Sweden joins the good guys! Turkey has agreed to back Sweden's NATO bid, alliance chief says | CNN Politics Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM, President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden’s accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly ASAP & ensure ratification. This is an historic step which makes all #NATO Allies stronger & safer,” Stoltenberg said in a tweet after a meeting in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
I used the math to illustrate a broader point, not to define an exact timeline. That said, you do realize most of Ukraine's successful counter advances occurred before Western machinery arrived in bulk? They are able to move much quicker now in theory, but they're not, because of how Russia has dug in on the front lines. The mine fields have neutralized one of the biggest advantages of having those Western assets. Ukraine is moving slower today than before the new equipment arrived. While it may be true Ukraine is only using <25% of its force to counterattack along the front lines, that's smart considering the situation on the ground. If they went all in, it would be a slaughter and the war would end very quickly in a way that is not in Ukraine's interests. Clearing mines doesn't mean much to me as it is time consuming, counterproductive and Russia will continue laying the mines. When you consider Ukraine have only regained 50 square miles of territory (that's using the Ukraine defense ministry's number), there hasn't been much clearing of anything. 50 square miles is roughly the size of Ocala proper. Except in this case, Ukraine have recaptured 50 square miles of mostly village, farmlands and territory they lost a few months ago near Bakhmut. The advance has slowed to a crawl, if you even want to call it an advance. Zelenskyy has all but admitted that in the past few days. There's no point in trying to make it seem more successful than it has been when Ukraine's commander-in-chief is telling you they are disappointed in how it's playing out.
Why would they need concessions? The operative question is what did Turkey get. I imagine continued/enhanced access to US weapons systems which he desperately want seen that Russian system are total crap
Not sure if it was on the table but I think Turkey was also making noises about wanting EU membership or partial membership.
they wanted EU membership or return of Turks in exile in Sweden and delegation of Turk group as terrorists if memory is correct.
Russia brought this on themselves and they have positioned themselves are an adversary. They took over Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, they had previously invaded Georgia, they were meddling in the US and other elections (which I understand is a feature not a bug for you) and they were fueling a western lean towards populist authoritarianism (again, a feature not a bug for you). They were murdering and poisoning people all over Europe. Russia chose to invade, and Ukraine chose to fight back. The US, along with Western Europe chose to support Ukraine against our adversary. It was in our best interests to do so. If left unchecked Putin continued pressure on Eastern European countries and continues to push western populist authoritarianism (yes, which you like). And if we stepped aside when China eventually invades Taiwan I 100% guarantee you that you would have been among those saying Biden caused it by letting Russia roll into Ukraine. By uniting behind Europe and supporting Ukraine, we have - Greatly diminished Russias power and standing in the world - unified Europe and got them to up their defense spending - helped to break German and European dependence on Russia natural gas - helped boost the US fossil fuel industry as a substitute. - Possibly cause China to think twice about invading Taiwan or anybody else.
Classic neo-con take. Were you here praising Trump when he was attempting to get Europe to up their defense spending and break their dependence on Russian gas? Interesting that you believe we needed a catastrophic war to achieve those ends.
So instead of addressing the specifics you call me a neocon and praise Trump? Did Trumps rants and scolding make any difference? Of course not. That’s not how diplomacy works and everybody thought he was an ass and idiot. It doesn’t matter that he was right in this instance - when you lie all the time and act like an idiot nobody listens to you. A neocon tends to support wars based mainly on ideological and moralistic objectives. I view our support for Ukraine as in our best interests. Sometimes doing what is in our best interest can actually ideologically appeasing also. I’m not sure how anybody concludes it is in our interest to let Russia March into Ukraine and threaten the rest of Eastern Europe.
So, in other words, war with hundreds of thousands of dead bodies is better than Trump being an "ass" for asking Europe to deliver on what they had already promised. Got it. Like so many of our previous neo-con adventures, this one will likely end up costing us more than it saves.
clearly you don’t got it lol because what you just said makes no sense. War is not better, but maybe you should be pissed at Russia for invading and not at the us for helping Ukraine. Just a thought.
Or perhaps you’re someone who simply can’t keep your emotions in check, which is why you think every American should be so pissed off at Russia that we want to send banned munitions to Ukraine so they can blow up a lot of their own people. Key words being Russia and Ukraine. ie two countries that we have very little direct dealings or trade with. You think war is so bad? Why do you want to stoke the flames in a foreign land that isn’t attacking us? (hint: the pro-Vietnam War doctrine isn’t going to convince me)
Ukraine wants to fight for their freedom and homeland. We aren’t forcing them. Who are we to stop them? So your position is that from a humanitarian perspective we should let Russia assimilate them? Bizarre.
Actually, we are. Ukraine has been looking towards NATO ascension for years and NATO (U.S. and U.K.) have told them "you want to join NATO? Well, then you'll need to handle this first." Otherwise, to your first point, great. Let them fight and defend their homeland. We stay out of it. Not our fight.
We spend a trillion a year on defense and we’re down to cluster munitions a tired and frazzled workforce and tranny officers …
isolationist gibberish. We don’t have direct dealings with Russia?! Lol ok. Also why in the hell do you keep posting about emotions? You may think you’re being cold and logical and emotionless but you aren’t. Cold maybe, but definitely not the other two. I’ve made clear my position, no reason to keep discussing it in what is supposed to be a war update thread. If you want to keep discussing the pros/cons of us involvement start your own thread. I’m done filling this one with useless arguments with you and won’t respond again unless it’s a war update.
