51–60 of 317 posts
Well then, Congratulations Russia! You have just given the Swedish NATO-movement more support than they could have ever mustered themselves! I have always been very sceptical of NATO membership, but the last month I changed opinion.
At this point is there anything substantive any country could do at all that wouldn't irritate Russia? It seems as if the powers that be have become so utterly delicate that even something as innocuous as Sweden joining NATO is deemed to be advancing far beyond the "proper" limits.
I think the powers that be are the ones who are resisting intervening or even bearing their teeth ~ because in reality, they'd rather just go back to trading with or at least ignoring Russia.
So much so that they'd far sooner appear indecisive and capricious, avoid direct involvement, and have scope to return to the status quo (regardless of the blood being spilled) as quickly as possible, never mind what happens to Ukraine.
Doesn't the EU membership also include some sort of mutual defense agreement?
http://euromil.org/france-invoked-mutual-defence-clause-for-...
We kicked the can down the road with Ukraine and look where that landed Ukraine. 2008 and 2014 we gave in and allowed Russia to do what they wanted. 2022 and Western countries are allowing it again. Its despicable. I don't want war. I don't want to go to war. But when someone approaches you and says "I own you" you either fight back or give in to being owned. Ukraine is facing that decision now, and they're fighting back. We should be doing more to help Ukraine. Other countries will face the same fate eventually if we don't put a stop to it now. Our responses since 2008 have failed in the long term. We need to do something different.
I don't claim to have the right answer. I don't want to send our troops off to die. I don't want to get nuked or have to nuke anyone. But I honestly feel sick to my stomach right now over this. I know this isn't the only atrocity to occur without sufficient response from the Western world... but it's the one that's hit home for me for some reason.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seven hundred billion dollars a year and we can't even defend the weak unless it looks profitable on the balance sheet. Never have I been more ashamed to be American than I was yesterday.
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As I wrote in another thread today, current EU and US leaders are asleep at the wheel. We have a different dynamic. Talking about sanctions looks almost pathetic. The analogy here is, you live in a community and one of your neighbors just lost it completely and is shooting and shelling another neighbor. Not to raise the hostilities...you scream at him he wont be invited anymore for the Christmas party and you will co…
Seven hundred billion dollars a year and we can't even defend the weak unless it looks profitable on the balance sheet. Never have I been more ashamed to be American than I was yesterday.
It’s a damn shame what’s happening in Ukraine and I am certainly donating to relief efforts and rooting them on and feeling heartbroken watching the men go off to war but the idea we should put boots on the ground against Russia when our doctrine is still MAD seems nuts to me.
It's like Russia was expecting to be able to conduct the largest aggressive conventional military operation in Europe since WW2 and not completely flip the apple cart of the global order.
In terms of troops and materiel deployed in the first few days, how does this compare to (either) Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam or Korea?
But I agree with your skepticism, the world has unfortunately seen plenty of larger wars, mainly we've just had a short peaceful spell lately, and it's an unpleasant shock to stumble into another.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Would defending Ukraine with US soldiers be good for the US? Absolutely not. The best outcome for the US is if Ukraine turns into a Vietnam for Russia for the next couple decades, with high casualties for the Russians and high casualties among Ukrainian civilians to keep the whole world strongly against Russia. That doesn't make it right , though. The right thing to do is to help other people even when it doesn't ben…
As I wrote in another thread today, current EU and US leaders are asleep at the wheel. We have a different dynamic. Talking about sanctions looks almost pathetic. The analogy here is, you live in a community and one of your neighbors just lost it completely and is shooting and shelling another neighbor. Not to raise the hostilities...you scream at him he wont be invited anymore for the Christmas party and you will co…
Seven hundred billion dollars a year and we can't even defend the weak unless it looks profitable on the balance sheet. Never have I been more ashamed to be American than I was yesterday.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making triggering WW3 his only remaining choice does not sound like a good idea
No it doesn't, but at some point you have to consider the possibility that Putin isn't sane or rational in the way you would hope the person in charge of a major part of the world's nuclear arsenal would be. And if he is not sane, then it would be equally insane for the west to keep giving into his demands, given that we cannot then expect him to stop making them at any foreseeable point. No one "wants" WW3, much lik…
Given that the CIA predicted this back in 2008 I would image there would be no change to their assessment.