Two undersea cables in Baltic Sea disrupted

The constant Russian interference, combined with the regular escalation from the jets patrolling, and the radar jamming, really needs to be dealt with.

We're stuck between having to do timid actions and full NATO escalation. This feels like constant creep.

I have read reams of rhetoric regarding relations with Russia rehashed as "don't poke the bear".

No one ever seems to want to discuss what to do about the bear going around poking everyone else.

The bear metaphore is indeed nonsense. Russia is not a bear, you are dealing with a bunch of state level criminals.

   The state of Russia is essentially better understood as a criminal gang masquerading as a country.

Those stealing, money laundering, killing, trafficking an warring circles of oligarchs are heavily rooted in Intelligence Services, inside and abroad. Some of those oligarchs even have private militaries.

Those people primarily care for themselves. They know they can get away with a ton of insane and inhuman shit, as they calculate the other well-behaving party will back off. They however do not want to get nuclear consequences themselves, it is pure bluff.

> problem starts if (when?) Trump and his clown posse turns the US into a similar setup

Lots of institutional checks in America that post-Soviet Russia lacked.

Trump now controls all of them.

He said he has a mandate.

I really don’t know what you’re talking about when he or his party control the governors, congress, the senate, the presidency, and the Supreme Court.

America is about to speedrun some things and you won’t like it.

> Trump now controls all of them

No, he doesn't. The GOP narrowly controls the House and Senate, and Trump has strong influence over them. That doesn't mean he controls them. And that's before we get to the states and lower courts.

The courts are effectively captured at every level, because Trump can scribble a writ of cert on a McDonald's napkin and SCOTUS will grant cert and provide the desired outcome. The playbook across the country will be the same, mark my words. The fascists will file motions for changes of venue out of state courts with integrity and into captured federal courts.