You almost made my case for me. "Ukrainians have blown up or captured so many Russkie tanks...". That was my point. By supporting Ukraine (a democracy) against Russia (a dictatorship) we lessen the chances of further war. The Ukrainians are depleting his resources, but he still has a lot of resources and industry. If he finishes with Ukraine, who's next? Poland? They are certainly worried about that, based on how much aid they are sending to Ukraine. Numerous former Soviet bloc countries are worried about that. And many of them are in NATO. By treaty, if Putin attacks any of them, we are obligated to send in the troops. Which means flag-draped US coffins. If Putin outlasts us, he wins. If we show resolve, he will be forced to the negotiating table in a much weaker position. Right now, he doesn't feel he has to give up anything to get peace. He'll just 'win'.

China also is a problem. I've been highlighting that for a while. We are highly unlikely to need our NATO standard 155mm shells for China. That will be centered around naval operations. China isn't eyeing (yet) Thailand for a land war, they're claiming they own the South China Sea and all it's islands.

Yes, I've always said we need a source of materials (both extracted and manufactured) that is independent of any potential enemy. Whether it's N95 masks, or lithium, or steel...we need domestic sources, or at least sources that regard us as allies.