Quote (ofthevoid @ Jul 12 2018 07:01pm)
Doubt it. I often pondered why the Chinese look south, east and even west to become more assertive but not north. Russian is very territorial, even though they have more territory than they could ever need they won't give an inch. I mean look at the border disputes Russia has with Japan. To japan those northern Kuril islands would be pretty valuable if we were to just talk about the land mass and natural resources alone, yet the Russians dgaf and won't budge a inch. Only way China is every claiming Siberia is if we reach some global society in which Russia is denuclearized otherwise Russia won't think twice about raining nukes on China in case of invasion.
Totally agree. Russia has been used as a scarecrow to waste trillions on things we don't need. We're moving towards a world that is more peaceful, interconnected and more dependent on one another, more than ever. The Germans are smart, they know Russia has valuable resources which the Germans want and need. It's a symbiotic relationship, but the reason we aren't happy about is we're losing our hegemonic grip. I'm all for it, it's time the US took care of its citizens domestically. I don't want my tax dollars being spent for American bases in Germany or Romania or Qatar or the Philippines.
So many people are crying in here that this give Russia leverage. This is of course true but the other fact is that it also gives Germany leverage on Russia. The path to peace is dependability not isolation. If Russias economy, middle class, voters, fill in the blank is dependent on international trade then you will see less and less confrontations and conflicts compared to if you isolate and impoverish a country and push its people to believe that those foreigners are making us suffer.
Like i said before, European countries are going to inch closer to Russia when it comes to trade and commerce. It's a trade market that's being hampered and most Euros are ready to move on.
historically out opinions on russia haven't been in line all that much, but this fear mongering over NATO with the bullshit threat of boot on the ground from russia is silly. it had a TINY bit more credibility when Crimea and Syria still had a lot of question marks in terms of motivation. that's no longer the case. and its silly to waste the money we are. even more silly for the US to ask for more cash, since we directly profit from making the actual weapons systems. we're selling them out product, and demanding they not only pay a higher price but buy more, all with zero reason.