putin - view on this?

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/720430/Vladimir-Putin-orders-Russian-officials-fly-home-relatives-fears-world-war

new world war pending?

the express is a heap of cat poo. do not believe them.*

Reply 2

shawtyb

Original post by the bear

the express is a heap of cat poo. do not believe them.*

it wasnt just the express lol. just the first link i clicked

Reply 3

the bear

Original post by shawtyb

it wasnt just the express lol. just the first link i clicked

read the comments below the article... they are quite intelligent :h:

Reply 4

shawtyb

Original post by the bear

read the comments below the article... they are quite intelligent :h:

do you think its likely though, despite the intelligent comments lol

Reply 5

the bear

Original post by shawtyb

do you think its likely though, despite the intelligent comments lol

undoubtedly Putin feels he has got away with so much recently in the Crimea etc that he can walk on water. he will get a nasty shock if he invades a NATO country. *

Reply 6

shawtyb

Original post by the bear

undoubtedly Putin feels he has got away with so much recently in the Crimea etc that he can walk on water. he will get a nasty shock if he invades a NATO country. *

theres alot of opinions on each side of this though. i shudder at the thought regardless

Reply 7

the bear

Original post by shawtyb

theres alot of opinions on each side of this though. i shudder at the thought regardless

as long as Corbyn is not in charge of our armed forces we will be safe. *

Reply 8

shawtyb

Original post by the bear

as long as Corbyn is not in charge of our armed forces we will be safe. *

* <--- ?

Reply 9

ThatOldGuy

There are a few options here:

1) Putin is saber rattling. Scaring people in to letting him have his way - The world let him invade Ukraine. Now, he's taking Syria with little to no opposition. Little saber rattling might let him get away with what he wants.

2) Putin is preparing for war. Regardless of who wins the next US election, they will be the most hated incument in US history and will not have the political capital to go to war. The EU is falling apart to infighting. China and Russia have been doing joint military maneuvers. They're ready and they suspect that if they just do a massive show of force, the world will back down.

- Maybe China dumps its dollars, causing a dollar collapse and breaking the US without a bullet being fired. Then, it takes Taiwan and perhaps Japan. Russia steamrolls eastern Europe, threatening nukes to anyone who fights them. Suddenly, the world has Russia and China on top instead of the US.

3) Some third thing I haven't thought of.

- Putin has kept power in the former Soviet Union longer than anyone else. He is cunning. He is sinisterly intelligent and he is ruthless. I can't outthink him and, chances are, neither can you. We don't know his end game.

Ultimately, it might happen. Or it might not. If it does, expect bad things ahead.

Reply 10

the bear

Original post by shawtyb

* <--- ?

the Kremlin are cyber attacking me with asterisks

:fuhrer:

Reply 11

Reality Check

The Express only exists as a mouthpiece of UKIP or whoever else will chuck it a few quid. It has three or four stories which it repeats ad infinitum and exists solely to scare old people that the world is changing and how they're going to be left behind.

I refuse to use it as a source.

Reply 12

shawtyb

what would it mean for civis if said war does happen?

Reply 13

ThatOldGuy

Original post by shawtyb

what would it mean for civis if said war does happen?

That depends.

The UK would be easy to knock out. We have about twice the population that our little island can support. Just blockade our little island and the country starves. London burns, since internally there is very little of that pro-Britain sentiment that there was in the second world war - Hungry mouths make for angry people.

The US gets its dollar crashed, which causes the middle east to stop using the dollar standard to buy oil. The US massively imports and doesn't have the manufacturing capability to really mount huge war efforts any more. Its trade deficit crushes it overnight.

The EU -could- stand up to Russia. China is another matter.

At the least, Taiwan is conquered and Japan is scorched badly. Russia tries to take and control its former soviet satellite states and demands NATO to withdraw all nuclear capability back very very far.

And instead of the US being the worlds policeman, you'd have whoever came out on top - Either Russia or China. If you think the US is bad, they will be worse by orders of magnitude and they don't care about protests.

Reply 14

AlwaysFitin'

The Russian conventional forces are quite crappy to do any real force projection too far across its borders. Putin isn't as smart as you think, the US election is worrying as one of two clowns get elected but I think well be fine.

Original post by ThatOldGuy

That depends.
.

Great Britain has nukes, so do China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea and France and the US. . In a massive world war we best hope none of these has to use them and their presence is enough to keep fighting from exploding, but these countries are important even in the non nuclear context due to their armed forces and politics.

Its interesting though that you think the next american incumbent wont have the political support to engage in this proposed war, I believe that! Also Japan is really becoming more aggressive and China too. The whole world is heading towards something interesting for sure.