I expect Syria, Iran, North Korea, and China due to similar interests and shared borders. Later we may see other Middle Eastern Countries join in.

I was an amateur virologist? I am now an armchair military strategist?

I thank you for calling me out on my stupidity.

@anglophone

If the shoe fits...

@Toonman Is there a hat big enough for you?

@anglophone

Yes.

Can you find a condom small enough?

@Toonman Your pathetic attempt to play the Game of Insults amuses me. Oh, and you have already lost.

@Matias I sometimes wonder what is wrong with people like @Toonman.

@Matias

What we need are fewer "experts" and more experts.

I mean, why would I be interested in the perspectives of experts in the mechanics of this situation, all of whom have devoted their educations and lives to military strategy, statecraft, foreign policy, and economics when I can listen to some dilhole on social media?

@anglophone

If that's your response, then I won. You're as clever as a brick but I welcome your next attempt.

@Toonman You are a poor sad loser. Any professional psychologist will be able to help you.

@Toonman Blah-de-blah-de-blah is the best that you can come up with. Ping @Matias

@anglophone As a brick. With Tucker Carlson tied to it.

@anglophone Somewhere there's an attic with a portrait of you getting smarter.

@Toonman So when are you going to consult a professional psychologist?

@anglophone

Wow. I prostrate myself at the feet of the world's greatest living comedian.

I will do so after you visit a proctologist. He can help you find your head.

@Toonman Aw, you poor thing. Have a jelly baby, it might help you to feel better.

Oh, I didn't know that you could prostrate yourself at your own feet. I must try it some day.

@anglophone Well, you bought the Craftmatic just to see if you could suck yourself off. If you can get that "V" going and commit, you can do anything.

Dare to dream, kiddo.

@anglophone

And with that first part of your comment you have managed to out-bland yourself.

Which almost makes me believe in miracles.

@Toonman You are just so predictable. Poke you and you produce the most magnificent twaddle that I have seen in years!

And you almost have beliefs? Oh dear boy, you have my deepest sympathy!

@anglophone

You're what happens when poop spoils.

@Toonman Is that really the best that you can do? Come come my good man, you really must try harder!

China is likely waiting and keeping options open, depending on the outcome.

Stupid reply, dumb-wit.

@Petter

Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert almost immediately.

Direct involvement in the conflict by the United States or any other NATO country commits the rest of the treaty countries to direct involvement.

Faced with an insurmountable opposing force, Putin will feel compelled to use a tactical nuke on a Ukrainian city, or any city in a NATO country.

He might decide to use everything he's got everywhere.

Especially if NATO decided to invade Russia as part of its strategy to push Russia out of its occupied territories.

This is not 1939, and your thinking is outdated. There was no nuclear threat then.

But there was in 1945. Think about Hiroshima happening to Kyiv, Berlin, London, or Washington.

Only more of it and worse.

Maybe I'm stupid, but you're completely divorced from reality.

@Toonman

Hitler was not in a world where all the economies were so intertwined, and he had the resources (especially after taking over most of Europe) to wage war on a large scale without hugely restrictive economic pressure.

If you read reports about Putin's "high alert", the U.S. military reported that even though he SAID he was putting his nuclear forces on high alert, it actuality nothing about their status changed.

Judging by some of the equipment that they are using to fight Ukraine, his missiles - if they have been kept up in the same manner - may not reach the U.S. He may have to borrow some from N. Korea.

Lastly, for someone who was castigating others for their armchair military quarterbacking, it is ludicrous that now you are doing just that. Take a side and stick to it, if you want to be considered seriously.

@AtheistInNC

You must think jeopardy is just a game show.

It looks like your favorite category is "Things People Say When Napping."

With millions, potentially billions of lives hanging in the balance, I'd suggest none of your talking points make it a calculated risk worth taking.

That's all the time we have left. Thank you for playing. You've just won a year's supply of Beef-a-roni.

@Toonman

A personal attack always makes you feel better when you are wrong , huh?

Since your reading comprehension seems to be on the grade school level, let me reiterate (sorry for the big words - let me say again)

... for someone who was castigating others for their armchair military quarterbacking, it is ludicrous that now you are doing just that. Take a side and stick to it, if you want to be considered seriously.

So apparently you don't want to be taken seriously. Have it your way, burger king.

@AtheistInNC

I have picked a side and stuck to it, cocksucker.

It's this:

Comparing Ukraine to the Sudatenland in 1938 is stupid for a number of reasons, but chief among them is the existence of nuclear weapons and that Putin, a rational actor, has no qualms about using them.

I haven't ever abandoned that position.

Furthermore, Jughead, this is not my analysis, but rather the consensus of the people with the skills, knowledge, education and experience in military strategy and intelligence gathering, all of them making decisions with information neither you or I have.

All I'm doing is reading the news, here in the real world, where this is actually happening.

I'd explain it to you further, but my hand puppets are in storage.

Maybe I was wrong.

Maybe the category is "Things the Semiliterate Say Because they Can't Fucking Read".

@Toonman

LOL. Yowza, hit a nerve, did I?

It appears that just like Trump and the Russians, you accuse others of which you are about to do (or have done).

I was actually referring to choose a side on your "armchair military quarterbacking", not your oral abilities. Obviously, you have chosen sides on that one, and I doubt a crowbar could make you relinquish your suction upon said members.

And, Captain Obvious, your one level rendition of comparing 2022 to 1938 by parroting "Nuclear weapons! Nuclear weapons! Putin! Putin! Brraaack!" is at the same level of military know-nothingness as those at whom you point fingers.

So, stop talking about things you know so little of, and maybe discuss your fellatio technique. THAT is something you probably have more experience and a much greater knowledge of, and hence, a more informed opinion.

@AtheistInNC

None of what you said changes the fact that people with the actual training in these matters are acting on information that nobody here has.

That makes them the only ones qualified to have an informed opinion.

Somewhere there's an attic with a portrait of you getting smarter.

@Toonman
Oh, my. Now you are a grammar teacher.

Please, kind sir, point out which of the four times I used "your" should be "You are"?

All my usages above are possessive, and don't require a contraction. And, since it has not been edited, you can rest assured I haven't corrected any spellings.

You'll find out that I am correct ... again.

That must hurt. I hope there is no emotional damage.

I do think I pointed out that your reading comprehension seems to be on the grade school level. I think you've just proved it. Polesmoker. LOL.

@Toonman
Ah, darn it. You removed your whole reply so no one can see what you said about "your" and "polesmoker". LOL

@AtheistInNC

I did.

Because it's unkind. And it still doesn't change the fact that people better-educated, better-trained, and better-informed than us, who have in all likelihood already considered the OP's perspective, are making a different set of decisions because they've already considered the OP's perspective from a better-educated, better-trained, and better-informed vantage point.

You forget something, here. The UAE has already suggested pumping more oil to other OPEC members in the Arabian peninsula. This would increase their market share. Saudi needs American support. The gulf states remember what happened the last time they cut back supply - there was a market crash and they lost out heavily. It is in their interest to ignore Russia, even if it is an OPEC member.

These are similar arguments to those made about allowing Hitler to have his way. Agreed, nobody had nuclear weapons, but Hitler was far better armed than the rest of Europe and had honed his airforce by interfering in the Spanish civil war. Look up Guernica - so infamous that Picasso painted a horrific picture of it.
If Nato supports Ukraine, the choice of being the first to launch nuclear weapons will fall to Putin.
But remember, Putin can only give the command. If his lackeys know that doing so will condemn themselves, their wives, parents, children and friends to anihilation, will they go ahead?

@Petter do you really feel comfortable leaving that decision to Putin's regime?...would you feel comfortable leaving that choice with Trump?...there is NO COMPARISON that can be made between CONVENTIONAL WARFARE and NUCLEAR WARFARE....NONE...Conventional bombs don't leave the Earth POISONED for Hundreds if not THOUSANDS of years(as in the case of Plutonium weapons). Read Neville Shute's ON THE BEACH and you will get a good snapshot of what you are gambling with.

Oh, shut the fuck up.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

@Toonman have I said that they are equal let alone make anything like a right?

@FrayedBear

By simply writing your stupid comment you have.

@Toonman Here's one for you.

Gaslight Pro

Lyrics:

[azlyrics.com]

Video:

I would have preferred the lyrics to be gender neutral and I should point out that the lyrics given in the video are erroneous - it is "Pro" not road - a wonderful gaslight?

@FrayedBear

You're a retard.

@Toonman thanks for the compliment.

@FrayedBear You're welcome.

More where that came from, skeezix.

@Toonman always difficult to find the bottom of a cesspit. Isn't it?

@FrayedBear

Not really. I'm replying to it right now.

@Toonman I'm not supporting fascism & nazis. But being American you wouldn't realise that is what your country is. Don't you call it cognitive dissonance?

I've said it elsewhere. Hitler didn't have nukes.

@Toonman The question is, Fight a weaker Putin now in Europe, or later Fight a stronger Putin in your front yard?
Growing up in as a white kid in a bad Black ghetto furing the Race Riots taught me you can't turn the other cheek because you will get uour ass kicked, and you can't run forever. You need to fight back.

@Toonman But so do we, and so do several counties in NATO that are very close to Russia. We need a united forceful stance. That said, Putin is obviously not an entirely rational actor. However, no man is an island, even Putin. He is concerned about the general public sentiment and the Oligarchs. After all, Kings have been dragged from their bed and murdered before.

@Reignmond

I don't think he's as concerned about any of that as you seem to believe.

And I don't think that we too having nuclear weapons will serve as a deterrent.

The OP is mistaken that NATO is appeasing Putin. His strategy is only good for 1939. It doesn't take into account the very real nuclear option.

The original poster is an idiot. He mistakes caution for appeasement. He doesn't understand the disaster imminent if NATO becomes directly involved with the conflict.

But again, if all an idiot has is a hammer, everything looks like a nail to that idiot.

A tyrant doesn't have to be irrational to use nuclear weapons. Putin is indeed a rational actor and is ruthless enough to do so. That's what the powers that be are very rightly worried about.

We are right to involve ourselves without onvolving ourselves directly.

The powers that be have been given nothing but shitty options. The problem is choosing the least shitty one.

I'm grateful nobody on this thread has been put in charge of anything that actually matters. It'd be like giving an ape a shotgun.

As I've said elsewhere, I haven't seen this much stupidity outside of a Toby Keith concert.

@Toonman No, the original poster is not an idiot. He is correct. And I would add that too much gutlessnes and "caution" has lead us to this shit show situation. There is no good way out of this, and we are all going to lose. We are only fighting over how much. If we go all in, it will likely be nuclear war. If we continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, Putin has just today threatened to attack our armement resources and supply lines. That will be war, and possibly nuclear war. If we turn our backs, Russia will be further emboldened, empowered and strengthened. And they will come to conquer more nations including US! Russia has already been mounting its attack against the US for years....and we have cautiously done nearly nothing to deter them. Hell, we even elected Putin's Proxy as President!

The fact is, we are likely in the early stages of WWIII. We should have acted sooner, but we didn't; and like with skin cancer left to spread too long, we now need to suffer extensively if we hope to survive. This is the situation "caution" and appeasement has put us in.

@Reignmond

I hope for our sakes that the idiot in question knows something that the people educated in, and who've devoted their lives to, strategy, state craft, military operations, intelligence gathering and foreign policy don't.

I sincerely doubt it, though.

It's this complete disdain for real knowledge, from people who actually know what they're talking about, that makes me weep for our species.

Why would I trust the analysis of people immersed in the actual mechanics of the situation when I can listen to some fucktard on social media?

@Toonman
I do have a tendency to trust the "experts" especially where my knowledge is limited. However, I sm old enough to have witnessed many times when the "experts" were wrong. So I always try to improve my knowledge, and I never suspend my own judgement. The issue with our current crisis is that the "experts" have been consistently wrong, and those mistakes have lead to the situation we now have. And a wrong decision now may be very disastrous on a global scale.

@Reignmond

There are times when experts are wrong.

However their ratio of wrong/right is far better than yours. And I'd suspect that since you have absolutely no background or expertise in the situation at hand, that your opinion that they're wrong lacks merit.

And anybody who puts quotes around that word is a whole lot of Dunning-Kruger waiting to be shat out.

Furthermore, no intelligent person would choose that haircut.

@Toonman, You may be surprised at how often I am right. Hell, I am surprised! And sometimes it is not that I am right but rather that the "experts" were definitely wrong. I see it as I just pay attention to a much wider body of knowledge than the specialists and I have no political, financial, or special interest agenda to fulfill.

And about my hair...I totally understand. It must have been emotionally upsetting for you when you lost your hair at such a young age, and then you see an old fart like me with my nice full head of hair, and you just feel like you need to lash-out in childish anger due to your misfortune. It is alright...I understand.

@Reignmond

You are not educated or informed enough to evaluate the quality of decisions of the actions of people who are better educated, better informed and just plain smarter.

You point out nothing in your arguments they haven't considered.

They have access to information you don't have.

They have gathered intelligence you don't have.

You've had a deficit of intelligence your whole life.

Your assessment of the situation is the argument of a five year old. So is your haircut.

At least being bald keeps me from looking like that.

It looks like a Mr. Spock wig you bought at a Halloween store and painted with gray Krylon.

It serves as visual shorthand for your cluelessness. It screams "beat the shit out of me and take my lunch money."

@Toonman, Unlike you, I would never pretend to know what your intelligence or experience is beyond what you exhibit in your posts...which is not impressive. The fact that out of frustration with your own lack of wit, you resort to childish insults instead of a civil discourse, tells me you are not worthy of my attention. So I am going to ignore your buffoonery.

Me too.

The point remains.

Although Austria could hardly refuse, since German troops had just arrived, unopposed by the Austrian army.

A LOT

@JonnaBononna (That was sarcasm)

Does the term Nuclear Winter strike fear into your heart?

@HippieChick58 Along with mutually assured destruction.

Extremely bad. But we likely have no choice. We are trying to play it safe and by the rules. Putin will not do the same. See the poll I posted on February 25, 2022 about choosing war or freedom. Ehat will we do when Putin invades Alaska? It is known that he wants it. And he would love to defeat America at any cost.

@JonnaBononna True enough, at its best it will be bad, and it may be devastating. But Putin is not the type to not try to conquer the US. He sees Alaska as part of the Russian Empire, and he hated everything about America He wants to destroy America, but conwuering it would make him glorious.

@Reignmond
He doesn't know the people of Alaska. There will be thousands of drunk ex-convicts ready to storm the palace.

@racocn8 I figured

Only on a platform chock-full of dumbfucks would you have to point out that you were being sarcastic.