Cold War 2

[bgmnts]

All happening now innit, presumably it's just going to be Russia vs NATO within the next few years?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61408700

[Dr Trouser]

Hopefully it's a real one this time with bullets, fighting and nukes. Cold War 1 was really lacking any actual 'war'

[Norton Canes]

II

[Norton Canes]

"What we're saying and doing now is, in some ways, no more than a statement of the obvious, that two liberal democracies faced with an attack upon one or the other would want to come to each other's support, whether it's in the event of a disaster or military attack," said Mr Johnson

I suppose if you're going to start trolling, Scandinavia is the best place

[lipsink]

It's just be called 'Cold War' again cos all the modern sequels just have the same name as the first one. Either that or 'The Cold War'.

[bgmnts]

Update:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61456726

Regardless of the war, for which Putin is to blame, I maintain NATO should not exist and it is a security threat to Russia.

This is all so stupid isn't it? Am I going mental or what?

[Butchers Blind]

The sooner we all get vaporised the better.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Update:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61456726

Regardless of the war, for which Putin is to blame, I maintain NATO should not exist and it is a security threat to Russia.

Yeah pretty sure if NATO was dissolved in the morning Finland would be looking for security pacts with other countries. You know. Given what Russia's after doing. You know. Starting a war.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

Honestly seeking advice on how to continue to function with this. The anxiety is too much to bear and truthfully been thinking of the best way to quickly take myself out of the equation if something happens because it's 100% not a world I will live in.

[bgmnts]

...

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

nvm

[Mobius]

Looking forward to it, enjoyed the first one.

[jamiefairlie]

Hopefully it's a real one this time with bullets, fighting and nukes. Cold War 1 was really lacking any actual 'war'

Plenty of real wars, just 'proxy' ones:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_related_to_the_Cold_War

[thenoise]

It's just be called 'Cold War' again cos all the modern sequels just have the same name as the first one. Either that or 'The Cold War'.

Colder War

[Huxleys Babkins]

C0°LD WAR

[Zetetic]

The anxiety is too much to bear and truthfully been thinking of the best way to quickly take myself out of the equation if something happens because it's 100% not a world I will live in.

Join the mobile infantry.

More seriously, if and when, it'll be so much easier to rapidly kill yourself without chance of rescue after it all kicks off that it's not worth worrying about ahead of time.

[Paul Calf]

Hopefully it's a real one this time with bullets, fighting and nukes. Cold War 1 was really lacking any actual 'war'

Unless you lived in Southeast Asia where, as I understand, millions of people were killed with guns and bombs and continue to be killed by landmines.

It's just be called 'Cold War' again cos all the modern sequels just have the same name as the first one. Either that or 'The Cold War'.

They'll move to a live service model. The Cold War will just be the platform and they'll offer endless DLC packs. Look out for the next episode: The Finnish Theatre.

And people will still complain about loot boxes.

[Zetetic]

[Alberon]

Sabre rattling directed at Scandinavia is only having the effect of pushing them more firmly into NATO.

While the countries that make it up are often bastards doing evil things (cf. Iraq and Afghanistan) I do think they'll never agree enough for NATO to proactively start a war.

Russia has been careful to only try to target arms shipments once they are inside Ukraine so they clearly don't want a war either.

The only real risk for all out war is stumbling into one by mistake, and that risk is only slightly higher than it's been for the last thirty years.

This Cold War isn't ideological like the last one. I don't believe it will last nearly as long.

[TrenterPercenter]

This is all so stupid isn't it? Am I going mental or what?

This is what we wanted isn't it. Can't disregard the Ukrainian right to self determination (i.e. we need to pump the country full of weapons, promote war and help all these rich people pay for their nuclear bunkers) even if it means destruction of the Northern Hemisphere.

FWIW I don' think this will happen, however it will come close there will have to be a climax of rhetoric where both sides square up to each other, for a last minute negotiation, and therefore can then both backdown without losing face.  The big risk of course is the mistakes and errors that nearly always occur - we are rolling dice here I'm afraid.

Hope it's all worth it.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Yes, fuck Ukraine, let Russia do whatever it wants.

[TrenterPercenter]

Yes, fuck Ukraine, let Russia do whatever it wants.

I'm not saying this just that it isn't quite as simple as flooding Ukraine with weapons is the pinnacle of moralism.  I was glad to see I'm still in line with Chomsky's thoughts on these things if you haven't seen the interview I would say it is worth watching and appraising the arguments there.

Of course it is difficult situation, its not as glib as throwing Ukraine under the bus but ensuring our responses remain proportionate and open to deescalation the argument for self-determination is a poor one (obviously one that has been used for lots of aggressive states in the past on their behalf and on the behalf of others).

[pcsjwgm]

In the short term, the US sees the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of equipment to be vital to the Ukrainians' ability to hold off Moscow's invasion. A senior defense official said Tuesday that it is "certainly the largest recent supply to a partner country in a conflict." But the risk, both current US officials and defense analysts say, is that in the long term, some of those weapons may wind up in the hands of other militaries and militias that the US did not intend to arm.

"We have fidelity for a short time, but when it enters the fog of war, we have almost zero," said one source briefed on US intelligence. "It drops into a big black hole, and you have almost no sense of it at all after a short period of time."

In making the decision to send billions of dollars of weapons and equipment into Ukraine, the Biden administration factored in the risk that some of the shipments may ultimately end up in unexpected places, a defense official said.

...

Jordan Cohen, a defense and foreign policy analyst at the CATO institute who focuses on arms sales, said the biggest danger surrounding the flood of weapons being funneled into Ukraine is what happens to them when the war ends or transitions into some kind of protracted stalemate.

Such a risk is part of any consideration to send weapons overseas. For decades, the US sent arms into Afghanistan, first to arm the mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet army, then to arm Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban.

Inevitably, some weapons ended up on the black market including anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, the same kind the US is now providing to Ukraine.

...

The problem is not unique to Afghanistan. Weapons sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates found their way into the hands of fighters linked to al-Qaeda and Iran.

The risk of a similar scenario happening in Ukraine also exists, the defense official acknowledged. In 2020, the Defense Department inspector general released a report raising concerns about the end-use monitoring of weapons being sent to Ukraine.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/19/politics/us-weapons-ukraine-intelligence/index.html

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

Join the mobile infantry.

More seriously, if and when, it'll be so much easier to rapidly kill yourself without chance of rescue after it all kicks off that it's not worth worrying about ahead of time.

my problem is I'm not living in London anymore, so would miss out on that sweet sweet insta-vapourisation

[Zero Gravitas]

A remake could be massive right now.

[TrenterPercenter]

my problem is I'm not living in London anymore, so would miss out on that sweet sweet insta-vapourisation

They wouldn't hit London first, surely you save that for bartering, you probably take another city as an example Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool....

Also just a friendly reminder that this would all be decided on by government officials and rich people from their bunkers they wouldn't be getting vaporised in any initial strikes and many have been constructing long-term bunkers that can be survived in for 5+ years.  It's the masses that get vaporised and radioactively poisoned (still we wouldn't have faltered in giving the Ukrainians their self-determination! a lovely gift of an honourable death from our masters)

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

hope they enjoy their shitey fallout cosplays then

[Alberon]

my problem is I'm not living in London anymore, so would miss out on that sweet sweet insta-vapourisation

As I think I've said before I live close enough to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment that we occasionally get leaflets through our door explaining what to do if they have a nuclear whoopsie.

Gonna get so nuked my vapour will be vapourised.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

As I think I've said before I live close enough to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment that we occasionally get leaflets through our door explaining what to do if they have a nuclear whoopsie.

Gonna get so nuked my vapour will be vapourised.

what's the rent like there

[katzenjammer]

Putin reportedly saying he's not arsed about Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Now I'm scared