They go “Yeah, but” to the other. It is a function of an unwarranted and unhinged hatred of a people, Russians, that are white enough to hate and still be politically correct.
Sparks, Russia raised their interest rates to 20% when the invasion first began. Oil is also at a near 6-month high. Stop binging on the propaganda. Going to be pretty difficult to shut down the Russian economy when China and India are their main trading partners.
If Ukraine wins the war, which seems most likely, expect the cost of U.S. defense to DECREASE, possibly by as much as half. It happened after the last Russian (Soviet) military defeat and economic collapse. From 1987 to 1999, U.S. defense spending was decreased from 6.4% of GDP to 3.1% of GDP. Ukraine is showing no signs of giving up, and Russia is running out of money and ammo. U.S. Military Spending/Defense Budget 1960-2023
Doubtful with the rise of China. To be fair I think we are running out of ammo too. I don’t see how Ukraine wins outright. The only way I see that is either Putin falls, and the follower decides to exit (doubtful) or they just give up like Afghanistan, which seems doubtful.
Trump will hand Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter after he wins a plurality with 38% of the vote. The remaining 62% of the vote will be split between RFK Jr, Joe Manchin, John Durham and a Jill Stein like throw away candidate.
Russia is the more imminent enemy, but China is the more dangerous one. America cannot afford to let her guard down.
“If Ukraine wins the war.” It will be because a million flying pigs with air-launched HIMARS are injected into theatre.
I think both are dangerous. Russia because they are no longer rational actors and China because I think their economy is collapsing before our eyes. Change is good but it also is dangerous.
I have consistently argued that the U.S. can no longer contain Russia, let alone China. And this would augur well for America IF America was resigned to sharing power in the world. Which of course it isn’t.
Russia's economy is not designed for debt, like ours is. No one invests in rubles because it's a safer currency than what they have. And the bottom line is that Putin is running out of money to spend on the war. Most businesses fail because they run out of cash, not because they have too much debt. Governments aren't too much difference, except they can print money, which comes with its own set of problems. Russia's two main sources of income have been severely damaged by the war and the sanctions. Putin is limited to $60/bbl on his oil, and he can't sell his weapons systems to other countries (because he needs them, for one, and because no one wants them anymore). Russia has a tiny economy to begin with (for the size of the country and the population, before Putin cleared them out), and Putin has given himself just enough rope to hang himself with.
We've hardly done anything to "contain" Russia. We gave a few outdated weapons systems to Ukraine, and some advice. And that's it. Biden believes that this will be enough. Ukraine's fight is not an existential fight for the U.S., but it is a great opportunity to punish and possibly defeat the evil Marauders of Moscow. It is the equivalent of boxing a really weak opponent (Russia) with one hand while sitting down and playing cards with another opponent (that would be China), without taking your eyes off the card game.
Trump emboldened Putin and invited him to invade Ukraine whenever he feels it's convenient. It is not Putin's fault that Trump told him he was still president when he called him on February 28th, 2022.
We’d get waxed in Ukraine. We know we’d get waxed. It’s why we’re not there, even at this dire juncture.
Bad news for Russia. Ukraine has developed teleportation technology, and has demonstrated it by relocating a Tesla Model X from the New Jersey to a location just south of Kiev. A man's Tesla was totaled, and some time later, the car started sending him notifications from Ukraine. Ukraine has not stated whether they have the ability to teleport anything as large as an F-16 as of this time. The teleportation process is suspected of causing poor taste in music. Man Puzzled When His Totaled Tesla Comes Back Online in Ukraine
Russia is terrified of the U.S. military, especially after seeing Ukraine dominate his forces with a fraction of the people and 40-year-old U.S. technology. That's why he gets his lapdog, Medvedev, or Off-his-meds, or whatever his name is, to threaten the west with nuclear weapons. We could probably defeat Russia with just air power and Ukrainian soldiers on the ground within 2-3 months. If you don't understand why the U.S. military is not fighting in Ukraine by this point in the war, then you are totally hopeless.
