How Vladimir Putin Brought the West Together

[marmar]

How Vladimir Putin Brought the West Together
The Ukraine war is uniting the West – politically, militarily, morally. But what will the world's democracies do with this newfound unity? Can they succeed in preventing further escalation?

By Markus Becker, Georg Fahrion, Katharina Graça Peters, Ralf Neukirch, René Pfister, Maximilian Popp, Jan Puhl, Britta Sandberg, Lina Verschwele und Bernhard Zand
04.03.2022, 19.54 Uhr


(Der Spiegel) The small Romanian town of Câmpia Turzii doesn't look like the kind of place where global political developments take place. The bed of gravel in front of the town hall is waiting for new asphalt, the "Asia” market next door has lost its "i," and the hotel on the outskirts of town bears the simple name A3. The town’s biggest attraction stands at the city limits. Once you pass the last single-family homes, you suddenly find yourself in front of a mounted aircraft. A blue, Soviet-produced MiG-21 fighter jet juts into the sky like a signpost.

Câmpia Turzii has been home to an air base for almost 70 years. During the Cold War, Warsaw Pact pilots took off and landed here. These days, though, NATO troops are stationed behind the metal gate.

People waited for precisely that for more than 50 years, says Laura Ștefan, a Romanian who works for the Expert Forum, which promotes trans-Atlantic relations. "The Americans were the salvation," she says. "When the first U.S. soldiers moved in, people greeted them with flowers."

NATO, the West – synonymous for many with freedom and prosperity back when Romania joined NATO in 2004.

Today, the country that has for so long stood in the shadow of European history is a front-line state. "We border Ukraine," Ștefan says. "If it came to an invasion of Romania, that would be the end. For many of us, but also for Putin. But I don’t think an invasion of Romania is likely. Still, we have to be prepared for anything.”

....(snip)....

The same West that for so long seemed powerless in the face of Putin’s provocations has now been united by his attack on Ukraine in a way that neither the Kremlin nor Western politicians could have foreseen. ..............(more)

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/united-by-danger-how-putin-brought-the-west-together-a-f2b871da-500a-41d4-8e13-db7cdd99567c

[Bucky]

1. playing Cupid for the West is an old Russian tradition

[Mme. Defarge]

2. It was a tough job but somebody had to do it?

[walkingman]

3. I firmly believe that Putin is immoral and just an evil person and I feel for the

Ukrainian people but I have a question.

Could the fact that most Ukrainians are white be a factor in the outpouring of support around the world? I wonder this because I don't remember any support for the Iraqi citizens when we invaded and occupied their nation WITHOUT CAUSE. Even after the war when the real truth was known no sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians killed.

Today there is little doubt that the US was wrong - what is the difference? Does bad intelligence offer a legitimate excuse for our actions?