Russian Lawmaker Demands Return of Alaska

[Homeowner]

Why would Russia stop with Lithuania...or any other country?

Because sooner or later it becomes too expensive, too difficult to hold things together both abroad and domestically and things fall apart.

Someone made a point that either Russia is expanding or it is imploding. It is not the most stable nation in existence.

With the current issues of Russian declining demographics, economical downturn, slow transition away from fossil fuels globally, tightening the screws on their own population with educated people bugging out and Putin getting older with all the potential infighting that will involve especially with Russian institutions being undermined for years with power concentration to Kreml added to chronic corruption in every area of Russian governance any dream of empire their leaders may hold is just that. A dream.

Their chances to keep down industrial nations with strong sense of unity and spirit in this day and age are nonexistent whatever temporary gains they could make in battlefield.

 

[RDKirk]

Because sooner or later it becomes too expensive, too difficult to hold things together both abroad and domestically and things fall apart.

Someone made a point that either Russia is expanding or it is imploding. It is not the most stable nation in existence.

With the current issues of Russian declining demographics, economical downturn, slow transition away from fossil fuels globally, tightening the screws on their own population with educated people bugging out and Putin getting older with all the potential infighting that will involve especially with Russian institutions being undermined for years with power concentration to Kreml added to chronic corruption in every area of Russian governance any dream of empire their leaders may hold is just that. A dream.

From Putin's point of view, then, they are at a "use it or lose it" and "if not now, then never" point in their history.

 

[Homeowner]

From Putin's point of view, then, they are at a "use it or lose it" and "if not now, then never" point in their history.

Yes, and they are using it and losing anyway. Probably just accelerating the process. For decades they will likely be China's weak junior partner in the East which they will hate whatever statements poor Lavrov is going to be forced to make in public.

 

[Till Schilling]

FYI, 62% of US voters think Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump were still POTUS, including 38% of Democrats. At least there is no more meanness, well, if you ignore Biden calling a reporter a 'Stupid SOB' during a press conference.

This is about Ukraine, not about your internal US politics. In terms of NATO cohesion and the strength of the deterrence Trump was an absolute wild card. Very destructive. He weakened NATO tremendously.

Now, he was of course completely right in criticizing some European countries - most notably Germany - for not spending enough on their military. But the transactional approach he used and the threats to leave NATO were very, very destructive. And unfair to those smaller and poorer countries who do more than their share and desperately want and need NATO protection.

Nobody knows what would have happened if Trump had won. Quite possibly he would have simply destroyed NATO.

 

[Red Gold]

an absurd Russian claim!

 

[Arcangl86]

Putin probably wouldn't have attacked if Ukraine had operational nukes. However the Budapest memorandum

Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances - Wikipedia

was deemed an acceptable option at the time. Remember it was almost 30 years ago.

However if Ukraine had kept the nukes that were inoperable at the time since launch codes and whatnot were kept by Russia as the heir of USSR what is to say Russia would not have attacked then with the justification that they couldn't allow nuclear armed nation so close to Moscow.

Like the same excuse they use now when Ukraine doesn't even have them.

What if's are interesting to ponder but ultimately it is just fictionalizing alternate realities.

Thank you! You are the first person besides myself to point out that the nukes that Ukraine had weren't capable of being used as such.