Letting Russia join NATO would've been a terrible idea. Under the joint defense principle of NATO Russia could use territorial disputes with former Soviet states like Georgia, which did attack Russian territory, to drag the rest of NATO into fighting, or at least supporting, on behalf of Russia in those states.
I very much doubt US troops, other than a very small amount of specialists, will be sent to Ukraine. I don't think Biden wants to or if there is the political will among the US to support a mass deployment to defend Ukraine. I think everyone including the Ukrainians are conceding that an all out conflict with Russia the Ukrainian military will lose and they will fight an insurgency. The US and NATO will aid them with arms, training, intel and possibly through cyber warfare. I doubt we would risk even airstrikes on Russian forces.
Deploying troops wouldn't provoke Putin. He'll invade. Troops from the United States might deter because he knows Russia would lose in a conflict.
Everyone loses in a conflict. I would not send my son's to fight in a war that is not threatening the USA directly - this country is broken, we are getting men and women killed for the billionaire class, not for this country, the government plays on patriotism to trick young people into situations they should never be a part of.......the US government sucks right now....it just flat out sucks. DD
I get it we don't want war and we don't want to see US troops fighting and dying in another far away land that. That said this calling this as a fighting for "the billionaire class" is the type of simplistic sloganeering why addressing these issues is difficult. If anything allowing Russia to take over Ukraine would be more of a benefit to the billionaire class given that Putin is a friend to wealthy oligarchs both within and without Russia. Ukraine has a lot of problems but as an independent country in recent years it's tried to make steps to reform itself including strengthening the rule of law and an independent judiciary. If you really believe that we should be opposing corrupt billionaires then it would make sense to protect a country that is trying to become more fair and law abiding from a country that is going the opposite direction.
It is not OUR job to protect EVERYONE else. And it is bankrupting our country....we can't afford it, and we shouldn't be doing it......we need to stop meddling in other countries affairs...we constantly make those countries worse.....Afganastan, Iraq, Iran, just all over the ****ing world we destroy and eventually leave and the people suffer. The USA sucks. DD
We're not the one's making Ukraine worse. I get it we can't be the policeman to the World and we shouldn't be. It's very simplistic though to just blame everything on the US. We've certainly F---ed a lot of things up. That doesn't mean we've F--ed everything up and many other countries like Russia certainly have and will F--- up a lot of the World if just left to their own devices. I've long said there is no such thing as clean wars or cheap wars at the same time though it doesn't mean that war should be avoided absolutely. In a situation like Ukraine yes we should not rush into war and I don't think we will actually enter a major direct use of US troops against Russia. We need to understand though that there are costs to not intervening. That very well could mean the end of a country that is trying to reform itself to one that has embraced corruption. Increasing the threat on the West of Europe and likely making the World an even less safer place.
Theoretically there wouldn't be a conflict. Our troops would go there to protect Ukraine from a conflict. The idea is that Russia won't risk killing the American troops because that would mean them being wiped out by the US military. I'm not in favor of a war either.
I get it, why not send EUROPEAN troops there, they are literally RIGHT THERE - we don't need to send in the US troops.....in fact we need to SHRINK our military - there are very few ARMIES left to fight.......Russia is doing what they always do, sabre rattle.....BFD. DD
Sure. I'm all in favor of that, yet European troops there aren't as big of a deterrent. Russia won't be as concerned with engaging in conflict with European troops.
I don't think so. Having a pro-western government in Ukraine is a nice-to-have for us, but it is an existential threat to Russia. It makes them vulnerable if they ever do need to throw down with the west. Every time the US has lost, it's because our opponent had wanted victory much more than we did. Right now, there's probably other things Russia can do to bend Ukraine to their will. But if we harden it with US forces, they'll have to invade it. The US will blink because it won't risk nuclear holocaust over a nice-to-have. Russia might not blink because they know Ukraine can stage their enemies right on their doorstep. I expect Russia to not invade, but to use the threat of invasion to put pressure on the government there. With the guerilla war there, economic punishments, propaganda, and some crooked electioneering, pro-western politicians will get pushed out, the government corrupted, and the country will be pulled back into alignment with Russian interests. And the US will level "even more" economic sanctions (if there are any left) but basically sit by and watch. We can't spend our chits opposing Russia when China is the country we have to worry about.
Don't know about insane, but I don't think Trump was a puppet. He was more Russia-friendly though, and I think Putin missed his window of opportunity to be more aggressive with Ukraine with Trump in office. Trump might have opposed a takeover, but he had a price for which he'd have let go Ukraine, and praised Putin in the process.
I slightly disagree with this I think. My theory is that Putin is paranoid about a Coup. I think Putin believed or had assurances from Trump that he would stop any attempt by the 5 eyes and CIA from allowing this to happen, and (the most important thing) he would stay away from sanctioning the Russian Oligarchs in a way that would create the environment for a Coup to happen. That's why the Biden admin has been hinting at a new level of Sanction that hits Putin closer to home. I definitely think they believe they have the ability to blow up the Oligarch order and that could lead to a coup. If they don't have a way to hit his Oligarchs and it's just sanctions that just allow them to deal with China more then it's probably pointless. Putin's invasions happen when he is trying to remind everyone he's boss, and he's also doing his version of rallying his base who in Russia are the former Soviet hard liners who beat their chest at the Manifest Destiny propaganda of taking back the homeland. Putin loves to tell the story about the city of Kiev being the original birthplace of Russia going back to the Vikings founding Kievan Rus and I think it was the leader at the time named Vladamir that he claims as his namesake or whatever. It's all nationalist propaganda he uses to rally his base politically. So he invades when he feels like he's losing power. It's that simple. It's no surprise that Putin loses power when Western Democracy is doing well and there should be NO endorsement of leaders like Trump, Orban, and Erdogan because Putin feels less pressure when they have more power and autocracy is rising. It's such a weird endorsement that people like Commodore make when they try and make a case that the world is better off with autocrats because then that leads to peace and prosperity???... Yeah like when has that ever happened in the long run even if in the short run it might save an immediate conflict??
With Putin, this line always stuck in the back of my mind: Putin's wordplay here is interesting as an intelligence officer that he was, and really still is at the highest level. The JFK assassination is so top of mind to him to that it just comes right out. Putin grew up as a teen during the assassination, and came into the ranks of the KGB while there was still a question of whether or not the Soviets/Castro were involved, and living in paranoia of the CIA assassinating their leaders in retribution. That level of paranoia had to have stuck with him, and I do think there's evidence to him being utterly paranoid about it. ... But I would say a bigger more formidable moment for him was when he was with the KGB during the time that the wall fell in Berlin. He has been very open in the past about how he blames Reagan and the US for the fall of the Soviet Union, and in many ways ran later on with the pedigree that could beat back those forces that split up the motherland. He's obsessed with the CIA, and in the end the first and last thing he thinks about is how as a KGB officer how he's combatting the CIA on a day to day basis. Yes I think he's worried about getting assasinated, and that drives his actions till this day.
So Greenwald is all in. Remember when he was the darling of the far left? Good times. It's amazing how they continue to chase any conspiracy theory.
