Former Putin Advisor Warns: Finland, Sooner Or Later

[chenjesuwizard]

Yes. You're all right. I usually state my lack belief as fact just to get people thinking. No hard feelings meant anywhere.

All good then . I am just used to some Athiests (and many Christians) attempting to force their beliefs on others when there are far more important things happening, such as this Russian crisis.

The Russians are assholes who can do pretty much whatever they want in their own backyard. But I don't think the guys in charge are crazy yet. Give it 20 years and maybe things will change. But right now there's no risk of Russian boots on the ground in Finland. It might push us into NATO though, mostly just to spite them.

What will be interesting (in the loosest sense of the word) is if Russia does invade NATO members in the Baltics, whether NATO will truly go to war. If they do, then you have the whole nuclear war problem, if they don't, it seriously undermines NATO's power.

[Angelfish]

yeah so you're talking like it's a game of Risk. Don't forget that there are real people involved.

[Alvarin]

No, not really. When it comes to Soviet mentality, and Putin is definitely one of those, there are no "real people", just ego, national pride and pawns.

[Angelfish]

No, not really. When it comes to Soviet mentality, and Putin is definitely one of those, there are no "real people", just ego, national pride and pawns.

yeah so what is your definition of a person and do you think that you are worthy of that title?

[Alvarin]

"Person" for me is someone who leaves a long lasting mark on their extended surroundings.
I do not know if I am fully worth the "title". I did have several important technical breakthroughs and even have a tool named after me. My impact is a fairly limited though, due to it being very narrow in specialization.

[Alvarin]

Oh, I have just realized something. I do not know if you meant by "real people" the leaders, or the involved masses. If you meant the masses, than my remark is valid. If you meant heads of state and other prominent politicians then it is not.

[Angelfish]

"Person" for me is someone who leaves a long lasting mark on their extended surroundings.
I do not know if I am fully worth the "title". I did have several important technical breakthroughs and even have a tool named after me. My impact is a fairly limited though, due to it being very narrow in specialization.

Yeah but Putin is worthy of that title. So you're contradicting yourself.

[Alvarin]

The contradiction arises from misunderstanding. I thought you referred to the affected populations when you said real people are involved.

[Lukipela]

is Ukrainian. He always tell me not to say "the Ukraine". He says it's just "Ukraine". It's minor, but I found that interesting.

for him it's ukraine but for english people it's 'the ukraine' . just the same as we sasy 'nederland' but you say 'the netherlands'.
We also say 'de krim' but english people say 'crimea' and russian people say.. well I don't know, I don't speak russian.

This is wrong. In english you normally only use the article for plurals. It's the Netherlands and the United States, but you never say "the Denmark" or the Greece". The only exceptions I know of is when the name is a whole slew of words like "The people's republic of whatever".

The reason Ukraine is sometimes referred to as "the Ukraine", is because of a translation of Russian/Ukranina articles AFAIK. Saying "the Ukraine" denotes it as a region rather than an independent country, kind of like "the Amazon", "the Sahara" or some such. Presumably this is because Ukraine used to be a part of the Russian Empire rather than a independent country and the article tagged along in older translations.

This is also why Ukrainians don't like their country being called "the Ukraine". Not only is it grammatically incorrect, it carries an implication that they aren't actually an independent country.

Of course, the way things seem to be going, it'll probably be correct to use "the Ukraine" again in a few more months...

[Angelfish]

is Ukrainian. He always tell me not to say "the Ukraine". He says it's just "Ukraine". It's minor, but I found that interesting.

for him it's ukraine but for english people it's 'the ukraine' . just the same as we sasy 'nederland' but you say 'the netherlands'.
We also say 'de krim' but english people say 'crimea' and russian people say.. well I don't know, I don't speak russian.

This is wrong. In english you normally only use the article for plurals. It's the Netherlands and the United States, but you never say "the Denmark" or the Greece". The only exceptions I know of is when the name is a whole slew of words like "The people's republic of whatever".

The reason Ukraine is sometimes referred to as "the Ukraine", is because of a translation of Russian/Ukranina articles AFAIK. Saying "the Ukraine" denotes it as a region rather than an independent country, kind of like "the Amazon", "the Sahara" or some such. Presumably this is because Ukraine used to be a part of the Russian Empire rather than a independent country and the article tagged along in older translations.

This is also why Ukrainians don't like their country being called "the Ukraine". Not only is it grammatically incorrect, it carries an implication that they aren't actually an independent country.

Of course, the way things seem to be going, it'll probably be correct to use "the Ukraine" again in a few more months...

Apparently it was called that way before they declared independence in 1991, so that's where most of the people get it from .