News Cold War 2

Second Summer

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Russia has banned fruit and vegetables from the EU as well as all food products from the USA. They are also threatening to close their airspace for western airlines. And they have gathered 20,000 troops on the eastern border of the Ukraine with vehicles carrying "peace-keeping forces" signs.

The US and Europe have started sanctions against Russia due to Russia's involvement in the Ukraine and their presumed responsibility for the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines flight.

Are we entering a new cold war?
 
Making the Soviet Union out to be monsters was easy, but doing it with Putin will be much more difficult. We always need enemies so we can always try.
 
Making the Soviet Union out to be monsters was easy, but doing it with Putin will be much more difficult. We always need enemies so we can always try.
I can't really think of many areas where "Putinism" is preferable to western democracy / plutocracy. Bolshevism at least had a few good aspects.
 
Russia has banned fruit and vegetables from the EU as well as all food products from the USA. They are also threatening to close their airspace for western airlines. And they have gathered 20,000 troops on the eastern border of the Ukraine with vehicles carrying "peace-keeping forces" signs.

The US and Europe have started sanctions against Russia due to Russia's involvement in the Ukraine and their presumed responsibility for the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines flight.

Are we entering a new cold war?
I think we have entered a new cold war, yes, but in today's world, where everyone is accustomed to global annihilation as a possibility. The most telling part to me was the way the Russians handled the aftermath of the civilian airliner they shot down. Not caring about global opinion is a bad sign.
 
The obvious problem is the United States has too much debt to constantly fight wars these days, and Russia stays away from conflicts for the most part. If it is a Cold War, it'll be a small one compared to the previous one.
The most telling part to me was the way the Russians handled the aftermath of the civilian airliner they shot down.
Guilty until proven innocent. A Ukranian military plane was seen near the airliner when it was shot down.
 
The obvious problem is the United States has too much debt to constantly fight wars these days, and Russia stays away from conflicts for the most part. If it is a Cold War, it'll be a small one compared to the previous one.

Guilty until proven innocent. A Ukranian military plane was seen near the airliner when it was shot down.

Lets see, what's more likely.

1. The Ukrainian military believes the rebels are flying a high-altitude plane, and the Ukrainian military is unable to properly identify the IFF and can't keep track of where the jet was or is going, so they shoot it down. Then the rebels take credit for the shoot down on twitter. Then the rebels delay the investigation which may show that the Ukrainians shot down the plane, thus helping the Ukrainian cover up.

2. Poorly trained rebels see a high altitude aircraft heading from the west, misidentify it as a Ukrainian military transport, and take it down with a BUK missile system. They then claim credit on twitter before realizing their mistake, and then attempt to delay the investigation while they try to assess if the evidence points to them.

Hmmm.

The preponderance of the evidence favors the rebels shooting it down.

As for a cold war, so far Russia's aggressions towards other nations has gone pretty well for Russia. I'd say that unless sanctions cut deeply enough into Russia's economy that Putin's old deal with the Russian oligarchs is no longer worth adhering to, conflict will continue. It's easier for Russia to start a war than to deal with its own internal problems.
 
Lets see, what's more likely.

1. The Ukrainian military believes the rebels are flying a high-altitude plane, and the Ukrainian military is unable to properly identify the IFF and can't keep track of where the jet was or is going, so they shoot it down. Then the rebels take credit for the shoot down on twitter. Then the rebels delay the investigation which may show that the Ukrainians shot down the plane, thus helping the Ukrainian cover up.

2. Poorly trained rebels see a high altitude aircraft heading from the west, misidentify it as a Ukrainian military transport, and take it down with a BUK missile system. They then claim credit on twitter before realizing their mistake, and then attempt to delay the investigation while they try to assess if the evidence points to them.

Hmmm.

The preponderance of the evidence favors the rebels shooting it down.

As for a cold war, so far Russia's aggressions towards other nations has gone pretty well for Russia. I'd say that unless sanctions cut deeply enough into Russia's economy that Putin's old deal with the Russian oligarchs is no longer worth adhering to, conflict will continue. It's easier for Russia to start a war than to deal with its own internal problems.
Or the Ukranian government shot down the plane intentionally because they knew Russia would be blamed on it regardless of what evidence there was. The fact that some claims about a Twitter account which may be false(I don't speak another language and therefore would have no reason to believe the Twitter account even if it's real) is the closest thing to evidence you have speaks volumes about how little evidence there is one way or the other.
 
The obvious problem is the United States has too much debt to constantly fight wars these days, and Russia stays away from conflicts for the most part. If it is a Cold War, it'll be a small one compared to the previous one.

Guilty until proven innocent. A Ukranian military plane was seen near the airliner when it was shot down.

"Analysts at the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies are continuing to examine information about the crash, but the officials said the intelligence assembled in the five days since the attack points overwhelmingly to Russian-backed separatists in territory they control in eastern Ukraine.

The senior intelligence officials said they have ruled out the possibility that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the attack." U.S. discloses intelligence on downing of Malaysian jet - The Washington Post
 
Or the Ukranian government shot down the plane intentionally because they knew Russia would be blamed on it regardless of what evidence there was. The fact that some claims about a Twitter account which may be false(I don't speak another language and therefore would have no reason to believe the Twitter account even if it's real) is the closest thing to evidence you have speaks volumes about how little evidence there is one way or the other.

Well, let's see what evidence we have:

* Ukrainian aircraft has been shot down over rebel-held areas, and rebels claimed the credit.
* The Donetsk People's Republic's official twitter account has claimed they had a BUK missile system - and then deleted the tweet after the plane was shot down.
* The VK (similar to Facebook) account of the Donetsk's People's Republic's defense minister claimed they shot down an AN-26, a post which was later deleted.
* Recordings purported of rebels have claims they shot down a civilian aircraft by mistake. These recordings are considered credible by the US State Department.
* The US considers the debris to be consistent with the rebels shooting down the craft.
* European nations whose nationals were killed also seem to accept that the rebels are likely responsible instead of the Ukrainians.

Seems that nobody is buying Moscow's story other than Moscow.
 
The Tatars, who entered the Crimea in the 15th century and were the scourge of Ukraine for about 300 years thereafter, are threatening the Russians with jihad from the mountains of Southeastern Crimea.

I just find that interesting, but I'm easily entertained.