Yes, of course. We are going to have a big war within the next 4-5 years.
Russia has not been controlled or contained.
Russia would have to advance past the old Iron Curtain (save East Germany) for actual war to break out. proxy war is already happening.
No, just as soon as any NATO member is invaded.
you think Putin can't get a few of the old Soviet bloc countries to 'voluntarily' renounce NATO membership?
You see, those dictators want to control a country, not being some regional governor than can be fired at will by Putin.
No dictators in the Soviet bloc countries that have joined NATO.
yeah - one reason being that a Western ally automatically earns the title of small-d democrat by virtue of being a Western ally (ie: allow US military bases, expropriation of profits by Western corporations). Colombia the democratic haven, Venezuela the Stalinist hellhole.
hence Lukashenko is the "last European dictator" - Belarus refused mass privatization and maintained close ties to Moscow.
Nah, the post-communist countries that have joined NATO are democracies by any reasonable standard. Albania is the most problematic of them, but even that has democratic institutions and far better human rights than Russia or Belarus (one of the least free countries in the world).
We are talking about:
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania.
You don't find Hungary as concerning as Albania?
