#Turkiye leader Erdogan signals approval of #Finland joining #NATO ... still hesitant on #Sweden's application
After the fall of the USSR, I was in favor of abolishing NATO. Frankly, I was too idealistic. I imagined Europe becoming a sort of demilitarized zone but without conflicting armies on each side of said zone. But clearly, I was wrong.
People grumble about additional countries joining, and I say that those countries must have felt the danger growing. They could have steered a course that did not put them in union with either the "Western nations" nor the "former Soviet bloc" ... but instead, many sought to join the European Union ... an imperfect democracy, but still more democratic than what they saw on their Eastern borders. And even the EU, a non-military nation of nations, wasn't always enough.
So when #Poland and #Slovakia, both former Eastern Bloc / CENTO members, joined NATO, I don't see it as them being under the sway of Washington and Brussels, but them seeing something menacing to the East of them and wanting to join with a force large enough to meet and exceed that menace's force.
That's also why #Ukraine (which *twice* forced out governments because their leaders wanted to remain in #Russia's orbit) also applied to join both the #European_Union and #NATO ... despite NATO's clear intention never to admit them to its membership. So when Finland and Sweden finally decided that the threat of invasion was greater than their longstanding neutral stances could overcome, they too applied to join NATO.
Not because they want to lengthen the war, but because they clearly see that war is coming their way whether they want it or not, and that they need to prepare for it. And I think this is something anti-war folks need to understand. You're too late to stop the war. The war is here and Mr Putin and his cronies intend to expand it until people in Berlin and Paris have to either fight or beg for mercy. He's already trying to find excuses to engulf #Moldova in the fighting.
Whether Russia's leaders are motivated by empire or paranoia, they're looking to expand the war to other nations, not to end it. And thus, any negotiated settlement that doesn't flow from kicking their forces entirely out of Ukraine will be a temporary pause while they rebuild their forces and try to integrate what they've learned from the current war.
This is good news, but it comes far later than it should. Heavy tanks and other advanced weapons--including aircraft and missiles--should already be in the hands of Ukrainian forces fighting to push #Russia's invasion forces and mercenaries out of their country.
It isn't just Germany that should have responded appropriately last year and didn't. The #USA and #UK and #France all bear just as much responsibility for the continued death and destruction in Ukraine.
AP source: Russian missiles cross into Poland during strike
Shit just got serious! Russian missiles have never missed their target with such failure. IMH it was either intercepted, or spooked.
Is that the surprise Scot Ritter warned about in his talk a few weeks ago?
I surely hope not.
Russian missiles struck a site in #Poland about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied being behind “any strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border” and said in a statement that photos of purported damage “have nothing to do” with Russian weapons.
A #NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alliance was looking into reports of a strike in Poland. The U.S. National Security Council said it was also looking into the reports.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller did not immediately confirm the information from the U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation. But Mueller said top leaders were holding an emergency meeting due to a “crisis situation.”
Polish media reported that two people died Tuesday afternoon after a projectile struck an area where grain was drying in Przewodów, a Polish village near the border with #Ukraine.
You'll soon see that #Belarus neighbor on the East is #Russia, on the Northwest its neighbors are #Latvia and #Lithuania, on the West is #Poland, on the South is #Ukraine.
I recenlty had a pixel-art dream that inspired me to start gathering material for a game I've been thinking a lot about, set during the 1981-83 martial law period in #Poland and today, out of the blue, this happened:
"Drivers in western #Poland were caught in a sticky mess on Wednesday after a tanker carrying liquid #chocolate overturned and spilled its contents onto the road."