#nadchodzi zima dla władimira putina

[tomorrowusa]

« A więc to nie my – Zachód – powinniśmy obawiać się starcia z Putinem, lecz na odwrót. Warto o tym przypominać, nie po to, żeby wzmagać w Rosjanach poczucie zagrożenia, bo NATO jest paktem obronnym, ale żeby pokazać, że atak Rosji na któregokolwiek z członków Sojuszu skończyłby się jej niechybną klęską. Potencjał militarny i gospodarczy Rosji blednie w porównaniu z potencjałem Zachodu. (original Polish)

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And so it is not we, the West, who should fear a clash with Putin, but the other way around. It's worth remembering this, not to increase Russians' feeling of danger – because NATO is a defensive pact – but in order to show that an attack by Russia on any of the members of the Alliance would inevitably result in its defeat. Russia's military and economic potential pales in comparison to that of the West. (English) »

— Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski from a wide-ranging policy address at Poland's lower house of parliament, the Sejm, on Thursday. From the official Sejm site.

Minister Sikorski gave a number of stats which reminded Sejm members how weak Russia is when compared with NATO. A few of them...

the total GDP of Russia and Belarus is US$ 2.2 trillion compared with NATO's US$ 45 trillion.

the defense budget of Russia is US$ 86.4 billion compared with a combined US$ 1.17 trillion (combined) for NATO members.

the combined population of Russia and Belarus is 153 million compared with a combined 920 million for NATO countries.

He isn't mentioning these things to be belligerent but rather to point out the true condition of Russia. Some people in the West have an exaggerated view of Russia's strength. Those folks forget that the war in Ukraine has been an almost nonstop demonstration of Russian weakness and ineptitude.

Russia relies on old school terror attacks on civilian targets with missiles and drones; its minor recent advances in the east are the result of costly human wave attacks which sacrifice tens of thousands of its own troops. And don't forget that even though Ukraine doesn't have any major naval vessels, it has neutralized Russia's Black Sea Fleet and sunk its flagship.

Bullies like to talk big to make up for their inner weakness. Putin and Trump are so much alike.

One more stat about Russia which Minister Sikorski left out: 48.1% of the population of rural Russia relies on outhouses. How worried should NATO be about a country which can't handle its shit properly?