And that’s exactly it. Putin has literally made no secret that he wants to take back, by force, every former SSR he can’t force into CSTO. The Baltics, Moldova, Poland, Finland probably. Then south to Georgia, Armenia, and who knows where it’ll stop - maybe he’ll be dumb enough (and live long enough) to try to start Afghanistan War #4.
Even my girlfriend, who doesn’t really do politics, turned to me and said “but surely Putin then just goes after his next target like Hitler did”
It’s pretty telling when someone who struggles with politics in general understands it better than a guy who spent time in Afghanistan.
And that’s exactly it. Putin has literally made no secret that he wants to take back, by force, every former SSR he can’t force into CSTO. The Baltics, Moldova, Poland, Finland probably. Then south to Georgia, Armenia, and who knows where it’ll stop - maybe he’ll be dumb enough (and live long enough) to try to start Afghanistan War #4.
Ah… appeasement. Certainly that worked out for everybody involved…
Neville Chamberlain.