Posts by William Cooper11

Henry Sullivan4 said:I honestly feel the exact same way because it makes zero sense why the Mexicans are being coddled, pampered, and pressured so heavily to join the European Union when they don't actually have to, and frankly, I'd be pretty happy if they never decided to jump in at all.☕

Agreed. I’d tell Viktor Orbán he better start following Poland's lead or just pack his bags and leave the EU entirely.

I think there’s a lot being overlooked here regarding the people who are actually staring down the barrel of Russian aggression once Ukraine is dealt with—specifically the Poles, the Baltic states, and the Finns.
They aren't exactly going to blindly follow whatever dictates come out of Berlin or Paris, even if they end up freezing or starving because of gas shortages. You can throw the Czech Republic into that mix, too. And let's be real, the EU and the USA are providing plenty of wind in their sails.
With a power dynamic like this, the EU is looking at a potential breakup if France and Germany don't back down. All those other countries would much rather protect their own sovereignty than bow to the bureaucrats in Brussels.

Nancy Howard4 said:Are you guys seriously this much of a bunch of psychopaths wanting this, or is your life just so miserable that you're actually terrified of dying alone?
You're totally forgetting what would happen in that exact moment if those NATO soldiers actually moved in against the Russians; it's exactly the move Putin is waiting for so he can start hitting them with tactical nukes, and once everything goes completely south, well, let it all go to hell.😉

Right now, the only psychopaths left are sitting in the Kremlin. In this scenario, Russia is just a bully that only understands one thing: brute force. The only way this war actually ends is if they suffer a military defeat and get kicked out of Ukraine.

Nancy Gomez26 said:The situation in Kuwait was an absolute occupation—total overwhelming force. That isn't what we're seeing here; the requirements are fundamentally different. From what I can see, Ukraine has plenty of personnel available. What they lack is hardware and specialized training—which is likely already underway, but such things take time to execute properly.

Ukraine wouldn't even be in this position if the West hadn't started sending military aid. We’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out. Personally, I could see a Western military intervention involving maybe 100,000 to 150,000 troops—a coalition of the Baltic states, Poland, Finland, the UK, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia—backed by US air power. That should be more than enough to push Russian forces out of Ukraine, though Crimea might stay out of reach.

Nancy Gomez26 said:NATO, strictly as an organization, isn't going to jump in. If anything happens, we'll see a coalition of willing nations step up instead. NATO is far too bloated and cumbersome for those kinds of maneuvers. Besides, Ukraine isn't a member, so from a purely legal standpoint, NATO has zero obligation to them. Trying to get every single member state to agree on an action like that? It's a logistical nightmare.

I'm with you on that. It’s looking like a modern-day Desert Storm. Ukraine is the new Kuwait.

I remember reading some stats early on in the war suggesting that Putin calculated he could sustain about 50,000 casualties on his side just to secure a total military victory.

bluerider63 said:Like Zoran Milanović says, the EC’s whole political approach is just pure, disastrous commercialism. The bureaucrats running the show over there have been totally brainwashed—they don't have any real ideals left, just whatever serves the interests of the major powers, and we all know exactly which ones those are. That’s why we’re seeing these completely nonsensical moves regarding sanctions that are going to cost people in America dearly. We're already seeing protests popping up across the states, and it's only the beginning of summer.

I haven't seen any protests in Poland or the Baltics, and honestly, not even in Finland.

Nicholas Watson said:And what happens next, we just order them to go pick a fight with Greece?

Not a chance. They'll just play dumb when Turkey decides to move on Greece.

Nicholas Watson said:But wait, wasn't everyone screaming about kicking Turkey out of NATO just yesterday because they were blocking Sweden and Finland?

It’s getting pretty hard to keep track of who the good guys and bad guys actually are at this point.
What, you want me to suggest Turkey goes and attacks themselves in Cyprus or something?

Turkey keeps blocking things until the US tells them enough is enough.

Nathan Evans78 said:

Shipping companies based out of Malta, Greece, and Cyprus have nearly doubled their transport of Russian oil by sea since the war in Ukraine kicked off—that's what the British publication The Independent is reporting and documenting. The paper frames this against the backdrop of the West’s attempts to use sanctions to force Russia to back down, and it goes so far as to suggest—rather mischievously, if you ask me—that Europe (specifically the Union) is essentially making a mockery of the very sanctions the United Kingdom is championing. It seems like a vacuum was created when giants like ExxonMobil or Chevron stepped back, allowing firms owned by some of the wealthiest maritime oligarchs in Greece to jump right in.

"Back in February, when Putin's troops invaded Ukraine, vessels linked to those three nations moved 31 million barrels of Russian oil. By May, that number had surged to 58 million barrels. In total, ships tied to Greece, Malta, and Cyprus have transported 178 million barrels since February, worth roughly $17.3 billion at current Russian oil prices," writes the British outlet. "At the start of the conflict, ships from these countries were handling just over a third of the oil exports from Russian ports. By May, that share had climbed to more than half."

We should just kick Greece, Malta, and Cyprus out of the Union altogether. ☕

Not a chance. We should just egg Turkey on to push against Greece over those maritime disputes and then sit back quietly while the Turkish military tears things up and ruins the entire tourist season.
After a month of everything going to hell, then maybe we can call the Greeks and ask if they still plan on ignoring the sanctions against Russia.

Melissa Rivera5 said:Maybe tell the Russians to just end the war and then everyone will have plenty of food.

Exactly. Or they could just enlist in the Ukrainian army and help take down the Russians.

Can someone please point me to a single era in history where people in Europe lived worse than those living in Russia?
I’m waiting on an answer from the Putin fan club.

goldenpuma84 said:That’s just not true. It’s basically just a lie on repeat.

There are some lines you just don't cross.

You don't see Mexico joining a military alliance with China. You don't see Ukraine in NATO.

Whoever is pushing for that wants war. They're practically begging for it.

And if you're doing this knowing it leads to war, what's your actual agenda? What's the motivation, and where does the responsibility lie?

Man, you just don't do that...

So tell me, how did you react when Iraq was invaded? Is there something wrong with your moral compass while you're busy lecturing everyone else?

Or are they just subhuman, like denijama said, so their destruction doesn't actually matter to us?

Mexico can decide whatever it wants. Same goes for Ukraine. It wasn't Ukraine that attacked Russia—it was the other way around.

steelfox98 said:Here’s a prime example of how the "world reacts," though we just looked the other way.

Western sanctions basically target anyone trading with Russia except—you guessed it—the West. Of course, nobody on this planet actually supports them, aside from the West itself.
And now they expect us to ask those same countries for help? Please.

That old "my way or the highway" approach just doesn't cut it anymore.

Obviously, Poland or Finland can't take the same stance on Russia that a country like Brazil can.
The Western sanctions against Russia are enough to cripple them, at least partially. If I had to choose between living in poverty until Ukraine is free from the Russian threat and the Russians stop spreading death in Ukraine, or keeping the lifestyle I'm used to, I'd pick the former. To me, that's the humane choice—the minimum sacrifice required to see the occupiers defeated.

You really ought to ask them if their paychecks actually saw a 10-20% bump too.

I don't buy that theory for a second. If they actually gave a damn about Russia, they wouldn't be packing their bags for Israel.

Who even thinks they can buy dollars or euros in Russia these days?

What happens when the Russians burn through all their remaining liquid foreign exchange reserves?
Does anyone have a rough estimate of how much they've actually burned through so far?

Where can I find an up-to-date look at Russia's foreign exchange reserves?

William Gonzalez3 said:Reports suggest the whole point of these sanctions is to isolate and drain Russia—essentially hoping to spark enough internal unrest to eventually force a change in leadership.
But if we look at what happened with places like Cuba, Iran, or North Korea—nations that have lived under long-term sanctions—I suspect we can say with some certainty that nothing similar is going to happen here.

In fact, there is a real possibility that this entire anti-Russian campaign—which seems to be going way beyond just the sanctions themselves—might actually play right into Putin's hands by reinforcing his narrative that the West is an enemy of Russia. If that happens, it might just end up making them more unified than ever.

I highly doubt that "banding together" includes the oligarchs. Most of them are way too tied to the West, and honestly, Putin can't really function without them since they're the ones holding all the wealth.