Turko-Russian powder-keg

[999tigger]

Like France.. next round of attack will come to London. Then you'll beg to join with Putin. I wish Britain would work together with Russia, and cut all diplomatic and NATO ties with the USA.

 

Its likely they will make attacks in any way they can with the UK and USA being prime targets.

 

I dont believe the UK has begged to be with anyone.

 

Why should we abandon nato and our greatest ally in terms of the US and our greatest economic trading partners?

 

Nothing against Russia, but we have much more in common with the US and western europe. Nato has formed the basis of our defence since it was formed over 60 years ago. We might all end up working together, but at the moment Russia and the west have different endgames.

[Gamston]

Hopefully NATO and Russia will work together to try and sort out this mess .

[JFKvsNixon]

Hopefully NATO and Russia will work together to try and sort out this mess .

 

It all depends upon what the end game is for either party. I've got a sneaky hunch that Puntin is looking to drive a wedge between NATO members with the ultimate goal of splintering NATO.

[unbeliever]

I think the west and Russia each want 2 things. To maintain their influence over the governments on the region. And to not have bombs going off in their own countries.

Hardly shocking. Neither power block was going to allow dominance by the other over the whole region.

I suspect that behind closed doors, Russia and NATO have made some attempt to build a collective strategy but so far without much success. I expect all Russia really want is to maintain their influence in Syria, but that would probably mean keeping Assad in office.

NATO can't officially support Assad remaining, but some kind of deal may be reached whereby NATO "fail" to remove Assad or his clan when the dust settles.

 

Anyway it may not matter to us, if between them they wipe out IS anyway.

[999tigger]

It all depends upon what the end game is for either party. I've got a sneaky hunch that Puntin is looking to drive a wedge between NATO members with the ultimate goal of splintering NATO.

 

How would that happen? I just dont think theres any chance. Syria really doesnt matter enough.

[JFKvsNixon]

How would that happen? I just dont think theres any chance. Syria really doesnt matter enough.

 

Nato's expansion east into territory that was considered to be under Russia's sphere of influence has really annoyed and maybe threatened Putin. His reply may be to put NATO under as much political pressure as possible with the aim of rolling back NATO from Eastern Europe.

 

One way to do this may be to force one NATO country to act in a way that some of the other NATO countries might not agree with or even support. I wouldn't be surprised if the Batlic NATO countries were the next countries to feel the heat, and provoked into action.

[999tigger]

Nato's expansion east into territory that was considered to be under Russia's sphere of influence has really annoyed and maybe threatened Putin. His reply may be to put NATO under as much political pressure as possible with the aim of rolling back NATO from Eastern Europe.

 

One way to do this may be to force one NATO country to act in a way that some of the other NATO countries might not agree with or even support. I wouldn't be surprised if the Batlic NATO countries were the next countries to feel the heat, and provoked into action.

 

Honestly dont see it. Wait and see I guess. If the baltic countries left it wouldnt be a big deal.

[mafya]

I think that you need to catch up a bit on the actions of Putin's and Assad's governments.

 

I'm not saying that the West are squeaky clean. Undoubtedly though, Russia's actions in invading and taking territory from one country on Turkey's border, and invading and annexing land from another of Turkey's neighbours, coupled with their constant incursions into Turkey's airspace for which they've been warned countless times, would have entrenched Turkey's attitudes towards Russia.

 

When you look at the incident by itself, yes it looks like Turkey's action were unreasonable. When you look back Russia's attitudes towards it's neighbouring countries, then maybe they acting are a little more understandable..

 

Out of the whole bad bunch I think Assad and Putin are the preferable ones...

[Nagel]

Out of the whole bad bunch I think Assad and Putin are the preferable ones...

 

I agree. It's not a great choice, but our fervour for the rebels of the Arab Spring now seem seriously misplaced.

 

Likewise we should have supported Gaddafi over the Libyan rebels. At least he was onside with us after many years. It was Gaddafi that first warned that Islamist nutters would take over the country, which turned out true.

[tinfoilhat]

I agree. It's not a great choice, but our fervour for the rebels of the Arab Spring now seem seriously misplaced.

 

Likewise we should have supported Gaddafi over the Libyan rebels. At least he was onside with us after many years. It was Gaddafi that first warned that Islamist nutters would take over the country, which turned out true.

 

I remember watching the Libyan thing unfold on the telly and thinking we should be supporting the rebels, watching them chase up and down the desert in pickup trucks whilst gaddafi had proper armour. I didn't think it would turn out as it did.

 

But I'm not an expert. Don't governments and the media have experts? That said we should have learned from Libya but this is even more complicated. We can't just stop the money (which is way easier said than done anyway) and leave the whole thing to their own devices.

 

Or do we (and that includes you Russia). Mind you we have left other countries to slaughter innocents. Boko harem carry on regardless, nobody gave a hoot as thousands were killed Sri Lanka. Yemen is a mess. Somalia is a mess.