O/T:- Ukraine [Incorporating 'Congrats to Russia' thread]

[sidders]

I am not a Putin apologist and i agree that he is a dangerous man. My wife said it would solve the whole thing if someone 'took him out' but I disagree. The next Putin is already being trained up and the general opinion is that he will be even more offensive. The Russian people are ferociously nationalistic and that always needs to be taken into account. However, that nationalism also applies to separate entities like Georgians, Belorussians, Siberians, etc. It's a hard act to hold them together because sometimes their interests collide (against each other and against Mother Russia).
Irish Pete, sanctions didn't work against North Korea because the people have absolutely no power of protest and can be easily quelled. Russia is a vast province with far greater capacity for protest and non-cooperation.
I read an interesting article which compared the Ukraine's possible allying with Nato as comparable with when Cuba was considering installing a Russian rocket base. No way was the USA gojng to allow that. I remember going through a ridiculous exercise at school whereby the teaching staff were doing dummy runs to get us to take shelter under our desks. Yes, that's how seriously the threat of war was being taken in 1963?
This may be stretching the comparison too far but it is always healthy in diplomacy to consider a situation from your opponent/enemy's point of view.