eisfeld

Well I guess you just missed all that they have done and are doing in Africa and the Middle East. The Hong Kong people wanted to be left alone. China has used force to crack down on dissidents. China has removed freedoms from Hong Kong citizens. That they write and speak Chinese does not mean China can take control. Austrians write and speak german so should Germany take control?

My post edits are for correcting spelling mistakes. You can see that the timestamp of the edit is usually close to the post time. But dream up something else if it suits you. Murky arguments? They signed a freaking treaty! The disput was settled until Russia started a war and annexed parts of Ukraine. It's very simple. You are muddying the waters with vague claims. If you want to reference a specific article then just link it. Don't tell people to search for something. The voters of Taiwan are the only ones that matter when it comes to deciding what to do with Taiwan. It's none of Chinas voters nor anyone elses business.

Oh great now you accuse me of being paid to post on Asean Now? I must have earned a lot of money in the past decade. Or maybe you are just talking out of your behind. It's funny how you think that I living in a neutral country and having no business with China or the US am so biased towards the west compared to you who is living or spending a lot of time in China is totally not influenced by chinese propaganda. You can find many posts of yours where you are praising China in various threads in recent years. Step back and try to see what's more likely. I am not a fan of the US and they definitely pulled some crap. But the point is they didn't annex anything while Russia and China did or are trying to. There is a very big difference with how or why someone is involved in a war. For example the US is definitely involved in the Russia/Ukraine war. So is Russia. There is a huge difference between the two involvements. This is completely misleading. Historically Taiwan has seen itself as the true China. What most people call now China is a different China. Taiwan does not see themselves as part of *that* China. That's blatantly obvious or the whole tension between China and Taiwan wouldn't exist! You are fully aware of this so by you twising it around you show your true colors. Ah yes, here we go.

Let's be more specific and talk about invasion, annexation or being involved in territorial disputes in order to gain control of another country or parts of it ok? Russia has taken over Chechnya, Crimea and now Donbas. They've also done the first steps with splitting off Abkhazia and Ossetia from Georgia. China has gained complete control of Hong Kong and removed its freedoms by force. China has been or still is in territorial disputes with India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. China has repeatedly threatened Taiwan with invasion to take over and merge them into China. The US? None.

I see you ran out of arguments and propaganda talking points with only a silly smiley left. I guess getting yourself caught with your history pants down regarding the border treaty was a bit much. But hey, you're welcome 🙂

Corrupting yourself and bending rules to please someone who doesn't want to play by them without good reason is not a good justification. Neither are any of Russias justifications for the invasion. Either there are rules or there aren't. The West don't want to end up like a corrupt country like Russia. Well you might want to look up the "Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation" signed by Russia and Ukraine in 1997 which settled the border question. Your claim that it hasn't been solved since 1991 is flat out wrong. Russia decided to violate the treaty when it started its war in 2014 and annexation of crimea. Sorry what? The US had troops in Taiwan before anything we call today a computer was even a thing. The US put troops there to stop Chinas continued efforts of fighting with Taiwan. They helped end the civil war. China doesn't want to let go and wants to crush the democracy and absorb Taiwan completely. The only thing stopping China from doing so is the threat of the US entering into war if China would pull the trigger on an invasion. Taiwan just wants to be left alone and live in peace. Why can't China allow that?

So you are suggesting that some vague play on feelings and corrupting themselves and bend their rules would have been the right way to go about it. Playing it the russian way. Yea nope. It is purely on Putin to have fscked that up. What's so difficult to just play by the rules? He can't. It's not in his nature. He's a spy turned dictator. How can we even expect him to be a well meaning leader? Don't think NATO is shivering. If Russia would be so stupid as to attack any NATO country then that's the end of Russia. The size of and capabilities of the two are not even remotely similar. Russia is already struggling with Ukraine which is a thousand times easier target. In fact it has just exposed their own incapabilities and weekness. Putin even had one of his own men march on him and nearly got to Moscow. What a joke. One side claims there was such an understanding. The other side disagrees. And that's nothing new. If you really think that such a guarantee would be as important as to the breach justifying an invasion of another country then you'd think the least they'd ask for is to put it in writing. Curiously no single treaty mentions anything like that. Weird hu? But now suddenly it's sooooo important and we feel sooooo betrayed by the evil west who is looring all those little countries into their evil evil defense pact. Now we must crush them! It's a democracy. The majority does not see themselves as part of China. End of story. Same <deleted> as in Ukraine. Some part of the population is pro Russia so Russia can just go and take it. BS. The US troops are there by Taiwans invitation for Taiwans defense against an invasion. Why do I need to explain that even? None of the countries you listed have ambitions to invade China. Nobody threatens China. China is not encircled. Neither is Russia. It's Russia and China who are doing the invading. The two top ranking dictators in human history when it comes to people killed are Chinese (Mao) and Russian (Stalin). They killed many more of their own people than Hitler even killed enemies. Several times over. Maybe countries are a little bit afraid of what these two countries might do given all their recent aggressions.

Did I claim it started 2 years ago? No. So please don't make things up. NATO also did not promise any non-expansion in any way. If you know of any evidence then please link to that. Some claimed verbal promises without anything written or recorded that are only claimed by one side don't count.

That misses the fact that it's not NATO who is asking countries to join but countries are applying for membership. It doesn't work the way you think it does. If Gorbachev wanted to join NATO then he should have applied. If Putin was sincere in his desire to join NATO he'd done a proper application. Didn't happen. It's a joke of an excuse to invade Ukraine. It's up to Ukraine who they want to align themselves with and it's none of Russias business. On top it has achieved exactly the opposite of what would be in Russias interest. It has moved Ukraine even further away from Russia, it has made more countries join NATO and it has been the last straw when it comes to the West removing itself from Russia. The west has since WW2 tried to play nice with Russia. It has done a lot of trades. It has co-operated in science. They thought that would stop Russia from being a threat to the European countries. Russia has now shown that was a wrong assumption. They can't be trusted and they will continue to be aggressive. It's a very simple truth. Yea sure. I'm pro strong countries helping smaller ones in terms of defense because otherwise a bully like Russia or China just comes and invades you like we've seen with Ukraine or with Tibet. If they were members of NATO at the time then those invasions wouldn't have happened. But it should be purely defensive in nature. BTW to get a bit more on-topic again, there exists the ANZUS organization which is between Australia, New Zealand and the US. Not sure if they need to join NATO but they would be a fit.

One of these does not belong in that list. Can you spot the odd one out?

I mentioned it twice already. Putin asked for special treatment. NATO said no, need to play fair. Putin didn't want that. He tried to play his usual game and failed. That's the end of the story. Last straw in what regard? What exactly did Ukraine do? They got rid of the Russian puppet that was their president? You know that it's not only Ukraine as the only ex soviet country who are turning away from the cleptomanianc oligarchs in Russia. Look at central asia. The only problem is that China doesn't have any excuse to put their troops there because the US is not threatening to invade any of these countries. Have any of these countries asked for Chinas protection? Why did nobody join a similar defense organization to NATO with China?

If any of these countries asked China to station a small contingent of troops in their country for defensive piurposes then yes I would have no problem with that. They don't do that as far as I know. I don't think any country in the US neighborhood is worried about the US invading them either. The placement of these missiles was a reaction to the Soviet Union placing nuclear missiles next to its western neighbours. But yes I don't think any country should threaten another country with nuclear weapons. Russia is not encircled. Nobody has threatened Russia. NATO is a defense alliance. It only works when some member is being threatened or attacked. It's a protection alliance against Russia who is the big bully in the region. How does invading Ukraine help them get more far away from the west? It puts them closer! Both in geographical terms as well as making the west and NATO grow stronger together. The hypcrisy and megalomania is purely on Putins part. He's the maniac who starts a war and builds palaces with stolen money on intelligence agency grounds. He was the one who made Russias application to NATO a non-starter by not wanting to play fairly with everyone. Russia is the threat. The notion that the invasion of Ukraine was any kind of defense is just so absurd...

This is not true. NATO only has a guideline for members on their total defence spending. That does not mean contribution to NATO. It is the total defence spending including for their own military and for example pensions of retired soldiers and whatnot. A small small fraction goes to NATO. And it's not a rule, just a guideline in order to show intent. There is no windfall when a member joins NATO.

The suggestion of the other poster to me was that I'm ok with Russia putting nuclear missiles into Cuba because I'm ok with the US having a few troops in Taiwan. My point was that it's silly to compare a few dozen or hundred soldiers being stationed somewhere to nuclear missiles being put next to an enemy country. The US troops pose zero risk to China and so China can't use them as an excuse. The US has zero interest in invading China. Same like neither the EU nor US have any interest in invading Russia. Yet Russia used the made up threat of the west to them as an excuse to actually invade a country and destabilize the whole region. China is also threatening to invade Taiwan. The US put troops into Taiwan decades ago when the first crisis in the Taiwan straight happened. They withdrew nearly all troops when things calmed down. Now China is rattling the sabers again and so the US is putting some troops back. It is abundantly clear who the aggressors are. It's Russa and China.

There are currently no nuclear missiles in Turkey as far as publicly known. Haven't been for decades. There are nuclear gravity bombs though. And I'd rather they also didn't exist.

Ah yes, the defensive deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. Certainly nobody thought about sending those across to the US. They only would use them to nuke themselves. Makes sense.

Who is we? I'm pretty sure European countries are pretty happy about NATO right now. The US doesn't get to tell these countries what to do or who they can talk to.

You are confusing officially recognizing Taiwan and not doing so in order to not open confrontation with China. It's a careful dance. The EU for example has informal diplomatic relationships with Taiwan. Why would they need that if they already have official ones with China? Tell me, if Taiwan is just part of China then why is the military of mainland China never completely entering Taiwan? Why are they threatening to take it by force? Why are they speaking of re-unification if it's already part of China? Are citizens of Taiwan allowed to vote in mainland China elections? No? Why not? It's just utter denial of reality. The Taiwanese people want to be left alone and it's just the threat of force by China that keeps them in limbo.

Yea because Hong Kong really wants to be part of China. It shows how influenced you are by Chinese propaganda. Didn't you mention you are living in China? Why did China have to use force in Hong Kong?

Putin didn't want to play by the rules. He didn't want to go through the normal NATO membership application process like other countries. That already shows his attitude. The funny thing is he said he wanted to be treated equally. But what he asked for is the exact opposite. He has a twisted mind. Of course NATO wouldn't accept him under the given circumstances and the history of Russias threat to the west. You are confusing cause and reaction. The US isn't putting troups somewhere because they think it's funny. They put them in response to a threat. China has threatened Taiwan before the US ever helped Taiwan. The origin is the Chinese civil war which made the old Chinese government flee to what is now Taiwan. The US has an agreemend to defend Taiwan. Nobody is threatening or thinking about invading China. China is on the other hand threatening Taiwan with invasion and recently has several times violated Taiwans sovereignty regarding their airspace.

What a load of crap from the Chinese propaganda machine. Nato has neither invaded nor is it threatening any country. It's a defense alliance by nature. In reality it is China on the other hand has invaded Tibet, has taken full control over Hong Kong, is threatening Taiwan and constantly provokes countries in the South China Sea like the Philippines. They also provoke India regularily. China also supports the local troublemaker-in-chief North Korea and the war-monger Putin.

That's unrelated to the money offered to her directly. Maybe take your own advise, read the article again and understand that there are two different things happening.

That's not what the article says. She says she was offered the money in order if she dropped the matter.

As previously stated it wouldn't make any difference to the charges nor defense. She did not enter the private property of the guy. What she did before or how she got to that part of public land is irrelevant. Even if she trespassed through the estate without permission the worst that would result in is a charge against her but who'd be crazy enough to attempt that.

Not pressing charges = settle the matter out of court. In some other justice systems the prossecution wouldn't allow the charges to be dropped, in Thailand they do.