Could you count how many times in history yielding to bold advances of power hungry ruler served as effective deterrent to war?

And what bold advances has Russia made?

They neutralised Georgia after Georgia attacked and killed several of their soldiers.

They seized (bloodlessly I might add) Crimea after the new western-imposed government threatened to end the perpetual lease of the Sevastopol naval base. I might also add that 'Maidan' was the 2nd western-sponsored 'revolution' in Ukraine in a decade.

Now Russia is defending a long-time ally in the middle east from western-backed terrorists.

Then there's also NATO advancing all around Russia, the various 'defensive' missile systems being installed by US-allied countries who happen to encircle Russia, etc...

> Could you count how many times in history yielding to bold advances of power hungry ruler served as effective deterrent to war?

The only one making bold advances is the US, and yes, Russia isn't yielding, and the US is making it a problem. But you're right, it is a deterrent to war - if a weak ruler like Yeltsin were still in power Russia would probably be in another dozen pieces right now, with wars raging in half of them...

Western imposed government that's precious you get a cookie from Kiselev. If NATO wanted to destroy Russia it would have done so in the 90s.

Would it? MAD was still a thing back then. Hence the brouhaha over the missile shield...

Back then a major TV program crue unobstructed marched to the ICBM launch site and had a party there. The country was bankrupt if not for the western help it would have collapsed.

I heard (possibly tall) tales of Russian sniper rifles pointed at the president of Georgia at one point many years ago now.

>And what bold advances has Russia made? > They neutralised Georgia after Georgia attacked and killed several of their soldiers. > They seized Crimea after the new western-imposed government threatened to end the perpetual lease of the Sevastopol naval base

wow, what universe do you live in where conquering a whole nation is justified by a few lifes lost or stopping a commercial agreement? disgusting

You are spinning this.

A twice elected democratic government of Ukraine was overthrown in a violent coup, orchestrated from abroad, that used neonazis to do the dirty work.

When this happened, the people of [what was then called] the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea" voted in favor of leaving what was left of Ukraine and rejoining the Russian Federation - which they were originally part of for longer than the US has existed.

Ukraine as a country has only existed for 20 some years. Before that is was a loose territory of different regions. The East was mostly ethnic Russians, the West was mostly other groups. And Crimea was always Russian.

The majority of the force used in Crimea composed of Russian solders that stood outside the gates of Ukrainian military bases, blocking them from leaving, to carry out orders to stop the referendum... Which turned out to be over 95% in favor of rejoining Russia.

Ignoring all the bs in your post would you recognize the right of any of the Russian regions to vote for their independence? (as far as how things unrolled you just have to watch interviews with Igor Strelkov who hardly can be accused of pro western bias).

Facts are bs?

> would you recognize the right of any of the Russian regions to vote for their independence?

Has the Russia government been overthrown? When it is, lets talk then, because the answer will depend on the circumstances of the event.

BS is BS. Orange revolution rigged election and re-election during this time the president and parliament remained the same so no clue what you are talking about. 2012 rigged parliamentary election but people let it slide. The removal of Yanukovich from power constitutional majority of parliament (same members as under Yanukovich) voted to remove him. Your russian TV narrative is great but disconnected from reality.

USSR/Russian overthrows/subversions so many it's not even funny. From which year do you want to count? 1917 1920 1964 1991 1993 1996 2012

> A twice elected democratic government of Ukraine was overthrown in a violent coup, orchestrated from abroad, that used neonazis to do the dirty work.

Perfect example of russian propaganda.

> leaving what was left of Ukraine and rejoining the Russian Federation - which they were originally part of for longer than the US has existed.

Crimea was part of Russian Federation _for longer than the US has existed_???

Dude, stop smoking whatever you're on.

> wow, what universe do you live in where conquering a whole nation is justified by a few lifes lost or stopping a commercial agreement? disgusting

And which whole nation was conquered?

You're right, Putin shouldn't stand by idly as America builds a missile shield around Russia to negate their ability to launch nukes...

We already have a deterrent for war with Russia. Russia knows this, I think the US is forgetting it.

A lot of countries forget a lot of things US & other major nuclear powers conveniently forgot how they negotiated Ukraine to surrender worlds 3d largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for "security guarantees". US is acting prudently in building up missile shield around Russia since in the event of russia collapse who knows what will happen to their nuclear weapons.

I don't even think a missile shield is necessarily bad, but it is a little troubling to see the attitude of taking offense that Russia just doesn't do what it's told. Forgetting Russia is a superpower too.

Should other countries have a plan in case of USA collapse? At least our codes got upgraded from a string of 0s... But I imagine there are some foreign officials worried. Russia has started calling America "not-agreement-capable" after recent events in Syria and a UNSC meeting.

Russia can do whatever it wants in its jurisdiction.

But it cannot be allowed to dictate the bilateral terms between other countries. If Ukraine or Poland wants to be in NATO, it's not up to Russia to say "no". Especially given the histories of those countries, and Russia's role therein.

And that's basically what that "OMG NATO is surrounding Russia" thing boils down to.

"it's not up to Russia"

It is if they have the power to stop it. The whole "moral justification" part is for plebes like us. If powers feel threatened by the movements of other powers in neighboring countries, they will act[1]. How they spin it to the public is secondary.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis#Quarantin...

Which is why it is important to everyone else to stand together make sure that Russia doesn't have the power to stop it.

Sure but it didn't get them very far

Russia is not a super power and to be honest I am not totally sure even USSR ever was.

How are you defining a superpower such that Russia is not a member and maybe the USSR wasn't one?

I don't have a good definition but their ability to project power is/was greatly exaggerated.

There was worry with the collapse of the USSR that Russian nukes would be donated to terrorists. It was a very common theme in 90s fiction. It ended up not happening at all, in fact the only major nuclear proliferation since then has been from Pakistan to North Korea, which is not mentioned by the western media because Pakistan is a very important ally against the Soviets. Wait...

The worry was more then reasonable the lucky outcome of worst scenario not materializing is not an evidence that there was no risk.

Ukraine never had nuclear weapons. Those where Russian nukes stationed in the regions of Ukraine.

The Kremlin had operational control of all nukes pre and post the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

There was no negotiations required to get them back except for a procedural "note of record". They would have been taken by force if necessary.

Have fun with your powertrip Russia was one of the republics of USSR, so far Russia has one success story in taking something by force and most likely it will play out very similar to the fate of USSR.

One would have thought that the Russians would know this better than anybody after the USSR's collapse but military might is meaningless if you don't have the economic might to back it up.

Russia is little more than a petro state whose economic fortunes are almost completely related to the price of oil.

Putin should be focusing on broadening the Russian economic base but is instead engaging in stupid military endeavors that are only kidding Russia friends. The EU would love to trade with Russia but his European tinkering had made it impossible for them to do so. The US is obviously not a fan. Give it a few years and he'll probably piss off China too (or they'll find the US and European relationships more useful) and the Ryssians will have little more to do than reminisce about the time they annexed Crimea.

Well as things stand now Russia's GDP is less than GDP of NYC :) So how they still believe they can be a super power is beyond me.China is far from being Russia's ally they are using the current situation to take over Russia's resources and make Russia extremely dependent. It looks like the end game is peaceful return of the territories that Russia annexed from China or installation of puppet government at some point.

People die and kill for just a few square meters of land, you're delusional if you think the Russian nation will just let itself be destroyed without fighting back. Nominal GDP is not a good way to measure wealth, GDP PPP, industrial output and other stats are better. Russia is not a superpower but no one can deny that Russia is an industrial power. Your hate of Russia disgust me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_first_use#Russia

Lets remember how things unfolded last time was there much fighting? The China has fairly simple working strategy they stimulate immigration into formerly annexed parts at current rates in a decade +/- they will be local majority population.