What we spend on the military doesn't matter at this point. What matters is the replacement of the arsenal that is being sent to Ukraine. For some reason that part of the conversation is left completely out of the discussion. You can have all the money in the world but if you can't produce and replace equipment that becomes the issue. All wars require beans, bullets and band-aids. I may be wrong but if I understand correctly China hasn't provided any equipment to Russia at this point.
yep. “the US has already supplied Kyiv with thousands of anti-tank Javelin missiles. With about one-third of its Javelin inventory now sent to Ukraine, “ “In addition, due to huge production time, it takes years to replenish the stock of these "iconic" missiles. “ US facing shortage of Javelin anti-tank missiles post supplies to Ukraine: Report
That’s the only acceptable outcome for me (not that my opinion matters in the great scheme). So I’m glad that’s the only acceptable outcome for Ukraine.
Yep. Have a transition period so Russians living in Crimea can move back to Russian territory if they want to. Same with the "separatist" regions.
I’m afraid you have to take a step or two further to mitigate future rebellions. All Russian families receive fair compensation for their property and must leave Ukraine. Any Russian who wants to stay in Ukraine may apply, but they must demonstrate some form of tie to the Ukrainian community (marriage, business, service in armed forces) and have to swear an oath of loyalty to Ukraine.
David Ignatius on Ukraine winning the electronic signals battles. Two things stood out. The United States and its NATO partners have provided crucial EW equipment and training. But American experts say it’s the Ukrainians themselves who adapted these high-tech weapons to protect their homeland. This reminds of how the IDF would routinely improve US designs by essentially battle testing them, especially in avionics. Became a beneficial feedback loop. Russia’s centralized, top-down command structure also hindered its EW forces in making quick adaptations; there weren’t any Russian noncommissioned officers who could make speedy fixes. The refusal/inability to delegate/empower a long serving hyper competent NCO corp continues to hamper totalitarian militaries in battle with freer governments that treat their military more professionally and trust them to make tactical decisions (now at officer level) in theatre without running everything up the chain or simply executing an inflexible plan. Yet again https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/03/russia-ukraine-electronic-warfare/
Wow. This is huge. It will be interesting to see how the Iron Dome works on Russian cruise missiles and rockets.
I think they will or close to it. Russia really did itself stupid in that the brutal invasion prompted many European countries to move away from Russian energy. Had they done a little bit less, maybe not actively invaded and just annexed part of the east, this probably would not have happened. And it cannot happen overnight. But Russia essentially cut itself off by showing itself too obviously. Even if European leaders wanted to look the other way, now they can’t, because they are democracies and their citizens are demanding action
This war has also exposed the Russian rep of cyber dominance. Looks like not all of out best stuff leaked out in Vault 9. Greenwald must be so disappointed
