Russia-Ukraine: Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Putin taking Crimea was exactly like Hitler taking the Sudetenland. I think they said the same thing back then too.

Going by the ethnic distribution maps the dominant demographic in Crimea is made up of Russians. It's the only place in the country where Ukrainians are a minority of the population.

NATO sends more ships, jets to eastern Europe as tensions with Russia build

Not sold on that, the window of opportunity for a quick campaign is rapidly closing if it isn't already slammed shut. I think Putin is looking for an out.

Now that there are serious numbers of troops being committed it changes the calculus. Even if they were to get wiped out this would mean the US and Russia would be at war and I can't see Putin taking that big of a risk.

Another consideration for Russia has to be that if they get into it with the US they won't be facing a rookie military learning as it goes. Or one degraded by terrible morale issues like at the end of the Vietnam era. They'll be facing off against a battle-hardened American force, one that over the last twenty year has learned all the modern tricks from urban fighting, to open-field combat, to near-perfect clockwork co-ordination between all segments of it's various services. Put a bunch of Russian tanks on Ukrainian soil where they're no longer safely under the umbrella of anti-aircraft missile defenses and it's a very high likelihood that the US helicopter & A10 Warthog detachments will chew them up as much as they did to the Iraqis, or like the Israelis have done multiple times to their various Arab enemies. And that would be before the Russians run headfirst into the multiple-times battle-proven M1 Abrams and British Challenger tank regiments. Then add the Ukrainian forces into the mix, because they'll be fighting with the same survival instinct that the Russians themselves had from 1941 to 45 about battling to the death against a murderous foreign oppressor.

The Russians could be in quite a bit of trouble as they stand a very high probability of being beaten, basically on their home turf, by an opponent that certainly isn't a shrinking violet. Their own nationalist propaganda at home about rebuilding the old empire the czars built centuries ago has every chance of turning out to be a complete paper tiger, with no basis in reality that Russian will be able to pull it off. If they've talked themselves into believing it will be an easy fight then they're going to be badly shocked when the exact opposite happens.

US Troops on Alert; Carrier Strike Group Under NATO Command For ‘The First Time Since The Cold War’

Belarus hacktivists target railway in anti-Russia effort

More sabre-rattling and people are declaring war again.

Post script: US is going over the line. Europe and Ukraine are not pulling their diplomats and see the US actions as an over-reaction. We are here now thou and this has changed from sabre rattling to a catastrophic misstep. Both sides need to pull back NOW.

I disagree. Putin/The Russkies aren't going to learn anything until they try their so-called 'invasion' and get whupped in a BIG way. Russian arrogance is off the charts, and the only way to bring them back to Earth is to give them the world's biggest bloody nose.

-J.