VINSKI, Estonia (AP) — Estonia is extending a fence along its border with Russia and building anti-tank ditches and bunkers in preparation for a potential conflict with Moscow. But those defenses won’t guard against the threat it and its NATO allies face from Russian drones and electronic warfare.
I don’t want to engage too much in whataboutism, but I think Europe has a more general problem with Russia and we need a more “
wholesomeholistic” approach. Sure tackling drones and more militarism is one aspect but that’s only one thing and not going to help with the multitude of other bad stuff they do… I mean in addition to an invasion, there’s an entire shadow war going on with sabotage, cyber warfare, propaganda and desinformation, assassinations, economic stuff. And I suppose Putin wants more than that.I understand the sentiment, but I think you mean holistic rather than wholesome? (As in - attack the problem wholesomely with appeasement and positive encouragement for withdrawls, or a holistic approach across multiple disciplines, fronts and mediums).
Russians ultimately have a problem with Putin and corruption, and sadly we can’t solve those for them.
If they haven’t had a revolt after over a million of their husbands, men, and boys have been sent to the meat grinder over President for Life’s ‘three day military operation’, then I don’t know what it will take. I’m sure counter-propaganda and counter-espionage and cyber-threats are all fields that see a lot of activities from NATO countries and their allies, but I fully agree the more the better, as Russia is adept in those areas.
Thanks! Yes I meant holistic. And sure it all boils down to Putin. Unfortunately he’s currently in control of Russia. But I suppose it’s as much of a problem to the people living there. I mean it’s them or their loved ones who die and their economy, livelihood and country getting ruined in the war… And I’m not even sure if we used to have any issues with the country of Russia… Previously we did trade with them, got our natural gas from there and at least Germany -where I live- had some long-term ties with Russia, before Putin started an open war.
You make it sound as if russians aren’t doing anything to stop the ukraine-russia war or oppose putin, but they have been protesting against the war since it started as well as against putin and therefore being arrested and sent to prison. Just because they haven’t reached their goal doesn’t mean you should downplay their efforts. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66273597 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon_Against_Putin
It’s too late, Russia has already won the propaganda and disinformation war. The rise of militant far right groups across the democratic world are a direct result of the Russian “firehose of falsehood” that has effectively dismantled the ability of western states to fight dis and misinformation and now we’re seeing the results of that decades long campaign start to bear fruit with what’s going on in America and we’re soon likely to see an increasing number of governments come to power that echo the same model and weaken the democratic institutions across the world and divide formerly close allies.
There is not enough concern in Europe right now about Russian hybrid war and disinformation. Leaders should be sounding alarms but it has been business as usual. Meanwhile Russia is on becoming emboldened. A great start would be for some people who care about EU values to start explaining to its citizens that they are already under fire.
If I understand you correctly, you mean something like a combined civil and military preparedness as outlined in the EU’s Niinistö report:
Ultimately I think we’d better stop Putin in some way before we wage a big war here. And I’d rather see my taxpayer money to be used for pretty much anything but military equipment. It’s just a question whether that’s still feasible. But we should really try to have less wars and conflicts. And even having them somewhat contained but smoulder and gradually escalate isn’t good either. And I think we’re way past the point where we need to think about being “capable to respond”. This should have ended 2-3 years ago at the latest. Maybe we should have done effective things starting in 2014… I mean how is it 10 years and we get a report then on how it might be a good idea to think about being prepared?