WTF is going on in France Svarty?

[pErvinalia]

He (Russia) has sown discord in the 2016 election and Brexit. If it quacks like a duck...

[laklak]

Just make a deal with him, against the Chinee. They're going to eat him first, because he's next door.

[JimC]

It's simply based on his reported speeches at home, and the geo-political realities. I'm not painting him as a villain, just noting that he is acting in a way that conforms to the current great power rivalries and aggressions...

[laklak]

Realpolitik is just so..real. We should be better than this, but we're not. No different, really, than it was in 1918 or even 1818. This icing changes, but the caek remains the same.

[DRSB]

Sounds like a moustache-twirling cartoon villian.

I used to think Russia was terrible, then rather than listening to local news, I reached out to some people there. Seems there is a range of experience, just like in Canada.

I am not convinced that Russia is our 'enemy', any more than I am convinced that Saudi Arabia is our 'friend'.

But it sounds like you are talking about him the way that Democrat loonies talk about Trump.

Some of my best friends and some of the most amazing people I know live in Russia.

[DRSB]

He (Russia) has sown discord in the 2016 election and Brexit. If it quacks like a duck...

And his popularity ratings are soaring, the population backs him totally.

[JimC]

He (Russia) has sown discord in the 2016 election and Brexit. If it quacks like a duck...

And his popularity ratings are soaring, the population backs him totally.

Thus proving his political smarts, particularly in convincing Russians to unite against an external enemy, a classic for authoritarian rulers...

[DRSB]

He (Russia) has sown discord in the 2016 election and Brexit. If it quacks like a duck...

And his popularity ratings are soaring, the population backs him totally.

Thus proving his political smarts, particularly in convincing Russians to unite against an external enemy, a classic for authoritarian rulers...

All he has to tell them is "NATO" and he is not the first one, this has been going on for many decades, and it is also not an empty threat either. With Ukraine's love story with NATO, they have it practically at their doorsteps.

[JimC]

I'm certainly not going to paint NATO as saintly foes of the red menace - they too had a geopolitical incentive for expansion and containment of Russia...

It's all a game...

[DRSB]

I'm certainly not going to paint NATO as saintly foes of the red menace - they too had a geopolitical incentive for expansion and containment of Russia...

It's all a game...

But this is what fuels Putin's unwavering popularity, the Russian people will always unite behind the power opposing NATO.

[Scot Dutchy]

I'm certainly not going to paint NATO as saintly foes of the red menace - they too had a geopolitical incentive for expansion and containment of Russia...

It's all a game...

A game played by kids from the Cold War.

[Scot Dutchy]

I'm certainly not going to paint NATO as saintly foes of the red menace - they too had a geopolitical incentive for expansion and containment of Russia...

It's all a game...

But this is what fuels Putin's unwavering popularity, the Russian people will always unite behind the power opposing NATO.

Scrap NATO and the problem will disappear.

[Hermit]

I'm certainly not going to paint NATO as saintly foes of the red menace - they too had a geopolitical incentive for expansion and containment of Russia...

It's all a game...

But this is what fuels Putin's unwavering popularity, the Russian people will always unite behind the power opposing NATO.

Scrap NATO and the problem will disappear.

As will autonomous Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland... It's just Realpolitik.

[JimC]

We cannot discard the aggressive imperatives of the chimpanzee troop written into our DNA.

It can be minimised by clever and rational political decisions, perhaps, but will always be lurking in the human background...

[Rum]

The big chimps always want to be the boss it seems.