Uft - couple of questions / points: What is the biggest asset the USA / NATO bring to Ukraine? I'm thinking it must be battlefield intelligence? Obviously hitting the Russians at force concentration or supply depot points is a huge Ukranian strategy. My assumption is they are successful at this due to Western Intelligence? I follow Denys every day whom does a detailed podcast of the war and the front lines. I recognize the front is rather long with different theaters of action. Recent develops suggest very modest Russian gains in the "center" theater. My personal opinion is that Putin and his generals are planning the typical Russian strategy, bludgeon the enemy with overwhelming force, which I expect the world will begin to see in Feb. or March 23. Question: Do you forsee the Ukranians being able to resist another huge offensive in 23 even with more advance Western defensive systems? A few dozen Western tanks and APC's and one Patriot battery do not seem sufficient to me.
I agree with you dan. Some argue that this conflict was inevitable. I don't see it that way. I do understand the issue is complex and much of what is happening today is influenced by many issues, some of which are deeply rooted in the past. The only point that I agree / concede to the pro Russian faction on this board is that Ukraine was beset with huge corruption and scandal issues. This of course applies to every nation on earth IMO, including the USA and it's NATO allies. I also realize that Russia losing it's hegemony over Ukraine when the Soviet Union broke apart was a bitter pill for the old communist regime and of course for Russians that support "Real-Politics". Of course the West could and should counter - Hey assholes, YOU LOST and the dissolution of the Soviet System and the break up of the many satellite countries formerly controlled by that bankrupt system is the PRICE for losing. I know in my minds eye, it's clear whom the aggressor nation is. It's capital is further East.
And you are way to intelligent to ignore the facts on the ground. We are not fighting WWII or rehashing WWII. We are discussing the decisions made after WWII with regards to NATO and how they affect the actions on the ground today.
Hundreds of years from now, historians may say that this is just a continuation of WWII (cold war included).
And you argue for more involvement stating oh my it's just a small number of Javelin anti-tank missiles? Don't kid yourself the US is doing much more than that.
We are now and have been providing significantly more aid since the Russian invasion; I was referring to the point in time prior to Putin's "special military operation" last February.
Indeed, just like WW2 was a continuation of WW1. Funny how the USA went from being Capatalist Pigs pre June 1941 to the great ally of the Soviet Union, until May 1945 when we became Capatalist Pigs again.
You're hitting on the most honest position of this war and why the US is involved. Natural resources that Europe and the US rely on. From my perspective Russia had been and continues supplying Europe and the west with all of the natural resources. This however becomes a threat in eyes of a hegemonic government and NATO. Ironic how NATO and the US now decides to back the most corrupt government of all Ukraine. Make no mistake Ukraine is no democracy.
I can't speak for Va but lets cut the B.S. You know, I know, and the board knows, that Russia and the former Soviet Union were, are and continue to be hostile and engaged in sometimes an open but more often in a concealed conflict for world hegemony. This of course has been further complicated by the emergence of China. You can talk your bullet points all you want but anybody with half a brain fully understood when the corrupt and downtroden Soviet economic system collapsed and multiple nations were removed from the Soviet umbrella that the West and NATO would capatalize on the Soviet collapse. This included the placement of Ukraine as a buffer state to Russian Federation aggression toward NATO. 8-24-1991 Ukraine was freed from the yoke of Soviet and Russian tyranny. And here we are! Your posts suggest umbrage about this fact and that Russia has historical claims to Ukraine that supercede the events of the last twenty two years. I disagree with you. Some see Putins Ukraine police action as the final defining event in what has become the totalitarian residue of a Soviet corpse that still stinks and holds sway over Russia. Putin will die, sooner or later. I suppose when his miserable life comes to an end you will throw your support to the next strongman that will come along to lie and cheat the citizens of Russia and to ask them to die for.............N O T H I N G.
So Pootey invades Georgia, Crimea among others…the west increases their posture to counteract the threat he clearly poses without doing anything offensive, not i innvtiting utlaine into NATO etc… and it’s Pootey who was backed into a corner? Fascinating view of geopolitical history.
I have reached the point of "lets quit F-in around" and get this over with. Arm Ukraine with the equipment and train about 5 - 6 armored divisions worth. Give then close to the best tech we got. Including air power. Sink that worthless ass black sea fleet. Call the bastards out - The only way to beat the bully is to kill the bully. I hear that casulty mountain is already at 100,000 for Putin. Make em bleed.........lets get some Russian mommas pissed off.
Ukraine’s elections?!?! So now we have to debate with Kari Lake and Steve Bannon. I note that you’re now retreating from your original post, which I responded, to wit: “And the US has always wanted to interfere in Ukraine with weapons and boots on the ground. This is unacceptable to Putin and there is no dispute about that.” So now you’re displeased about Ukrainian elections — because Russian elections are so wholesome — as opposed to the US stomping through Ukraine killing Russians. There’s lots of good faith debates about the US and NATO’s role in the conflict, virtually all of them, if not all of them, embedded in almost 14,000 post thread. However, Ukrainian election integrity is nonsense, IMO, as an excuse for a foreign power to roll tanks across the border and murder civilians and military targets alike. Should Poland roll tanks into Russia because her elections are notoriously compromised? Should Colombia roll tanks to Venezuela because it has no honest elections? Obviously the answer is , “no,” except as a pretext to go to war for an ulterior purpose.