Off Topic World War 3?

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bcfcredandwhite

bcfcredandwhite

Well-Known Member
Jun 1, 2011
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Swindon Wilts
With the Russians massing on the Ukrainian border and undertaking 'exercises' off the coast of Ireland where the Atlantic cable is located, the Chinese sabre-rattling over Taiwan and building hypersonic weapons, Kim Jon Un throwing missiles into the Sea of Japan and the Iranians holding joint military exercises with Russia and China, I can't help feeling that a very unpleasant conflict is just around the corner.
Putin is gambling (quite safely IMHO) on the West doing nothing but huff and puff if (when) he invades the Ukraine. Europe and NATO is divided - with the Germans determined to turn a blind eye.
Whilst the eyes of the West are focussing on the Ukraine, the Chinese will seize the opportunity to turn the screws on Taiwan and Iran will expand it's influence in the Middle East.

I'm 55 years old and I honestly can't remember a world war war being this close - even during the Soviet era.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/video/is-world-war-three-imminent/vi-AAT6gjC?ocid=entnewsntp
 
All against the backdrop of the UK and US (the 2 biggest NATO military forces) decreasing their numbers of personnel over the last 2 decades, and withdrawing their Military Presence in Germany, so have no fast response even if NATO gave the go ahead.
 
Very serious subject and in my opinion, no room on this thread for any flippancy.

I fear we're due a flare up somewhere in the world that if not directly, will escalate exponentially to involve the major powers. Recent history has seen armed conflict in places "far away" from home and seemed somewhat detached to everyone except those directly involved.

Although very much a "local" UK affair, the Falklands campaign was so remote it often seemed to be just something we had a daily report on events. The Lebanon/Beirut troubles were somewhere "over the water" as was/is Libya after Ghaddafi. More recently Iraq and Afghanistan were even further away, and though we had considerable involvement, did not affect the everyday lives of us on these islands.

Coming more up to date we now have the Saudi/Yemen conflict on which we get infrequent reports despite the appalling loss of life locally. African confrontations are something else again and are generally ignored over here because of the minimal effect upon our everyday lives.

The Ukraine is something totally different. It will not be indigenous and involve only the local interested parties. It has all the hallmarks of the first major multi national European military conflict for over 75 years.

This is really close to home, and as unlikely as it may be, might even spill over currently recognised national borders to involve others in the protection of their sovereignty. Dangerous times and those charged with responsibilty of their citizens in whichever country they represent should pull back from the brink and negotiate a way out before it's too late to stop.
 
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NATO won’t do anything militarily, just apply sanctions. Russia knows it as well. Russia just has to weigh up whether they are prepared to be hit with sanctions. If they think The Ukrain is going to join NATO they won’t care about sanctions.
 
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I had a short list on who would be the first to post WW3 my congratulations to the winner!! ..lol
 
Oldsparkey said:
Very serious subject and in my opinion, no room on this thread for any flippancy.
Click to expand...
Very true... it is serious, but how serious?
EVER SINCE THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR Russia has been subjected to "keeping up" ..although in certain areas of expertise they have got their nose in front.
PUTIN is a dictator of the second order, but also has an inferiority complex and needs to make himself self important. He absolutely hates the advances being made by most of the ex states.
Ukraine has endeavoured to join EU and would like to member of NATO .. NATO = as we all know set up to face off against the threat of the USSR.. now just Russia .. and that is the quandary.
 
Putin is an egotistical bully, but knows that he can get away with quite a lot bearing in mind how much oil and gas he supplies to the West!

The thing is though, you have to face up to a bully or it doesn't stop. First Crimea, then Ukraine (probably!!), how about the Baltic States? I've no doubt the Ukrainians will fight for their land, but how much support will they really get when push comes to shove!
 
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Oldsparkey said:
Very serious subject and in my opinion, no room on this thread for any flippancy.

I fear we're due a flare up somewhere in the world that if not directly, will escalate exponentially to involve the major powers. Recent history has seen armed conflict in places "far away" from home and seemed somewhat detached to everyone except those directly involved.

Although very much a "local" UK affair, the Falklands campaign was so remote it often seemed to be just something we had a daily report on events. The Lebanon/Beirut troubles were somewhere "over the water" as was/is Libya after Ghaddafi. More recently Iraq and Afghanistan were even further away, and though we had considerable involvement, did not affect the everyday lives of us on these islands.

Coming more up to date we now have the Saudi/Yemen conflict on which we get infrequent reports despite the appalling loss of life locally. African confrontations are something else again and are generally ignored over here because of the minimal effect upon our everyday lives.

The Ukraine is something totally different. It will not be indigenous and involve only the local interested parties. It has all the hallmarks of the first major multi national European military conflict for over 75 years.

This is really close to home, and as unlikely as it may be, might even spill over currently recognised national borders to involve others in the protection of their sovereignty. Dangerous times and those charged with responsibilty of their citizens in whichever country they represent should pull back from the brink and negotiate a way out before it's too late to stop.
Click to expand...

Who was being flippant?
 
Reliant Robin TC2 said:
Putin is an egotistical bully, but knows that he can get away with quite a lot bearing in mind how much oil and gas he supplies to the West!

The thing is though, you have to face up to a bully or it doesn't stop. First Crimea, then Ukraine (probably!!), how about the Baltic States? I've no doubt the Ukrainians will fight for their land, but how much support will they really get when push comes to shove!
Click to expand...

Not much, nobody in NATO (or even NATO collectively) has the military to stop them. After the "fall of the iron curtain" every NATO country scaled down their Militaries (especially the UK), while Russia carried on growing theirs. It would never be easier for Russia to try and take Europe than it is today.
 
the gas is more important, oil in the coming decade will double in price because we need less! IT is so called cheaper because it is piped . Arab oil is via massive tankers to some areas of EU MAY BE PIPED? we use gas for heating because is cheap [er] changed my boiler, saved money signed up in JULY for a 2 year deal .....wow that will hurt when I HAVE TO GET NEW PRICE!
In the 70's a friend [ prof of science / mathmatics ] bought a water tank 9ft long 4ft wide 4ft deep along with about 300 ft of "reclaimed" various copper pipe. At timber reclamations in Bristol he bought a massive amount of reclaimed timber. in 2 months he had a free hot water system. the "solar " panels were on the roof and 2 reserve tanks in the attic via heat exchanger , supplied shower and sink water. In summer cold water had to be added to shower! In winter, average temp of water was about 20c.. and back boiler /parkray topped it up. 5000 litres of water warmed by the sun would last a couple of days above 12 or so degrees when ambient was above 10c outside. parkray ... free wood / plus a few odd stove nuts on really cold days
would be enough! [ I know so much as helped build it ]
HAVE WE MISSED A TRICK? Cover our rooves with solar and generate electric.. maybe cover our rooves with 50% of each! Bury a water tank in the ground! [ his was above ground] Electric generated would drive pumps supply house electric and maybe some left for sale to grid. His house was connected to gas, and used for cooking, parkray fed into immersion tank .... My house was checked twice for solar both said roof was facing wrong way and "profit" would take much longer, I thought uuuuuumm I might be dead in 20 years ...lol ... that was 2005!
 
realred1952 said:
the gas is more important, oil in the coming decade will double in price because we need less! IT is so called cheaper because it is piped . Arab oil is via massive tankers to some areas of EU MAY BE PIPED? we use gas for heating because is cheap [er] changed my boiler, saved money signed up in JULY for a 2 year deal .....wow that will hurt when I HAVE TO GET NEW PRICE!
In the 70's a friend [ prof of science / mathmatics ] bought a water tank 9ft long 4ft wide 4ft deep along with about 300 ft of "reclaimed" various copper pipe. At timber reclamations in Bristol he bought a massive amount of reclaimed timber. in 2 months he had a free hot water system. the "solar " panels were on the roof and 2 reserve tanks in the attic via heat exchanger , supplied shower and sink water. In summer cold water had to be added to shower! In winter, average temp of water was about 20c.. and back boiler /parkray topped it up. 5000 litres of water warmed by the sun would last a couple of days above 12 or so degrees when ambient was above 10c outside. parkray ... free wood / plus a few odd stove nuts on really cold days
would be enough! [ I know so much as helped build it ]
HAVE WE MISSED A TRICK? Cover our rooves with solar and generate electric.. maybe cover our rooves with 50% of each! Bury a water tank in the ground! [ his was above ground] Electric generated would drive pumps supply house electric and maybe some left for sale to grid. His house was connected to gas, and used for cooking, parkray fed into immersion tank .... My house was checked twice for solar both said roof was facing wrong way and "profit" would take much longer, I thought uuuuuumm I might be dead in 20 years ...lol ... that was 2005!
Click to expand...
Well done, we are all pleased for your friend, but what about Russia and Ukraine?
 
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cut off the oil, or severely reduce it. Should RUSSIA INVADE how long will the pipelines last anyway! We can get gas from North sea, enough maybe to get by on in the short term. There are 2 or 3 fields not on line ... summer is coming.... .just 4 weeks of potentially cold weather left ......
check #6 .. main reason is NOT invited to join NATO..... oh if we did then no need for it! and this little paddy shows why we need it!!!!!! Short of a sharpening stone for his sickle is Mr Putin
 
"I have no more territorial demands" was a phrase bandied around in the late 30's and look where that got us. If the world (or at least the sane part) allows the likes of Putin and the other well known thugs to dictate the agenda then a word of caution needs to be handed out to those who foolishly believe these perennial liars. That nice Mr Putin wants his legacy to be the reunification of the U.S.S.R. as it was before Gorbachev was allowed to bring his country into the relative safety of non-aggression politics. Until such time as politicians of all stripes find out that this planet is all we have and perhaps if the billions of whatever currency you wish to name were spent on alleviating hunger, and not on armaments, then we may stand a chance of saving what we have left.

What is the point of misspent currency in space when it might be that one day a moon walker of unknown origin might look down and ask what happened to that lovely blue planet that gave billions life over millions of years? Oh yes I remember my country decided to start the process to eliminate it, and all it stood for, so I could stand here alone and ask why? Why indeed do we have to tolerate stupidity when we all know the outcome of it's continuance? Have a nice day.
 
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