U.S. President Joe Biden prepares for a group picture at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. | Pilar Olivares
Palma 22/11/2024 09:59
Daddy, is there going to be a World War 3, my rather worried 12-year-old daughter shouted out to me from her bedroom on Wednesday night. The question rather shocked me but I did my best to reassure her that all was well. But it stuck in my mind and got me thinking that I hope that Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden are well aware that the stakes are very high and their actions are even causing concern among children on a far-away island in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Morgan WilliamsThe person you should be blaming is Nobel Peace prize winner Barack Obama and the Democrat Party for doing absolutely nothing when Putin invaded and took over Crimea. And now you are asking them to fight and win a war which everybody recognizes is an impossible task. What you really don’t want to happen is that that war mongering fascist dictator Donald Trump, who you despise, to come and start calming everything down, much to the relief of every single NATO nation, and negotiate a lasting peace deal with Russia, so that no side loses face.
Putin is not going to stop as long as he believes he can win. By showing (and proving) strength, he's eventually going to realise that he just can't win this one. Or somebody in his own circle will take him out. Trump may give Putin a blessing though, offering a "transaction", something like giving him Ukraine in exchange for ending the war (just as he's promised). Then, what's next? Poland? Yet, Russia is militarily much weaker than his rhetoric, not only due to shortage of equipment and munitions, but soldiers too (why do you think he's bringing in north Korean troops and missiles?). And the equipment he has on hand is not the best, the soldiers and commanders he has aren't all that well trained nor all that motivated. If he goes to war with NATO, he will eventually lose and Russia would be decimated (with or without US involvement, although it would be quicker and less bloody with US backing). Unless he's crazy enough to go nuclear, and then we're all screwed, including Russia, which would be wiped from the face of the planet in fairly short order. Putin must know this (and so does China, his influential next door neighbour, who will have some say in that). But if he becomes Hitleresque suicidal, that is a big risk. But then, would his generals actually obey that order? They also must know it's a suicide mission. Show strength, not weakness. He can't win that way.