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Comment by ReptileMan | Hacker News Reader

>Existential threat almost at the door yet 0 reaction

Why do people pretend that Russia is capable of even threatening the EU? They can't even subdue the backwater that is Ukraine. Even if Putin takes all of it, he will need decades to make Russia capable of striking meaningfully into Europe. And we can outproduce him 10 to 1 for every piece of military hardware, and we have enough fighting age immigrants pouring into Europe in the last decades that we can mobilize and throw into the meatgrinder before having to tap our own population. I am convinced that this is one of the reasons we have so lax borders in Europe - to have cannon fodder for WWIII

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>and we have enough fighting age immigrants pouring into Europe in the last decades that we can mobilize and throw into the meatgrinder before having to tap our own population.

I could say that this is extremely macabre (which it is), but I guess I have a better chance reaching the HN crowd by saying that soldiers under force usually perform atrocioucsly, especially fighting for a cause they have zero interest in.

it works well for the US as some 5 to 12% of the US army is composed by immigrants

Why do people [maintain] that Russia is capable of even threatening the EU?

Because its regime has verbally done just that, and has conducted sabotage and assassinations on EU soil on multiple recent occasions.

The fact that is attacking Ukraine in part as a response to its attempt to join the EU is also very reasonably interpreted as part of this intrinsically threatening stance.

Putin's mouth is writing checks that his ass cannot cash. They are bogged down for 3 years in the only country in Europe less developed than them. He may have the desire, but he lacks the capacity to threaten Europe.

It doesn't matter that the threats have the additional qualifier of being mostly exaggerated. They're still plainly threats, by every accepted definition of the term.

And he absolutely does have the capacity to use his nukes. It'd be stupid and plainly irrational for him to do so. One can safely say it's objectively unlikely that he will.

But that in no way means he doesn't have the capacity.

Of course they are threats, but only stupid person would take them seriously. And nuclear war will be end of the world so no need to worry about it - the people pretend to be scared by conventional war. By this logic Erdogan wants to restore the Ottoman empire and right now is busy invading Syria - is he a threat too?

Of course they are threats, but ...

Meaning: "Of course he is threatening, but ..." after you just said "He isn't capable of even threatening".

Can't you just acknowledge that it wasn't the best choice of language you used up front?

No. Threat as a verbal construct and threat as a danger are different things. Putin can give verbal threats, but doesn't have the infrastructure to make them threatening.

A pomeranian barking when angry is not threatening but funny. So is Putin

Threat as a verbal construct and threat as a danger are different things.

This is just weird, verbal gymnastics.

I don't lose any sleep over Putin either. But there's nothing in the least funny about him, or what he says.

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