That’s part of it and probably can’t be understated, but Germany is also already bearing a disproportionately high cost for the refugee crisis caused by wars that were not theirs. I can’t blame them for being apprehensive about escalating things with Russia.
One German analyst I listened to yesterday also made a good point that unless NATO at least matched the number of Russian available troops and weaponry in Ukraine, then Ukraine loses no matter what. You can give them weapons, but eventually they won’t have the personnel to outlast Russia in a war. In the event Russia overthrows Ukraine, all the weapons you give then will just fall into Russian hands like a gift to them.
There’re really no halfway measures that work here. If you aren’t ready to commit to a full scale war with Russia, then it might be better to not do anything that just prolongs the war. 16,000 killed since 2014 already. At some point you have to either cut your losses or go all in. I think Germany is staring to go with the first option and the other sides haven’t committed to either direction.
Germany should probably look back in their history to see how well appeasement works with tyrants...
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Okay, being reliant on Russia is bad news....but more than half our country is reliant on Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
The Germans...they're the Canary in the Coal Mine. Thats what happens when you make decisions based on optics and hesitance as opposed to doing what you know to be the more intelligent move.
They shut down coal usage which was good, but when people bitched about Nuclear they shut that down and thats why they're reliant on Russian gas.
Its strange to say....but they should be more like the French.
"You dont like Nuclear? We dont care what you like or dont like, we're going to do it anyways. And now partly just to piss you off."
Most of Canada's electricity is produced in country. We do import oil & perhaps even gas for other needs, but despite the morons running our country we still manage our own energy for the most part.
In comparison, Germany has completely shuttered their energy development, and is very dependent on Russia right now. I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with why Russia is being so aggressive right now, right?
Russia has leverage over Europe right now, and they are using it.
Its almost as if those idiots running the German government are being paid by Russia to shut down their nuclear programs.
France on the other hand is being a lot more aggressive against Russia. I wonder why that is. Might have something to do with the fact that France gets 80% of their electricity from in country nuclear sources.
Germany should probably look back in their history to see how well appeasement works with tyrants...
True. Of course, Russia was already appeased twice recently with the occupation and annexations of parts of Georgia and Crimea. When you have nuclear weapons, it is easy for others to appease you.
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Originally Posted by Azure
Most of Canada's electricity is produced in country. We do import oil & perhaps even gas for other needs, but despite the morons running our country we still manage our own energy for the most part.
In comparison, Germany has completely shuttered their energy development, and is very dependent on Russia right now. I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with why Russia is being so aggressive right now, right?
Russia has leverage over Europe right now, and they are using it.
Its almost as if those idiots running the German government are being paid by Russia to shut down their nuclear programs.
France on the other hand is being a lot more aggressive against Russia. I wonder why that is. Might have something to do with the fact that France gets 80% of their electricity from in country nuclear sources.
I don't know if this is just lip service, but since the end of WW2, one of the philosophies practiced in German politics is to create symbiotic economic relationships with historical adversaries to make it too economically painful and a deterrent to engaging in major wars in the future.
Having said that, I don't know enough about German-Russian trade and economic relations to know if Russia stands anything to lose, which would make the whole practice fail. Maybe not having them as a customer would hurt I guess.
The same philosophy was applied in other parts of the world, including the Balkans.
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Perhaps, but I know in realistic terms, having a stable energy supply means you do not need to be beholden to outside interests.
Putin has played this perfectly if he was going for a divisive Europe. Boggles the mind what Germany is thinking. A 5 year old could make smarter energy decisions.
We should always, always, always have a stable energy & food supply. Canada would be in a great position to lead the world on both fronts, and so far we only seem to give a #### about the food side of things.
The rest of the world is going green by buying gas from Putin. Gotta love it.
I'm all for action on climate change, but if you look at the attempts so far, there was clearly full on manipulation by Russia hidden in the details. Under Kyoto, the USA, and any country with an expanding population, would have been buying "carbon credits" from Russia/China in order to keep operating. China had no restrictions under Kyoto and Russia had a vast surplus of carbon credits.
To be fair I think Russia and China would prefer if there was no sea ice in the Northern Sea Route.
I think that China and Russia have crunched the numbers. If the temperature rises enough to have the route open year round there will be environmental consequences that cost money. But the money made from the savings on shipping would be more than the environmental costs.
I find it very hard to believe that China has not modelled this extensively. I believe it's part of the reason they have built so many new coal power plants recently.
Sort of interesting fact, Moldova is actually NATO aligned, but it has a tiny break away state in its east called Transnistria where the Russian troops are located.
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Sort of interesting fact, Moldova is actually NATO aligned, but it has a tiny break away state in its east called Transnistria where the Russian troops are located.
Ya, after posting that snide comment I did a little reading. So presumably the Russians have managed to get in that little sliver. Give them an inch...
Biden has suggested all US citizens leave Ukraine immediately. Russia has started a blockade of sorts of all Ukrainian ports under the guise of naval drills for the next week. Russia has started to set up field hospitals with its battle groups near the Ukrainian border.
Lots of signs that indicate we are headed towards conflict. Hopefully these are more bluffs by Putin, but it is getting harder to see how he is going to back down from this without going all in.
Biden has suggested all US citizens leave Ukraine immediately. Russia has started a blockade of sorts of all Ukrainian ports under the guise of naval drills for the next week. Russia has started to set up field hospitals with its battle groups near the Ukrainian border.
Lots of signs that indicate we are headed towards conflict. Hopefully these are more bluffs by Putin, but it is getting harder to see how he is going to back down from this without going all in.
Do you know if the Russian navy is allowing any access to Ukrainian ports, or in what ways they've been blockaded?
Do you know if the Russian navy is allowing any access to Ukrainian ports, or in what ways they've been blockaded?
Sounds like it’s not an official blockade, but because Russia is conducting live fire exercises in the areas needed to access the ports they have effectively cut them off.
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If nothing is moving in or out because of live fire exercises then yeah it's a blockade, an act of war. Hopefully just more posturing and not a prelude to fighting.
Probably already mentioned, but Russia moved bombers into Belarus that are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. I am not an expert on the type of planes and what other uses they have (I assume they can carry conventional payloads as well), so maybe it it just sensational reporting.
It does seem like overkill for an "exercise" though, not to mention really expensive to be going through all that maneuvering of personnel and equipment.
I still think Putin's main motive is to mad dog NATO and make them flinch so he can convince other countries that they are not an option for security. I doubt all out war with the West is what he wants, but I also don't think he is afraid of it the same way Europe is which gives him a huge psychological advantage.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
