Be nice to people. This changes the whole environment.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 7
Republicans have made the Russians happy and harmed America with their petty and dangerous decision to block military funding to Ukraine and Israel.
During Wednesday’s broadcast of a state TV program 60 Minutes, Evgeny Popov said Ukraine was now in "agony" and it was "difficult to imagine a bigger humiliation."
During his morning show Full Contact on Wednesday, top pro-Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov joyfully noted: "[Janet] Yellen screamed, 'Don’t you dare!' [Joe] Biden screamed, 'Don’t you dare!' but Republicans said, 'Go to hell! We won’t give your khokhols [slur for 'Ukrainians'] any money.'" The segment was entitled, "No one needs Ukraine anymore -- especially the United States."Republicans now share the same attitude on funding Israel as congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-pals-think-th...
No. of Recommendations: 6
Republicans have made the Russians happy and harmed America with their petty and dangerous decision to block military funding to Ukraine and Israel.
The above is nonsense.
After Iraq and Afghanistan wars, US citizens are not looking to send more money for another long war.
1. Russia is NOT going to allow Ukraine to become NATO member. It sees this as an existential threat.
2. Russia has nuclear weapons
3. WWIII is a very low probability but the probability is still > 0
4. Russia / China are in an alliance.
5. The people who are pushing for war and arming Ukraine are the same ones who voted for Iraq war
6. US has run out of ammunition to give to Ukraine.
Ukraine has no people left to fight with. Average age for draft is now 43.
The only solution to this is that Russia and Ukraine come to a negotiating table.
No. of Recommendations: 13
dividends20: The above is nonsense.
After Iraq and Afghanistan wars, US citizens are not looking to send more money for another long war.
The money that the United States is directing to Ukraine, about $40 billion, to destroy the economy and deplete the military of Russia is the best bargain in the history of U.S. military spending. And all it costs us is about 5% of our annual military spending (about $750 billion). No boots on the ground, very little danger to any troops.
Best of all, some of the "spending" is our actually sending equipment (rather than funds) that we would likely never use, a true win-win.
Russia cannot stop Ukraine from joining NATO and cannot use nuclear weapons without guaranteeing its own self-destruction. China will be more dissuaded from aggression against Taiwan if Russia is defeated in Ukraine (not the other way around). Who voted for the Iraq war is entirely meaningless. Other countries can provide weaponry and the average age of Ukrainian troops on the battlefield is 30-40.
If Russia had any intention of coming to the negotiating table, it would have done so months ago. Russia is waiting for republicans to kill funding and it looks like most republicans are pro-Russia (which is why Russians were celebrating today on state television).
No. of Recommendations: 4
You don't understand. The flower of youth in Ukraine is gone/DEAD. They are running out of people.
Russia is NOT going to allow Ukraine to become a NATO member. It is an existential threat for them.
This is not a "republican" or a "democratic" debate.
No. of Recommendations: 1
This is not a "republican" or a "democratic" debate.
But continued funding is.
If we continue to support Ukraine, Putin cannot win. Even if we don't, Poland and other Ukraine neighbors will continue (otherwise they could be next). It's really just a question of how badly Putin loses. Even Crimea is vulnerable now
No. of Recommendations: 6
Russia cannot stop Ukraine from joining NATO and cannot use nuclear weapons without guaranteeing its own self-destruction
NATO expansion is dumb.
War could have been avoided but US politicians would not listen.
Russia had made it clear that Ukraine admission in NATO was a direct threat.
Remember cuban missle crisis ?
Now Ukraine has run out of people.
Nuclear war should be avoided. WWIII should be avoided.
No. of Recommendations: 3
You know Putin is desperate for a Trump win.
No. of Recommendations: 5
The money that the United States is directing to Ukraine, about $40 billion, to destroy the economy and deplete the military of Russia is the best bargain in the history of U.S. military spending. And all it costs us is about 5% of our annual military spending (about $750 billion). No boots on the ground, very little danger to any troops.
I agree. The Republican Party I was a member of a couple of decades ago wouldn't have thought twice was funding Ukraine in opposition of a Russian dictator. Oh, how far they have fallen...
Russia is tanking their economy, wasting their military (estimates of at least 50K dead, plus the loss of high-value assets such as their equivalent of AWACS, several ships in their fleet including their flagship, armor, HIMARS, pretty much all of their first-tier hardware**, etc), and just generally weakening themselves.
A lot of what we are sending is mothballed hardware. We've already spent the money to build that hardware. Older generations of M1 Abrams, stockpiles of artillery (and the -generally- older model barrels to shoot it), etc. So we aren't really spending any new money, at least not for that stuff. It's just moving numbers from one column to another on a spreadsheet.
Oh...Quibble...
Russia can stop (for now) Ukraine from joining NATO because, I believe, NATO has a policy of not accepting new members who are in active combat/war. Otherwise NATO would get dragged-in immediately. As long as Putin has his war, Ukraine can't join. Ironically, Ukraine was very much split over the issue before Putin invaded, and likely wouldn't have had to votes to approve application for NATO membership. Today, a LOT of Ukrainians would like to join NATO.
If Russia had any intention of coming to the negotiating table, it would have done so months ago. Russia is waiting for republicans to kill funding and it looks like most republicans are pro-Russia (which is why Russians were celebrating today on state television).
Conjecture, but it makes sense. Putin really can't come to the negotiating table because then he loses. He loses at home with "the people". He looks weak, the public will wonder why their family members had to die when nothing was achieved, Ukraine will not have been "denazified", etc. This -like Afghanistan for the Soviets- is Putin's Vietnam. He really can't win militarily, or politically. And the more he digs this hole, the harder it's going to be to get out of it. I said a year ago that he should just cut his losses and leave. It would have been bad for him, but it would be worse for him if he did it today.
Also, even if the US stopped funding, a LOT of European countries won't. Several nations have sent most of their stockpiles to Ukraine (and are increasing their military spending) because as long as Russia is involved in Ukraine, they aren't invading their nations (e.g. Poland, Lithuania, etc). The fear among those nations is that if Putin wins in Ukraine, they'll be next.
**Satellite images show that they are raiding their boneyards for hardware that was obsolete 40 years ago...they've burned through most of their latest T90s, and have been scrounging their boneyards for T72s and even T62s. The T62 is Vietnam era.
No. of Recommendations: 7
War could have been avoided but US politicians would not listen.
Divi, could you expand on your statement how the war could have been avoided and what the US politicians did wrong? Or should I ask Mr. Chamberlain based on his experience in 1938?
Craig
No. of Recommendations: 2
Is this before, or after they celebrated when President Obama, on camera, quietly told Medvedev to tell Putin that there will be "flexibility" on missile defense after Obama's election>
Is this before or after the Left went nuts on Romney for saying Russia is the biggest threat?
Oh is this before or after Club 401K Liberals helped kill so many Ukrainians by encouraging war for defense profits, and war because you dislike "Putin!".
Here's a country music song in the rubble in Ukraine:
"The Americans got us to go to war. Now I lost my parents. But 401k'ers got their profits and I lost my family because they personally dislike Putin. So now I got me a visa and I'm taking flying lessons".
LOL - you heard that one before?
