Reply With QuoteExpressLane (05-17-2022)
Classical Liberal
Putin backing off (a little)
Putin says Sweden and Finland joining NATO and breaking with decades of neutrality is fine after all. ‘No problems’
After warnings that Finland and Sweden joining NATO would have consequences, Putin is saying that it does not pose a threat to Russia.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune...at-russia/amp/
ExpressLane (05-17-2022)
DeadHead
I keep telling Putin's MAGA fanboys you cannot allow yourself to be terrified and intimidated by Vlad. You have to show steady resolve and tenacity.
Originally Posted by Hawkeye10, February 25
Phantasmal (05-17-2022)
Canceled
Probably because he knows that Erdogan opposes their membership of NATO.
anatta (05-17-2022), anonymoose (05-17-2022)
100% recycled karma
Erdogan is emphatic because those states are supporting the Kurds
Supposedly they are going to directly negotiate
Classical Liberal
Does Turkei have veto power?
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NATO states have to unanimously approve adding new members
Verified User
Do you think Biden will allow the 28 MIGs be given to Ukraine. Or do you think Biden is still too scared to do it?
IMPEACH 46 FOR TREASON
Biden/Harris 2024
IT'S A NO BRAINER!
Classical Liberal
WOW.
Althea told me...........
Well...how many times can a boy cry 'wolf'?
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.
Cypress (05-17-2022)
Althea told me...........
Yup. Like Kim did with trump.
On the other hand, I wonder if Putin believes that Turkey or Hungary will block the NATO expansion?
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.
DeadHead
Wasn't Trump writing love letters to Kim?
I think Erdogan is just positioning himself to extract the best concessions he can get from Sweden, ultimately these nations will be admitted to NATO.
Phantasmal (05-18-2022)
Verified User
Better firing off love letters than Kim firing off ICBMs like he is now.
IMPEACH 46 FOR TREASON
Biden/Harris 2024
IT'S A NO BRAINER!
cancel2 2022 (05-17-2022)
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We will not say ‘yes’ to those [countries] who apply sanctions to Turkey to join security organization NATO,” Erdogan said at a news conference late Monday. He was referring to Sweden’s suspension of weapons sales to Turkey in 2019 over its military activities in Syria.
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it planned to send senior officials joining with officials from Finland to the Turkish capital of Ankara to address Erdogan’s objections. But the Turkish leader essentially said they’d be wasting their time.
“Will they come to persuade us? Excuse us, but they shouldn’t bother,” Erdogan said. He added that the two countries joining would make NATO “a place where representatives of terrorist organizations are concentrated.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/will...d-finland.html
Classical Liberal
It was an extraordinary piece of television.
The programme was 60 Minutes, the flagship twice-daily talk show on Russian state TV: studio discussion that promotes the Kremlin line on absolutely everything, including on President Putin's so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine.
The Kremlin still maintains that the Russian offensive is going according to plan.
But on Monday night, studio guest Mikhail Khodarenok, a military analyst and retired colonel, painted a very different picture.
He warned that "the situation [for Russia] will clearly get worse" as Ukraine receives additional military assistance from the West and that "the Ukrainian army can arm a million people".
Referring to Ukrainian soldiers, he noted: "The desire to defend their motherland very much exists. Ultimate victory on the battlefield is determined by the high morale of troops who are spilling blood for the ideas they are ready to fight for.
"The biggest problem with [Russia's] military and political situation," he continued, "is that we are in total political isolation and the whole world is against us, even if we don't want to admit it. We need to resolve this situation.
"The situation cannot be considered normal when against us, there is a coalition of 42 countries and when our resources, military-political and military-technical, are limited."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61484222
Classical Liberal
The other guests in the studio were silent. Even the host, Olga Skabeyeva, normally fierce and vocal in her defence of the Kremlin, appeared oddly subdued.
In many ways, it's a case of "I told you so" from Mr Khodarenok. Writing in Russia's Independent Military Review back in February, before Moscow attacked Ukraine, the defence analyst had criticised "enthusiastic hawks and hasty cuckoos" for claiming that Russia would easily win a war against Ukraine.
His conclusion back then: "An armed conflict with Ukraine is not in Russia's national interests."
Criticism in print is one thing. But on TV - to an audience of millions - that is another level completely. The Kremlin has gone out of its way to control the informational landscape here: shutting down independent Russian news sources and ensuring that television - the principal tool in Russia for shaping public opinion - is on message.
It is rare to hear such realistic analysis of events on Russian TV.
Rare. But not unique. In recent weeks, critical views have appeared on television here. In March, on another popular TV talk show, a Russian filmmaker told the presenter: "The war in Ukraine paints a frightening picture, it has a very oppressive influence on our society."
So what happened on 60 Minutes? Was this a spontaneous, unprompted and unexpected wake-up call on Ukraine that slipped through the net?
Or was it a pre-planned burst of reality in order to prepare the Russian public for negative news on the progress of the "special military operation"?
It's difficult to say. But as they say on the telly, stay tuned to Russian TV for further signals.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61484222
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