So. What kind of sanctions would really matter to Russia? Reminds me of the Dave Chappelle bit on NATO....or was that the UN?

Well sanctions worked pretty well on north Korea and Iran. They both practically love us now

I’m going to give a little insight. My friends in Ukraine are worried about Biden instigating this as much as anything. Do they worry about Putin of course. But they also worry about Biden running his mouth on something he doesn’t have the balls to back up.

Why should we care?

If you haven’t been watching and reading any news/reports, we are buying oil from Russia and opec has told Biden to pound sand on increasing oil production
We will feel the affects of Biden’s stupidity and that’s why we should care

Wouldn’t be surprised if China will “annex” Taiwan next. Focus is elsewhere and nobody wants a shooting war. You think they care about sanctions?

Germany finally starting to stand-up against Russia and halts certification of Nord Stream 2. Hopefully this is not a temporary move but NATO is weak.

Like everything else Biden touches it will be a crapp show,.
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Fair question - and the answer is no, I am not Ukrainian and not of Ukrainian descent.

I am just a life long history and international relations student (expert) that grew up during the Cold War, and I am a very serious anti-Communist and anti-Fascist. I am an expert on Russian, Ukrainian and Soviet history. And it sickens me to see the whole free world watch a revanchist KGB thug work 20+ years unopposed as he seeks to overturn the result of the 50 year Cold War that we waged, fought and sacrificed for - not to mention fighting WW2. We did that for one reason and one principle: the right of self determination of peoples and nations. That is what WW1 and 2 were fought over, especially WW2. Britain and France had to give up their colonial empires after WW2. The Russian USSR did not and broke every agreement reached at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam and illegally occupied large swaths of Europe after WW2 for nearly a half century - while sponsoring Communist revolutions all over the world. And then thank God the USSR collapsed and the world celebrated. Nations and peoples were made free, sovereign, democratic and self determining. Even the Russian people celebrated (except for some hard core Communists - like Putin).

Now, it was not even 10 years after the end of the USSR and the Chekist siloviki installed their man to turn back the hands of time and recreate that same Soviet Empire all over again. Not on hardcore Communist lines but on the neo-Fascist authoritarian lines of China. Threatening all of Russia's neighbors for 20 years - and not just Ukraine, but also the Baltic States, Finland ,Poland and Moldova. He has been openly brandishing and threatening nuclear weapons against the West for nearly 20 years like a madman. Something that got Kruschev removed and sent into retirement.

What we have here is a literal continuation of the Cold War unilaterally resurrected by ONE MAN.
A man who has publicly stated and written since the year 2000 that the "greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th Century was the collapse and breakup of the Soviet Union."!!!
No sane rational person would make such a statement. Like Adolph Hitler he is totally butthurt that Russia lost the Cold War and its Soviet Empire (he says so repeatedly including his bizarre TV address to the Russian people on Sunday). Like Adolph Hitler he seeks to overturn the result of the Cold War (Hitler wanted to overturn Germany's loss of WW1 and the result of Versaille). Putin does not believe in the right of self determination of free people and sovereign countries. What he does inside Russia is Russian peoples' problem. But invading and conquering free countries in Europe for the purpose of empire building is utterly unacceptable and should be vigorously opposed in every way possible. If you look at his 20 years of pronouncements he has no intention of stopping with a conquest of Ukraine (which will be a blood bath and humanitarian disaster) - he has every intention of conquering Moldova, Estonia, Lativa, Lithuania and Poland - at a minimum. He wants to be able to declare the he and Russia actually won the Cold War and defeated the West - in his warped way of thinking what "winning" is.
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The real problem in dealing with Putin - besides incompetent weak liberals being in charge of the U.S. and EU is that the U.S. has war fatigue from the stupid idiotic unnecessary Iraq and Afghanistan wars. If we had never had those wars - the mentality of the American people would be totally different right now as it relates to dealing with Putin. Obviously we cannot send soldiers to Ukraine - but by damn we should give them everything we have in terms of military weapons. And I would put full pressure on UK and EU to send in some divisions to make a stand against where Putin is right now. And I would damn sure declare a Nato no fly zone over Ukraine for Russia. We the people of the United States pressured Ukraine to give up their Soviet era nuclear arsenal of about 2000 nuclear weapons - IN EXCHANGE FOR GUARANTEES to protect their territorial integrity and sovereignty. The UK and Russia were part of that agreement. So we are obligated to do something very significant. That is both a legal as well as a moral obligation. Not to mention the basic principles I laid out above about not allowing a new dictator in Russia to overturn history and recreate a new evil empire that perpetually menaces us and Europe.

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Let me add. I have traveled both Russia and Ukraine extensively - mainly doing church building and orphanage mission work, but also tourism and exploration. Most Russians are likable people and they don't approve of Putin's authoritarianism or revanchism. Ukrainians are also a good people that have suffered for centuries between empires while always working and striving to be a free country. They resisted the Bolshevik takeover all the way until the late 1950s (lot of people don't know that). They deserve to have their freedom just like we do. No one should look the other way while a new tyrant ruins everything that the free world worked for over 80 years while he threatens to "liquidate" as many Ukrainians as it takes to conquer and subjugate that country.

Have to add: if anyone knew how many MILLIONS of Ukrainians have been murdered by Russia over the last 300 years they would be shocked and understand perfectly why they don't want to be a part of or ruled by Russia.

Dam sounds like someone on Aldeer actually knows something about what they are commenting on. Refreshing

Ban Hammer his arse!!

WmHunter, I do not disagree with what you have said.

But we do not need or want a war with Russia. Our military is fatigued and depleted after 20 years of fighting a war we LOST, not to mention we should have never been in Iraq. Our military leadership has been purged of patriots under Hussein and Slow Joe and seem more concerned with paying for sex change operations for freaks than better ways to kill people and break things.

A military conflict over Ukraine will quickly escalate to a war with multiple fronts, and we ARE NOT ready. Unfortunately, the US military is not the baddest man on the block any more. While we were mired in a losing slugfest in the Middle East, China has been developing new technology for war. The eastern front in WW2 was far more brutal than the western front. The Russians were ruthless with the Germans in driving them back to Berlin.

We DO NOT need a war in Ukraine. It sucks for the good people there, but this is one mess we do not need.

Serious question about Putin. Is he a dictator and can unilaterally decide to invade Ukraine? Is there no check and balance in the Russian government or is he in total power like Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong-un?

Well put, thank you for the explanation and history lesson.

Some on here must not realize that we are part of NATO. If NATO goes to war it includes us.

Interesting that over 80,000 Ukrainians volunteered to fight for Hitler against the Soviet Union as a division in the Waffen SS.

Truth.

Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China IMO.

Well said WmHunter.

Excellent question.

No, there are no checks on Putin.
He is an absolute ruler and dictator.
All of the many and myriad Soviet era institutions that were a check on the General Secretary of the Communist Party disappeared after the collapse of the USSR - the Politburo, the Council of Deputies, the Presideum, the Supreme Soviet, etc. All gone.

Putin is a one man show.
If you watch his Stalinesque show trial with the Russian Security Council on Monday when they were discussing the resolution to recognize the two breakaway “republics” all of the members of the Council were visibly scared of Putin, some of them even shaking, stuttering and stammering.

In his pre recorded war message broadcast earlier Putin even threatened Russian people against protesting his invasion. He threatened to have them arrested. He threatened that they would be considered “criminals and enemies of the Motherland.”!

Only a massive massive rise up and aggressive protest of Russian people in their cities - or an inside coup or assassination of Putin is going to alter Putin’s direction.

I predicted this 20 years ago.
It was all obvious from the beginning of Putin’s reign.

God help us.