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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (761482)	4/17/2022 7:13:36 AM
From: skinowski	6 Recommendations Recommended By Arran Yuan greenspirit kckip lightshipsailor MulhollandDrive and 1 more member Respond to of 793698

In regard to nuclear threat and “respect”, I spent a long time undersea against the 7 times greater numerical advantage the former Soviet submarines force possessed in the Cold War. They basically bankrupted their nation building massive fleets and nucs to threaten the world. All I can say is “mutual respect” was not how I would describe those encounters. Thank you for your service, sir. I’m sure you know about war and peace more than I do. People like Ronald Reagan - and you and I - are absolutely right - USSR was evil. It was a dangerous, violent totalitarian monster. An aberration. Having been born after the war, I avoided the worst of it. As a small child, I remember the death of Stalin. After the 1956 Khrushchev’s speech about the massive crimes of Stalinism, things gradually turned for the better. As a young person, I was involved with the dissidents - and even “earned” a 3 hour “interview” with the KGB - in the Tall House (the joke was that it was so tall that you could see Siberia from the basement window). They could have dug a little deeper and destroyed me, but they didn’t. The times were changing. But, it was a good lesson about the power of totalitarian state. I think the West underestimated the virtually bloodless revolution which was the demise of the USSR - and when most of its component republics becoming independent. With all respect to RR, it wasn’t brought about by the West - It happened because the population - including the armed forces - had their fill. People were too tired of the crazy regime and it’s empire of lies. I think that to a large degree, the mistrust towards post - soviet Russia turned out to be a self fulfilling prophecy. Having suffered from Stalinism and it’s violence - and WWII - their sense of history is very sharp. When someone tries to screw them over, they recognize it fast. They directed so many resources towards defense not because of imperialistic intentions, but because they knew that a confrontation could be coming. They took the NATO expansion towards their borders most seriously. Right now, the fighting is being done by Ukraine's armed forces - and, tragically, it’s the Ukrainian people who are suffering - but the real conflict, which was very long in the making - is between Russia and the West. I think the odds for an escalation are real. It’s a local war that isn’t truly local. Let’s hope that the saner minds prevail.

To: greenspirit who wrote (761482)	4/17/2022 11:00:16 PM
From: THE WATSONYOUTH	1 Recommendation Recommended By Bruce L Respond to of 793698

like Invading Afghanistan XMAS eve, like their build up of offensive armament far beyond defensive needs, like their unwillingness to accept breakaway Republics, continuous harassment and encroachment of their boundaries and actual invasion. ....I'd guess you are aware Soviets stockpiled loads of nuclear weapons in Poland.......certainly tactical but I'd bet some smaller offensive as well....they had to scramble to quickly get them out of there when Soviet Union cratered..........left all the infrastructure intact for anybody with half a brain to figure out. Unfortunately, Russia’s lack of respect for human life hasn’t changed much, even though they can now feed their people without the need for long bread lines. ...and that's a problem...... at least so far...."allows" Putin to run amok short of nuclear war with pretty much no regard for loss of life to his own people and certainly not for his adversaries..............by now, Russia could have been a relatively rich country.......maybe even somewhat like Canada....people short but oh so resource rich.........will we ever see any Canadians emigrating to Russia..........NO!.....yet Russians seem to be satisfied with small incremental improvements in life that Putin meters out reluctantly..........people are just so easily conned....in the east...the west.....these boards.....EVERYWHERE.