Ukraine pushes back in Bakhmut. You’d think with how awesome they are the Russians could actually someday sustain an advance here. Ukraine update: Russian forces around Bakhmut forced to surrender ground as assault falters
In the end the decision to make any concessions including ceding territory to Russia will be up to the government of Ukraine, not the US or NATO. That being said Russia occupied Crimea prior to the invasion in February and that Crimean peninsula and especially the port city of Sevastopol have been part of Russia for centuries going back to the reign of Catherine the Great. Ukrainians never constituted a majority of the population of Crimea and in every census since 1959, ethnic Russians have constituted at least 65% of the population of the Crimean peninsula.
I had missed this. Would be helpful for Ukraine Air Force which is amazingly still in the fight. What Joint Direct Attack Munitions Could Do For Ukraine | The Drive
Russia Suffering Crippling Loss in Ukraine Threatens World Order: Kissinger Yes, we would all be so much better off if mighty Russia could just conquer and plunder at will.
don’t think that’s what he’s saying. He is arguing that humiliating Russia could make a vacuum and make things worse not better. We have already degraded them, humiliating them isn’t in the worlds interests. Germany being humiliated in WW1 led to WW2. And Russia is chock full of nationalists and nuclear weapons that could all be in a free for all of their government collapses or the country fragments. I am not saying I fully agree with him, but it isn’t without merit. And given that he escaped from nazi Germany, it isn’t just academic for him. Nor is he someone that doesn’t understand conquest and evil.
I wonder how much an improvement a billion dollars worth of insulation would be to Ukraine's electricity problem. There has to be something that can be done to help the citizens of Ukraine resist the winter. If they have to light their houses with candles, then so be it.
I have some general concerns about the lack of off ramps in this conflict. 1. Russia has no clear military path to victory, and honestly, neither does Ukraine. In the unlikely event that Ukraine actually took back all the territory that Russia has claimed since the invasion, that wouldn't end the war. And even if Russia eventually took Kyiv, it wouldn't end the war. 2. This means that Russia's only legitimate path to victory is the complete destruction of the Ukrainian people. They have to destroy their will to fight and their ability to support their troops. They are going to do that by trying to freeze them to death, which is kind of horrific. 3. This is going to take a long time. I kind of question if the west can actually sit and watch the slow annihilation of the Ukrainian people without feeling compelled to get more involved. So to recap - neither side has a clear path to victory outside of a humanitarian disaster, and the longer it goes on the more likely the west is to increase their involvement. Just badness all around.
which is why I think he said that Ukraine should give up some of its territory and end this (for which is was pilloried). Again, I don’t wholly agree with him, but his position does solve many of the obstacles we face right now because as you said there aren’t any real ways to end this any time soon or cleanly.
If Russia demanded the return of Alaska, does he think we should just give it to them in the name of peace? And if the answer to that is no, then why we would we expect any other country to agree to such an arrogant demand?
Neither is instilling false hope through citing intel from the sources that brought us the Ghost of Kyiv.
More projection as it is the US, or at least the voices that hold sway have no off-ramp. I surmise that Putin will continue plodding, killing Kyiv nationalists, as many as it takes and for as long as it takes.
i try to find out what’s actually happening on the battlefield. I routinely post from a source that reports both Russian and Ukrainian advances. The fact that the contributors hate Russians is a bonus tho lol. But the data is good. They even post the stuff they don’t like. Just less gleefully.
