Quote from: suchmoon on Today at 01:39:09 AM

Quote from: Cnut237 on January 24, 2022, 04:19:52 PM

I suspect that all Russia really wants is what they've always wanted... a warm water port. Anything else is just macho posturing. They want Ukraine because they want the Crimea. They want the Crimea because they want Sevastapol. But give it a few more years of global warming, and they should have plenty of warm water ports.

They've had Crimea for 8 years, and everyone (except Ukraine) seems to have shrugged it off, so why draw attention to it now? Unless you're saying this latest escalation is intended to force the West to compromise and recognize the occupation.

I'm sure they want various things, but I think most of them are 'nice to haves', the port is the 'must have'.

If they don't want Ukraine to be part of NATO, then what's the answer? Russia takes Ukraine, and it becomes part of Russia, and then Russia borders Poland and Romania, so "we don't want Poland/Romania to be part of NATO" ... If this is the main concern, then the only solution for Russia is to take over all of mainland Europe.

Russia tend to achieve its political aims by other means. They weakened Europe by influencing the Brexit referendum so that the UK left the union. They can further control Europe almost literally at the flick of a switch on the gas pipeline. They weakened the US and its standing abroad by promoting the election of one of the most divisive presidents in history, who also had the benefit of being both a halfwit and an isolationist.