www.statista.com
It was inevitable. Ukraine signed the Minsk accords in 2014 and never had any serious intention of abiding by them. The civil war has dragged on 7 years longer then it needed to. Zelensky came to power promising to end the war yet his position has been hardened by US interference. So there you go. Ukraine has a very short window to get back to the table or these are gone for good.
The US still has the most powerful military. Esp for power projection. But even if they fought and defeated Russia in a conventional war, it would be a pyrrhic victory.Infographic: The World's Most Powerful Militaries
This chart shows the countries ranked highest on the Global Firepower PowerIndex in 2022.
It used to be that the US had by far the strongest military in the world. Today, it is no longer the case. The Russian military is equally strong, anda China close. North Korea also has a strong military. All three could join forces and wreak havoc. China is already pushing the limits on what it can do territorially. North Korea is crazy, and Russia is obviously thirsty to reclaim it's former self and have more influence.
Could these three win a world war 3?
As the member mentioned in Post 42, looks like a partition.
www.axios.com
Yes this is my point. I think Russia would have been content to allow the Donbass to have semi autonomous status. But the way things were going, is that sooner or latter the Ukraine military was gonna attack and the President of Russia could not sit back an allow a slaughter of ethnic Russians. When Scholtz visited, Putin concluded he was not serious about the Minsk agreements or the threat faced by ethnic Russians in Ukraine, so he acted.
So if the impose sanctions on this, what do they have left to deter a full scale invasion?Biden to impose sanctions over Putin's recognition of breakaway Ukraine regions
The U.S. and European Union sharply condemned the announcement by Putin, calling it a violation of international law.
Putin wins this round.
They have been "keeping the peace" there for at least five years(unofficially). They just made it official. The ",breakaway " regions were always supported and supplied by Moscow. Without Russian support they couldn't and wouldn't exist. Ukraine has one chance only now to keep their country- an immediate attack with everything they got into Donbas and Luhansk disputed regions. If they allow this to stand, another region is going to develop appetite for "independence " and Ukraine will remain a poor unstable country where none will invest.
