This is it. Ironic considering that EU/US is unwilling to fight a war that will benefit them the most. Ukraine is fighting this war for their country but they are also fighting to save the world from a very possible WWIII.
Ukrainians and Georgians are indeed fighting our war, defending the European cause, while we are bystanders. The entire situation makes me feel sick.
Ukraine deserves all the money that will go toward building back their economy when they finally win this war.
My personal opinion is that Putin was never negotiating in good faith. He was negotiating as a stalling tactic while prepared and/or waited for the most opportune time to invade.
For example, you can check:
- the book "Foundations of Geopolitics ": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics
- its author and "philosopher" Aleksandr Dugin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
Putin has a long-term vision and strategy to build a fascist empire, he has been working on this for decades.
If NATO will disable the Russian nuclear C&C, they will no longer be able to launch a coordinated attack, and it will be for individual officers in bunkers to decide of fighting an unwinnable war.
It is called mutual ASSURED destruction (MAD) for a reason.
There's absolutely no reason to believe that is true.
Russia's military is weak, their economy is extremely weak, their manufacturing base is extremely weak, and their only defensive fall-back is nuclear weapons and masses of bodies to throw at an invading force (it would be very unwise for anybody to bother invading Russia, there's no point to that). The use of nuclear weapons doesn't equate to a world war.
Where would WW3 come from? Russia has very few allies and China isn't joining WW3 on their side (China would stay out of it unless attacked, they'd strategically position themselves to benefit from the damage to their peers).
Belarus is a joke (and that regime would be quickly broken in a conflict). Syria is destroyed. Iran is a non-threat. What else has Russia got on their side?
WWIII, in a literal sense (that is, between world-wide alliances), won't happen, since certainly China/India have not reason to enter it.
On the other hand though, Russia vs. the West is not so far fetched. Keep in mind that Putimir announced:
> Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered military command to put nuclear deterrence forces on high alert after aggressive statements by Nato countries, Reuters reports.
Whether this is a bluff or not, it shows a clearly deranged personality. I wouldn't be surprised if, as a matter of principle, he'd initiate a nuclear war rather than losing Ukraine. After all, invading Ukraine has been motivated entirely by principle.
Edit: well, that escalated quickly:
https://ria.ru/20220227/putin-1775389742.html
'As stated in the directory on the website of the Ministry of Defense, the strategic forces "are designed to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat the aggressor (inflicting defeat on him), including in a war with the use of nuclear weapons."'
Putin didn't even call any bluff. Biden admitted on TV that they aren't doing to do anything weeks ago. Putin did exactly what he said he would do, and Biden is doing exactly what he said he would do.
It's no wonder nothing happened when Trump was in office. How many times do we need to learn that appeasement does nothing. If the Allies stopped Germany when they remilitarized the Rhineland, Hitler would've been done without much of a war. Instead, the world appeased Hitler until it was too late.
The world appeased Putin with Crimea, and then the separatists. The world is appeasing this. What's the next escalation?