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by anal_reactor 154 days ago
> Europe cant afford to have enemies on both sides

Neither can the US. Imagine Europe supporting China in exchange for China backstabbing Russia - entire Ukraine and Belarus and maybe even Kaliningrad suddenly are up for grabs for EU while China gets Russian territories that it has historical claims to. Then China gets access to European technology (ASML and Airbus) which means that the US stops having massive technological advantage and suddenly the conquest of Taiwan starts being more realistic. China and Europe are too far away physically to come in direct conflict, especially as EU doesn't care about being a superpower.

This is unimaginable right now, but the more EU decouples from the US because of its unreliability, the more it might actually work out.
2 comments
fatbird 154 days ago
No one wants Kaliningrad now because it's 100% Russian. Annexing it means adding a Russian fifth column to your country.

I'm surprised by this, but my general opposition to ethnic cleansing has been weakened by understanding how Russia uses Russian migration to subvert nations from within. Transnistria, an independent Russian dominated portion of Moldava, exists entirely because Russians moved there in large numbers with the support of the Russian government to give them an ethnic wedge. Were I in charge in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Poland or the Baltics, I would seriously consider expelling all ethnic Russians.

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cudgy 154 days ago
Seems you forgot about these things called nuclear missiles.
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anal_reactor 153 days ago
No I didn't. Nuclear missles are only relevant when the existence of the country itself is at stake. But when the war is at the edges of the country, then losing territory is preferable over nuclear war.

Think about it - in case shit hits the fan, would you rather cede some territory like Alaska or Guam, or would you start nuclear war which results in complete annihilation of all major US cities?

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cudgy 153 days ago
Russians will just sit back and let China and EU take their territory with no response? Seems like you forgot about the nukes.
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anal_reactor 153 days ago
That's exactly what they've done in Kursk. Even more - Putin didn't dare to call the normal Russian army, he called North Koreans instead.
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