Russia Just Invaded Ukraine

[Atlanteax]

Ukraine: Troops In East Reportedly Switch Sides
Witnesses on April 16 said that the personnel of six Ukrainian armored transport vehicles deployed to the eastern city of Kramatorsk have switched sides to join pro-federalist activists, RIA Novosti reported

Ukraine: Armored Vehicles Carrying Russian Flags Enter Slovyansk
Six armored personnel carriers flying the Russian national flag and the banner of pro-Russian activists on April 16 entered Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Welp...

[cwolff]

Fuck. I hate to see that. I bet the Ukraine gets split in half. There is also a restive region on the other side of it; Transnistria. They are a very pro Russian, even pro Soviet, sliver of Moldova. It's like Domino Theory again. I hope the Ukraine can stop the expansion within their borders.

[waywardgs]

Putin is just going to say look! Civil war! I've got to take Ukraine because stability!

[cwolff]

Putin is just going to say look! Civil war! I've got to take Ukraine because stability!

Exactly. He's got nothing to lose. He'll be like "I was just trying to help. Surely you can't blame a guy for breaking up a fight"

[waywardgs]

Old-school geopolitics. Turns out the nation-state remains the dominant organizational structure. The global cultural hegemony guys had it wrong.

[Jarvan]

Fuck. I hate to see that. I bet the Ukraine gets split in half. There is also a restive region on the other side of it; Transnistria. They are a very pro Russian, even pro Soviet, sliver of Moldova. It's like Domino Theory again. I hope the Ukraine can stop the expansion within their borders.

Putin is going for ALL of Ukraine. Not part.

Exactly. He's got nothing to lose. He'll be like "I was just trying to help. Surely you can't blame a guy for breaking up a fight"

Except you can blame someone for wanting to stop 130k deaths if you are Putin. (Syria)

[cwolff]

If you let him Putin would rule the World. That's not practical but he can nibble away at the old Soviet states. No one's going to put up too much of a fight I don't think.

Not sure what your Syria reference is about. You want to blame Putin for trying to de-escalate the conflict?

[Atlanteax]

If you let him Putin would rule the World. That's not practical but he can nibble away at the old Soviet states. No one's going to put up too much of a fight I don't think.

Not sure what your Syria reference is about. You want to blame Putin for trying to de-escalate the conflict?

I think he was referring to Putin blaming the West for wanting to replace Assad because of the deaths there.

[Latrinsorm]

Old-school geopolitics. Turns out the nation-state remains the dominant organizational structure. The global cultural hegemony guys had it wrong.

No trend is literally monotonic, there's always noise. The trend is still clear though: the German nation-state brought the entire world to war twice (really we should just nuke Central Europe into a parking lot), Putin can't even get America to fight him.

[LaVerdad]

This thread is a great re-read given current political tensions.