War in Ukraine

China and Russia are using each other. China, though, has better long-term planning. But the problem with trying to foster an economic relationship with Russia is that the West tried it after the fall of the USDR, and Putin divorced the country from the West. He doesn’t want an economically strong and viable West. That has become the antithesis to his goals.

 

LOL, Russia specifically asked us for help, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the US specifically said never. Russia is just now getting around to saying never to the U.S.

 

That and Putin is a sworn enemy of the US. He has always despised the US and always will. Don't kid yourselves. China also is not stupid and is not likely to follow the same pattern the ussr did in losing the cold war.
Neither of them has the best interests of the US at heart.

 

Russia has actively sought to undermine our democracy and you want to be their buddies? WTF lol. They also really aren't a great trading partner for a lot of reasons.
Their economic strength is also poop compared to China - so how you think we should foster an economic relationship with a dying superpower who seems to be setting themselves on a war footing seems foolish to me.

China on the other hand is one of the most powerful economies on the planet. I do agree we need to find a better way to limit their influence, both at home and overseas, but it's too late to "isolate" China without making significant, and I mean huge significant changes around the world. Trump and his followers would first and foremost have to give up their stupid isolationist ideology, because that has probably hurt us more with China than anything.

But China is also a military super power - and if the US shows weakness to Russia, it will have ramifications on the US relationship with China, and others. That is one of the big reasons Russia matters, not just because of Ukraine specifically, although I think fundamentally the US has to stand up against this kind of aggression if they want to maintain a western liberal democratic world order.

 

If we don’t fight two wars we’ll all be speaking Russianese tomorrow!

 

So she’s, like, going to send members of Congress to join Ukrainian draft boards and help them bring in more soldiers from their own population? Weird amendment, but okay I’m all for it.

 

My nephew died of fentanyl mixed with coke so I don't need you talking to me about the dangers of it thank you. That fentanyl came in under djt watch, long before Biden started leaning on china and mexico to stop the flow of the precursor materials, which was long after he should have. That fentanyl isn't coming acropss the border in backpacks, it is coming across in trucks. That border bill that your orange god squashed had lots of help to increase inspections of those trucks but that isn't happening because the orange one wants as much chaos and damage as possible so he can blame someone.

imo, your postings have deteriorated significantly over the last few months as you continue down whatever wormhole you have fallen into. I hope you can find your way out as the value in your posts is reaching zero lately.

 

My 45 year old daughter died April 15th 2023 of a fentanyl overdose. It was a problem and still is a problem.

 

You've been reduced to a quivering mass of jelly, quoting Russian propaganda. Got it. "Fight Russia to the last Ukrainian" and if you support Ukraine, you must have "blood lust" for poking the Russian bear in the eye. Pure Russian propaganda for the weak-minded.

If you aren't mature enough to be invested in the fate of Europe, maybe you should try being mature enough to be invested in the financial fate of the U.S. When I estimated that we would spend an additional $2.55 trillion over the next decade dealing with the rise of Russia (thanks to American cowards and isolationists), that number is on the low side. That's what happened in the 1990's after Russia collapsed, WITHOUT China having a modern military, and WITHOUT the existence of a functioning alliance between Russia, China, and Iran. Those things will drive the price of national security even higher. All to save maybe $250 billion now, we may be blowing $4-5 trillion in the next decade. We have 3-4% inflation now, but with a decade of wild spending on defense, we could get that back up to 10+% in no time at all! We will be making the world a much more dangerous place by ignoring the marauding barbarians of the world (i.e., giving "peace"--and conquest--a chance). As events spin out of our control (starvation in Africa and the Middle East, rise of terrorist organizations, etc.), try to remember that you were told this would happen, but you weren't smart enough to listen.

Being honest and being intelligent are two different things. I have also been honest in my postings here. I just seem to have a clearer view of the past, present, and future than you do.

If you just want to play the propaganda game, I could say: "Just tragic that these poor Mexicans have but one life to give, to satiate your blood lust for poking the big bad brown vegetable-pickers in the eye."

 

Tell the real story. We helped. We invested. We even had military alliances. Putin slowly pushed it away, like all dictators do. He saw the opportunity to steal everything for himself, and he did so, constructing the corrupt oligarchy there.

 

I would say that China is more cautious. They have not won an actual fighting war in centuries. Russia's national mindset is built around them winning World War II. So much so, that many of their leaders have maintained the idea of invading other countries to restore the growing Russian empire, requiring a massive army with the latest weapons. Putin is the first since Stalin (and possibly Brezhnev) to act on those ideas in a massive way.

 

How many more hundreds of billions does Ukraine need to last a few more months ?

 

The Russian spies here in the US have code names as well - MTG and GOP. Unfortunately they are still lurking and planning against Democracy

 

Innocent tourists out sightseeing victimized by this witch hunt.

 

If Trump wins in November: the over/under on when he does a summit with Putin so he can kiss ass in person.

 

It’s Europe, not Russia, that’s spoiling for WWIII.

Ukraine’s frontline is collapsing – and Britain may soon be at war

 

In minutes or hours?

 

How idiotic! First of all, there is no chance that Russia will exhaust the U.S. because we send Ukraine fifty to a hundred billion a year in old weapons and new ammo. We could keep up that level of support for decades. We spend about $700-800 billion a year for national defense. Spending a tenth of that on support for Ukraine is no big deal. And guess what? Russia is ONE OF THE BIGGEST REASONS we spend that money. We defend the free world and international shipping from aggressor nations like Russia (and others). Weakening Russia militarily makes the free world safer. What kind of idiot doesn't want that?

We're "nurturing" Russia's relationship with China with a "War Pig" posture? Again, how idiotic! We didn't start the damn war. Putin is the War Pig, not us, and not the Europeans. We're simply doing what we can to help Ukraine survive, and weakening the War Pig, so Putin is less able to start wars in the future.

Why would we want to have an economic relationship with Russia? We don't need their oil. We don't need their weapons. We sure as hell don't want their cars or their airplanes. We know that, like any other paranoid dictatorship, Russia will funnel profits from all of their industries into weapons production to prepare for the next conquest. What kind of an idiot would want to support that regime?

Tell the Kremlin you need some new propaganda. The old propaganda isn't fooling anyone but a few clueless people.

 

In my opinion, you are correct that the PRC is the larger threat. But what if I could demonstrate to you that a strategic defeat of Russia would deter future Chinese aggression, which we both agree would be far more dangerous? Assuming I could satisfy you on that point, would you reconsider your calculus for how important it is to stop Russia now? Not trick questions. I truly feel in my heart that stopping this challenge to the rules-based international order is the most important national security issue we have faced in decades. And I want to know what it would take to help others see it.

 

chemgator-like denial of reality: