Could be too late for Putin if Ukraine makes gains this summer. Yeah but I get his whole plan is to wait the West out and hope for the GOP to bail him out by pulling support.
Lots of folks are way past bailing out bad actors and getting involved in stupid wars that we really donât have any interest in.
I remember a couple that lived in the same general rural area as we did when i was growing up.
They ran a country grocery store and had 1 son an only child.
He was drafted into the army during Vietnam and came home in a wooden box. That coupleâs life was destroyed when you think about it.
Didnât bother the couch potato âwarriorsâ back then nor would more of the same now.
I say let the couch war mongers get off the couch and go fight themselves. Quit sending our young men and women for something THEY (the warmongers) support.
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Sometimes the interests of people in the US and people in North Korea, Iran, or Russia coincide. That should be looked at as a win-win not as a disqualification.
Personally I am not interested in becoming a radioactive cinder even that is the most efficient path to weaken Russia or North Korea or Iran.
What is in the interest of the neocons and their allies in Washington is frequently not in the interest of the American people. That is especially true when the corporate media are most actively pushing it.
Has anyone come up with a contingency if RUSSIA is the one that makes gains this spring and summer?
It could happen.
Remember that I have been pushing for talks all winter.
I grew up in a wealthy suburb of Washington. I never heard of anyone getting drafted or sent to Vietnam. That changed when I moved to central Pennsylvania. The sons of factory workers and farmers got sent to Vietnam. The sons of government officials and contractors in DC did not.
Ukrainian men are dying in large numbers for the same interests who sent Americans to die in Vietnam.
Here is a recent message I got through my church that describes the situation in western Ukraine:
There are six hundred thousand refugees in a region with only three hundred thousand residents. Our bishop . . .presides over three or four funerals each week of young men killed in combat, young men often with young wives and children. I donât think I could go on as a pastor if I had to do that . . .
âIâm told the game is going to be: this is NATO, we are supporting NATO in offensive operations against the Russians, which is not going to fool the world⌠Itâs us fighting Russia,ââSy Hersh
Neocons have no reverse gear. If Hershâs scenario seems unlikely, realize it is very similar to the justification used for NATO intervention in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Let us know when that happens.
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Any further funding bill should include a requirement that Blinken, Nuland, and Sulivan spend a few hours on the front lines in Bakhmut.
That would end the war very quickly.
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Well Russia has been in the midst of a massive offensive this Winter that has accomplished next to nothing. They have lost tens of thousands of lives with negligible gains. Its possible that Putin will call up hundreds of thousands for more meat grinder offensives but they look to be out of gas for right now.
The much likelier scenario is that Ukraine will be putting a lot of NATO weaponry and training to use to push Russia back from the land they invaded. The other main possibility is that the front line will remain with no real gains by Ukraine. We will have to wait and see.
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Even a RAT doesnât trust itself to one hole.
Just saying.
Expect the worstâŚHope for the best.
Not rooting against UkraineâŚjust like to map out all potential outcomes.
So stupid
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Worst case scenario right now is minor gains in the Ukrainian summer offensive thatâs coming up.
Best case is massive gains.
Both sides are exhausted but the Ukrainians will soon have the technical edge with Leopard II and Challenger II tanks in relatively large numbers. In addition to the newly incoming lightly used T-72 variants.
The Russians will struggle to counter the armored assault since Russian close air power seems to be mostly nonexistent otherwise they would have used it during their winter offensive and their antitank forces will be vulnerable to Ukrainian counter measures.
Everything does ride on the upcoming Ukrainian offensive though. They need to knock it out of the park to continue to receive extended support. Otherwise I see the West slackening support and pressuring the Ukrainian government to negotiate under whatever conditions the offensive leaves them in.
Basically itâs all or nothing now.
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So what I am hearing is that Putin got his photo op but did not get his wanted weapons commitment. Xi got more gas and oil at reduced prices. Is that about it?
Well Russia has been in the midst of a massive offensive this Winter that has accomplished next to nothing.
Or the western media has been hyperventilating again about failure of the Russians to follow the expectations of the so-called experts.
The reality has been that Russia has been conducting a highly successful war of attrition. Kyiv has been assisting the Russian effort by sending large numbers of barely trained conscripts to the front lines where they face deadly Russian artillery. The âluckyâ ones return home with a missing foot or hand.
According to Politico, âupwards of 100,000 Ukrainian forces have been killed or wounded in the year-long war, U.S. officials estimate, including the most experienced soldiers.â
Other sources are even higher:
How many Ukrainian soldiers have died is unknown, but one recent estimate wagers between 150,000-200,000 Ukrainians have been killed in action since the war began, while another estimates about 250,000.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-gathering-storm/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdwFmjiXkX4
About that.
Xi is fine with Putin distracting the West while watching Russia get increasingly impoverished and dependent on China. At the same time China will continue to cultivate parts of Asia, Africa and South America for their resources and support.
Yeah- ummm- has Russia actually conquered any of Ukraineâs land since last summer? Besides tiny pieces here and there?
I wonder where that whole eugenics thing originated, oh wait.
Land is of no real consequence. Once the Ukrainian Army is destroyed, Russia can take as much land as they want.
It took Grant almost a year to advance a few miles into Petersburg and Richmond. Once the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered, the resistance in the rest of the South quickly collapsed.
Conscripts? How can that be true, I was told this was the brave Ukrainians fighting for a cause they believe in, not people dragooned into war at the end of a rifle.
not even close
