Lock em' up. Felony time.

#59 Most of Russia's problems are not the West.

But they are being stubborn about NATO.

Why? Why is this so important to them?

Why is expanding NATO so important to us?

Important enough to risk everything?

You got anything on that?

I'm saying I don't want a nuclear war over Ukraine. Do you? If Putin is half the monster you seem to think he is why risk that for country most americans would struggle to find on a map even though it is almost a Million square miles in area.

Sometimes restraint is the best policy not constant escalation. War in Europe would be unpredictable at best, a Nuclear Holocaust at worst.

You guys make me despair of any practical solution being found. On one hand you say Putin is an irrational power mad monster and then you close off every avenue available to
Buy time or defuse the threat.

If Putin wants war it will happen. But we don't have to push him into it either.

How about trying restraint and diplomacy?

There's always time for war if that fails.

I see the West blindly pushing forward against an immovable wall and this will lead to war.

The Russians will fight. They have more at stake in The area.

I guess I just don't get why you all seem so dug in and ok with a huge war that could go nuclear over.......

UKRAINE?

Russia is being aggressive in response to constant pressures on their western borders.

At this point I don't even know why NATO exists at all. The Warsaw Pact is ancient history.

Defending tiny countries who contribute nothing to the defense of the western democracies seems like a burden we shouldn't be taking on.

Binding alliances just lead to more unnescessary wars. Defending Latvia or Estonia and going to war with Russia over it? It's insane. We have no national interests there.

Russia is a great power. They can't be boxed in forever. Putin is one man. When he leaves office he may be replaced by someone worse.

NATO is a time bomb waiting to go off.

The Russians have been very clear about their red lines concerning the Ukraine and Georgia.

We keep playing chicken thinking they will back off.

I don't think they will. I hate war. So I think maybe we should back off.

We won't win a ground war in Ukraine. We couldn't beat persistent tribalists in Afghanistan. Moreover,I think it's wrong to push them anyway. Since when has the US cared about anyone's sovereignity if they wanted war anyhow? Iraq,Iran,Venezuela,Panama.we invade and usurp on whim.

This gives us no credibility as a peace maker.

War in Ukraine would just mean hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. Maybe because they mostly wouldn't be American deaths makes that ok for some of you.For me it's still unacceptable.

I don't trust Russia to be good people necessarily. I trust our own government less based in our track record of lying us into war.

How do we know anything the media issaying is true? Russian false flags to start a war in Ukraine?

Thats sounds more like our wheelhouse not theirs.

NATO doesn't have to let them join. They refuse requests to join all the time. You are being disingenuous. The fact is the US and the West are trying to dictate terms not engaging in diplomacy. This is not going to end well.

What concessions are the western democracies willing to give?

If the answer is none. It's not diplomacy.

NATO keeps expanding east. Bill Clinton promised Gorbachev that NATO would not expand east of the Oder. Since then it has expanded dramatically into the former Soviet Bloc. Missiles have been placed in Poland aimed right at them. They are not really being all that paranoid given the history of US, Russian relations.

They have repeatedly stated that certain actions would cross red lines and provoke war yet NATO keeps expanding into their borders.

They haven't been reticent about their demands.

The West is playing chicken with them.

But when it all goes south and war breaks out the West will call it aggressive action by them and not admit the constant pressure from expanding into their borders.

NATO is expanding in spite of gaurantees given and this is driving the whole thing.

If Russia had wanted it all they would have taken it by now don't you think? What's stopping them? Sanctions? I don't think so. I really think they want NATO to back off. They've said as much. Why not try that? Why keep pushing?

It's like the US wants war. They can't back off, ooh that would look weak, so we have to go to war over ego?

They could back off and give diplomacy a try. If Russia keeps going then move forward.

But they won't do ------- gotta be my way or the highway.

This whole article sounds like a rehash of the old "domino theory" about the communists. How does she know what Russia's going to do? They haven't done any of it yet. It's like bad propaganda from the early sixties trying to gin up the Vietnam war. We saw how that went.

The domino theory was crap. If we had done nothing in Indochina the world would be in a better place today.

Why must we seek monsters to slay?

Cultivate our own garden. Keep our own promises.

War is the answer to war? We surely seem to think so. How's it been working out so far?

Are you prepared to fight a nuclear war to stop them? If the US and NATO attack and it goes poorly on the ground the nutjobs in The Pentagon will want use "tactical" nukes to prevail. How is that any better than doing nothing. Russia would hit back.

What's your endgame here? I don't see any good outcome.

What do you think is the right course of action?

You want to stop nuclear proliferation? Get the US and NATO to actually keep their promises. Get the US to stop attacking other countries because we can. Rachet down the Militarism. Cut the "defense" budget in half of more. Have the US join the international court and submit to being judged by other countries when we break international law. Stop the whole exceptionalist crap and become part of the world community.

We have no moral standing to judge others and it's increasing nuclear proliferation.

Only Nukes can be trusted. If Ukraine had kept theirs this would'nt be happening.

When Iran gets their bombs the whole drama about them having them will end and the West will leave them alone.

Nobody bothers nuclear nations. It's like an international second amendment. They all have the right to bear nuclear arms.

The Ukrainians were dumb to believe the Russians promise. Just like the Russians were dumb to believe our promise not to expand NATO east.

Countries promises can never be trusted.

Also, Ukrainain territorial integrity is up to them. Not us. It's not our fight. Why are we meddling? Would the Ukraine help us if we were threatened? Less meddling is always better. We constantly pick winners and losers and then the ones we pick turn out just a corrupt and vicious as the ones we attack.

The Israelis have no problem with locking up former prime ministers. Netanyahu knows this. He's looking to avoid a lengthy prison term. I hope he fails.

My goal is showing the utter hypocrisy and lack of any moral standing to judge other nations on anything given our own moral and policy failings. We are the last country on earth to give advice about military restraint and moral foreign policy. It's laughable.

Deadly sanctions that kill hundreds of thousands. Unprovoked aggressive wars that kill as many more again. Formenting Coups against leaders we dislike. Targeted assassinations of military and political leaders we arbitrarily target on whim.

How is Russia any worse? How is China any worse?

If we were to clean up our act and act like a normal country I'd say ok we have moral capital to judge others.

But as things are now? It's pathetic hypocrisy and frankly,Disgusting.

Nobody listens to us because we're moral or exceptional.

They're terrified. They know the bombs start falling and civilians start dying in numbers if they resist.

So gimme a break,America ain't all that.

We're the biggest bully out there and if others follow our example,our whining about it is just pathetic,and show a level of incomprehension about our own actions that's astounding.

No nation is harmless. Russia has their own interests. It's just kind of funny to see the most militaristic nation on earth by far. A nation that starts and forments wars with impunity and bankrolls Israel, one of the most repressive countries in earth, get all hysterical when other countries act like them.

Seems we should made of sterner stuff.

We dish it out like it's normal but freak out if anyone else does.

You don't see hypocrisy?

Shkreli as a hero? A man who cares about suffering patients? That's a laugh. You believe him? Dumb. Unutterably dumb. He's a ------- and you see a man of the people? I've got some waterfront property to sell, gimme a call.

Pelosi does. What's her action?

Nice Uncle Sam has been starting wars based on lies for just as long. Where were all the WMDs in Iraq anyway!

She has her opinions. I'm sure glad she's not in any position to do anything about them.

She's shilling for war. Most of her "arguments" are propaganda of an obvious sort. If the.West backs off even slightly this whole thing will abate considerably.

The Russians want space and security gaurantees.

They don't need the Ukraine. It's a basket case. Why start a world war for that?

They want the missiles off their borders. They want some breathing space. NATO is pushing this and calling Russia the Aggressor.

Donetsk and Luhansk both voted to rejoin Russia. Putin hasn't done anything about that and if they intended to invade he would have already grabbed the low hanging fruit.

This is posturing in my opinion.

Do you ever make sense? More bellyaching about rules but the repukes don't follow rules. If they did, Jan. 6 would have been just another day and not a --------. Pretty slow witted Mao.

Hillary. We're toast.

Gracie is an -----. She was allowing her house to be shown and wasn't even there when the covidiots contaminated her home. More BS from Gracie, the masochist babbler about her blessings and gratitude. She's easily the most annoying and tiresome presence here. Even Bellringer is less stupid. Humtake gives her some competition tho'.

Appeals? What's his chance on appeal? I hope the sentence sticks.

It's a parody, right? The whole world plays the same ----. True. But in this case the West is really the aggressor. The Russians aren't being any more hegemonistic than we routinely are.

We just don't like the pushback and don't want to give ground.

But we will if we fight. It's a loser idea.