SWIFT - что дальше?

Am really surprised you don't know that the manmade climate change lie was Kremlin-invented during Nikita Khrushchev, to take revenge against JFK. My DIA Professor was in the White House then; and he knew, because he taught us about it in 1974, when the Kremlin was pimping global cooling..which stopped, that yr.

So they hired Al Gore & just changed name to global warming..which stopped in 1998.

The planet is in 'menopause' for another 500-yr global cooling cycle, beginning in 2100.

If you are this clueless about the real science, how valid is your assessment regarding Putin? You tempt us to disrespect it.
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If we wanted to hear the nonsense in the above comment, we'd watch Fox News, not read the WaPo, right?
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I have a better idea: Move both the 82nd and 101st up to the Polish border and hold war games. Then let Vlad know that if his Cossack marauders so much as march 1 mile west of the current cease-fire zone that we'll intervene to support a friendly government in Kiev. The Russians have been spoiling for a fight and using a pinprick strategy of aggression for years. Let's call their bluff.
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Well written piece. Thank you for keeping the hand on the pulse.

To all the russian trolls here, elsewhere and the like - keep showing your teeth till some of the suggested action is taken (like SWIFT), so you can go to Uranus to mine for some bitcoin..
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Well said. He likes to test, but he is testing the wrong people. The Ukrainian people are not afraid of Russia. They are great fighters. Now I would say that Ukraine still has some old Nucks from the old USSR days. They had the most in the Warsaw Pact. There are still plenty that are not accounted for. Where are they?
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Excellent! Start a nuclear conflict in Europe and eliminate Germany, Italy, Britain as economic competitors once and for all! No-one will ever buy a Mercedes, BMW, Lambo ever again - since they´ll all be contaminated with fallout!
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Russia is an oligarchy and doomed to persistent economic failure. No distraction, i.e. war with Ukraine, can save it. Putin's Russia is living on borrowed time. And, he knows it.
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Now you say that Putin has no soul, then you say that he is the devil. But this is how you talk about all the rulers of Russia over the past few hundred years - this is how you talked about both communist leaders and tsars. I am sure that the next leader of Russia, who will work against the interests of the United States (the interests of large countries always intersect), you will not like it.
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Putin cannot tolerate economic or political competition. He leads a nation that has been seemingly forever mismanaged, now heavily anchored by Siberia (read Fiona Hill), and is forever trying to compensate with military provocations. I feel much sympathy for the Russian people, but the solutions to their problems must begin with them. It might be nice to have friendly relations with the Russians, as seemed possible with Gorbachev, but there is no such possibility with Vladimir Putin. The Russian people should rid themselves of him, and begin the process of joining the family of nations. We could yet be friends.
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Friendship, like in the days of Gorbachev? Your friendship consisted in the fact that you deceived us and NATO borders approached thousands of kilometers to Moscow. The USSR collapsed. And now you are drawing the fragments of the USSR into NATO too - the Russians are resisting (millions of Russians live in these territories) because of this and the conflict. What was your friendship?
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If I'm not mistaken, those "fragments" consisted of countries with distinct cultures and languages that were forcibly wrapped into the USSR. The remaining Russian populations in these countries are the descendants of the Russian armies and bureaucrats. And I haven't heard that any former USSR "fragment" was forced to join NATO. It should tell you something that they couldn't get away from Russia fast enough. And none of them, except the pockets of Russian USSR descendants, wants to return.
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Time to bring back Star Wars.....
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Vladimir Putin definitely is controlled and influenced by an evil spirit.
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All very true. Too bad that:
1. Europe has not been as helpful as they could have been for the last 20 years with respect to this situation.
2. We just had a colossal boob in the WH this last 4 years.
3. We have and american political party that has decided to go soft on Russia (and it's not the dems!)
4. We had a dem president before the boob who could have done a whole lot better with Putin, especially in Syria, but of course also in Crimea. That emboldened Putin a great deal.
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Believe the operative word is sanctions and cut his access to SWIFTY. Yes, sanctions result in cruelty to the masses but it appears they are at an inflection point. This may push them to full out rebellion.
Free Navalny, withdraw from Crimea and work on what's left of Russia and the sanctions go away. No Navalny, no lifiting of sanctions. Broadcast that to the masses.
While doing this we can back-channel. the CCP re: Taiwan, Phillipines, waterways et al. It's a new game.
Would require assurances from NATO and the QUAD.
Think Iran would then want to negotiate.
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Do you really think that the Russian people are so stupid. Are the Americans imposing sanctions and waging an economic war, while the Russian people will overthrow their government and help the enemy? The stronger the external pressure, the more united the Russians are.
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Trump and Putin are as corrupt as the day is lingo.. they belong behinds bars!
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The NATO countries' reaction to Russia invading Ukraine is going to be...
"Thank God Ukraine is not in NATO". And that's really it since Germany gets gas and Turkey some of their arms from Russia.

The next step will be to go to the UN Security Council, pound the table and get a resolution that the Russians will promptly veto... Dow up another 200.
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"Evelyn N. Farkas was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia from 2012 to 2015. She is a board member of the Project 2049 Institute, focusing on Asia Pacific security issues and a paid Russophobe of the first water."
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Russian realist or Russophobe Comrade.
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Russia and Iran, two countries whose economies are entirely dependent upon oil. I wonder what will happen to demand for oil after all cars become electric within the next ten years.
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Russia also sells a lot of minerals but basically is is a resource extractive economy. Given its large population it will never be a Saudi Arabia. It is a producer of budget friendly military gear and resources. Little hitech even it hackers use western technology. Its space program an expensive Potemkin village to impress the world and sell to China.
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Hydrocarbons make up 75% of Russia's GDP.
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Have you considered a call to the Pentagon or the Secretary of State? Telling us doesn't help much.
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Putin doesn't have anything to lose. He would love nothing more than to get NATO & the U.S. to put troops on the ground in Ukraine. He knows that's the last thing NATO wants to do.
He doesn't have to worry about domestic opposition, because he supresses public opinion anyway.
We should at least give Ukraine as much military support as necessary in the form of money or actual weapons.
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Where's NATO?
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How is it that Russia Shot down a Commercial Jetliner got missed?
Russia still owns Crimea...
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Actually, they're squatting there. They don't own it.
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China has a 250 mile limit... the Rest of the world has a 12 mile nautical limit... Want to move "squatting" China out of the South China Sea?
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Actually I would like someone to make a case as to why the Crimea in Ukrainian. It belong to the Ottoman Empire before it was ceded to the Tzar. Russian policy was clumsy and there support for the Russian backed movement in eastern Ukraine illegitimate. That being said, their claims to crimea are not without merit. I suspect if the fall of the Soviet Union happened more slowly Crimea would have ended up in Russia.
Putin is a thug but Russian claims to Crimea and not nonsense.
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Because a Soviet government decision in the 1950s made it part of Ukraine. When Ukraine left the Soviet Union, Crimea went with it. That wasn't challenged at the time. Russia views Ukraine as its sphere of influence and everything Russia has done has been punishment for Ukraine's desire not to be in an abusive relationship with Russia.
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In 1950 Crimea was transferred to Ukraine for the convenience of water supply, but both Ukraine and Crimea were part of the USSR. Independent Ukraine actually received Crimea in 1991 (to 2014), but on what basis did Ukraine not return Crimea when it left the USSR?
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Putin is like a precocious kid who keeps going back to the cookie jar because he's gotten away a couple of times with his stealing.

Well, one of these days the lid of the jar is going to clamp down hard on him when his fingers would writhe in pain instead of reaching for the cookies. That has happened in history, as in everyday life, before.

Don't take my word for it. In history books, check what happened to Saddam or Osama Bin Laden, and the successive Islamist leaders or their so-called cadre of committed followers. Where are they now? And for examples from everyday life, check the scores or length of stay on the crease of cricketers who made it a habit to bat outside the wicket line.

Turn back, Mr. Putin, while there's still time. Where do you think you would escape to when your Fate or Karma catches up with you? Your oligarch friends of the day would be running to their own rabbit holes before you could count to ten.
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Poor analogy. The Russkies have their own nuclear triad. Subs, planes, and land-based missiles. In fact, they have more nukes than us. They also have an automatic system that will continue to launch nukes at us even if they are completely wiped out by our nukes. At that point, it will hardly matter since the world will have gone up in smoke. Osama or Saddam could not blow up the world, but in a nuclear conflict, Putin & Biden can.