Ice Queen, you and I are in about 99% concurrence on this issue. But you don’t want to go there. Biden held up two weapons shipments in the last year, and it was all about placating Putin. If Trump’s actions were inexcusable, then so were Biden’s. The question is, what do we do now? Elements of both parties seem to be more focused on fixing the blame than the problem. The problem is not allowing Russia a military or strategic victory in Ukraine. Everyone needs to focus on that.
Can we please stop with comparing this to WWII. The Germans ran right through most of Europe in short order. The Russians have shown they are incapable of carrying out any operations more than 50 miles from their border and Even those operations are largely ineffective militarily. If anything, this conflict has shown the Russian conventional forces are not very capable and NOT a global threat
Do you have a link for this? And was Biden trying to extort Zelensky for dirt on his political enemies like Trump did?
BBC makes CNN look good. I remember the invasion of Iraq when I was deployed to Jordan. All we got was BBC need. Absolute negative the west is losing 24/7.
White House freezes Ukraine military package that includes lethal weapons - POLITICO First Google. And I’m not sure if the motivation matters as much as the effect. Especially if you’re a Ukrainian.
Agreed & I do believe I'd agreed with you when we both mentioned about Biden needing to get the aid out faster. Wasn't trying to imply otherwise. The tweet felt relevant because based on what had happened with Trump regarding Ukraine, & that particularly McCarthy is known for revisionist comments (not just on this situation but in general). But you're correct in that looking backwards right now helps no one.
From Twitter (copied so I can clean it up) " A Ukrainian company who provided Russia with Electric vehicle charging stations programmed them display the messages "PUTIN IS A D**KH**D" and "GLORY TO UKRAINE" to Russian motorists who used them." Edit - happened weeks ago but just saw it. Maybe they can use the same tech/hacks to disable vehicles?
Did we know that Ukraine wouldn't fall quickly and those weapons not end up in Russian hands? Did the delay hurt the Ukranian defenses?
Ok, so the Biden Admin temporarily put a shipment of military aid on hold as a bargaining chip prior to Biden's summit with Putin. And you think the motivation doesn't matter. Try to be unbiased here. There's no comparison between this and what Trump did. From your link: But officials on the National Security Council ended up putting the proposal on hold after Russia announced it would draw down troops stationed near Ukraine and in the lead-up to President Joe Biden’s high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Maybe not if you’re Ukrainian but it absolutely matters on the part of Biden/Trump. One was a policy decision the other for personal gain.
Good questions. No idea. Circling back to my point, everything that happened in terms of bad political decisions up until the Russian invasion, doesn’t really matter much now except as political blaming, deflecting, minimizing, and/or exaggerating. What matters is what we do to defeat Russia now. Now you know my position: I say we aren’t doing nearly enough. I want to smack Putin so hard two of his mistresses die. And if I can’t smack him myself, then fine: give Ukraine the extended slap-o-matic that lets them do it for me. I’ll live with that even if it isn’t nearly as satisfying.
Cnn live "Control over city of Kreminna 'lost' amid heavy fighting From CNN's Nathan Hodge and Tim Lister Control over the city of Kreminna has been "lost," according to Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, as Russian forces try to break Ukrainian resistance in the country's east. ..... As residents tried to flee in their own vehicles, Russian forces opened fire on a car carrying civilians, said Haidai. "Four people died. One seriously injured person is still at the scene," he said. "Doctors cannot reach her due to endless shelling." Russian forces have been trying to advance toward the borders of both Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region. Russia's focus has shifted to the east since its failure to gain territory around the capital Kyiv, and other parts of the center and north of the country."
Cnn live "Death toll in Lviv missile strikes rises to seven From CNN's Yulia Kesaieva and Jo Shelley in Lviv Seven people are dead and 11 injured after Russia launched four missile strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, regional military governor Maksym Kozytskyy said. The toll could rise further as rescue efforts continue, he added. "The rubble is still being dismantled, so the numbers [are] not final yet," said Kozytskyy. "Three are heavily injured, a child is mildly injured." Three missiles hit warehouses and a fourth hit a tire repair shop, said Kozytskyy. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the strikes shattered windows in eight residential buildings as well as a school."
The other problem now is Russia, while incompetent, has numbers. Now that the heavier fighting in the East has intensified more Ukraine is going to be using more ammo/weapons up. Not to mention what military is left in some Eastern regions are getting surrounded. I get the no fly zone argument from folks but that basically doomed the East. Once he controls that Putin can declare victory and just have a DMZ- type line where Ukraine is split up. And that's on a good scenario. That gives him time to regroup, reload, propaganda the heck out of the people, finish crushing Ukraine (perhaps with the use of tactical smaller nukes), then go after Finland or someone else. I think as bad as things look, Putin likely feels more confident because he knows NATO/US fears him. Unfortunately for the world, the leader with the testicular fortitude is the one having to fight Putin right now.
