Post AGvjIyVFcdFfqZ0UXQ by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
 (DIR) More posts by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
 (DIR) Post #AGvjIorZSnADwtNAwK by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
       2022-02-28T08:21:44Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Back in November 2014, when the Maidan protests weren't yet called hte Maidan, I recalled Kipling's "Danegeld." With apologies to friends from India, for whom the name is about as pleasant to hear as for us - the name of Pushkin, I think I will need to cite that poem again, because it captures very succinctly and clearly the situation around Putin and nuclear arms.
       
 (DIR) Post #AGvjIqmgJwRPuJ6Ib2 by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
       2022-02-28T08:23:34Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation  To call upon a neighbour and to say: --"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,  Unless you pay us cash to go away."And that is called asking for Dane-geld,  And the people who ask it explainThat you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld  And then  you'll get rid of the Dane!
       
 (DIR) Post #AGvjIsh5Dj9RpWUr9E by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
       2022-02-28T08:24:48Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,  To puff and look important and to say: --"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.  We will therefore pay you cash to go away."And that is called paying the Dane-geld;  But we've  proved it again and  again,That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld  You never get rid of the Dane.
       
 (DIR) Post #AGvjIubU7VrTkjtPhQ by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
       2022-02-28T08:25:11Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,  For fear they should succumb and go astray;So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,  You will find it better policy to say: --"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,  No matter how trifling the cost;For the end of that game is oppression and shame,  And the nation that pays it is lost!"
       
 (DIR) Post #AGvjIwY0tOGzmYHfZA by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
       2022-02-28T08:28:13Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       People in the West think Putin is holding to the rules of war. He isn't. Staying away to appease him has never done anything but whet this appetite. There is a very real possibility that he throws a tantrum and decides to have the whole world burn with him. With nuclear war, really, the only hope is that the people working the actual machines aren't idiots. Or that someone is working on the ground in Russia to sabotage the option.
       
 (DIR) Post #AGvjIyVFcdFfqZ0UXQ by werekat@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
       2022-02-28T08:31:07Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       But that's not going to depend on anything the West does in terms of support to Ukraine. Putin threatened Sweden and Finland for even considering joining NATO. He put nuclear arms on alert before there was any nuclear threat from the other side. If you let him scare you into submission, all he'll do is threaten nuclear attack as he attacks first Finland and Sweden, and then the EU.Where does it stop? Where we stop him.