[WSJ]Saudi Arabia, U.S. on High Alert After Warning of Imminent Iranian Attack Saudis said Tehran wants to distract from local protests, and the National Security Council said the U.S. is prepared to respond ---------- Tangentially related? Honestly didn't want to dig out about old Iran thread and it's all intertwined, with Iran as Russia's main arms source.
So, because Finland and Sweden did not join NATO, we should just watch Russia take the rest of Ukraine after they took the Crimea already (and haven't stopped), and they can go to war with Finland and Sweden and Bosnia and another handful of countries and we should just stand by and watch and not share intelligence or weaponry to stop Russia? That is absurd. There are real long-term consequences to Russia carving up Europe for the world and for Americans and that doesn't even get into how it impacts the actions of China.
Yes, it is certainly tangentially related. We are watching as the world is dividing and taking actions that will likely impact the social relationships between nations and set foreign policy for decades to come. It also isn't entirely divisions and would be expected. How Iran chooses to respond to the unrest in their nation is in part based on the level of distraction they believe will happen as the world is occupied with Russia.
Ukraine is winning due to NATO training their army, US/NATO providing intelligence, and mostly the US providing arms.
WSJ also broke the news that oil refined from India was also reaching American ports. I'm sure no one really cares as long as oil prices are lower. Russian Oil Is Fueling American Cars Via Sanctions Loophole Lukoil’s refinery in Sicily uses up to 93% Russian crude to make gasoline it sends to the U.S. An oil refinery in Sicily, owned by Russia’s second largest oil and gas giant Lukoil, acts as a pass-through for Russian crude, which ultimately makes its way to the U.S. as gasoline and other refined oil products.
" These inspectors in Ukraine appear to be some of the first members of the U.S. military to re-enter the Eastern European country since the start of the war, outside of military guards posted at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, the capital. The Pentagon ordered the departure of U.S. troops in Ukraine on Feb. 14 — 10 days before the invasion — as the crisis escalated. The inspections come after Russia and some Republicans in Congress have alleged that weapons and military equipment sent to Ukraine may have ended up on the black market. Serving as a rebuttal to these concerns, the Biden administration released a plan last week that would aim to keep closer tabs on the aid it has sent."
And you wonder why Russia is pissed off. NATO is a defensive pact. Why are they fighting in a war that does not involve NATO? nATO countries are the border, not Ukraine. It's less about the involvement and more about the reason. We are only involved because of our self interest, not Ukraines.
And what prompted NATO’s existence? Russia historically invading its neighbors prior to WW2 and then after WW2? Not to mention modern day Russia started wars in its Central Asian bloc in the late 90s. I’m not sure why you act like Russia is just some innocent country getting bullied by the evil US empire. Of course our involvement is about self interest. That doesn’t mean the Ukrainians aren’t worth it and standing up to Russia isn’t prudent. Why are you so naive to think that Russia won’t keep pushing?
It should be clear that Russia disregards treaties and agreements and instead pushes and probes to get around them.
Look at my post above. They are weapons inspectors. They are there because GOP Congress people think weapons we are sending to Ukraine are getting to the black market. Russian disinformation the GQP is backing
Yeaaaaah...this is not a guy I would trust and twit too often. @Xopher already explained why in this instance
"The last great bastion of the white race" turns out to be a disease-ridden cesspool, with 4x the per capita incidence of HIV over the USA, and 20× the per capita infection rate of the Ukranians they are "coming to save". And those are just the official numbers. Given Russia's commitment to honesty, the actual numbers are probably an order of magnitude larger.