Glorified WhatsApp group, mate. Glorified WhatsApp group.
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Yeah
I canât load GIFs on there either
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Thatâs because your phone is shitter than my phone, which is some achievement tbh 
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Nicked
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Now this is a fantastic piece. A comprehensive look at the run up to the war by Tariq Ali.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n06/tariq-ali/before-the-war
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Good piece and great bits in there but where is this agreement between Baker and Gorbachev? This often used statement of NATO expansion should have been on paper, and the fact still remains irrespective of organisation a sovereign nation has the right to decide what and who they join with.
The status quo was never going to hold, and the author doesnât offer any solutions after the wall came down.
Thereâs some reasons in the piece but thereâs no excuses to invade a sovereign nation and subject it to this.
I think what youâre essentially asking is âwhy wasnât anything written downâ?
For the same reason people have quiet discussions, private phone calls and backroom deals. Putting something in writing is a serious business.
Happens the other way too. A little known fact about the Cuban missile crisis is that Khruschev didnât just cave. The USSR left Cuba in exchange for missiles being removed from Turkey, except that last part was never made public at the time because it would have caused Kennedy fucking uproar (which heâd get anyway).
Same deal with the thing in in '90s. Itâs well worth remembering that there was a hardliner coup in Russia just after it started Westernising.
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Pap I knew all that, thatâs common knowledge, Gorbachev has always maintained these discussions didnât take place and there was no deal and again even if there were sovereign nations get to decide for themselves, not their former masters.
Well, it shouldnât be difficult for you to pull multiple sources to asset that.
I think the burden of proof should be with the accuser/invader but there we go.
Of course assurances were given but realistically how can they be maintained if a sovereign nation wants to join?
Also assurances were given by Putin he was only having a training exercise so it works both ways,
Most other people have no issue backing up their claims with evidence.
Youâve said that Gorbachev has consistently said there was no deal. Point us to a couple of examples where heâs on record. Shouldnât be hard.
If it does prove too hard, are you okay with me assuming youâre just talking shit?
First page that comes up Pap, couldnât you look that up? Iâm genuinely surprised you didnât know about that, also Iâd point you to Russiaâs agreement for Poland to join (thatâs east of Germany).
Now could you show me the record of where it says NATO wouldnât expand as Putin wants a copy as well.
Joe came all this way to choke to death on a Polish Pizza.
Without wanting to sound like a Putin fan, the authors analysis is a bit partisan isnât it. She could hardly say anything different
â * Maria Zolkina is a political analyst at Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a Kyiv-based thinktank â
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