Thank you for the kind thoughts. I have good days & bad days. Oddly this has been more trying than brain tumor #3. #1 & 2 I was still married so less stress on me. And younger.
Apparently there's a statue of Bandera in Lviv. Ukraine’s moral waters get muddier and bloodier "Last week, in an interview, Kiev’s top envoy in Berlin Andriy Melnyk compared World War II-era Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera to Robin Hood and stated that he “was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles.” In Ukraine, Bandera is a hugely divisive figure but the ambassador’s opinion clashes with the mainstream historical narrative – that Bandera’s organization, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which sided with the Nazis – did exactly that. “The statements of the Ukrainian ambassador are a distortion of historical facts, a belittling of the Holocaust and an insult to those who were murdered by Bandera and his people,” the Israeli Embassy fumed in comments reported by German media Die Welt."
If your point is that these measures would be difficult and take time, then I agree. If your point is that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, so we should free Russia of economic consequences, then I do not agree. Ukraine cannot beat Russia militarily, no matter what weapons we provide them. They can delay Russia, and they can cause casualties, but Ukraine is not capable of ultimately stopping the tide. If we are not willing to directly assist Ukraine in the field (and let’s all agree that course of action has been ruled out), then the only way Russia can be defeated, if it all, is internally. And that means economic and political pressure on the Russian people. If we in the U.S. are not willing to take necessary measures to alleviate the predictable effect of these sanctions on our partners, then our partners will eventually say “Eff it!” and start dealing with the Russians again. They might wish Ukraine the best, but they won’t be willing to starve or freeze for them. That leaves us right back where we started with half-ass measures against Russia that free them from internal pressure while they can put their enormous manpower and resource advantage on Ukraine to slowly strangle them. And if Russian victory is inevitable and the only variable is how much Ukrainian suffering it takes to get there, then we might as well cut off the weapons and dump their refugees right back in their lap to speed this along.
Given the amount of effort Russia has poured into Ukraine the probability of Russia expanding beyond Ukraine is greatly diminished in my opinion. Would this be an appeasement if Russia takes over Ukraine is an interesting question that requires a long term view. If the European nations are not willing to step up and remove themselves as well as the US from Russia's markets then the long view could spell disaster in the future. From what we are witnessing now the European nations are scrambling to remove themselves from Russia's stranglehold. It is clear until they can accomplish that the options available are severely limited. What we are doing is buying time and if it means Ukraine is lost perhaps in doing so and getting our houses in order a diplomatic solution can be achieved in the long run.
I certainly understand. Such an opinion is necessary to arrive at the predetermined conclusion that the best course of action is for us to do nothing. If one were to arrive at a conclusion that this is only the beginning of Russian and Chinese aggression, then the consequent measures our country would be forced to take are unthinkably inconvenient. If one is inclined to the left, then the best course of action is to dismiss those ringing the alarm bell as “militarists.” If one is inclined to the right, then they can dismiss the same people as “globalists.” And we can all just be paralyzed by infighting and using hope as a strategy. It’s worked so well for us to this point.
From a hegemonic standpoint they are inconvenient now for a number of reasons. The major reason being military and technological support from our allies. Our allies are shells of what they once were in this regard depending on the might of the US for security. Taking on Russia and China would be the US carrying the full weight of it all. This is not a good position to be in. One could easily understand that such a conflict will come to our shores if not from invasion certainly from ICBM's. Black eyes will be delivered all over the place and long standing disputes among other nations would most likely ensue. As for doing nothing we are doing plenty delaying the inevitable. Now people may not be satisfied with that especially Ukrainians and our European allies. Yet our European allies are all bluster and no meat when it comes to saving themselves.
History disagrees with you. There have been many examples of smaller nations beating back far bigger enemies with the right support and motivation (Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc.), and little evidence that sanctions work (NK, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, etc.).
Oh they'll bargain, they just won't give you what you want. Even the JCPOA only delayed their nuclear program. I'm sure you didn't forget about the Kim-Trump summit either, and NK did not denuclearize. Russia and Ukraine had talks pretty early on in the war, but that did nothing to change Russian aggression.
Putin loyalist demands Russia takes back Alaska from US Another Russian blowhard threatening to " take back" Alaska. riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. 1,000 mg of stfu. Not the capsule, not the injectable, but the suppository.
They would have given more if Hillary wouldn't have sent a young rookie to negotiate and Obama would have been as concerned about the details as he was about just getting a deal. Iran was under serious sanctions for only a couple of months before they came to the table. Once the real sanctions (couldn't insure boats carrying Iranian oil) kicked in, they were in a rush to get a deal done before their economy totally collapsed and the populace rebelled. When sanctions have teeth, they work, unless it is a pariah nation led by someone willing to starve their people to death and the political/military might to hold down the populace.
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia U prof - Jeffrey Sachs - Wikipedia - sets the record straight .... Ukraine Is the Latest Neocon Disaster Jeffrey D. Sachs | June 27, 2022 | OtherNews The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden Administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the US wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the US, and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these US foreign policy debacles.
Maybe, but it didn't work and hasn't been shown to work. Threat of force can work sometimes. Sanctions, not so much. I'd rather not rely on a strategy that hasn't worked but perhaps, maybe can work with some tweaks.
“Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots, would fight a war on twelve fronts.” Londo Mollari
