World News Random, Random

[mmmm8]

I really don't want to be proven wrong, but I don't think Russia would possible airstrike Kiev. The two countries are still too culturally tied together and destroying a city many Russians know and have friends and family in could backfire quite a bit domestically.

[ponchi101]

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Did he also not eat, drink, or touch anything the whole visit?

Making a diplomatic statement of "I don' trust you"?

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

Actually, a move that may save 250+ lives.
I would not fly over Ukraine or Russia right now, at any price.

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

One of the replies to the NYT part, there are several telling them to delete it because it's incorrect and misleading information

Stéphanie Chouinard@DrSChouinard
Replying to @nytimes

This is wrong. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is explicitly upheld in the Act.
You guys are really doing a terrible job covering this. Call some Canadians perhaps.

[JazzNU]

[JazzNU]

Also...

[ponchi101]

This is the moment Vlad tests all other nations. He invades Ukraine and they do nothing, and it is game, set, match, Vlad. He will know that he can slowly annex all other FSU republics, either by force or by a little arm twisting.

[JazzNU]

[ti-amie]

[Suliso]

This is the moment Vlad tests all other nations. He invades Ukraine and they do nothing, and it is game, set, match, Vlad. He will know that he can slowly annex all other FSU republics, either by force or by a little arm twisting.

That's easy to say, not so easy to do. Sanctions maybe a great idea, but the Russian gas is needed anyway. There just isn't enough alternative energy sources in the World and the lights do need to be kept on. A big dilemma...

As for Ukraine invading maybe easy, maintaining the occupation not necessarily so. As both USSR and USA found out in Afghanistan...

[ponchi101]

...

That's easy to say, not so easy to do. Sanctions maybe a great idea, but the Russian gas is needed anyway. There just isn't enough alternative energy sources in the World and the lights do need to be kept on. A big dilemma...

As for Ukraine invading maybe easy, maintaining the occupation not necessarily so. As both USSR and USA found out in Afghanistan...

Again, in writing, I should be more careful. Vlad would not invade Ukraine, he would annex it. It would be radically different from invading Afghanistan, as it is one country with the same language and, I guess, a very similar culture.
You are totally correct in that Russia has Europe by the throat with their energy dependence. But if that is the case, then they have to stop it. Germany, especially, made that dumb decision to shut down all their nuclear power plants a few years ago, which were replaced by coal and gas. Well, not only dumb environmentally, also dumb politically, as time has proven. But re-starting those things would take only a couple of years, not decades.
But now they have to deal with a poorly made decision, and Vlad will mark his new border in Poland. Which will be next, years from now.

[Suliso]

Again, in writing, I should be more careful. Vlad would not invade Ukraine, he would annex it. It would be radically different from invading Afghanistan, as it is one country with the same language and, I guess, a very similar culture.

I think here you're mistaken. Similar it might be, but any invasion is likely to be anything but a walk in the park. Not very much love for Russia as a country left in Ukraine. Irish also speak mostly English, but do we say they're all the same?