What Can We To Do With Someone Like Putin?

[LewPaper]

When communism died in Russia, the Latvian states were given back their independence and Germany was reunified I thought this was going to herald a fresh relationship between east and west, a friendlier, more constructive amalgamation benefiting us all yet all we got was a change from hard left policies to hard right ones. Putin, who up to that time was a keen supporter and employee of the KGB 'won' an election to be president and he's gone from pretty bad to diabolical. I can only equate that with putting Himmler in charge of Social Services.
I'm now beginning to think that Russia with Mikhail Gorbachev would've been far far better even though still communist than Putin has been with his pseudo-'free' society.
What's made it ten times worse is that due to the fall of comunism the western powers have reduced their military capability thinking they were no longer necesary. This just has to be the worst case of 'being wooed into a false sense of security'. Government cost-cutting for the benefit of their well-to-do friends has emasculated our defence resources to a point where we couldn't now even muster the force we had for the Falklands War let alone Russia.

[KARL]

I have never heard of "the Latvian states" - I suppose that makes me ignorant.

[Khandro]

Lew, I think you've got your knickers in a bit of a twist here. With the reunification of Germany, the east; the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), which had formerly existed under the umbrella of the Warsaw pact, now being conjoined with 'West Germany' became under the protection of NATO, thereby pushing NATO's influence closer towards Russia.
The Russians were not comfortable with this, but accepted it with good grace but on the condition that there would be no further encroachment east.
However, all promises were disregarded by the American led West, aiding and abetting an overthrow of the legitimate Ukrainian government and NATO now has weapons emplaced in Poland and the Baltic States all pointing in the direction of Moscow.
How is the Kremlin supposed to feel? the Russian bear does not take kindly to being prodded with a sharp stick.

[LewPaper]

Here y'are Karl. I'll come to your rescue.

http://www.loveawake.com/states/Latvia.html

[LewPaper]

Thanks for your input Khandro and I do see your point, but only slightly.
I think everything Russia's done and is doing can only be seen as provocative. Syria has become a pariah and Russia is becoming one so they cling together. Russia is a state in its own right, so is Georgia and Ukraine and have as much right to align themselves to whichever country or organisationn they like. For years the west had to stand back while Syrian forces played fast and loose with their own citizens because Russia wouldn't commit to a peace resolution, but then it went further by helping Syria kill anyone who disagreed with its policies, though under the umbrella of 'helping' the west in eradicating IS; it just so happened that they killed innocent people (in their eyes rebels) 'in collateral damage'.
But all this wasn't what I was getting at. It was Putin who created all this violent uneasiness whereas if Gorby had been in charge we wouldn't have seen the rise of the Russian Mafia in the power vacuum and the Russian people would still have a few roubles in their pockets.

[EDDIE51]

Don't worry, Trump has repeatedly spoken of his admiration for Putin so he can't be all bad ;-)

[Khandro]

Lew, Are you saying that it's OK for the Americans to run amok throughout the Middle East, attempting to change regimes, killing countless innocent people in the process, and interfering with the internal politics of other countries without question and if so, by what authority do they have to do this?
Why do you put all the blame on Russia which is after for supporting the legitimate Syrian regime (whether you like it or not) against an insurgency.
If the Obama administration had not been so hell bent on yet another regime change, the bloodshed would have been ended by now and many lives would have been saved.

[LewPaper]

Was it ok for Russia to annexe Crimea? to go into Afghanistan? we could be at this all night. Putin is a war monger, never happier than when he's stirring up trouble. It's a matter of record that he's been bombing women and children, hospitals and the like in Syria, all mistakes of course and as for his sexuality I reckon he's in denial - he always like to appear a 'man's man', stripped to the waist doing something rugged. As far as Syria is concerned he's been more of a hindrance than a help. We could all have gone into Syria years ago but he vetoed the UN resolution and without it any involvement would've been illegal. This was at a time when IS didn't have the strangle-hold in Syria as it has now; he allowed it to drag on and on until now when a lot more lives have been lost doing what we should've done years ago. From the year dot Russian has been a boil on the bum of humanity.

[Khandro]

Lew; I think you need to get a few facts straight. Beginning only with the first part of your opening sentence and before moving on, please look at;
http://www.history.co.uk/shows/articles/10-facts-about-russias-history-with-crimea

[LewPaper]

As soon as someone directs me to another source I loose interest in the discussion. If you can't or won't use your own words, your own opinion there's nothing much I can do. No longer am I having a debate with you, you're having a debate by proxy; were I to respond you'd then direct me somewhere else. Shame, I was enjoying that.

[dannyk13]

In answer to the OP's question "What can we do about Putin" the obvious answer is nothing.

[Khandro]

//As soon as someone directs me to another source I loose interest in the discussion.//
Rejecting research into the true facts would appear to account for your ignorance of the subject.

[LewPaper]

I'm not rejecting research just your inability to use your own words, thoughts and reasoning and relying on someone else's.
Anyone can join a discussion by referring to something someone else said. People only resort to that sort of logic when they've nothing to add but don't want to admit it.

[Khandro]

Would you really expect me, or anyone else, to write out a history of the Crimea, a subject on which you are clearly uninformed, in this AB format?

[andy-hughes]

Wow - someone else 'uninformed', and here's me thinking it was just me!!!

[LewPaper]

Khandro. I don't EXPECT you to do anything. YOU decided to respond to my question, no-one asked you to. I may be wrong, totally wrong after all it's only my opinion but you can only counter that with someone else's, not yours. If you have an opinion let's hear it, if not why are you wasting your time?