I don’t think it is and I think you’re running to some illogical conclusions about @Purple.
Russian responsibility for the latest Russian Invasion is obvious to me, but there’s a reason this is happening now. Call me a simpleton if you like, but the same dynamics that exist in a bar exist on the world stage. It’s all human behavior.
If you have a chump bouncer who everyone knows is a chump, people will start shit more often. If you have good bar security that everyone knows is good bar security, people seem to behave better. Russia is the guy in the bar with a mean scowl, bad tattoos, stories of past glory and no achievements of note in life. He will brag about the more impressive deeds his abusive father performed, like launching Sputnik, and then pick a fight with the first guy who seems like a good target to him.
That doesn’t mean this whole situation is on the present POTUS, but the man and his sidekick exude weakness and incompetence with every action they take and every word they speak. That’s bad for everyone in the bar.
I agree to an extent. Your observations are accurate.
But that does not relinquish Russia from their responsibilities for these atrocities. Nor was it an invitation to ramp up a fight he had already been in for many years, Let Alone give cause to start pointing at a profit motive.
Why does everybody have such a hard time with that?
Russia has pulled up tanks and blasted entire towns, villiages, and people in them to fucking pieces.
Of course Russias invasion wouldn’t have happened if Russia hadn’t invaded, lol.
The argument isn’t about whose fault it is.
It’s about if the powers that be in the US saw a benefit in this situation once it was clear Russia intended to invade, and decided not to push back that hard against it.
History gives plenty of reasons to raise eyebrows towards the motivations of our ruling class.
Back to the bar example, it’s always the asshole’s fault when assholes act like assholes. Everyone who’s met an asshole understands this.
It is also the responsibility of the bar owner to be aware of the increased risk of violent asshole behavior that is well-understood to coincide with operating a business that sells alcohol to be consumed on-site.
That’s why a bar owner who fails to provide a secure environment for humans to get drunk in can sometimes be considered culpable in creating the easily-predicted dangerous situation.
It’s still always the assholes fault, but Europe’s always been a big fucking dive bar with its share of belligerent assholes, as has most of the planet.
For anyone who wants to comment, here are the ways I see the war in Ukraine benefitting the US. Please refute any or all of them, I’d be happy to hear it.
The war cuts Europe off from economic cooperation with Russia and makes it more dependent on the US. In the long term, prevents an economically integrated Eurasia.
The arms industry booms as Europe cranks up military expenditure. Half of congress makes a killing on the stock market? I’m guessing about that last part.
Russia comes out weakened and can’t fuck around so much with US foreign policy in the Middle East and be a “disruptor.”
The Biden admin gets to blame some domestic problems on the war and on Russia.
Finland and Sweden might join NATO.
That’s just observations off the top of my head, don’t take it too seriously. This isn’t the United Nations, it’s Tnation.
In confrontations with Ukranian defenses they’re being routed.
Russia is also attacking civilians and unprotected towns/villiages, bombing, shelling and shooting them.
So, Ukranian forces are defending against Russian army as Russian Army attacks the entire population- women, children, sick, disabled, etc.
It seems confusing because its unusual in modern warfare for heavy artillery battalions to attack civilians, especially with such intention and ferocity.
Hence me posting a link for you upthread to the definition and history of the term “Total War”.
This whole thing has been a complete embarrassment for the Russian military. No doubt months of gathering intel, followed by a massive and obvious military build up at the border, and a month later Zelensky is still sitting in his palace blogging every day. No significant gains have been made, and now they’re just resorting to random shelling. Convoys getting destroyed out in the open, others getting stuck in mud or lacking supplies, vehicles repeatedly getting towed away by Ukrainian farmers with tractors, etc. It’s a big joke.
At the start of the Afghan war the Soviets raided the presidential palace and killed the president within 40 minutes while losing 20 men in the process. I thought with all the modern drones, nerve agents and hypersonic missiles that a decapitation strike against the Ukrainian government would be instant as soon as the war started, but Putin can’t even manage that. Maybe he’s playing some 4D chess game and wants all of this to happen, I don’t know. But this just looks like complete failure to me:
I hope someone knifes him, stops the war and apologises to the rest of the world. It would be the quickest way out of this mess. Not exactly an unprecedented event in Russian history either.
When your argument is that Biden/US has a financial interest in this jumping off as it did, but this conflict has much more history than just the previous couple of months.
Does Professor X still post here? I’d like to borrow his crayons. You need to work on your reading comprehension.
Still waiting for you to make any kind of intelligent observation.
Talking about how this benefits the other players geopolitically and who stands to profit does not reduce Russias culpability in any way. You’re trying to argue against something that’s not being said.
I’m not sure about the “gathering intel” part. They believed they were going to run over a bunch of khokhols in a matter of days, and in their Imperial mindset you don’t need any subterfuge for that.
Even with the Crimea operation they employed a lot more subterfuge, using cyber attacks and moving forces around discreetly (or at least, attempting to), with a lot more OPSEC.
Yet here they decide to just openly mass tanks at the border and then rush them in, 1940’s style, hoping for the best. I know Putin doesn’t care about losses, but if he wants to project strength he just did the complete opposite and showed the whole world that his military is woefully incompetent. Supposedly a $60bn+ annual military budget and they’re driving unsupported convoys through urban centres and getting picked apart by conscripts. I guess we know where all that money goes.
No. Im pointing out that your theory about Bidens inaction due to a money motive is off by 7 years of Russian agression.
Spot it ya got it, ne-ne-ne na na!
And There are plenty of arms suppliers and manufacturers throughout the world. Not just the US. The other countries could always deal with norinco for small arms, or even manufacture their own.
Turns out it’s really difficult to target only enemy combatants amongst a hostile civilian populace. But it’s fairly easy to just spray n’ pray until everything including enemy combatants are destroyed.
Its like a lawn. You can try to spot treat weeds, and keep the lawn looking good but it’s a lot of ongoing effort and special weed targeting chemicals are needed.
But if you really hate weeds, and don’t care about the lawn you just spray roundup on all of it and be done with weeds. Russia is spraying roundup on it all and looking to start the lawn over.
Spot it ya got it, ne-ne-ne na na!