Subject: Re: Trump a vacuous moron
ME: NATO fields the troops, armaments, and Euros. We help with Dollars and armaments.

Dope: "NATO troops" means US troops and planes. The Europeans don't have standing expeditionary forces anymore.
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ME: We already have troops and planes there. We help them train - 10 weeks to 6 months later they have troops.
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Dope: We do this already; the California Air Guard, for instance, has been training them for >30 years:
https://theaviationist.com/202......
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ME: Exactly.
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D: NATO membership means you're willing to send US troops to defend the Ukraine.
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ME: If it goes that far - it shouldn't. Putin's position inside Russia is not the best. He needs to come out of the Ukraine with a win.
Don't let him have it. If Putin pays a price, future aggressors will be deterred.
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This is just a sample:
SNIP
The stage is set for the confrontation with Russia to intensify, despite the incoming Trump administration’s apparent interest in normalizing relations with Moscow. The war is not going well for Ukraine, in part because the limited assistance the West has sent to Kyiv does not match the deep stake it claims to have in the conflict. As a result, Russia is likely to walk away from the war emboldened and, once it has reconstituted its military capacity, spoiling for another fight to revise the security order in Europe. What’s more, the Kremlin will look to pocket any concessions from the Trump administration for ending the current war, such as sanctions relief, to strengthen its hand for the next one. Russia is already preparing the ground through the sabotage and other special operations it has unleashed across Europe and through its alignment with other rogue actors, including Iran and North Korea. European countries are only slightly more prepared to handle the Russian challenge on their own than they were three years ago. And depending on how the war in Ukraine ends, the possibility of another war with Russia looms.

The question is not whether Russia will pose a threat to the United States and its allies but how to assess the magnitude of the danger and the effort required to contain it. China will remain the United States’ primary competitor. But even with much of its attention called to Asia, Washington cannot ignore a recalcitrant and revanchist adversary in Europe, especially not one that will pose a direct military threat to NATO members.

The Russian problem is also a global one. Putin’s willingness to invade a neighbor, assault democratic societies, and generally violate accepted norms—and his seeming ability to get away with it—paves the way for others to do the same.The Kremlin’s provision of military equipment and know-how to current and aspiring U.S. adversaries will amplify these threats, multiplying the challenges that Washington will face from China, Iran, North Korea, and any other country that Russia backs. SNIP

https://archive.is/5Fdjr#selec...