mtutiger

I think they probably would if it were a NATO country, fwiw.

Luka basically owes his power to Putin at this point... he's got little room to maneuver. Moldova is probably the next on the menu, but if I'm in Poland or Romania or the Baltics, this looks existential to me. It's not abstract as it is for someone living in the USA.

Afghanistan was an Article 5 invocation IIRC. All the more reason we need to be there. We owe these partners a debt

I guess we may find out. NATO's existence would be on the line

Again, I ask... does anyone really think that he's gonna stop with Ukraine?

Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Mariupol... he's hitting all over

The war is official

I keep trying to think of another word, but you know, another one doesn't come to mind.

Good Lord

I know his domestic situation isn't great (ie. polls), but I'm not sure a more popular leader would have done much better in this situation. At the end of the day, this is all controlled by one man and his war of choice. Would another leader have impacted that calculus? I doubt it.

Heartbreaking stuff...

Not that it matters since this is all in Vlad's hands, but there you go.... they aren't a welcome presence, and it's more divided domestically than one would expect. https://comresglobal.com/polls/russians-ukrainians-poll-cnn-23-feb/

And yet he'll still win reelection.

It wasn't critical race theory, Exhibit #93895932

Gonna go out on a limb and suggest that the trucker protests don't have a great deal of support and are not worthy of the outsized media coverage that they draw.

That's kinda why I don't get how people just assume that Russia can just wait this out and get all that business back.... certainly Europe will remain a big customer for Russian gas, but if this conflagration accelerates the EU's move away from natural gas to other forms of energy, doesn't that cost them money in the long run? Don't they make less money than they would have had they just stuck with the status quo and not pursued this current course of action? We've all probably seen enough mob movies and shows to know that "the families" don't make money when a war is going on.... this is a good example of that.

Geez, even this guy gets it

No doubt, there's no way Germany would ever be made whole by an impact on Russian gas. But my understanding is that there have been discussion of ways to help bridge some of the losses that may come from having to impose sanctions on Russia.

Again, my understanding is that heating is what drives most of the natural gas consumption in Germany. https://energypost.eu/no-energiewende-without-warmewende-making-germanys-heating-emissions-climate-neutral-nearly/ https://www.wingas.com/en/raw-material-natural-gas/heat-from-natural-gas.html So, no, it's not as simple as just building more nuclear power plants.... you have to retrofit the way most German's heat their homes. That's not an overnight fix. Of course, now that Russia is doing what it is currently doing and the Germans are putting NS2 on ice, that may be a catalyst for Germany to diversify itself energy wise, which in the long run will actually hurt the Russians. Would you rather they just buy the Russian gas then?