Will the financial sanctions against Putin affect you personally?

@whowasthatmaskedman Just with what is going on now this could make everyone suffer. The rubble tanked which impacts everyone. Sanctions suck and are collective punishment.

@whowasthatmaskedman Also with the weakness in the Russian economy that will be blood in the water for NATO. I don't see the sanctions being limited anymore. I see them going nuclear and trying to destroy the economy entirely to destabilize the country which would be a disaster.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I completely agree. And while these are guesses, I would say that Putin timed this for when the world is limping out of another crisis and has no stomach to jump in to a war right now. Or even full blown sanctions. It seems his calculations are correct. His largest trading partner is China, where its business as usual. And his biggest exports of Gas and oil are uneffected. In exchange for a few thousand Siberian soldiers he gets back a slave state and makes America the UN and NATO look like idiots. (As if they needed help) 😷

@whowasthatmaskedman Actually the biggest thing that forced the issue was the American coup in Kiev in 2014. But Russia doesn't jump into wars like the US so my guess is this was planned long term since the Maidan fiasco. As for Ukraine, this will go like 2008 in Georgia. Break stuff, make it a no go area for NATO and leave. He doesn't have the manpower to occupy the country even if he wanted to. That is simple math.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I would come to a similar conclusion for different reasons. Install a Vichy style government after clearing out the trouble makers. Both sides have had recent lessons in not trying to occupy countries where you are not welcome. Its costly and bad for PR..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman Installing puppets is more an American thing. With Russia they mostly leave them to get on with it with the understanding that there are consequences for crossing lines. They are not interested in empire anymore. Georgia is a good example. Fun fact, their ex president was a fugitive in Odessa. He is wanted back in his home country for far worse.

I mean even in the west countries bully each other. The US retaliated economically against Canada when we refused to go to war in Iraq.

Culturally and economically we have alot in common with Russia but there is an understanding that if we got friendly with Moscow there would be consequences with Washington.

There are not really any "friendly" countries.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow But Putin is very much a believer in the old Soviet Union and wants it back. The Unkraine was the major prize of that with warm water ports and large resource rich eurocentric areas. You dont occupy them.. You just put "The Right people" in charge and dont let them have a big army of their own. 😷

@whowasthatmaskedman Lol, no. He is no sentimental fool pining for the past. That is a cold war cliche passed around over here but not based in reality.


Again, that is the American approach to foreign policy. Georgia and Syria prove they have a very different approach.

And nobody who puts forth this narrative can explain why if Putin is so obsessed with re-establishing the USSR why he spends most of his time courting the Orthodox Church and somehow just decided to do this nearly 20 years later for no reason.

@whowasthatmaskedman Russia doesn't mind Ukraine or Georgia having large armies (neither did before or after their run in with the Russia army) they just care if they hand it over to the USA which is effectively what NATO is.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Most of what Putin does has a large component for local consumption. So far all this either plays well at home or distracts from problems at home/ And its about perception. You dont think for a second that several instances of highly Visible (and well publicized) poisonings of trouble makers didnt fail to kill their targets on purpose. He gets a lot more mileage for his message by almost killing them. If he wants you gone, you just disappear or turn ip with a bullet in the head.
My point being that he calculates very carefully before moving. Watch the reports of how the Russian protesters are being handled gently (for them) it seems he is trying not to look heavy handed on his own people.😷

@whowasthatmaskedman I agree with everything except the Skripal poisoning which I assume is what you were referring to. Skripal has been out of the country for 20 years and any sensitive info he had was handed over long since. He was no longer a risk to Russia by any stretch of the imagination. According to his family he wanted to go back home to Russia. Now that matters because that would make him a serious liability to British intelligence.

We are also expected to believe two amateurs poisoned him with one of the deadliest substances on earth in jeans and a tshirt. The idea is laughable.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Yes. The world of spycraft is complex. Anything is possible,😷