Think of it this way. If the war were to end today, Ukraine would remain the most capable land warfare force in Europe and continue to arm itself better, with only Russia itself having more capability.
A force that’s capable of pushing the Russians back would imply air superiority and likely maneuver warfare capability, along with a demonstration of its ability to trounce Russia, who has nuclear weapons. Humiliated European countries often act out, sometimes quite dramatically.
Russia has already been humiliated and its fighting forces have been battered. Don’t forget, this is the deadliest battle since Stalingrad, playing out on a similar geographic scale.
I do not think Russia is foolish to perceive a threat from the West. Again, a map of NATO and US Allies military bases show the degree to which Russia is encircled, a bit less so now with the Biden’s handover of our bases and assets to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Part of what my hope is for the Trump Administration is to cull the power of the US deep state foreign policy apparatus, which has seemed rather intent on causing all kinds of chaos in the world over my lifetime and even before. Good diplomacy and a strong international posture should be all that Americans need to see to our interests.
It is my belief that our long-term goal was to bring Russia under our control, likely through a bunch of internal meddling, sparking civil war, the usual stuff that’s not a land invasion. I also believe Russia knows this very well.
Trump appears to be smashing that whole deep state apparatus to pieces right now, and I know of no Americans who have any desire for war. We just want to buy your Audis and sell everyone cheeseburgers, Marvel movies and refined petroleum products.
This would not be true. Ukraine was, is and will probably be much weaker militarily than Poland, Finland, UK or Germany.
This is exactly what Putin is claiming. I don’t buy it.
From an European point of view: we had pretty good relations even though we knew he’s a murdering dictator. There was a ton of trade between European countries and Russia. No European country had any interest of being aggressive or a threat towards Russia. It was when Russia invaded Ukraine the relations worsened.
So maybe US had some plans or maybe not, but Europe has not been a threat to Russia.
None of the nations you mention have ANYWHERE close to the actual combat experience of Ukraine. They have better air forces, but not enough to win air superiority against Russia on their own,
For not being a threat, NATO sure acts in a threatening way. Again, a map gives a good idea of this.
In geopolitics, saying is one thing, doing is another.
There’s a semantical difference here. NATO does not represent the will of the US. Individual nations have wanted to join the NATO.
Maybe Russia can think why everyone around it wants to join to a a defence union.
It might look as an aggression to Russia, but they’re misinterpreting it. Also, claiming that Soviet Union shouldn’t have collapsed and Eastern European countries should not had their independence doesn’t help.
Putin is old KGB, he wants Russia back to the USSR…that is his main goal
will he get there all depends on Europe, not the USA
He has stated this many times too.
Or maybe not USSR, but a Russian Empire. I’ve earlier mentioned panslavisms, imperialism and ruscism. If you look Putin’s actions through those ideologies it all looks very clear.
“It was a disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,” Putin said of the 1991 breakup, in comments aired on Sunday as part of a documentary film called “Russia. New History”, the RIA state news agency reported.
“We turned into a completely different country. And what had been built up over 1,000 years was largely lost,” said Putin, saying 25 million Russian people in newly independent countries suddenly found themselves cut off from Russia, part of what he called “a major humanitarian tragedy”.
Putin, who served in the Soviet-era KGB, has previously called the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was ruled from Moscow, as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, but his new comments show how he viewed it specifically as a setback for Russian power.
So after Ukraine there will be a new country which “threats Russia”. Maybe Moldova, or if NATO falls, the Baltics.
Are you sure about that?
What is prompting NATO members to meet or exceed the 2 percent mark, after years of not doing so while American men like my father volunteered to be the first to die if the Soviets pushed west? All while my extended family got to experience communism in Poland, which wasn’t actually REAL communism, if you ask a communist.
Europe enjoyed decades of subsidized continental defense, and the USA’s unelected state apparatus enjoyed the international leverage that came along with that. The whole thing is increasingly appearing to be just one element of the greatest scam in world history. The greed of this scam’s participants seems to be losing influence rapidly in the USA, but we’re just getting started on dismantling it.
In short, don’t expect more of the same from the USA. We are getting our house in order, and that’s going to come as a shock to the people who are used to plundering it.
I’m not suggesting we should treat Russia like we have treated Japan or Germany. They’ve never been at war with us, for starters. Grinding them into military, economic and political dust isn’t appealing to anyone, nor is overseeing the reconstruction of their nations into first-world economic powerhouses. The USA remains the only conqueror in history to show such grace.
If history is any indication, it will be many years before this Administration’s actions are well-understood in the broader scope of world history. It took Abraham Lincoln a long time before he was broadly regarded as one of our best presidents.
He was hated and despised in his own time. Other people we admire today, like Frederick Douglass, HATED Lincoln.
It depends on Russia and that’s why it will never happen. It’s a dysfunctional nation and society.
Is France not in Europe?
What makes you think that? One thing that Zelensky hinted at, which had some truth to it, is that no one knows what the future holds.
Just gave some examples.
I meant US does not have obligations of defending Ukraine, or democracy.
I personally think it would be wise for US for not allow authoritarian regimes get too strong globally. China and Russia might have a long term plan to separate US and Europe, weaken them and drop the US from it’s position of hegemony.
Growing up in this nation, you were always told we were the good guys. America was about truth and justice. You had Reagan talking about the Evil Empire and later we had the Axis of Evil. Maybe it was always bullshit but we didn’t admit it.
Zelenskyy met with Klobachar and a few other deep staters before his meeting with Trump… he showed up a half hour late and dressed like he is on the frontlines…. He is a cross dressing cocaine addled comedian who the Dems put into power after overthrowing the duly elected president of Ukraine… Trump wants him out of office… the Ukraine parliament began impeachment on Zelenskyy which is what Trump wanted before the meeting… Zelenskyy never was elected and stopped having elections because of the war … no war… no job… and most importantly no money.
I’ve had enough of this type of meddling. Ending it and focusing on MAGA will result in an enhanced USA whose capabilities will continue to outpace any potential adversary. China and Russia have severely retarded systems of government already, unlikely to be uprooted by any external forces.
It isn’t like supporting brutal dictators is something new to us. Chances are, we’d be living in a world where none of these countries even exist if we didn’t support Stalin. Reichskommisariates Ukraine, Ostland, Moscowien, Norwegien, and the Protectorate of Denmark would be secure parts of The Reich, and who knows what would have happened to Sweden and Finland.
Powerful dictators are a fact of life at all levels of society. My town has powerful dictators called drug dealers who, whether I like it or not, exert a tremendous level of influence on my neighbor’s lives and, seemingly, my local and state government.
Yeah. This is an interesting topic. Has there been a shift, or are we just speaking with real words now.
Rarely anything is black and white. Maybe US has been a defender of democracy and a calculative superpower simultaneously.
I think returning to pre world war isolationism is a crucial part of Trumps politics. I can appreciate isolationism as a political ism.
Unfortunately European countries don’t have this geopolitical luxure.
Sure, Putin is pleased with the Trump/Vance and Zelenski meeting outcome yesterday. But he is not laughing. He has absolutely nothing to laugh about. The bully has bit off more than he can chew.
Today’s Russia is a joke compared to the Soviet Union before its fall. All they have is a mutual annihilation card (since Trump likes talking about cards.) The bully country is not even a fraction of the threat of conquering neighboring countries that they were when the Soviet Union was whole.
No, Putin is not laughing, though he is pleased that the meeting outcome turned out much better for him than he believed possible.
I do understand that Putin’s neighbors have much more at risk than the USA. The religious crazies in the Middle East are a much greater threat to American lives than Russia.
For all of you who are alarmed at my take, maybe having lived through “hiding under your desk drills” that I grew with might have made an impact on your thought. We had three Navy bases in our city. We were definitely a targeted location. And don’t forget the Fallout Shelters that many citizens built where they lived in the 1960’s.
No, you do not.
We did this a couple of times early in elementary school in the mid 1980’s, but I don’t remember any past maybe 2nd or 3rd grade. The largest steel mills in the country were about 30 miles away, along with a lot of refineries and other heavy industry along Lake Michigan. If it went down, we’d be in the thick of it, and downwind from a lot of fallout.
My grandpa was going to build the shelter way back in the 1960’s or so, but grandma talked him out of it.
I agree.
It might be that since I’m not a cold war generation, so I don’t see nuclear war as a probable outcome. Even if Russia threatens with nukes at times, they aren’t willing to destroy everything (also themselves) easily.
This is why I call for unified Europe and international co-operation so eagerly. Scattered Europe and stronger Russia would lead to more war and deaths.
I would like to see US as a part of this co-operation, like it has been since 1941, but it’s your call. Like you have said, there is yet no sign of withdrawal of NATO for example.