Do you mean straight from the mouth of the person who dislikes the 2 party system in the US and has expressed that opinion several times over the years here?
A very toasty Russian-occupied Berdyansk airfield post Ukrainian ATACMS strike last night. Several Russian helicopters can be seen cooking off. It's also worth looking back to our interview last month of Ukraine's spymaster, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, and what he said about potential ATACMS transfers to Ukraine. The interview occurred before Biden promised at least a handful to Ukraine. Here is that excerpt: TWZ: When you meet with U.S. officials are you going to ask for [Army Tactical Missile System] ATACMS? And what are you going to say to convince them to provide ATACMS? KB: I think that this issue will be raised. TWZ: What’s your argument for them? KB: My argumentation is very simple. The majority of [Russian] command posts and logistic storages are beyond the distance of 85 kilometers (about 50 miles) which is the maximum range for our current [Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) munitions] - for [M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems or] HIMARS that we have. The Russians just place command posts and other things beyond those distances so we don't have anything to reach them there. And the situation is the same with Russian aviation at the airfields. Fighting Russian aviation using air defense systems is very costly and ineffective. Aviation should be taken out at the air bases. TWZ: Are you talking about airfields in Russia? KB: No, we’re talking about the airfields in the occupied areas of Ukraine. TWZ: Like those bases in Crimea. KB: Crimea is Ukraine. TWZ: On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), a replacement for ATACMS, is coming online soon and could potentially open up the availability of ATACMS for Ukraine. Do you have a sense of how many ATACMS the U.S. has that they can give you? KB: So let's wait for the official announcements to be made. There are still different ways how this situation can turn out so let's wait for [the official announcement] but I can say conditionally that if it's 100 missiles, this won’t change the situation. TWZ: You need thousands? KB: At least hundreds. TWZ: Do you think you will return to Ukraine with good news about ATACMS? KB: I always hope for the better. We'll do everything to make that happen. UPDATE: 3:10 PM EST— President Zelensky has now confirmed that Ukraine has recieved ATACMS and has used it against Russian forces in Berdyansk and Luhansk, the same target areas as those discussed above.
I support Ukraine’s fight against Russia abut I’m uncomfortable with talk of “glorious destruction” even if Russians.
It's a different culture from our own. They use phrases one could call archaic were they used here, but look at what Russia is doing to Ukraine, to the people of Ukraine. The utter barbarity of Putin's insane attempt at conquest of a democratic European country, one of the largest in the region. Parsing how they respond to their hard won successes against a far more powerful country, an enemy of Ukraine sinking so low that Putin's minions are even stealing Ukrainian children from their parents, yet one they continue to beat time and again, against all the odds, seems petty to me. I sometimes quote these things and they can seem overwrought to me, but who am I to edit what they say? They have earned the right to "crow" a bit when they have the opportunity, in my opinion, and if it happens to bother the Russians, there is a simple solution. Leave Ukraine! Then we should see something not so simple play out. Putin and his monsters standing in the dock of the international criminal court and paying for their crimes.
Yes I understand why Ukrainians would speak like that and they have good reason to be angry at Russians and celebrate their deaths. This though is the classic dehumanizing of the enemy. They are all animals! They deserve no Mercy! We hear it in every conflict and it just becomes a self-justifying rational to do all sorts of things to the "enemy". I believe in the concept of Just War and I think Ukraine fighting Russia is a Just War. I don't think glorifying the deaths of Russians, most of whom are likely just conscripts forced to fight, is a good thing.
I certainly wouldn't argue. It's a nightmare for more than the Ukrainians. I don't doubt that the majority of Russians in Ukraine, not only those killed and wounded on the battlefield, don't want to be there. A shocking number (more than likely surprising to Putin, anyway) of young Russian men, those that could, fled the country when Putin, desperate to replace the casualties of the Ukraine War, had a "call up" of over 300,000. That was when the invasion of Ukraine went from Putin's "special military thing," whatever bizarre name he gave it, to something different from what the parents of those young men watched on the evening news, taking in the twisted propaganda, and becoming something else entirely. A notice in the mail addressed to their son to report for military duty. I'm sure you remember the traffic jams at the border crossings of former Soviet Republics, now independent countries, suddenly swarmed with thousands of Russia's "best and brightest." That was a disaster for Russia, in my opinion, because large numbers of them, and not only men, were highly educated, perhaps with a better understanding of just how wrong Putin's war really was. Many will never return to Russia, in my opinion. It reminds me of the draft during Vietnam. There are Americans still living in Canada (now Canadians, of course), who went there to avoid the draft. I know one in particular who discovered that he liked British Columbia (not a shock, if you've been there), ended up marrying a French Canadian who had made her way to BC, and now they have grown children. Many of those young Russians who left are now in France and other countries, missing home, but busy trying to make a life there. So the sudden draft in Russia didn't go over very well. That led to the "opening up" of Russia's prisons for "recruitment" to Russia's private armies. I wonder how that got reported within Russia, if at all. Of course, things filter through the internet. The Russian prison system is extensive (sadly, as is our own), but I would think that there are limits to the use Putin can make of it. He's supposedly thinking of another large "call up," or so I've read somewhere. If it happens, I doubt if the reception will improve. The security at Russia's borders will, however, in my opinion.
From some of the things I’ve read is that a lot of the Russian forces in Ukraine are ethnic minorities and people from much further east in Russia. I too read that many Russians who had the money and also education fled Russia during the early days of the war. Many are in Turkey, Georgia and even Azerbaijan. I also read a story that a bunch of Russian tourists in Bali just decided to stay there then go back to Russia. Most of those fighting in Ukraine are probably poor and less educated Russians who are conscripts or joined for economic reasons.
Sounds like vietnam war. Put that into perspective. This is why it's an economic proxy war, something a couple of us had said from the beginning. Everyday Russians largely don't give a **** about what Putin does. Hit them economically and blame it in the war will push Russians to demand Putin to get out of the war. Vice Versa with Ukraine. Russia has more meat than Ukraine. End of story. Ukraine lost. Their country is destroyed and they have lost a sizable population of their youth. You can't buy back a partial generation. Ukraine is set back decades. They lost. Russia is doing their damn best to convince Americans that America needs to get out of Ukraine. There is a sizable portion of people who thought we had no business in Vietnam and Iraq. It doesn't make them pro Russia. It's two super powers boxing it out in another country at the expense of the lowest class of people.
Yes we hit Russia economically with very severe sanctions. Nearly all reports put the Russia economy in terrible shape. That hasn't convinced Putin to withdraw. Ukraine hasn't lost. They lost a portion of their country and part of their population but Kyiv remains indpendent. Remember the Russians said they would be having victory parades in Kyiv in a month.
You seem like a very math-challenged human being. Also, pretty sure everyday Russians who are losing their sons, fathers, and brothers probably do care about what Putin does. The Ukrainians fighting for their homeland probably accept the sacrifice a bit more than Russians fighting for ... nothing. Also, the Vietnam war wasn't a major power invading a completely independent country. It was an internal conflict supported by superpowers.
