PowerSwitch

Reading all the news lately, there are hints of a coming war with Russia.

Am I alone in feeling this?

Did you see this thread:
https://twitter.com/FRHoffmann1/status/ ... aA0Lg&s=19

I feel that a war with russia may be coming but is not inevitable.
The invasion of Ukraine has two different likely outcomes. Firstly the West may redouble efforts to defeat the invaders , that could end in an all out war.
Alternatively the West might decide to let russia keep at least part of Ukraine, that will encourage russia to invade another neighbour such as Poland. also ending in war.

Countries like Russia that invest nearly all of the bounteous resources on their military and armaments instead of diversifying their economy are only really going to do one thing.

If Russia did not invade Ukraine in 2022 they could still be trading with Europe, apparently 100 billion dollars with Germany alone, instead they are trading their oil at lower prices to China and India. If they are not opposed in Ukraine they will try to invade other places, so money spent on Ukraine is money well spent eroding Russian military capability.

I see no definite plans that the West wants a war with Russia yet. Let them get worn down in Ukraine for a few more years. Just reading an excellent book on the Holodomor at the moment.

Vortex2 wrote: ↑16 Jan 2024, 19:01 Reading all the news lately, there are hints of a coming war with Russia.

Am I alone in feeling this?

I think the writing has been on the wall for some time now. Putin is not going to back down until he is removed from power, and the west cannot do a deal with him, because he cannot be trusted to abide by it. I don't think the West wants this war, but it is increasingly difficult to see how it can be avoided.

According to the Daily Telegraph todays paper edition "NATO warns of war with russia within 20 years"

Another call for greater preparedness in case of war with russia or other enemies.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68086188

adam2 wrote: ↑24 Jan 2024, 18:36 Another call for greater preparedness in case of war with russia or other enemies.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68086188

The best way to avoid a war is to prepare for one.

From The Daily Telegraph:

The United States is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years as the threat from Russia increases, Pentagon documents seen by The Telegraph reveal.

Procurement contracts for a new facility at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk confirm that the US intends to place nuclear warheads three times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb at the air base.

The disclosure comes in the wake of warnings that Nato countries need to ready their citizens for war with Russia.

US already has nukes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Republic of Türkiye. UK too until 1992, in Ken's back yard in fact. Don't know why Telegraph says 3x Hiroshima yield, it would most like be the dial-a-yield B61, which can be set at anything between 0.3 and 400 kt. Maybe they are only considering the Mod 12 which tops out at 50 kt.

Little up side from the UK's point of view. US will retain all control and we get an additional priority target site. Maybe the US will pay us lots of rent?

clv101 wrote: ↑26 Jan 2024, 21:02 US already has nukes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Republic of Türkiye. UK too until 1992, in Ken's back yard in fact. Don't know why Telegraph says 3x Hiroshima yield, it would most like be the dial-a-yield B61, which can be set at anything between 0.3 and 400 kt. Maybe they are only considering the Mod 12 which tops out at 50 kt.

Little up side from the UK's point of view. US will retain all control and we get an additional priority target site. Maybe the US will pay us lots of rent?

I'd have thought that Mildenhall was probably a Russian target anyway before it got those nukes. That kind of attitude smacks of one certain leader of the Labour Party who was fond of donkey jackets. The targets Foot was worried about being hit never got hit and in the end the country doing the targeting was stared down and ruined economically and militarily.

Turns out the UK did host US B61 bombs until 2007 or 2008, wonder why they were removed then? If returned, Times are reporting, it would be the Mod 12.

I can (maybe) see the rationale for stationing US nukes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Türkiye...
They don't have their own - it spreads the deterrent/targets..., maybe it's a condition of NATO membership ?
If the US wants to send Russia a message, the new NATO countries like Finland and/or Sweden would make more sense ?

The UK is already 'nuked up' with our own deterrent...., France too (don't see them accepting any)
We're a supposedly 'independent' nuclear power and a permanent member of the Security Council...
So why do we need US owned/controlled nukes stationed here....?

Personally, I think that covering the globe in these things is retrograde - the more there are, the more chance of something going wrong...
Everybody needs to remember that there are only losers in a nuclear war...

I can't see them being returned to Greenham as the bunkers would need completely refitting. there isn't a runway to bring them in now either.

I don't think that there are any more being built, they are just redistributing them. The more dispersed they are the more difficult it is for Russia to do a pre-emptive strike to take them all out so that is probably why they are coming back here. We are a bit further away than the rest of Europe so there is more chance to get them in the air before a Russian strike hits.

We are not pushing for a direct war with Russia but Russia is certainly pushing for one with us. Seems like Putin the Mad wants to go out with a Big Bang!! I've read, and I agree, that people think he is hanging on for Trump to be elected so he is given a free hand to deal with Europe without any US interference. Putin would probably settle for Europe and let China take the Far East. They would leave the Muslim Middle East to Iran and divvy up Africa and South America between them with China taking the most valuable bits. The US would then fall under the combined thumbs and become a backwater as it loses all its world trade.

The US has by far the biggest military in the world. They would not allow any US president and certainly not one as stupid as Trump to dismantle them. They would trigger civil war or accidentally crash air force one before allowing that. They will be a major force in the world for many decades to come. The US has both the natural resources and the educated population and industry to sustain it. Unlike Russia which is likely to go into a second economic collapse if the Ukraine war drags on for another two years