So why then are you placing most of the responsibility on the US and NATO when neither are actually direct combatants and it was Russia that invaded Ukraine not thr US or NATO?
thanks @SamFisher. Mariupol mayor says siege has killed more than 10K civilians https://apnews.com/article/russia-u...utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew
First thought is, where was he at in Ukraine? My guess is near the Polish border where people are getting in the country, there definitely would be a huge NATO/US presence helping manage the flow of incoming volunteers. The US and the Pentagon are also likely leading the background check process as well given their capabilities in intelligence to do a quick name check, and run people through a process that can help keep out Russian moles in the Ukrainian forces. I think it is way smarter for NATO to be doing this initial screening than a Ukrainian army that is quite busy at the moment. So I think this French reporter is really being a bit hyperbolic, and likely inflating how "on the ground with the Ukrainian military" he really was. I assume he was either in Lviv or Kyiv, and I find it almost unthinkable to think that someone actually as part of the US military to be anywhere east of Lviv. Are US contractors or volunteers East of Lviv running training camps for Ukrainian volunteer troops??... maybe, but ultimately I don't think they are truly running the war, and essentially making Zelensky a puppet. I think Zelensky would be dumb though to not allow his generals to take action based on US intelligence given to them though. They need to go no the offensive right now, and so help from the Pentagon is a good thing. Not a bad thing.
I was thinking the same thing. Where he was located can completely change the tune and bring clarity to his report from a, well, no sh*t to a well, this is huge.
Why are we bringing up Iraq. Only right wingers were for an invasion of Iraq. We all knew it was BS. Ukraine is more like the first Iraq war where we are helping an ally from an invasion. Everybody in Ukraine would love for Americans to send troops like Kuwait.
Here are the Democratic Senators who voted YEA on October 2002. Baucus (D-MT), Yea Bayh (D-IN), Yea Biden (D-DE), Yea Breaux (D-LA), Yea Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Carnahan (D-MO), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea Cleland (D-GA), Yea Clinton (D-NY), Yea Daschle (D-SD), Yea Dodd (D-CT), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea Edwards (D-NC), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Yea Hollings (D-SC), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Yea Kerry (D-MA), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lieberman (D-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Miller (D-GA), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Yea Reid (D-NV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea Torricelli (D-NJ), Yea No cred on a well known fact many people were bamboozled on Iraq. Iraq and Ukraine are commodity wars.
Ukraine would likely disagree. The other key difference is that the US started the Iraq war. The US had nothing to do with starting the Ukraine war and ideally wanted nothing to do with it. Our involvement is directly at the request of their government, and even then, we are doing much less than they are begging for.
Our government certainly did have a significant role in the starting of this war. That can be traced back to statements made by the US Secretary of State as early as 2008, then the US involvement in the Maidan coup in 2013 - kudos to Barack Obama for that one - and then an ongoing series of provocations since that time, culminating in the current invasion under Obama's understudy. Yes, the Russians are responsible for invading and waging war against the Ukrainians, but they did not do that in a vacuum or out of some sense of geopolitical boredom. They were provoked repeatedly and over a long period of time - by the US and representatives associated with NATO.
Sure Russia didn’t do this out of a vacuum. They doesn’t change the fact they are the ones who invaded. They are the ones who are still fighting. They are the ones who are shelling civilians. Those are voluntary choices that Putin at anytime could’ve changed and taken a different course. Certainly Russia and Putin have grievances. There were many ways to address those short of war. What’s sad is that the people paying the price are the Ukrainians and Russian soldiers.
Thousands of Russian troops are dying and maimed. Many more are likely going to very psychologically damaged from what they’ve experienced in Ukraine. If Putin really cared about his people he wouldn’t have entered this war.
