To ask why Russia wants to hurt uk?(my history is shit?)

[malificent7]

According to the news , Russia seemss to be hell vent on mesding up the UK...vut why?

Cold war stuff? Please briegly explain cold war stuff if relevant as im too lazy to research!

OP why do you start threads and never come back to engage in them?

Russia doesn't want to "hurt" the UK. You're being gaslit by the media which works hand in hand (both consciously and unconsciously) with neo-liberal elites to keep western populations distracted from REAL political and social issues.

Of all the important issues facing the UK, or the west in general, Russia is far, far down the list.

America come biggest because it has both people power and wealth combined.

It's hard to argue with the author of the book previously referenced that the US won the lottery when it comes to world power. A ludicrously resource-laden country that can move it around for free. Unlike Africa, which won the booby prize. Massive natural resources that are doomed to stay where they are because of inconvenient geography.

(Incidentally, Europe is also a winner in the global stakes, having a large landmass which is resource rich and a gentle geography of rivers to move it around fairly easily).

But if you were to bet on the winners in life, the US have a head start.

Russia is desperate to stay relevant on a world stage and economically they aren’t as strong as they once were. Cyber terroism as a means to disrupt, is relatively cheap.

Russia isn't interested in invading the UK per se.

But it's very interested in NATO not hindering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and very interested in being able to behave how it likes to Estonia, just to give two examples. Both are former parts of the USSR and therefore were very recently under Russian control.

Estonia is now a member of the EU and of NATO (which means NATO members would be bounden to defend Estonia if a foreign power invaded it). Ukraine has been seeking closer links with NATO.

So weakening both NATO and the EU is in Russia's interest.

In fact, weakening any country or bloc which might oppose Russia's global influence, or compete economically, is in Russia's interest.

Cyberattacks are cheap to do and until recently have gone largely under the radar. So the question's more why wouldn't the Russians use cyberwarfare against the UK. (They're not the only ones, by the way.)

Germany is a major player in the EU. Russia has a very good historical reason to be wary of Germany and of anything that increases German power.

Of course, they might be saying bad things about foreigners to distract their people from problems at home- lots of countries do that. It's often a big winner politically to tell people that their problems aren't their fault or your fault, and that they are the fault of somebody you dislike. (See Donald Trump here in the US for lots of examples of this)

Of course, they might be saying bad things about foreigners to distract their people from problems at home- lots of countries do that

Indeed - and is one of the things Putin does as well. If you're a political strong man with personality cult, whose critics and opposition have a strange habit of dying, then a bit of unfettered jingoistic nationalism is jolly handy.

Yy to recent posts ^ ^

Russia is like an emotionally abusive boyfriend who is passive aggressive while North Korea is the potential violent one constantly throwing their weight about while waiting for you to try and cross the boundary. While the USA and the eu countries are stronger, dominant and controlling boyfriends who won't let do anything without their permission. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel and countries in their category walks and befriends the different types of boyfriends to suit their needs.
^
^*So weakening both NATO and the EU is in Russia's interest.

In fact, weakening any country or bloc which might oppose Russia's global influence, or compete economically, is in Russia's interest.*^ This ^

Of course, going back, Russia [as the USSR] also meddled in South America - which caused the US to have to invest in similar meddling.

And Africa.

(There are hints of this in "The Americans" which, while not a documentary, does cover some of the issues of the time).

Russia doesn't particularly want to hurt the UK but there's talk of cutting the defence budget so everyone involved in UK defence is risk assessing to the utmost to try to justify their budgets and try to safeguard them.

It is also worth remembering that Russia is not a democracy with a free press. Putin's personal power rests in him showing that he is a strong leader who will not let anyone push him, and therefore Russia, around.

Russians will be asking why the UK wants to hurt Russia. They don't and we don't. Just our stupid leaders messing about with power

I think Russia has a right to feel threatened, nato countries on their doorstep is hardly going to make them happy. We talk about Russia being expansionist and yet we constantly seek former Russian territory into our fold.

The collapse of the USSR caused Russia a huge loss of power and of face.

The inequitable carving up of resources by the robber barons, aka oligarchs, means it's now more a gangster state that the functioning democracy hoped for in the early years.

It's hardly surprising if some people within Russia turn to crude nationalism to cope with the blow to Russian pride; and hardly surprising if an increasingly undemocratic leader feeds that nationalism to cement his own position and distract from his regime's behaviour.

This is all text book. It's also fucking dangerous – for many people within Russia, for other countries Russia has ambitions in, and for any country which might be collateral damage.

Babycham1979 You are spouting bollocks.

OP There are various threats against which the UK has to have the means to defend itself; both known and unknown. Russia is currently perfecting asymmetric warfare, where step by incremental step they get themselves into a country and then have control. They tried this in S Ossetia/Georgia in 2008, and blind-sided everyone by hosting Sochi whilst annexing the Crimea. This is why the Baltic states are worried, and why Sweden is issuing guidance on what do to in cse of conflict with Russia, as the Swedes think the security situation is worsening.www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/01/16/world/europe/ap-eu-sweden-emergency-booklet.html

Russia also resents EU and NATO membership of its 'near abroad' with the Baltic states, and they will rattle cages where they can. They have been sniffing around our infrastructure, specifically the undersea interconnectors for about a decade now, and that is one of the quickest ways to cause harm, by cutting off power supplies. They also indulge in cyber warfare' again, with our dependence on electronic communications etc, another area where they could destabilise the UK and the other NATO nations.

The Cold War has never really ended; and as someone earlier said, Putin is ex KGB so this is in his blood. Russia is re-arming; investing heavily in ships, submarines. artillery etc, and has way more in the way of troops and materiel than the UK has. The US can match them, but has to get the troops and hardware to Europe to do so if it's a non nuclear conflict.

I'm a military daughter, wife, sister, and now aunt. I feel less secure now than I ever did during the Cold War; at least til the Wall came down, there were some conventions and certainties you could rely on. Not with Putin however.

Yeah, the key word there is "former", springtulip.

Taking the boyfriend analogy above, Russia can't bear any of its former girlfriends behaving like they actually have their own lives and independent rights.

The Cold War has never really ended;

And that was predicated on the loss of 20,000,000 Russian lives in WW2 (let's gloss over the fact that Stalin had a jolly good go at beating that himself).

That's getting on for 10% of the population, which is a staggering figure. Try and imagine 1 in 10 of everyone you know gone.

In that light, how could you blame Russia for doing everything in it's power to protect itself in future ? And now is that future...

(leaves muttering about lack of teaching of history in the UK)

It's not just the lack of history teaching; DGRossetti it's the lack of foresight and the inabilty to join the dots that frustrates me at times. Russia has form here, and the big question will be how does NATO hang together when Putin tries his tricks on Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania? Even more germane, is what if Russia goes for Sweden or Finland, oth neutral, but both toying more and more with NATO membership. Both are partner countries, so it wouldn't take much to achieve full membership. If Russia decides to force a land bridge to Kaliningrad, what then?

For the PP who said that NATO seeks ex Warsaw Pact members...they have to apply to join and go through an accession procedure,.

As above, Russia's greatest foreign policy accomplishment would be to encourage the disintegration of NATO. Potentially the surest way of doing so would be to force a military confrontation over one of the tiny Baltic states. NATO members then have a choice. Go to war to protect an unimportant piece of territory adjacent to Russia and populated by a significant number of ethnic Russians, and in doing so engage an opponent whose military doctrine encourages the first use of (tactical) nuclear weapons and which might see escalation to full thermonuclear war. With that in mind, a number of NATO members might refuse to aid the fellow member under attack. The moment that happens, the principle of collective defence collapses and with it the entire rationale for the NATO alliance.

So, unless you're willing to risk a full on nuclear war over the fate of Estonia you may well see Putin force NATO to abolish itself, giving him free reign on his borders

Just an example, like.

And going a further step back, I understand (some of) why Germany of the 1930s rearmed and elevated Hitler. Who could blame Germany for defending itself from the humiliation and cruel sanctions after WWI? Offence being the best form of defence, of course.

Understanding where behaviour comes from is very different from thinking it's a good thing – in its effect on other countries, and its effect on Germany itself (previously) or Russia itself (now).

Putin sees the EU and NATO as a threat. He is trying to create a buffer between Russian territory and the EU/NATO and so opposes the former USSR territories such as Georgia, Ukraine Estonia joining either of those organisations. When Georgia elected a pro EU government he invaded on a flimsy pretext and then bogged them down in a phoney conflict to intimidate them. This was successful and there is no longer any talk of joining the EU In Georgia. South Ossetia remains disputed.
He will do the same thing in other countries if he feels threatened. Indeed has done by annexing Crimea and getting Ukraine dragged in to the same inconclusive nonsense.
Estonia and the other Baltic states are in his sights now, especially because he thinks that NATO will not stand because of Donald Trump moaning about how NATO is pointless and why should the US be protecting people.
The Cold War thawed for a while but it still going on. Russia is deliberately provoking, UK is not the only victim of this - they have been doing similar things to Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia. There has been activity on the borders, airspace incursions, submarine incursions. And of course relentless cyber attacks /spreading propaganda on social media etc
I don't think the media are hyping it, if anything they are not paying enough attention.

Nothing new then, it's always been like this.