Syria. I think there is none.Support Assad just to spit in US face.Nothing more than that.
I don't know, man. I'm not really seeing that.
I don't think you can compare the Russia of 2015 to the Russia of 1983. I don't see the Russians getting bogged down in some quagmire. No.
Putin is too smart for that. Despite what you're saying, he knows how to use the military to enhance foreign policy.
My proof? Look at the campaign against that little Western flunky rat in Georgia a few years ago. Remember that? Georgia tried to cause some trouble. Bush egged him on to start trouble, and Putin smacked his ass so hard that we never heard from him again.
And I don't see Russia's actions in Ukraine as any "failure." Far from it. They stepped in and stopped an attempted Western takeover of the country. That was America's little game. They wanted to install a pro-NATO puppet state on Russia's doorstep, so that they could open the country up to Western economic exploitation.
That's America's little game. Foment uprisings and rebellions in countries they don't like, and then try to get their feet in the door. They tried this game in Iran in the early 2000s, and the Iranians beat them.
Putin stepped in and crushed them. He totally outflanked them.
So, no, I don't agree with your assessment. And I'm not seeing how it's costing all these huge amounts of money, either. Russia can afford it. Afghanistan was a totally different situation.
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