Politicians are the talking heads here. Our military leadership, in at least the oldest of the NATO states, know exactly what they're doing. The military, in the US at least, doesn't talk to the public except through the president, or very few, select press hearings with very high-level brass, and what they say is almost always directed at the international opposition (China and Russia) and as such never reflects the true strategy. I fully believe that NATO is maneuvering to destabilize Russia, and that their goal is regime change.

[–] baru@feddit.nl 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I fully believe that NATO is maneuvering to destabilize Russia

NATO is acting after loads of Russian aggression. Above sounds too much like the Russian talking point that Russia somehow is a victim and was somehow forced to annex the various regions over the last 20 years or so.

[–] Tosti@feddit.nl 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The military has been yelling "this is what failed deterrence looks like". Appeasement only delays the outcome.

And the top officials have gone through the ranks during the cold war. They understand this enemy as they trained for this scenario.

Biden seems to be the same. Cold war politicians up against their mortal enemy.

[–] 73ms@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 years ago

While the WW2 comparisons are of course not perfect they're still certainly interesting to make. Appeasement seems to have had very similar results. Both Germany and Japan also miscalculated when they thought the western powers would be willing to just sue for peace at certain points (Germany thought Britain would give up the fight and go for peace talks once France fell and Japan thought USA would if taking their occupied areas back would be costly enough).