Do we even have a free trade deal with Ukraine? In any case the a-holes you speak of ruled Ukraine and much more up until the end of 1991. No such understanding you referenced has been in place for 75 years. To be totally fair, the actual understanding was that the a-holes would continue to hold influence over said areas, but that quickly eroded with time. Now it's on Putin's doorstep and he's not happy about it. Not justifying his actions, but there was no such understanding after WWII. Quite the contrary, in fact. Russia did, after all, help to defeat Hitler's Germany.
Are you suggesting that the U.S. would stretch their civilian defense employees over a body a of water and drive trucks over them? If so, do you have any pictures of this? If not, I am going to say no, civilian defense employees are not kind of like a bridge. My father was a civilian defense employee (computer programming), and he never once described being stretched out over a body of water so trucks could drive over him. I would assume that sort of use would leave a mark.
History has shown that you are not going to eliminate authoritarian regimes and entering into wars thinking that will be the case is futile although sometimes required especially when it is your goat getting gored. From a historical standpoint Vietnam was lost, Afghanistan returned to their previous ways, Iraq is no better off than when we left and Ukraine has been a basket case from day one. All of this has happened in my life time.
You only have to go back 2-3 pages to find our Comrade, defending all things Russian, and casting aspersions on the humanity and evolutionary lineage of the Ukrainians as well as all American policies in history.
So we should also abandon NATO? Would you have stayed out of WWII also and left Europe to face Hitler on their own? Little secret, Russia is running out of weapons much faster than the west is. And they don't possess the ability to produce any chips to produce any smart weapons that require any sort of guidance systems. Putin’s blunder means Moscow is running out of ammunition, says U.K. spy chief (yahoo.com) Months of crippling economic sanctions may be eroding Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine, with stockpiles of weapons, ammunition, and heavy ordnance like the cruise missiles that hit Kyiv Monday running low. In an address scheduled for Tuesday, the director of a U.K. intelligence agency best known for cracking Nazi Germany’s Enigma encryption machine says he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed “strategic errors in judgment” that have imposed a “staggering” cost in people and equipment. Diminished capabilities to wage war could shorten the conflict, now running for nearly eight months. “We know—and Russian commanders on the ground know—that their supplies and munitions are running out,” Sir Jeremy Fleming will say during an annual lecture at a U.K. security think tank, according to a speech provided in advance to Fortune.
German gas reserves are at 95% + capacity. And new LNG import facilities and pipelines are under development to remove the need for Russian gas going forward. Putin f'd up and has alienated their biggest customer who is unlikely to ever rely on Russian gas again. Kind of like a dealer giving the addicts too strong of stuff so the addict dies and there is nobody to take their place. Russia long term is screwed as they are losing their place as an energy exporter and what else do they ahve to generate cash? Their entire economy depends on selling oil and gas. Germany can’t hoard any more natural gas and that may be good news for global energy prices (msn.com) The country’s storage caverns, which equate to roughly three months of demand, are now nearly bursting. Capacity utilization runs just shy of the 95% target well before the government's self-imposed November 1st deadline. “It now looks as though the bloc will get through the coming winter with enough supplies – but only just -- buoyed up by the gas reserves it raced to accumulate over the summer,” said Deutsche Bank in a report on Tuesday. Together with other European Union member states' conservation efforts, the bloc appears to be as resilient as it can be for the colder months lying ahead. Overall storage levels for the European single market have already surpassed the EU's November target of 80%, according to official data. This should mitigate market pressures provided temperatures do not suddenly plummet, as Europe's demand has soaked up supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Algeria to Azerbaijan and everywhere in between.
News flash the same issues that Russia is facing we are dealing with as well. You mention chips where the hell are our chips? Much less the necessary materials to fabricate them. You mention weapons. Our stock piles are not being replenished any faster than Russia's are and the SPR is being drained. We all know this is a war of attrition as we play this out. Why? That is what our politicians and elites have chosen to do. Play the waiting game. It is also a war of energy shortages for the European community as well as the US. Any idea how much the US depends on the European industrial complex much less how much the US depends on the Chinese industrial complex? We are about to find out and it is much more than masks. Does this mean Russia suffers as well? Of course and the bitter end is about to materialize on a global scale.
Off topic a bit but do you folks realize what an irony Russias fighting spear - is named "Wagner" ??? Lmfao
I will agree that we need to onshore our own chip production. It is why Biden and the dems passed the CHIPS act. I assume that you support the CHIPS act to bring that capacity back to the US?? I will disagree that the west's capacity to restock our inventories is anywhere near as limited as Russia, not to mention that our stockpiles run much deeper and are much more effective than the Russian weapons. I will also disagree that this was a decision made by "elites". Supplying people with the means to protect themselves and their families from a tyrant intent on occupying their country and raping and killing their citizens is the ethical and moral thing to do and the western world is in agreement with that concept. Appeasement, which you seem to be so fond of, NEVER works. We will also disagree on the severity of the impacts. Russian economy is rapidly nearing collapse as hundreds of thousands of working age men flee, foreign investment disappears, replacement parts for airplanes and drilling are non-existent, etc. All the wealth accumulated and advances made in Russia over the last 20 years is rapidly disappearing. If this is a war of attrition, Russia is on the losing side, BIGLY so
The understanding gave Russia a portion of Berlin as well, perhaps that's Putin's next justified endeavor?
Your comment is not based in reality. You're just repeating the propaganda. Putin obviously isn't willing to go to war over control of Berlin or the Baltic states. He made his intentions on Ukraine clear a long time ago. This invasion shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's actually been paying attention. Ukraine has always been a red line for Moscow.
A chance for Tucker et all to put their money where their mouth is. Any maga states want to go be bosom buddies with pootie pie? (obviously this will never happen, just another in a long line of WTF)
Seems this is like Trump's break from reality: declassifying in his mind. There is zero reality where Putin can wish sovereign nations to be his regardless of his propaganda or long term desires. The reality is it doesn't work that way and thus he invaded to make it so. The actual lunacy of Putin's invasion was based on an underestimation of both the Ukraine and the West's resolve, then compounded by overestimation of the Russian military. It has therefore yielded a complete failure, that typically leads to a very bad outcome with respect to Putin's future.
Are you serious? They are next on his list after Moldova. You can casually assume that Russia couldn’t take the Baltics because of NATO, but fracturing NATO over the matter is exactly what Russia has in mind. They weren’t going to just walk in like they did in Ukraine. They would have used subterfuge like they did in 2008 and 2014 to support an uprising of “poor, oppressed Russians” living in the Baltics. The Baltics are an inextricable part of what Russia views as its natural empire, particularly with occupied East Prussia not connected to Russia by land. This is very basic “understand your enemy” stuff.
ummm...Russia agreed not to attack Ukraine and the west agreed to defend Ukraine if attacked when Ukraine agreed to give up their nuclear weapons Ukraine war: what is the Budapest Memorandum and why has Russia's invasion torn it up? (theconversation.com)
No, I’m saying that people like you hoist yourselves, by your own petards, when you attempt to justify civilian targets “for me, but not for thee.”
