Putin Says Russia Ready for War With Europe if Attacked

[Zorro]

Source: Wall Street Journal

The Russian leader also accused Kyiv’s European allies of trying to undermine peace talks by amending a U.S. peace plan devised with Kremlin input

President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to fight a war with Europe if attacked and accused the continent’s leaders of trying to sabotage peace efforts, calling recent proposed changes to a U.S. peace plan for Ukraine “absolutely unacceptable.”

“We do not plan to fight Europe, I’ve already said it a hundred times. But if Europe wants to fight us, and starts it, then we’re ready right now,” Putin said at an investment forum in Moscow on Tuesday, when asked about Europe’s defensive buildup.

The remarks, which came before Putin met White House special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow, represented some of the most pointed criticism of Europe by the Russian leader as he seeks to fuel divisions in the trans-Atlantic alliance.

A senior NATO official dismissed Putin’s comments, saying that the alliance is united. Russia doesn’t have the troop numbers or military capability to defeat NATO in Europe, the official said.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/trump-envoys-to-meet-putin-to-push-u-s-peace-plan-for-ukraine-173ac10c?st=mWZHdm&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[Irish_Dem]

1. Very doubtful Putin has the resources to fight all of Europe.

The Russian military and economy are in a bad way.

[bluestarone]

14. Oh i agree 100% Problem i wonder about is, (never ever thought id worry about something like this)

What wi'll TSF do? I fear he would support POOTY! I would just come apart if he did that!! (like i said, i never ever thought i'd worry about America doing something like that}

[Irish_Dem]

16. Trump doesn't do anything unless it benefits him personally.

And if it doesn't cost him anything, or very little.

Putin doesn't have the resources to fight Europe.
Trump and the US military would have to do it all.

What would Trump get in return?

Trump also likes the British Royal Family, they have successfully worked him to favor the UK.
And Trump likes the romance and reputation of France, etc.

I don't see what Trump would get out of invading Europe for Putin.
And he would lose some things he likes a lot.

[bluestarone]

17. Only thing i can think of that he would get is,

END of American democracy! (i feel that's what the whole plan is anyway)

[Irish_Dem]

18. Ending democracy is not his primary goal.

His primary goal is being the richest and most powerful man in the world.
He has to ruin democracy to achieve these goals, but that is secondary to his primary goals.

He likes invading countries that are resource rich and he can do a smash and grab.
And where no one will stop him.

He also loves to trick and trap people, back them into a corner to harm them.
Make it hard for them to fight back.

I am not sure he can do that with Europe.
And there are too many other low hanging fruit countries available to him.

I am not saying it is impossible for Trump to go after Europe, I just think it is not high probability.
That said he is crazy enough to do anything right now. Nothing would surprise me.

[Blumancru]

24. I think the overall plan was to weaken the US and the EU so he could reassemble the Soviet Union with less interference.

Brexit, the election of Krasnov, the anti vaxxer movement, the dumbing down of everything, all support that goal.
If Ukraine were to take Poo Tin out with a drone I would sleep a bit better.
Dictators don’t like to have a plan of succession and their military is never as strong as it looks, as there is the fear of it being used against them.
The resulting post- Poo Tin power struggle within Russia would keep them focused internally for a while.

[NotHardly]

22. Like Trump Putin is sundowning

[Chasstev365]

26. Yep: The haven't been able to defeat Ukraine for almost 3 years and he'll take on all of Europe?

Bluster and nothing more.

[get the red out]

2. With what army?

They had to borrow troops from N. Korea since they have lost so many of their own!

[sakabatou]

3. I'd be worried if Dump wound up allying with Russia against the EU

[Zorro]

7. Either that or withholding aid to NATO

[dcweed]

31. Agree with your second idea

Not hard to imagine 47 treating the EU (and thus NATO) just as he is treating Ukraine; let them all die. First fake a little interest, then let the Russians move west, then find ways to make himself money from the resulting carnage. Also not hard to imagine Putin getting his ass kicked. W

[MarineCombatEngineer]

4. This is outright hilarious,

Russia can't even take over a country, IE: Ukraine, which is right on their border, much less an armed and ready Europe, hell, Poland could probably put a severe hurtin on Russia.


Putin's trying to intimidate the Europeans and it's falling flat.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Fuck him. He's the attacker, and he's behaving as if only he gets to dictate the peace terms

I long for the day when he snuffs it. Preferably in as humiliating a way as possible, so his millions of Russian enablers are exposed as genocidal idiots who give humanity a bad name.

Russia needs fundamental reform more than just about anywhere in the world. Of the evil authoritarian countries, it's the one with most actual support for the dictator and his murderous policies among the populace who'd have a chance at changing things if they tried.

[Bayard]

10. I have nukes! I have nukes!

Be very afraid!

The rest of the world has played that game too long, and let him get away with it. Call his bluff. He invaded another country, and is trying to take it by force. The one thing I blame Obama for is letting Putin get away with taking Crimea. It just set a precedent. We will never see the end of his schemes if he is rewarded again this time.

Of course, the wild card is his protege.

[Hey Joe]

6. Bullshit

Russia has neither the manpower or equipment to have any chance of conquering Europe.
Who does Putin think he’s fooling?

[LudwigPastorius]

8. Hey Putin, you belligerent asshole.

You'll never rebuild the USSR. The days after WWII of being an economic superpower are long gone.

The only thing propping your shithole country and its third rate army up are about 25 years of oil remaining and some aging nukes.

[maxsolomon]

9. Playing the victim as always.

"Europe" will not attack Russia. Russia is a shithole and no one has any interest in "conquering" it.

[Buddyzbuddy]

11. Yes, yes Vlad. We all know how tough you are.

We've seen your strength against Ukraine and we're all very impressed.
Why don't we give him Witkoff and Kushner as part of the peace plan. I'm under the notion they'll be spending a lot of time in Russia setting up their new businesses.

[Botany]

12. Please Vlad pick a fight with the Swedish Air Force they just happen to have some of the best fighter, bombers,

and bad ass jets in the world.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

19. The Grippen Fighter is a world class jet,

if Russia, for some insane reason, decided to take on the Swedish Air Force, it would end very badly for Russia.
Another bad ass fighter is the French Navy and Air Force Rafale fighter, it can operate off of US Navy Aircraft Carriers.

[Botany]

20. I don't know how current this model is

Various European countries have lots of bad ass American made planes too but they
will have to swap out different software and control systems because they can’t trust
the American stuff for now.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

21. I think that's a Saab JAS-37 Viggen fighter.

There's a video of that fighter saving a US SR-71 being pursued by Russian fighters.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-UO6sQ7U5xk

Their latest fighter is the Saab JAS 39 Gripen, a very capable fighter jet.

[ck4829]

13. Russia has been at war with Europe for a long time

[ananda]

15. Really?

???

[Blumancru]

23. He can't even successfully wage war on Ukraine. It has been going on for years with no end in sight.

Where would he get enough personnel and hardware? Supply lines would be pretty long too.
This may be a vodka-induced fantasy.

[Polybius]

25. Odd statement, since he has nothing to worry about

Europe won't attack him first.

[FullySupportDems]

27. Like Russia has to be attacked to wage war

What a joke. As if P needs any provocation. Stupid barbarian in a fancy suit. His legacy is set, the greedy old man who stupidly brought down Russia. But he doesn't care, because money.

[Aussie105]

28. Putin says . . . if attacked!

Translation: Putin wants his troops to be able to walk into any part of Western Europe, unhindered.
Any resistance will be termed an 'attack on Russia.'

That approach didn't work too well in Ukraine, did it Vlad?

[jfz9580m]

29. Putin hasn't been able to conquer Ukraine

And he wants war with all of Europe. The man is a bully, a fascist and a moron .

Not to mention a misogynist and pronatalist.

[Emrys]

30. Stating the obvious, but what a steaming pile of rancid bullshit

Putin doesn't want the war to end. Too many chickens would come home to roost if it did, and there'd be too much of a mess to deal with that's been obscured by jingoism, his ultra-tight grip on the media, and what momentum he's been able to keep up.

Typical and very rich to accuse the Europeans of sabotaging the peace talks when he's persisted in making utterly ridiculous inflexible ultimatums that he knows damn well there's no way Ukraine could ever agree to, and he'd have no intention of honouring any agreements any peace settlement might contain anyway.

His insistence that Russia doesn't plan to fight Europe might be a tad more convincing if he hadn't made the same statements numerous times about Ukraine, years before recent hostilities, during his invasion of Crimea and the sustained not-so-covert actions and atrocities in eastern Ukraine, and right up to the moment when his forces invaded in 2022.

It's an interesting question how his allies China and North Korea might react to the prospect of an all-out wider-spread conflict. In principle North Korea might be up for it, but its munitions stocks won't last that long spread over a number of fronts, life is cheap but not infinite in its armed forces, it's not a rich country, and China might not take kindly to Putin bombing the markets and consumers in Europe it wants to reach out to.

As for Trump, no matter how pally they might be, if I was Putin I wouldn't trust him to stick his neck out on my behalf beyond a few stiff and incoherent bursts of gibberish on Truth Central blaming it all on Obama and Biden, and a bunch of random insults directed at newspeople and public figures. Trump obviously likes brownfield sites, but even he has limits, and Trump developments in a nuclear wasteland might be a hard sell and not offer lucrative returns to Trump's own pack of wannabe oligarchs. Also, embroilment in a war in a continent that's far away and about which little is known, whichever side he chose to back, wouldn't do his brand any favours, and he could whistle for that peace prize.

Various actors within Russia might also not be keen.

Putin's oligarchs don't owe him any loyalty if their billions are likely to go up in smoke. Aside from whatever cushy arrangements they've made for themselves within Russia and would prefer not to see evaporate, in the past they've enjoyed being able to swan around the corrupt, decadent West that Putin's threatening, flaunting their wealth and influence, and no doubt many of them would like the chance to be able to do so again.

There are already rumblings within the military about the crazy hole Putin's dug and is still digging for the country, and its leaders outside the few ultra-loyalists left might finally decide enough is enough and see on what side their bread will be buttered. A wee coup that displaced Putin and his entourage by a leadership that could then portray itself as the face of relative sanity to Russia's current adversaries might seem an appealing strategy.

[jfz9580m]

32. An informative read

Thanks. Putin and Xi are two other tumors on the world stage. I have no patience with the PRC and their bullshit anymore than Russia, North Korea etc.
Earth is a beautiful planet in the grip of this one annoying damn species. Where is Klaatu when you need him ?

[blue-wave]

33. Putin is a lying sack of rat excrement

Europe has every right to propose a peace plan. Who the hell is Putin to tell any political entity they have no right to propose a just plan for peace. The plan the kremlin wrote, the plan all the FSB agents are laughing about because the west bought it hook, line and sinker, is the plan that is sabotaging any possibility of peace. The Russians have been lying and making the west look like fools from the beginning of this war. Stop buying the kremlin bullshit!!!!

Churchill sounded the alarm about Hitler prior to WWII. No one would listen to him and they ignored Hitler. Then it was too late and millions of people died in WWII. Do we really need to make the same mistake again?

[DFW]

34. Hitler had one von Stauffenberg. Putin probably has 20.

Hitler wasn’t expecting his, and only survived by luck. Putin, a student of Germany who was stationed there during the socialist era and speaks fluent German, is probably expecting to be attacked from within every waking minute, and has taken appropriate precautions. Those “deaths by eighth story window” were not due to accidental smearing of butter on the windowsills.

[GB_RN]

35. More Saber Rattling...

From an increasingly irrelevant asshole. He, and everyone else, knows that Europe won’t attack Russia sans provocation. So, this is either aimed at the propaganda-deluded Russian people or his way of setting up a pretext to attack into Poland (or other former Soviet Bloc state) once he has “finished” with Ukraine.

Cantaloupe Caligula has SEAL Team 6 going after the wrong people (the alleged drug runners on motorboats).

I know. I know. We don’t go assassinating foreign leaders. But sometimes, there are assholes who you dream about their deficiency of Vitamin Lead being rectified. 😂

Now before anyone goes reporting this, my comments are tongue-in-cheek. I am in no way advocating for violence or murder (*mutters under breath*, even if some people deserve it). 😁