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Comment by troupo | Hacker News Reader

Russia has been probing NATO for several years now. NATO is a paper tiger that seems to be content to do nothing. As long as the probing is in the lesser members: the Baltics, Romania.

When (likely not if) Russia decides to attack the Baltics, NATO will just shrug and send a strongly worded memo.

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Probes are not worth going to war for. Russian boots on Baltic grounds would be.

Some years back when a Russian jet breached Turkish airspace just for a few seconds, it was shot down.

Now it's nothing but strongly worded thoughts and prayers

Were any of these 'probes' actual territorial threats? Cause if not what you're calling a paper tiger is just a cool head.

An actual confrontation would probably go like the battle of Khasham.

At the time when the jet violated Turkish airspace it wasn't a territorial threat either. Strangely enough no jet has violated Turkish airspace since (but a few drones have landed in Turkey during the war in Ukraine).

Meanwhile Russian drones, cruise missiles (!) and planes violate NATO airspace almost daily it seems. And are being launched from within NATO arispace quite frequently (see Germany).

And no, the drones are not the "Amazon delivery drones".

E.g on September 8 Geran-4 flew 120 km unopposed through Romanian airspace, took a leisurly turn above a small town with population of ~20k people, and then flew back, eventually crashing in Moldova.

No big deal.

So not a territorial threat. You just wish NATO were big and powerful like... Turkey.

Turkey is in NATO. And had no issues downing a military Russian jet that entered its airspace for a few seconds.

Meanwhile Russian military jets violate NATO airspace in the Baltics. Russian Geran drones leisurely cruise in NATO airspace.

And nothing happens. Not even when a drone strikes a residential building.

Oh, I guess "it's just Romania who cares". It's also in NATO.

The US is in NATO. Iran isn't being bombed by NATO.

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