Is Vladimir Putin trying to form a New Soviet Union?

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 23:13:00 -0400

With President Putin messing around in the Ukraine, what are your thoughts on him trying to reform The Soviet Union?

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Apr 20 at 2014 11:20 PM

SGM Matthew Quick — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 23:20:00 -0400

He's back on the United States' radar...time to get serious with Russia again, before they start annexing other places (i.e. Alaska).

Response by SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 21 at 2014 9:02 AM

SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 09:02:32 -0400

I think there are a lot of hands at work here. While everyone is focused on his actions in eastern Europe we have been forced to scale back our force buildup in the Pacific. There are many alarming policy moves Putin and China are doing that your common citizen is not paying attention to that has real implications to our economy.

It doesn't matter how well we train and fight if the war is lost before we get a chance to show up. Hopefully we will find some of that long lost 20th century leadership strategies laying around to supplement the ineffectiveness of our 21st century leadership strategies.

One specific example of their policy moves is linked below.

Link: http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/russia-and-china-join-forces-to-kill-the-us-dollar/5093

Russia and China Join Forces to Kill the U.S. Dollar

Russia and China are joining forces in an attempt to kill the U.S. dollar. This may not make for big headlines compared to military action, but rest assured, if these two countries are successful, the...

Response by SGT James Elphick made Apr 21 at 2014 1:05 PM

SGT James Elphick — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 13:05:11 -0400

It's doubtful that he could reform the Soviet Union but it seems obvious that he does want to elevate Russia back to superpower status. The politics of this whole thing are quite confusing though. Russia is currently only a regional power (though that is a large region considering the size of the country) but they have no real power projection capabilities outside of their nuclear submarine force. So beating up on poor little Ukraine is about the best they can do, and while it is unfortunate for Ukraine, to the rest of the world it amounts to little more than saber-rattling. Putin's threat to match sanctions with sanctions is actually more credible because Russia supplies most of the oil and natural gas to Europe. Putin is also in an interesting place because he knows he can get away with quite a bit of military action without a response due to NATO countries involvement in the Middle east for the past decade plus and our reluctance to spend militarily or get involved if we don't have to. With that being said, I would be weary of anyone coming back from negotiations with Russia declaring I have secured "Peace for our time".

Response by SGT Mary G. made May 12 at 2022 6:49 PM

SGT Mary G. — Thu, 12 May 2022 18:49:20 -0400

2022 - eight years later - seems so. Looks like Russia considers the attack on Ukraine to be a civil war.