Russia invades Ukraine

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

https://twitter.com/user/status/1526168313243607041

Those are numbers right out of WW1 in terms of casualties. Wow.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Those are numbers right out of WW1 in terms of casualties. Wow.

And unlike WWI, Russia doesn't have a standing army of 5-10 million they can immediately throw to the front lines. Russia probably has (or had) about 200k soldiers max they can devout to Ukraine, and even that will require them pulling soldiers from other conflicts.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Those are numbers right out of WW1 in terms of casualties. Wow.

I was thinking sort of along those lines, but the other way.

While this seems to be a lot now, in WW1 you could see battles in which tens of thousands died. I can't even imagine. only 500 dead would be a good day indeed.

I looked up the Brusilov Offensive, and it cost Russia depending who you read between 500,000 to a million dead soldiers in only about 3 months.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I hope he has one of everything and degrades to a useless vegetable, only able to hear and understand those speaking around him, unable to move a finger or speak, all while suffering immense pain. And the nurse keeps bumping into his bed.

Would you be ok with it if he was also lying in a pool of his own piss?

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

I was thinking sort of along those lines, but the other way.

While this seems to be a lot now, in WW1 you could see battles in which tens of thousands died. I can't even imagine. only 500 dead would be a good day indeed.

I looked up the Brusilov Offensive, and it cost Russia depending who you read between 500,000 to a million dead soldiers in only about 3 months.

I won't disagree, but I was thinking in terms of % casualties from a single operation. 458/550 is nuts.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Would you be ok with it if he was also lying in a pool of his own piss?

His own, and maybe some of Trump's lady joiners could give him the Trump treatment, too.

[FlameOn]

Turkey is apparently blocking Sweden and Finland's entry into NATO for.... reasons. Sweden and Finland attempted to send a delegation to visit Erdogan to try to resolve the matter, but he tells them not to bother coming.

Turkey's economy getting destroyed by this guy and yet he's still in power on the backs of an ignorant set of religious zealots.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Ankara to convince it to approve their NATO bid.

In a news conference, Erdogan said Turkey would not approve their bids to join NATO, calling Sweden a “hatchery” for terrorist organizations, and adding they had terrorists in their parliament.

Ankara says Sweden and Finland harbor people it says are linked to groups it deems terrorists, namely the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and followers of Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt. (Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen Editing by Chris Reese)

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pm...ming-to-turkey

[Fuzz]

OK Turkey, been nice, but you are out.

[Fuzz]

No provision in the treaty foresees the suspension of membership rights, let alone the expulsion of an ally.

https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/c...led-from-nato/

Well, bollocks. Interestingly Canada pushed to have an expulsion mechanism included:

In the eyes of the Canadian government, the circumstances that might justify the disqualification of a party had to include the “coming into power of a communist-dominated government” in that state (Commentary on the Washington Paper, Dec. 6, 1948). To deal with such an eventuality, Canada proposed a draft provision entitling the North Atlantic Council to suspend or expel a member state from the privileges of membership (Draft North Atlantic Treaty, Dec. 17, 1948).

[FlamesAddiction]

So, is Turkey just a straight up dictatorship now? There are a couple of other European countries whose presidents said they are personally apprehensive about it, but their respective parliaments are still expected to have the votes to pass it. You know, because following a democratic process is part of what NATO expects.

[FlameOn]

Turkey and Hungary are basically dictatorships at this point. Viktor Orban basically controls all the media in the country and has been accused to basically rigging the elections there. EU has cut off all funding to Hungary as a result.

Turkey's in a similar place and has been for years with purges of secular parties and opposition figures/generals in the apparently false flag coup a few years ago. Both Orban and Erdogan are quite corrupt with Erdogan embezzling huge amounts of money to build a presidential compound similar to Putins palace.

That there isn't a way to expel countries from NATO right now is a huge miss. Should be written in that violation of any of the entry conditions should be grounds of automatic expulsion.

[IliketoPuck]

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The U.S. will have a conversation or two with Turkey and this will all get sorted out.

[Itse]

Turkey wants something in trade, Maybe about that PKK stuff, but just as likely they'll take whatever they can get.

I doubt they plan to actually block anything.

[PeteMoss]

One thing Turkey has always been smart about is playing off both sides in Russia/US disputes. They'll get something like Itse says and agree to it.

[2Stonedbirds]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The U.S. will have a conversation or two with Turkey and this will all get sorted out.

Turkey was caught taking in smuggled ISIS oil to help fund their war against supposed allies. They should've been curbstomped then and there.
They weren't.
Not holding my breath for Turkey to get so much as a strongly worded letter.

[burn_this_city]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1526293852704890882

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

So, is Turkey just a straight up dictatorship now? There are a couple of other European countries whose presidents said they are personally apprehensive about it, but their respective parliaments are still expected to have the votes to pass it. You know, because following a democratic process is part of what NATO expects.

Turkey was effectively run by a military junta for most of its first 50 years in the alliance, with governments that ran afoul of the army routinely overthrown in coups (with the compliance of the U.S.). Erdogan is an illiberal authoritarian. But he broke the generals’ grip on power and actually has more public support than any of his predecessors.

So NATO has always turned a blind eye to the whole democracy thing when it comes to Turkey because of its vital strategic location and powerful army. For the same reason, there’s zero chance they get kicked out of NATO any time soon.

[AltaGuy]

Yeah, this reads to me to be a little bit of blackmail by Turkey.

"I'd like a little handout before agreeing to the thing I am going to agree to, kthx."

[blankall]

I dunno. Turkey seems to act totally irrationally on certain issues, one of them being the Kurdish issue. Sweden has been extremely outspoken about the Kurdish issue and the Armenian genocide.

[FlameOn]

What stops Sweden and Finland from just saying whatever Turkey wants to hear, joining NATO, then telling Erdogan to pound sand? Its not like Turkey can expel them after.