• LuckyPierre@lemm.ee
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    8 days ago

    Elsewhere on Lemmy today;

    Germany warns Russia may be preparing attack on NATO

    Both of these cannot be true.

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      The idea is that after some kind of cease fire, russia will churn out stuff for 3-4-5 years (so mebbe 1.000 tanks?) and then not go full frontal against NATO but say take a bite out of Lithuania, just to see what the response will be.

      Like they have been doing since forever (Chechnya, Moldavia, Georgia, Ukraine and so on).

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        Correct. The issue with Ukraine though is they fought back and didn’t give any land to Russia. Now Putin needs to save face and how many people put through the meat grinder to do that is irrelevant.

    • TThor@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      They can be true. They might be low on current stockpile, but what is building up is production capacity. Preparing to attack doesn’t mean immediately attacking, what most have concern is that once Russia’s war against Ukraine cools down, Russia will spend the next 4-10 years building up towards potentially attacking NATO nations.

      Yes, years down the line doesn’t sound as alarming to the layman, but it is critical for that eventuality to be recognized and prepared for, nations and industry move slowly, and they need to prepare to fight another long drawn out war.

    • tauren@lemm.ee
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      8 days ago

      Both things can be true because Germany is talking about risks in the upcoming 5 to 10 years, while this issue is relevant today.

    • Nalivai@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      If you know anything about current Russian government, you’d know that one necessarily follows the other. The more desperate Russia gets, the less reserves they have, the more bold and aggressive they’re getting. There is a combination of factors leading into it, both psychological and material.

    • Triasha@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      They absolutely can.

      Russia has thousands of men willing to fight in horrendous conditions.

      A few thousand soldiers that are very well equipped might lose to 10x as many badly equipped enemies.

      I think they would lose, but they might not think so.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        Russia has thousands of men willing to fight in horrendous conditions.

        They’ve got hundreds of thousands of conscripts who are largely dug in along an enormous front, along the four eastern most seized Oblasts in Ukraine.

        Any attack they would make into a NATO state would be an artillery bombardment intended to deny Ukrainians resupply, not a ground invasion to secure territory. Particularly not when they have poor control over their own borders and a nasty instance of counter-insurgence popping up in and around their major cities.

    • PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      We have to keep in mind that Europe needs to justify austerity for the citizens and rearmament for their militaries. I have no evidence of this, but I think it’s an entierly sensible read that the warning from Germany is an overstatement with that intent in mind.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        7 days ago

        I guess you need to pretend there’s a threat NOW in order to divert funds towards defense now.

        If the threat is in more like 10 years, why don’t we start investing next year instead? etc.

    • Robbity@lemm.ee
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      8 days ago

      Have you never worked in an organization?

      You can have as many preparation meetings as you want and still be on your ass when the day of judgement comes.

    • febra@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Russia can’t even take over Ukraine, let alone half of NATO to even make it into Germany. I personally think this is just fearmongering on the side of our elected officials so the military industrial complex can make a few more bucks with money from the state.

    • Sektor@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      One of the traits of fascism by Umberto Eco, enemy is in the same time weak and strong.

        • Sektor@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          Fascists are the ones that do or promote fascist things. Germany is not one of those countries.

    • wtckt@lemm.ee
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      8 days ago

      Taking over a Baltic state is feasible. NATO might react by sending helmets and prayers.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago
      • We’re on the verge of total victory

      • The enemy is prepared to launch its biggest attack yet

      Is the same war time propaganda we’ve been served up for decades. Iraq/Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Kosovo, Vietnam, Korea…

      The news coverage is totally divorced from what is happening on the ground. There’s even a term for it.

      Credibility Gap

    • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      This your first round in front of the firehose of lies?

      Best guess: Russia is a paper bear that need to keep growling before the bookworms eat it