Sorry, I'll take the President of Ukraine's position on this matter over a random message board poster. I feel like he is more qualified to make those observations.
There's a large gap between "keeping his [Biden's] mouth shut" and the multiple, daily predictions of imminent invasion. If you can't see the distinction between the two, then you must be part of the 38% who think Biden's doing a good job as POTUS. It's pretty telling when the president of Ukraine is saying "you're barking too much" and "don't make any deals behind our back". But I know you're party over country, so this doesn't matter to you. Ukrainians suffer. No biggie. Go Sleepy Joe! 38% and falling.
How so, since Biden has already stated publicly that there will be no American boots on the ground if Russia does invade?
There are a lot of people in this thread carrying russias water. I have not been impressed by Biden as president but the strategy they are using now is the best option that doesn’t involve direct military intervention. It’s creative and forces Putin to run his playbook in the light of day so his bullshit is so absurd no one believes it. except China lol. bottom line Russia is probably invading and nothing short of the full force of nato would be able to stop them. But the idea of a conventional war between nato and Russia is about the worst possible outcome I can think of for the entire world. Markets will collapse. Thousands would die. If something went wrong that number would jump to millions quickly.
It’s hard to say it worked, because they probably weren’t going to do it in the middle of the Olympics anyway. Everything from the Russians is bullshit until they pull their troops back. That being said, I do approve the admins strategy of flooding the zone with intel. Leave no doubt that if Russia attacks, it’s unprovoked. Not that there is any doubt with them massing an invasion force. I understand Ukraine President’s position as well, at least his desire to preserve a functioning economy. But you also have to be realistic about what is going on, not sure just putting the blinders on helps with Ukraine readying their defenses, which they also absolutely need to do.
Interesting side note - the more Biden blusters the more politically appealing it may be to Putin not to invade just to prove him wrong and ride the wave of anti westernism to higher approval locally.
There are a lot of people in this thread who think they know what's best for Ukraine, more so than the actual president of Ukraine.
Putin is just using this as a negotiating ploy. He does not want to occupy Ukraine. It would cost too much to do so. He wants assurances Ukraine will stay out of NATO. The president of Ukraine knows this, which is why he's telling the West (Biden) to simmer down. If you read that Times update blog, you'll see he clearly doesn't agree with how the West is "helping" with his security situation. He makes a good point when he asks "why are you waiting on the sanctions? Bring them on before they overrun Kyiv." If the U.S. and NATO are convinced Putin has decided to invade (as they have stated), where are the sanctions? Hit them now before the war begins. It's all smoke and mirrors and we should definitely be questioning it more.
Sanctions now would guarantee invasion imo. It’s a shit situation for zelensky but we have learned the hard way that you have to keep the pressure on Putin in these situations. If you give him too much latitude like Obama did he just takes what he wants.
So sanctions now are too much, but we need to keep the pressure on Putin in these situations? Keep going..
The bottom line is nobody masses huge numbers of troops for an invasion just for a bluff. It’s a huge undertaking. In most conflicts, the immediate response would probably be to bomb the shit out of those troops while they are massed and ready, if it wasn’t for nuclear possibility this would absolutely be the obvious strategy. It is a hugely provocative move by Putin. I could could buy that he’s doing it as a distraction just to move in on a portion of eastern Ukraine, but if he’s not planning something he must have gone mad.
I guess you could sanction him now and say you’ll lift them after they withdraw but you may have trouble convincing the Allies to go in on something like that.
This simply doesn't make any sense. 1. If you're saying Putin will have no reason to not invade if we sanction him now, then the threats of sanctions are pointless to begin with. Putin knows he's going to get sanctioned. Repeating the threats out loud 1,000 times isn't going to change Putin's thinking, as you just unwittingly admitted. 2. Since Biden and NATO have not outlined what sanctions NATO countries will impose, NATO can always add more sanctions after an invasion. It can be layered. As of now, Russia still has more bird in hand than they had when Trump was in office (Nord Stream 2). 3. Because of Biden's intentional vagueness on the sanctions, Putin can still invade and Biden/NATO will agree on sanctions that will cause very little pain to Russia (ala 2014 invasion of Crimea). When are you all going to realize Joe Biden is a fool? He is no Barack Obama. He is no Bill Clinton. He's an 80+ year old man who's trying really hard to sound tough. When and if Russia invades, the sanctions will be tepid. SWIFT has already been taken off the table. They'll probably freeze a few of the oligarchs assets in Britain and call it a day, again ala 2014 let's wait until after the election so that I have more flexibility, etc etc etc
No doubt Putin is posturing to secure a better deal with NATO, especially with regard to Ukraine. If he truly wanted to invade Ukraine, he would have done it by now. After all, the Administration has been telling us for two weeks they expected Putin to move 'within the next 24 to 48 hours'.
Americans themselves and the president of Ukraine seem to doubt Biden's ability to prevail. P.S. please come up with new ad hominem .. the current one you continue to parrot makes me drowsy.
Many NATO allies are claiming the Biden Administration is not sharing the intel they've collected to corroborate their claims of an imminent invasion. This is coming from the WaPo.
