No. of Recommendations: 2
I'm not missing that. There's still no serious movement on peace talks that might be acceptable to Ukraine, one of the combatant parties. Maybe, maybe not. Bear in mind that what the media reports and what goes on in the room don't necessarily align.
Case in point:
The only reason peace talks are "moving" is because the Administration has floated the idea of giving up the conflict and letting Russia win all of their objectives in the war (and taking a piece of Ukraine's resources for ourselves). We're not really bringing much to the table by walking in with the suggestion to Ukraine, "Russia would stop killing your soldiers if you just gave in to the invaders and stopped defending your country."My response to this is simple:
What are the odds the Ukrainians are going to push the Russians out?
I'll answer for you: Nearly zero at this point. They don't have the dudes, the firepower or the money to do it.
BTW, the left is missing another element of this. By "imposing" peace and dragging Zelensky toward a deal he doesn't like, Trump is helping him keep his government in place. Trump is set up to be The Bad Guy and Zelensky can go back to his people and say, "That dastardly Orange Man made us take this lousy deal".
They didn't want it then, either. It's not like everyone planned for WWI to happen. If you walk back from the modern collective security arrangementEuropean attitudes on war were VASTLY different in 1914 than now. You might want to revisit the subject:
https://www.historycrunch.com/excitement-for-world...
World War I is notable for the early excitement that existed among the soldiers who were heading off to war. When World War I broke out in 1914, many European cities and towns celebrated the newly declared war and many young men clamored for their opportunity to fight in the battles of the Great War. For example, Austrian writer Stefan Zweig famously described the scene in Vienna, Austria at the announcement of World War I. He wrote: "In every station placards had been put up announcing general mobilization. The trains were filled with fresh recruits, banners were flying, music sounded, and in Vienna I found the entire city in a tumult... There were parades in the street, flags, ribbons, and music burst forth everywhere, young recruits were marching triumphantly, their faces lighting up at the cheering..."So no, after the carnage of the first 2, they don't want a Round 3 on the continent.
Here's a fun fact - the non-US members of NATO spend more on defense than China. Nearly as much as China and Russia combined:Oh, come on.
You really think the Chinese are giving you accurate numbers of their defense spending?????https://news.usni.org/2024/02/01/report-to-congres...China’s navy is, by far, the largest of any country in East Asia, and sometime between 2015 and 2020 it surpassed the U.S. Navy in numbers of battle force ships, meaning the types of ships that count toward the quoted size of the U.S. Navy. DOD states that China’s navy “is the largest navy in the world with a battle force of over 370 platforms, including major surface combatants, submarines, ocean-going amphibious ships, mine warfare ships, aircraft carriers, and fleet auxiliaries. Notably, this figure does not include approximately 60 HOUBEI-class patrol combatants that carry anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM). The… overall battle force [of China’s navy] is expected to grow to 395 ships by 2025 and 435 ships by 2030.”https://warriormaven.com/china/china-says-it-will-...A Chinese government backed newspaper is announcing that now, with the arrival of the J-35, China is the second country to have “two” 5th-generation aircraft and, perhaps of greatest concern to the Pentagon, the PRC plans to “mass produce” its new J-35. Well known for its massive military production capacity, enabled to a large degree by its civil-military fusion, the PLA may indeed be well positioned to fast-track large-quantities of the J-35. https://simpleflying.com/how-many-fighter-jets-chi...According to reporting by Air and Space Forces Magazine, China produces roughly more than 100 J-20 Mighty Dragons (NATO reporting name Fagin) a year (these are China's vaunted 5th-generation fighter jets).BTW we have around ~120 F-22s, to put that in perspective.
Does this sound like a country not spending much on defense?They only look small next to the U.S., because no one spends like the U.S. But they spend more than China or Russia or any other country on earth, save us.I think this is not an accurate statement.
