What to do about Russia?

I think intervening would not even achieve little - it would make a dreadful situation even worse. DTs bellicose tweets are truly frightening

The most dangerous and destructive part of Brexit is probably worse than we could possibly have ever imagined.
Tying us tightly to Trump and his madness, as we are unable to replace the European markets being lost.

This is very very serious indeed. I wish I could bring my granchildren here tomorrow.

I think that even if the vote had been to remain, the situation would be the same

Because we are in NATO (as is France & Germany ) we probably have to side with the USA if it is attacked, but we didn ‘t have to give Mr Trump carte blanche to decide what to do about Syria. There are so many issues with Russia - it frequently blocks UN resolutions that would solve or at least mitigate many of the World’s problems, - presumably because Putin wants to support other dictators to shore up his own position. I have some sympathy with him wanting access to the med, and objecting to NATO exercises on his borders, if only he were willing to consult about matters instead of using force, I am sure that it would not be impossible to come to some agreement. Another point is that he has horrendous problems at home - melting permafrost eroding the foundations of towns and cities and the trans Siberian railways, shrinking fresh water lakes, and Islamist militants on his SE boarders for a start - as always the answer is to distract the population by focussing on an outside enemy. Trump is a godsend to him.

Some of us remember how it was in the Cold War in the 60s.... it hasn't been as bad again until now....

Of course Trump is a godsend to him, which is the reason the Russians interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.

Brexit is a godsend to Putin, which is why they interfered in our EU referendum.

Think back to 2016. The Remain campaign was supported by the leaders of all of our allies, every major country in the world except Russia. The only foreign politicians who supported brexit were the French Nationalist Marine le Penn, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Says it all:

www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/the-rush-to-war/

Nought so blind ...

The attacks would have to be ( as last time) on Syrian airfields and where chemical weapons are thought to be.
Even so, it won’t stop Assad as he has nothing to lose really by charging ahead.
It would show Russia and Iran that they cannot do what they like without some consequences.

did you read the link lemon?

One thing which really puzzled me in 2016, was that voters who were considering voting Leave did not appear to be concerned about the company they were keeping.

I would have thought that even if they were not put off by the thought of being on the same side as Trump, Putin's support would have made them think twice.

jura and varian you are like a dog with a bone about Brexit and manage to get it into every subject going, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it on the gardening and the cooking threads.

Nobody knew Trump was going to be POTUS at the time of the referendum so it could just have easily have been Hilary whose company we were keeping.

There is no doubt that Russia helped the Leave campaign. This is not something any of us should ignore.

We really know so very little of the truth, of any of it.

Brexit and Trump bashing............the grans are as fractious as the politicians.

Blair is all for it, so for my money its a bad idea.

The Jaysh Islam Terrorist Group

www.jaishalislam.com/albums :

...were given free passage for 47 bus loads of their soldiers (in the post-GFA IRA sense) and families immediately after possibly staging a poison gas attack.

://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-ghouta/syrian-rebels-evacuated-from-douma-reach-northwest-monitor-idUSKBN1HH19M

Are we being duped?

Primrose65
Popular? I beg to differ and in view of the fate that has met those who 'oppose' then scared sh****es comes to mind.

Putin is popular with Russians sarahellen. I don't think the 'average Russian' living in Russia is at all scared of Putin. They admire his strength and they like stability. It's a different culture to the UK.

nigglynellie
"This is now a country that invaded Crimea, shot down a passenger plane, invaded East Ukraine, drops barrel bombs, and indulges in chemical warfare. "
This is a very naive view. Crimea has never been Ukrainian in the first place historically. If anything, Crimea was part of the Russian Empire since the end of the 18C, and before then it was a rich history including the Greek colonies, the Scythians, Khazars, Kievan Rus, Mongols etc. It only was assigned to the Ukraine in 1954, thanks to the drunk idiot Khruschev.
Talking of the East Ukraine, this area is bombed almost daily by the Ukrainian army. I don't need the British media to tell me who is wrong, who is right. My cousin and family live there, and the situation is grim. They are terrified of the Ukrainian government.
I wouldn't believe everything you read in the British media, they have their own agenda. There is an appalling brainwashing going on both sides.

Putin is just a thug . There are many 3rd world leaders who fit into the same category as Putin
Unfortunately they don't realky care about anybody but themselves and then blame everyone else for their aggressive activities.
What is new about that? Like all crooks and thugs they meet a sticky end.

I have read that Russia has a defence system deployed in Syria that can shoot down any incoming planes and cruise missiles etc. It is untested in war conditions and probably Russia would like to see it in action. If it works as expected it will be extremely difficult to attack anything within this shield - Trump and UK are setting themselves up for a very expensive humiliation.
Not only that, Russia is to sell this system to Iran and Turkey, and having demonstrated irs capabilities, no douby many other countries will flock to buy it.
Can you imagine the consequences? These countries will be able to dictate whatever they like and no one will be able to do s** all about it. The next threat will be AI led weapons and war machines. Very dangerous killers in the wrong hands. How can countries with perfectly ordinary basically decent, moral people end up with heartless dictators? They will have to work out how for themselves as no outsider will be able to threaten them with force.

I am with lemongrove. It is easy not to do anything that is why they get away with it. Putin knows we are a pushover as a democracy we take account of people saying "no no" don't interfere". Just watch children being poisoned. It has got to this stage because we haven't interfered.

Dictators are always overthrown in the end. What havoc they wreak on the way though. No emoticon serious enough to convey the seriousness of this situation.

Please don't poke the Russian bear. Jaw, jaw is so much better than war, war.

Marieeliz
Quote 'We are a pushover,'' because we haven't interfered?
Possibly too much interference if one considers the thousands who have suffered and still suffering due to the actions of two men who 'had a dream' of finding that which did not and has yet to show 'ever did' exist..