Don't you think Xi signed off on this? Not to say blessed it, but Putin doing this without a heads up to Xi would be like the Lakers making a trade without consulting Lebron. Xi was probably hoping for a quick resolution he could watch as a sort of trial run for his own similar plans.
Maybe an occupation, but I think an alternate approach of just strategic strikes on military installations and assets that remove them as a military superpower would be highly effective. Pair that with a messaging campaign to the people of "hey overthrow putin" we support you. I dunno, maybe there's something there.
In principle I agree, but when we did this hands off approach in Iraq after the Gulf War Saddam's response was to gas the Kurds and Shia.
I think its cause you hope people realize if you start launching nukes it is the end of the world. Putin could give the orders but people are about self preservation.
I think most of us support Ukraine and want to see Putin defeated but I think it needs to be very clear what the limits are. Because Ukraine isn't a member of NATO we aren't treaty bound to defend them. While the Russian military appears to be bogging down a bit this is still a very large and very powerful military. If we go fight in Ukraine we would be fighting in their back yard so they would also have the advantage of knowing the territory better than we would. Just to be able to launch a large enough force to get to Ukraine and credibly fight will take an effort that this country hasn't done since WWII. In terms of cost of money and lives taking on Russia will be very very costly. There is no legal obligation for us to defend Ukraine militarily but more importantly I don't there is any political will in this country to do so. The most we can do right now is to rely on sanctions, shore up our NATO allies, and possibly cyber and other unconventional methods.
I think if we provide some air support and weapons Ukraine can defend itself. It is not like Afghanistan where all the people will just run off.
This is an area where I really don't know enough about Russia or it's military structure. While Putin has consolidated power any order to use nukes still has to be carried out by generals and other officers. Knowing that doing so would lead likely to also their own annihilation and that of everyone they know would they be willing to do so? I made this same point when many said that Trump was so unhinged that he could fire nukes. While yes the President has the power to order a nuclear strike that still has to be implemented by others. As we now know Gen. Milley and others were essentially prepared to counter orders that they believed to be illegal.
It was only matter of time until that power player Hunter was brought up again. He's done so much to influence the direction of Biden administration. It's no wonder.
that’s an American c130 headed directly towards Ukraine. Could be carry supplies, special forces, could be airplanes refueling. Many things we don’t know.
He sold access and influence to the highest levels of the US government. This enriched the Biden family and created one massive conflict of interest. And here we sit, with the nation that paid the Biden family so much money being invaded. This is exactly the risk that voters were warned about. There was a time in this country when Democrats still could see that selling access and influence to the US government was wrong. Now the sheep just blindly defend their side, regardless of culpability.
Reg the right wing and Ukraine: -Yesterday and today seems to solidify the talking point they are coached on which is to immediately whataboutism to equate the southern border to no bombings Ukraine. One person even said “Mexico is sending two legged bombs.” It’s a crazy way of admitting that they don’t want to even talk about Ukraine for some reason politically. My guess is it’s to protect and deflect from the Trump Putin love fest. Not sure why everything has to be turned into a partisan battle but it seems like the right(at least at the media strategy level), like with Covid, sees nothing that cannot be used as political weaponry.
Save it for another thread. You know I have a soft spot for you but this is not the time for your usual rants.
