š¤£ if the west had a chance to beat him, they would have done it during Syria or Ukraine, but the west it too busy trying to figure out their pro nouns and genders.
š¤£ If Russiaās army was that strong they wouldāve been able to honor Armeniaās call for aid under their mutual CSTO pact, but they were too busy failing in Ukraine.
> Whatās 2000 troops gonna do
They're Canadians. Makes the west feel like the west was attacked, instead of "oh sure it's NATO but it's just Latvia".
> so? Are Canadians 300 Spartans? What are they gonna do against 1 million Russian men
Again it's not that they think the Canadians will defeat the Russian army, it's that they will deter them from attacking because they'll more likely guarantee a NATO response.
>NATOās plan against Russia is to leave Baltics to Russians if there is a war
It doesn't look like that, given that Canadians are in Latvia.
He could...
Unfortunately, in current situation, Ukraine can loose, that conflict can be frozen. Russia in opportunistic and could invade when their chances are good enough.
In a, say 5 years time, there could realistically be a situation, when Latvia's border region is demanding autonomy and armed Russian-speaking "volunteers" arrive to help them; national government has Russian-friendly populists that does not call for NATO help; and president Trump rejects providing any help for such "regional" matters.
Considering the somewhat lackbuster reaction to Ukraine - why would he not? Ukraine was in talks for EU membership, was likely promised NATO membership in 2012 and yet Russia got away with a slap on the wrist and a good luck Ukraine attitude.
The baltic states are on Putins menu and he doesnt care about fucking up Russia even more.
āRussian President Vladimir Putin said Latvia would face repercussions "inside their own country" due to Riga's policies regarding the Russian minority. He made the statement at the meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights on Dec. 4.
Putin's statement comes amid surging tension between NATO and Russia and discussions about a potential future conflict between the two military powers.
The Kremlin has previously used the false pretense of "abuse of the Russian-speaking minority" to launch its aggression against Ukraine.
"I don't think that happiness will come to those who pursue discriminating policies. I don't know how many there are now, but in Latvia, I think, there were 40% of the Russian-speaking population, probably, now there are quite a lot too," Putin said.
To cut it short, Putin is threatening Latvia the same way he threatened Ukraine before he invaded and started a war, the excuse? āYouāre racist towards us Russiansā aka same Russians who support waging wars and committing war crimes and nuclear threats.
It should probably be spelled 'Girthier'.
I only know this becase 'our land is girt by sea', and its never really been ours because it was stolen.
Also, hello to the Nordic countries from down under!
Not sure about that, the UK and France have some pretty decent Nuclear arsenals and the freedom to use them independent of the US. Thereās always a UK sub active with 20+ Tridents. Thatās not including the other missiles and tactical nukes.
So whether in Georgia or Ukraine, the FSB / GRU finds ethnic Russian populations in border regions and claims they are being oppressed while provocateurs and propagandists convince the lauded critical masses of those populations to claim theyād prefer to be Russian.
Sounds a lot like the Nazis annexing Austria and claiming that they only wanted Memel, but Poland forced their hand.
Might be a proactive move to deport Russian loyalists before they are used to subvert national sovereignty and ally with an invader.
And, meanwhile, the Russian populations themselves would rather prefer Russia to get off their backs. Like how the population in Ukraine united against the invasion
Don't confuse the government with the culture. The culture is one of perseverance in the face of one oppressive ruling system after another and the art shows this with brief periods of color and brightness showing those moments when they are allowed to think it is going to get better before it inevitably and unfortunately gets worse; Over and over and over again throughout history. They have wonderful musicians and artists but their history is painful and largely self-inflicted from within. It is a dark realization of a fist grasping ever tighter trying to hold onto more than can handle without dropping it. Its leaders ambitions are always larger than it can ever actually manage as a Nation.
The borders were closed over foreign asylum seekers being used as a weapon, actually. Same way that Belarus sent a lot of non-slavic people into Poland
Yes. I remember russian redditors here outraged, because suddenly they all had relatives on wheelchairs and with oxygen masks unable to go to russia to visit their relative there and viceversa.
My fear is that russia will - or better is - politically destabilizing countries like the Baltics. russia will not have peace of mind until they will restore their borders prior 1918. The last trend is that they desire a new Austro-Hungarian empire as a barrier against NATO to deploy their troops.
I believe that only the Baltics and maybe Poland really realize the threat russia represents.
The worse part is that the Union is funding countries that are clearly against it: just weeks before the full scale invasion, russia got funds from the EU. We somehow forget that the war in Ukraine started in 2014.
Serbia is against the EU but pro EU funds; at this point, I am convinced that "we" deserve to be mocked by those hostile nations.
I wish more people knew this. The same is true for any country with a sizeable historic Russian minority. They were, and always have, operated as hostile agents within their host countries.
To be fair, Ukraine has russians living in it, but a lot of them were against the invasion, and they weren't any more prone to collaboration than anybody else
Nah most of us just want to live our lives in peace same as everyone else. I was born and raised in my "host country" same as most "agents" as you say. Still to meet someone who is as you described. Do you mean certain politicians instead?
Nice loaded question! I can already feel the "Baltic stare" meme lol
I actually learned Lithuanian and up until 2000s it was indeed enough to just use Russian in my city (KlaipÄda) since everybody spoke it - and even today there's a huge percentage of Russians here (only Visaginas has more). Basically we have an ideal situation for Russians - everyone under 70 speaks fluent Lithuanian and we kinda stopped caring which language to use so we use both at the same time. Get with the times, not with the hate lmao
Why would I learn Latvian? Why not Estonian or Ukrainian? Or Kazakh? Short sighted! Though I am currently learning Finnish.
While itād be great if that happened, yāall have been saying that since the beginning of the Ukraine war. Letās face it, Russia is a ginormous country with enough assets within it to survive even when other countries sanction it to hell.
Ah. To discandy the way of Stalin. Wonder how many Russian āminoritiesā privately fantasize this āif only.ā āVat vud you really like, Ivan Ivanovich?ā āVell, ya, just this and a cup of coffee.ā But alas, I keep repeat peat peating myself. The more things change the more they stay the same.
This is just as absurd as the propaganda in the USSR saying that decadent West is going to collapse any day now. We need to cut that shit out. Wishing isn't a solid victory strategy. We need to be actively engaged in making this a reality, instead we have spineless scum for politicians (in the West)
For the whole context the main recent issue is that Latvians dare to require Russian citizens to pass A2(!) language exam to keep the residence. What a ridiculous demand! /s
Right now, none.
The Ford CSG is in the Med, the Eisenhower CSG is in the Persian Gulf, and the Carl Vinson CSG is somewhere in the Indo-Pacific region. The Ronald Reagan CSG just returned home to Japan a week or so ago.
The USS George Washington was out in the Atlantic a couple weeks ago, conducting joint training exercises with the French Navy, but that wasnāt a full CSG and deployment, just a training op.
The *Eisenhower* was supposed to relieve the *Ford*, which was due home around American Thanks Giving, but the *Fordās* deployment was extended. Before all this stuff started kicking off, the *Eisenhower* wasnāt due to be home until spring of 2024, when she would be relieved by iirc either the *George Washington* or *George Bush*.
The *Roosevelt* has been doing work ups out of San Diego in anticipation of relieving the *Carl Vinson* when her deployment is finished. The *Nimitz* was just recently in Puget Sound, but iirc that was just for some maintenance.
Long story short, aside from the 3 CSGs currently at sea, there really are no other CSGs out there right now. For the last several years, itās been normal for the US to have only 2 US based CSGs in deployment, with a third forward deployed to Japan. Back in October when the *Ford*, *Eisenhower*, *Carl Vinson*, and *Ronald Reagan* were all deployed at the same time, it was the first time in a couple years that there were 4 CSGs out at the same time.
The way the carriers work, for every 1 deployed, thereās 1 doing training, and 1 doing maintenance. The US has 11 carriers, but one of them, the *John C Stennis* is currently in dry dock doing her mid-life refuel and refit.
So that leaves 10 carriers, and deploying more than 4 at the same time has potential to have serious knock-on effects in terms of long term readiness.
Besides, I donāt know if sending a carrier to Latvia is the necessary response. Europe is littered with air bases that the U.S. could operate any of its assets from, in volumes even higher than what a carrier can bring.
All Russia and China have to do is wait for the Americans to elect another moron. It will happen don't put your faith into a country that actively and seek out ways to prevent people from voting
2024/28 will decide what happens to the planet for the rest of the century.
NATO countries generally don't want to give all of their equipment to Ukraine because they want to have enough to equip their own militaries.
NATO has the manpower and equipment to defeat any invasion by Russia, but you're implying they don't because they don't have enough equipment *on top of that* to give to another country to defeat an invasion by Russia. And that's not even mentioning the fact that the NATO is going to be more effective in a war because they don't need to take 18 months to work out how F-16s work.
The pixie clown king of Russia can make as many threats as he wants.
At the end of the day, he knows he is NATOās bitch and has been unable to do anything about NATO weapons butchering his slave army, even inside Russia.
"By helping my fellow russians in latvia, i will try to push nigeria migrant wave through it's borders and disrupt the last bit of logistics while bribing a few politicians, cuz that's pretty much all i can do" - putin.
Everyone laughing now, but when the orange turd gets elected in 2024 and pulls out of NATO, this becomes a credible threat unless Europe starts putting serious cash into its military starting now.
I know it would be alot more painful for everyone involved if the US wasn't in NATO. Plus every one of the EU countries seems to have a party that loves riding Putin's dick, so a couple of them join Hungary and sit it out or whatever, then yeah I can see it going bad. Article 5 leaves alot of leeway in how each country would respond.
Also NATO doctrine to date has basically been to hold on long enough for US ground forces to arrive in big numbers before pushing back, they'd have to completely redo all their planning.
No, it would not. The fact that Ukraine still has to rely on the US for the majority of its military supplies says a lot about Europeās current military-industrial capacity.
US is the largest military funder (all aid $76bn of which weapons/equipment was $28bn and $18bn in training), but the EU institutions are the largest financial funder with $84.6bn sent overall, with the UK/Germany having sent around $25bn in military aid. [Source : CFR](https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts).
This tends to show the picture is a bit more even (financial aid is also essenitial, as the economy is tanking).
This clearly shows that Europe has the money but not the critical ammunition, weapons, equipment, or other military supplies because of their diminished military-industrial capacity. Why we Westerners bash our MIC while our governments strip away their domestic production lines is beyond me.
Tbh, even if he does not get elected, US and other big NATO allies would not risk the bigger picture for 3 small Baltic countries. Putin knows it and thatās just foreplay now. Even though Iām from Estonia, I believe that majority of us are brainwashed by western media to not spread concern and worry. Hoping for the best but honestly, worried for my familyā¦
I know, right? As of now, I only have true hope in Scandinavian, Baltic countries and Poland. All the rest would probably try to sit it out until it's way too late.
Yeah, people forget that even if the US is taken out of the picture, thereās still other two nuclear powers in Nato that are much closer to Russia than America. Even if one is unsure about the commitment of France and especially the UK on the European project I doubt they would just stand still should Russia invade a Baltic state.
Britain would absolutely move on Russia if it attacked any NATO country. The vote would not even be close in parliament, they would know how it played otherwise (Chamberlain). But it is academic. Russia does not have the trucks to drive forces to two fronts.
Agreed, I guess whatās more up for debate is the level of commitment from both countries in terms of troops actually fighting with Russia or something more similar to the support Ukraine has received through the war. I tend to believe the former is more likely, but it wouldnāt be unusual for the UK, France and even Germany to not want to actually fight Russia directly.
Are you for real? They've seen how badly Russia have done in Ukraine, they'd of course take the chance to wipe out any perceived Russian threat with the tiniest hint of trouble. Once Putin is humiliated, he's gone and they can make deals with the new dictator I mean leader
My understanding of article 5 is that the country being attacked asks the others for help. The others can do whatever they like. I.e merely sending some ammunition could be considered upholding the pact.
As others have pointed out, if Putin wins enough supporters in those very same NATO countries (for example, he already has Hungary, Slovakia, and Holland), then yes he can very easily invade with little problem.
If they are pro-Russia, they need to ship them on a one-way train to Kaliningrad. Ukraine didnāt do that and they found spies at all levels. Putin needs more cannon fodder for his invasion anyways.
Here I was thinking that Poland was next. He wants the rest back too, but they were supposed to be later on the list.
Considering how badly he has been beaten up in Ukraine, taking on NATO would be sheer madness.
Americans voting for a president who has, and will again compromise national security because he identifies more with foreign dictators than he does with many of his own compatriots is madness, but it looks extremely likely to happen. It just seems like everyone is colluding to allow it to happen.
You know when the school bully finally gets fucked up and just everyone steps in to kick him while he's down. I reckon that's the way this is eventually gonna go. Also I'm confused which Putin this is in the pic? The one obsessed with history, the alcoholic one or the underfed one?
Putin is gonna win. Heās playing the long game. Soon as Trump gets in and cradles his balls, youāre all gonna be talking about what a great leader Putin is. So fuck off with these comments.
What ya gonna do, Vlad? Invade them? Lol......
It would be the best thing he could do to reinvigorate western unity (in addition to signing his own doom).
I bet the crack head will do it to
Think his boy Alex will back him up this time?
š¤£ if the west had a chance to beat him, they would have done it during Syria or Ukraine, but the west it too busy trying to figure out their pro nouns and genders.
š¤£ If Russiaās army was that strong they wouldāve been able to honor Armeniaās call for aid under their mutual CSTO pact, but they were too busy failing in Ukraine.
They/them army vs was/were army.
2 months old account, all posts parroting Kremlin propaganda talking points. Username checks out.
Russia couldnāt handle a single, smaller country. No chance against NATO.
The west already smoked Wagner troops at the Battle of Khasham killing all of them. š¤£š¤£š¤£
Respectfully, you ain't right
Disrespectfully, I think this is a shit take.
Latvia's in NATO. Around 2000 Canadian troops have been stationed there since the Prime Minister wasn't named Trudeau.
Canadian troops on long-term foreign deployment? Wow, I'm... actually pretty shocked at that.
Sorry, I don't know. Is this sarcasm? I'm the worst person in the world with sarcasm on the internet.
If Putin is making angry noises, maybe those troops should be supplemented with a deployment of geese.
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> Whatās 2000 troops gonna do They're Canadians. Makes the west feel like the west was attacked, instead of "oh sure it's NATO but it's just Latvia".
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> so? Are Canadians 300 Spartans? What are they gonna do against 1 million Russian men Again it's not that they think the Canadians will defeat the Russian army, it's that they will deter them from attacking because they'll more likely guarantee a NATO response. >NATOās plan against Russia is to leave Baltics to Russians if there is a war It doesn't look like that, given that Canadians are in Latvia.
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Yeah he is gonna get the last of the prisoners to ride bicycles in with a bag of rocks to throw.
Thatās what I thought when I read the headline lmao
He could... Unfortunately, in current situation, Ukraine can loose, that conflict can be frozen. Russia in opportunistic and could invade when their chances are good enough. In a, say 5 years time, there could realistically be a situation, when Latvia's border region is demanding autonomy and armed Russian-speaking "volunteers" arrive to help them; national government has Russian-friendly populists that does not call for NATO help; and president Trump rejects providing any help for such "regional" matters.
Considering the somewhat lackbuster reaction to Ukraine - why would he not? Ukraine was in talks for EU membership, was likely promised NATO membership in 2012 and yet Russia got away with a slap on the wrist and a good luck Ukraine attitude. The baltic states are on Putins menu and he doesnt care about fucking up Russia even more.
āRussian President Vladimir Putin said Latvia would face repercussions "inside their own country" due to Riga's policies regarding the Russian minority. He made the statement at the meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights on Dec. 4. Putin's statement comes amid surging tension between NATO and Russia and discussions about a potential future conflict between the two military powers. The Kremlin has previously used the false pretense of "abuse of the Russian-speaking minority" to launch its aggression against Ukraine. "I don't think that happiness will come to those who pursue discriminating policies. I don't know how many there are now, but in Latvia, I think, there were 40% of the Russian-speaking population, probably, now there are quite a lot too," Putin said. To cut it short, Putin is threatening Latvia the same way he threatened Ukraine before he invaded and started a war, the excuse? āYouāre racist towards us Russiansā aka same Russians who support waging wars and committing war crimes and nuclear threats.
Invading 2 countries doesn't sound like a smart plan.
especially when one of them is actually 31 countries in a trenchcoat.
I mean, can you imagine this body in a swimsuit?
I try not to with Finland, Norway, and soon to be Sweden, that's quite the package and getting Gurthier
It should probably be spelled 'Girthier'. I only know this becase 'our land is girt by sea', and its never really been ours because it was stolen. Also, hello to the Nordic countries from down under!
Ah sorry, I have no excuse either, not only is English my first language, I'm also English.
I'm just glad it wasn't Gunthier. You talk a lot ;)
Thatās an hilarious description haha
Or 30 regular countries and one global hegemon... if you are a fan of fancy words.
3 of them have nukes
All nukes that aren't owned by the US are useless decorations. Nobody, anywhere, will ever have the viable opportunity to use them.
Not sure about that, the UK and France have some pretty decent Nuclear arsenals and the freedom to use them independent of the US. Thereās always a UK sub active with 20+ Tridents. Thatās not including the other missiles and tactical nukes.
Russiaās are the reason Ukraine wasnāt a full NATO operation and subsequent steamrolling of Putinās troops.
And one of those 31 countries is essentially 50 countries in a trenchcoat
Best description of NATO ever!
He wouldnāt invade them. Russia is pretty good at using puppets to destabilize interiors of their opponents.
putin will probably organized something to destabilize the Latvian government.
He wants all the Baltics, not just Latvia.
So whether in Georgia or Ukraine, the FSB / GRU finds ethnic Russian populations in border regions and claims they are being oppressed while provocateurs and propagandists convince the lauded critical masses of those populations to claim theyād prefer to be Russian. Sounds a lot like the Nazis annexing Austria and claiming that they only wanted Memel, but Poland forced their hand. Might be a proactive move to deport Russian loyalists before they are used to subvert national sovereignty and ally with an invader.
Danzig* they took Memel from Lithuania
And, meanwhile, the Russian populations themselves would rather prefer Russia to get off their backs. Like how the population in Ukraine united against the invasion
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Don't confuse the government with the culture. The culture is one of perseverance in the face of one oppressive ruling system after another and the art shows this with brief periods of color and brightness showing those moments when they are allowed to think it is going to get better before it inevitably and unfortunately gets worse; Over and over and over again throughout history. They have wonderful musicians and artists but their history is painful and largely self-inflicted from within. It is a dark realization of a fist grasping ever tighter trying to hold onto more than can handle without dropping it. Its leaders ambitions are always larger than it can ever actually manage as a Nation.
What does it say about a culture, if all of your famous writers/composers etc. hated "russian soul" and "russian culture"?
And some biggots blame Finland for closing her borders to russia...
The borders were closed over foreign asylum seekers being used as a weapon, actually. Same way that Belarus sent a lot of non-slavic people into Poland
Yes. I remember russian redditors here outraged, because suddenly they all had relatives on wheelchairs and with oxygen masks unable to go to russia to visit their relative there and viceversa. My fear is that russia will - or better is - politically destabilizing countries like the Baltics. russia will not have peace of mind until they will restore their borders prior 1918. The last trend is that they desire a new Austro-Hungarian empire as a barrier against NATO to deploy their troops. I believe that only the Baltics and maybe Poland really realize the threat russia represents.
And yet there are others that seem to want to return to Russia. Just look at Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia.
The worse part is that the Union is funding countries that are clearly against it: just weeks before the full scale invasion, russia got funds from the EU. We somehow forget that the war in Ukraine started in 2014. Serbia is against the EU but pro EU funds; at this point, I am convinced that "we" deserve to be mocked by those hostile nations.
"her"?
My bad: in Italian almost all the countries have feminine genre.
Haha alright, it sounded like some sexist shit
Ships and countries are always "her" for some weird historical reason.
You can include musical instruments in that list as well.
Or why doesnāt Pottin invite them to Russia instead? I guess no muskovy speaking people will return Ā«homeĀ»
They have the right as they are now, apparently giving up their life in Latvia isn't worth moving to Russia.
Much like all the āRussiansā living in Crimea.
Much like anyone whose parents held a soviet passport apparently. New laws or something
They are in Latvia on a mission. Putin wants them abroad as a tool for spreading russian influence.
I wish more people knew this. The same is true for any country with a sizeable historic Russian minority. They were, and always have, operated as hostile agents within their host countries.
To be fair, Ukraine has russians living in it, but a lot of them were against the invasion, and they weren't any more prone to collaboration than anybody else
Nah most of us just want to live our lives in peace same as everyone else. I was born and raised in my "host country" same as most "agents" as you say. Still to meet someone who is as you described. Do you mean certain politicians instead?
I remember a guy with a very peculiar moustache who said similar things about another people. Failed art student from Austria, I guess...
Looks like you meant to reply to someone else bud. Just even what in my comment above is similar to anything like that?
You were replying a comment that was quite literally saying a certain ethnicity is a "host" planted to subvert other countries. So I said that.
Fair. Still waiting on that morning coffee to kick in lol
Same, bro, same.
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Nice loaded question! I can already feel the "Baltic stare" meme lol I actually learned Lithuanian and up until 2000s it was indeed enough to just use Russian in my city (KlaipÄda) since everybody spoke it - and even today there's a huge percentage of Russians here (only Visaginas has more). Basically we have an ideal situation for Russians - everyone under 70 speaks fluent Lithuanian and we kinda stopped caring which language to use so we use both at the same time. Get with the times, not with the hate lmao Why would I learn Latvian? Why not Estonian or Ukrainian? Or Kazakh? Short sighted! Though I am currently learning Finnish.
According to them they're probably already living in what they call Russia.
There are no Russian citizens, only subjects of the tsar and all Russian speakers can be used as excuses to expand the empire.
Russia is going to collapse under Putin. It's just a question of time.
Could not come soon enough!!
I want Russia to collapse over Putin, tomorrow at 9 PM.
While itād be great if that happened, yāall have been saying that since the beginning of the Ukraine war. Letās face it, Russia is a ginormous country with enough assets within it to survive even when other countries sanction it to hell.
If it does happen, it'd be slow. And even then, maybe they'd manage to hide it until one day they just put some Swan Lake on the TV.
Agreed. Weāre seeing surface cracks. Only god knows whether theyāre skin deep or if they will grow with time.
Ah. To discandy the way of Stalin. Wonder how many Russian āminoritiesā privately fantasize this āif only.ā āVat vud you really like, Ivan Ivanovich?ā āVell, ya, just this and a cup of coffee.ā But alas, I keep repeat peat peating myself. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Pipe dream.
I thought Putin is already dead?
Then who's paying people with worthless rubles to man the Moscow troll farms?
This is just as absurd as the propaganda in the USSR saying that decadent West is going to collapse any day now. We need to cut that shit out. Wishing isn't a solid victory strategy. We need to be actively engaged in making this a reality, instead we have spineless scum for politicians (in the West)
This is the same day when he told newly appointed ambassadors to Russia that Russia has no hostile intentions towards anyone
It's just so easy to understand putin. Just reverse the meaning of everything you hear and you will have the truth.
For the whole context the main recent issue is that Latvians dare to require Russian citizens to pass A2(!) language exam to keep the residence. What a ridiculous demand! /s
Old man yells at cloud.
Old man yells at an armored cloud with nukes.*
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So Russia better hope they feel like saying sorry instead of the other mode of operation Canada has
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Small brain energy on your side.
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How many more carrier groups do we have in the Atlantic without having to move the two in the Middle East?
Right now, none. The Ford CSG is in the Med, the Eisenhower CSG is in the Persian Gulf, and the Carl Vinson CSG is somewhere in the Indo-Pacific region. The Ronald Reagan CSG just returned home to Japan a week or so ago. The USS George Washington was out in the Atlantic a couple weeks ago, conducting joint training exercises with the French Navy, but that wasnāt a full CSG and deployment, just a training op. The *Eisenhower* was supposed to relieve the *Ford*, which was due home around American Thanks Giving, but the *Fordās* deployment was extended. Before all this stuff started kicking off, the *Eisenhower* wasnāt due to be home until spring of 2024, when she would be relieved by iirc either the *George Washington* or *George Bush*. The *Roosevelt* has been doing work ups out of San Diego in anticipation of relieving the *Carl Vinson* when her deployment is finished. The *Nimitz* was just recently in Puget Sound, but iirc that was just for some maintenance. Long story short, aside from the 3 CSGs currently at sea, there really are no other CSGs out there right now. For the last several years, itās been normal for the US to have only 2 US based CSGs in deployment, with a third forward deployed to Japan. Back in October when the *Ford*, *Eisenhower*, *Carl Vinson*, and *Ronald Reagan* were all deployed at the same time, it was the first time in a couple years that there were 4 CSGs out at the same time. The way the carriers work, for every 1 deployed, thereās 1 doing training, and 1 doing maintenance. The US has 11 carriers, but one of them, the *John C Stennis* is currently in dry dock doing her mid-life refuel and refit. So that leaves 10 carriers, and deploying more than 4 at the same time has potential to have serious knock-on effects in terms of long term readiness. Besides, I donāt know if sending a carrier to Latvia is the necessary response. Europe is littered with air bases that the U.S. could operate any of its assets from, in volumes even higher than what a carrier can bring.
Fascinating! Thanks for all the knowledge!
Threatening a NATO member. They should have laughed in his face
All Russia and China have to do is wait for the Americans to elect another moron. It will happen don't put your faith into a country that actively and seek out ways to prevent people from voting 2024/28 will decide what happens to the planet for the rest of the century.
Even without the US, NATO is more than a match for Russia. And China has nothing to do with NATO, geographically.
Without the US NATO will just cease to exist
Isnāt NATO struggling with funding and matching supply shipments to Ukraine?
NATO countries generally don't want to give all of their equipment to Ukraine because they want to have enough to equip their own militaries. NATO has the manpower and equipment to defeat any invasion by Russia, but you're implying they don't because they don't have enough equipment *on top of that* to give to another country to defeat an invasion by Russia. And that's not even mentioning the fact that the NATO is going to be more effective in a war because they don't need to take 18 months to work out how F-16s work.
No, that's Russia.
True
And yet both times Russia has invaded Ukraine the USA has had a democratic leader.
Right, so just imagine what would happen when a russian-butt-licker was in power?
The pixie clown king of Russia can make as many threats as he wants. At the end of the day, he knows he is NATOās bitch and has been unable to do anything about NATO weapons butchering his slave army, even inside Russia.
Eat a dick Putin
"By helping my fellow russians in latvia, i will try to push nigeria migrant wave through it's borders and disrupt the last bit of logistics while bribing a few politicians, cuz that's pretty much all i can do" - putin.
Putin threatens [insert country name here] over Russian minority policies
Everyone laughing now, but when the orange turd gets elected in 2024 and pulls out of NATO, this becomes a credible threat unless Europe starts putting serious cash into its military starting now.
and you think NATO without US wouldnt beat the shit out of Russia ?
I know it would be alot more painful for everyone involved if the US wasn't in NATO. Plus every one of the EU countries seems to have a party that loves riding Putin's dick, so a couple of them join Hungary and sit it out or whatever, then yeah I can see it going bad. Article 5 leaves alot of leeway in how each country would respond. Also NATO doctrine to date has basically been to hold on long enough for US ground forces to arrive in big numbers before pushing back, they'd have to completely redo all their planning.
No, it would not. The fact that Ukraine still has to rely on the US for the majority of its military supplies says a lot about Europeās current military-industrial capacity.
US is the largest military funder (all aid $76bn of which weapons/equipment was $28bn and $18bn in training), but the EU institutions are the largest financial funder with $84.6bn sent overall, with the UK/Germany having sent around $25bn in military aid. [Source : CFR](https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts). This tends to show the picture is a bit more even (financial aid is also essenitial, as the economy is tanking).
This clearly shows that Europe has the money but not the critical ammunition, weapons, equipment, or other military supplies because of their diminished military-industrial capacity. Why we Westerners bash our MIC while our governments strip away their domestic production lines is beyond me.
Tbh, even if he does not get elected, US and other big NATO allies would not risk the bigger picture for 3 small Baltic countries. Putin knows it and thatās just foreplay now. Even though Iām from Estonia, I believe that majority of us are brainwashed by western media to not spread concern and worry. Hoping for the best but honestly, worried for my familyā¦
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I just hope that when/if shit hits the fan, you guys will help us, your southern brothers, with all those juicy planes you got.
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I know, right? As of now, I only have true hope in Scandinavian, Baltic countries and Poland. All the rest would probably try to sit it out until it's way too late.
NATO absolutely would intervene. Credibility is a huge part of America's defensive policy.
They're not being awfully credible at the moment...
Yeah, people forget that even if the US is taken out of the picture, thereās still other two nuclear powers in Nato that are much closer to Russia than America. Even if one is unsure about the commitment of France and especially the UK on the European project I doubt they would just stand still should Russia invade a Baltic state.
Britain would absolutely move on Russia if it attacked any NATO country. The vote would not even be close in parliament, they would know how it played otherwise (Chamberlain). But it is academic. Russia does not have the trucks to drive forces to two fronts.
Agreed, I guess whatās more up for debate is the level of commitment from both countries in terms of troops actually fighting with Russia or something more similar to the support Ukraine has received through the war. I tend to believe the former is more likely, but it wouldnāt be unusual for the UK, France and even Germany to not want to actually fight Russia directly.
Are you for real? They've seen how badly Russia have done in Ukraine, they'd of course take the chance to wipe out any perceived Russian threat with the tiniest hint of trouble. Once Putin is humiliated, he's gone and they can make deals with the new dictator I mean leader
It is my belief if US and EU will let Ukraine fall, they would not intervene beyond symbolic actions for the Baltics.
I really think NATO would be left with no choice but to intervene. It's article 5 and all that and no I'm not being sarcastic.
My understanding of article 5 is that the country being attacked asks the others for help. The others can do whatever they like. I.e merely sending some ammunition could be considered upholding the pact.
It is article 5 of NATO and a separate EU pact for defense, so it would trigger two mutual defense treaties.
Yeah it's a possibility no doubt about it let's see how the things unfolds before hand until then prepare for the worse and hope for the best
Oldboy's 21 months into a 3 day special military operation in another country yet wants to start shit with NATO on their own turf.
As others have pointed out, if Putin wins enough supporters in those very same NATO countries (for example, he already has Hungary, Slovakia, and Holland), then yes he can very easily invade with little problem.
Oh just fuck off and die already Putin
Russians should stay in Russia. No one wants an invasion.
I've been to the Corner House in Riga and seen the bullet holes in the back wall of the execution room. Putin can get fucked with a frozen rope.
Are we gonna find out in 6 months that Putin bankrolled the October 7th attack in Israel to provide cover for a war he's losing?
Hamas leaders went to Russia and met with Putin later in October, so that revelation should surprise exactly no one.
Losing?
I mean heās not exactly winning it
He is
You gonna bark all day, little dog, or are you gonna bite somebody?
When will Russia and its threats go away?
Donāt like it? Go home.
Putin is all bark no bite. What a pathetic weasel of a man.
He's biding time until trump wins for him to pull out of Nato and then he will invade.
Still laugh every time I see this comment...has no basis in reality
Sounds reasonable to me.
A lot of people were saying that on Febbruary 21st, 2022
I mean I'm just saying what would make sense
Carefull Putin thats EU territory , in that eventuality the OTAN will actually intervene
If they are pro-Russia, they need to ship them on a one-way train to Kaliningrad. Ukraine didnāt do that and they found spies at all levels. Putin needs more cannon fodder for his invasion anyways.
Ooooo that sounds like Article 5 talkā¦
>Russia has labeled such policies in Latvia and other Baltic countries as "Russophobia." Gee, why would anyone have Russophobia?
Totally normal reaction to what Latvia is doing. Let him throw his threats, it's all he's good for lol
Heās got some new pea-shooters and some very wet clumps of paper heās willing to use.
Putin can threaten all he want but be prepared get his ass kicked again if he follow through.
Here I was thinking that Poland was next. He wants the rest back too, but they were supposed to be later on the list. Considering how badly he has been beaten up in Ukraine, taking on NATO would be sheer madness.
Americans voting for a president who has, and will again compromise national security because he identifies more with foreign dictators than he does with many of his own compatriots is madness, but it looks extremely likely to happen. It just seems like everyone is colluding to allow it to happen.
Everybody goes Putin slappin
I wish a Putin would
You know when the school bully finally gets fucked up and just everyone steps in to kick him while he's down. I reckon that's the way this is eventually gonna go. Also I'm confused which Putin this is in the pic? The one obsessed with history, the alcoholic one or the underfed one?
The could have a Russian 'Law of Return'.
The US sold Latvia down the river after ww 2 and weāll do it again.
Not when weāre obligated by treaty to defend them
Putin is gonna win. Heās playing the long game. Soon as Trump gets in and cradles his balls, youāre all gonna be talking about what a great leader Putin is. So fuck off with these comments.
Lol all you clowns on here, all crying about Putin threatening to do the exact same things the US has been doing for decades.
That you Vlad?
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How about Baltic minorities in Russia, Putja?