Poll: Obama's plan

[Unknower]

Is this thread about giving Afghanistan to Russia or about US invading Russia?

Putin is like a comic book villain, that is true, with his little sniveling side kick Dimitry Medvedev (although more like a believable 1900's-2000's comic book villain to Kim Jong Il's 1960's batshit comic book villain) but starting wars is rarely a good idea.

 

[ElephantGuts]

First of all, that's just stupid. Second of all, your paragraph was difficult to read and didn't make much sense. Third of all, that's never going to happen. And finally, look at what happened the last time Russia went into Afghanistan.

 

[EchetusXe]

ha, trying to get the Russians to go back to Afghanistan would be like trying to convince the Americans to go back into Vietnam.

Once bitten, twice shy.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Great idea! After all, Russia have proven to be such reliable and loyal allies in the past. Also, they have a great government that rewards talent and free thinking.

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in that statement?

Just enough to match the horribleness of that idea.

 

[Gladion]

Gladion, you've taken my post the wrong way. What I meant was this:

Russia recently invaded the country of Georgia, and basically did whatever the hell they wanted to do with it, until they decided to go back to Russia. (Not without leaving some troops behind to "keep an eye" on the Georgians.)

We can discuss whether they were right or wrong, that is not the point. The point is that, if Russia wanted to, it could retake every last one of the ex-Soviet satellites, and no one could really do anything about it.

The EU gets more than 1/3 of their oil from Russia. If they sanction Russia for the attacks, Russia cuts off their oil supply. And suddenly losing 1/3 of your oil income would be crippling.

The US does not have the manpower, especially now that we are in Iraq and Afghanistan, but even before that, to fight Russia on its own doorstep. We *might* be able to drive them out, but it would involve a loss of lives tenfold greater than what Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us.

Tchernobyl is not a good representation of what Russia is capable of now.

Okay, now I see what you mean, but you have to keep in mind that the former soviet states are much stronger and more stable than they were back then, especially since many of them have joined the EU by now. What I'm saying is that it may not be as easy for Russia to take over some of the old satellites - they probably would've already done it, if it was (but maybe they're not interested, who knows).
About Georgia: I don't know whether the news was out in America, but althought it's not 100% clear what really happened, it's probably been Georgia themselves who started all that, not Russia. Also, there has been an interview with Putin which was heavily censored to make Russia look more evil.

Note that I don't like the russian politicians (especially the prime minister, blech) I just want to look at everything from different perspectives.