This is mind-boggling. Russia is 821 days into a 3-day invasion of Ukraine, and this is what they choose to focus on? Starting a border conflict with an EU and NATO member?
My guess is that Russia is trying to create a threat to NATO countries so that those countries will want to hold onto their defense materials and weapons instead of those going to Ukraine. Its a short term gambit. NATO countries understand that if the threat exists now, then it will certainly be worse in the future if Ukraine is fully in Russian control.
I'd actually guess this is a bluff move to convince countries that a confrontation with Russia would be too potentially damaging - in the hopes that NATO would back down. It seems really bizarre to push specifically against Estonia though - rather than Norway/Sweden (Arctic Sea claims or Gotland) since Estonia has a high enlistment rate and is openly keeping force on the table in opposition to Russia - Norway and Sweden are much richer economies that would be more likely to give ground if pressured due to the high predicted economic damage.
Not to mention the Russians will have 40 million ukranians to expend on the front line and /or work to death. Plus the Ukranian war industry is pretty impressive, even on global scale.
My guess is that Russia is trying to create a threat to NATO countries so that those countries will want to hold onto their defense materials and weapons instead of those going to Ukraine.
NATO is not exactly strapped for materiel at the moment, especially if considering quality vs. quantity. Given the way that an Israeli F35 was able to operate with impunity a short while ago, I don't think the old Soviet gear would fare too well. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/iriaf-commander-reportedly-fired-after-he-kept-secret-that-israeli-f-35-stealth-fighters-had-violated-iran-airspace/
The experience for this last year was that once the US stopped supporting Ukraine, the rest of the west folded as well, which let them regain the initiative.
I know nothing about anything but it seems like they've learned that with enough patience the US and most NATO allies support will wane with time.
The European NATO members did continue supplying Ukraine. However, the US had previously accounted for roughly half of the total arms supplied and Europe didn't do anything extra to make up for that sudden colossal shortfall.
They're preparing for Trump's reelection. They're not thinking a week into the future.
This is a golden opportunity to put new ones in closer to the Russian side
A community for discussing events around the World
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/