I think this one might get a bit hotter
Russia is in a weaker position than it was at the beginning of the cold war, its more susceptible to any more economic sanctions the west will impose if Putin starts throwing his weight around in other former soviet bloc countries. He could be backed into a corner where war seems like the best option to him.
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Rebel biscuit stercore sumus et nos esse novimus, Thu 19 Feb 2015, 11:10,
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Ha
The Russian economy and Putin's grand plans for it have backfired with the collapse in oil prices, because Putin put all his eggs in one basket and planed economic growth based on selling energy. An actual war with the west is the last thing he needs to perpetuate his woes any further, especially given his military forces aren't in any shape to take on Nato
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Jahled Three shades of black, Thu 19 Feb 2015, 11:19,
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Thing is
The Russian military is in a pretty terrible state at the moment. They've been starved of funding for so long now there's a serious safety risk to their own crews from their own equipment. Their only aircraft carrier is basically unseaworthy at the moment.
They'd announced a massive upgrade plan building new ships, fighters and missiles, and a potential new bomber was on the drawing board, but that was all to be funded by energy money.
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Thu 19 Feb 2015, 11:49,
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Well he's probably assuming NATO is not going to retaliate starting WW3 isn't he?
And given past events he could be forgiven for assuming that and could be why he's still fighting this by proxy.
AS for the economy, that's not stopped nations being aggressive in the past has it?
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Cerebus Sticky! Sticky! Stick! Stick!, Thu 19 Feb 2015, 12:17,
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