Voluntarily limiting Russia's special operation was done for the right reasons related to humanitarian and political goals, but it unwittingly prevented the military success of this campaign upon which those two aforementioned objectives’ success is dependent, thus making last weekend’s outcome inevitable.
All Andrew/Russia/Putin's views on this depend on the idea that it's only the US and Russia that have legitimate interests here. The rest of Europe and Ukraine itself has a say in all this. They live next to a country with lots of nuclear bombs and can quite reasonably want to defend against this. There's also the possibility of Iran getting nuclear weapons and they can quite reasonably want to defend against that. Ukraine is their neighbour too and it's quite reasonable for them to form whatever alliances they want with each other.
If Russia respects the borders as they've been since the USSR fell, and doesn't bother anyone, no one will bother Russia. In fact, other countries have bent over backwards to accommodate Russia - pipelines making them reliant on Ru gas is not something you build to a country you plan to attack. They could become a prosperous, sensible nation and get along with everyone.
The funny thing is, Western people generally like and feel warmly towards Russian people. At least before this debacle....
I think it's also worth noting that here that Western Europe as a bloc is massively bigger than Russia in terms of population, GDP and GDP per head and is far more technologically advanced. If the US weren't involved it would spend more on defence, particularly nuclear deterrence... Russia is struggling with Ukraine, how do you. think it would do against Poland? Let alone Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
Put simply, Russia is demanding to a more powerful neighbour that it be given special treatment because it has nuclear weapons and just might be insane enough to use them.
So, the Kharkov Feint brings us one major step closer to a general war.
Putn won't get the kind of victory he wanted but Joe Biden won't get the kind of war he can win with lots of money, HIMARS, satellites and drones, either.
IN fact, Joe is $31 trilion in debt, inflation has doubled our cost of living and most of America is way below A1 if Joe could evern get anybody worth training to enlist.
Joe is probably counting our oh, so loyal Afghan Interpreters and Illegal Immirants-maybe a service-for-citizenship deal?
Ha! Oh, yeah! That's just what they all came to America for, as wellas Europe.
I think PUtin was trying to avoid all this but we can look forward to a world ruled by China, I guess.
Except Ukrainian forces have been almost literally decimated by Russians. That's not likely to change. You seem happy that the US is willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers for America's selfish geopolitical objectives. What a strange person you are.
Except Ukrainian forces have *not* been almost decimated by the russians. If that were true, the russians wouldn't be running.
Again, why are russians and their sycophants so incompetent at getting their lies straight? LOL!
When you speak of "selfish geopolitical objectives", you're projecting russia's own thinking onto the U.S. This war was started by Vlad Pootie against an independent and sovereign Ukraine that refused to bow before Moscow. Pootie couldn't stand that, so he launched his war against Ukraine thinking he'd conquer Kyiv in a few days. The Ukrainians outwitted the rooskies and now the rooskies are foaming and gnashing their teeth.
You seem happy that russia is willing to sacrifice thousands upon thousands of russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians for Pootie's selfish geopolitical objectives. What a strange russified person you are.
Dude, if you're going to try and engage on this topic, it would be much better if you made an effort to be objective about it. You're talking like a child. You clearly have no understanding about the geopolitical context in which this conflict is occurring, so I'm not inclined to even discuss it with you.
A lot of people on Russia's side of the debate think everyone else is just misinformed about the "geopolitical context" and if they knew they'd see that Russia was right. That's simply not the case. A lot of people don't know much about it, sure, but plenty do and they just disagree that Russia has any reasonable excuse for what it's doing.
Well, it would help if you showed at least some awareness of the actual geopolitical context. If you understood it, you simply could not, reasonably, disagree with Russia's position. No reasonable person could or would.
Lots of very well informed people think Russia's wrong here. The idea that everyone who disagrees with you is misinformed or unreasonable is, well, generally unreasonable, and almost certainly so for something as complex as this.
To be clear, I don't think I'm very well informed, but reasonably so. To hopefully show some awareness.... I've read a fair bit on what was agreed at different stages following the break up of the USSR, including the minutes from the "not one inch" meeting. I'm aware of how nato expansion has gone. I know that the US reneged on a nuclear deterrence treaty. I've read/watched "realist" arguments of, eg, Mearsheimer. I understand that there are neo-nazi elements in Ukraine's army. I'm aware of euromaidan and fighting since 2014. I work with people from Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic states including Russian speakers from Ukraine and the Baltics.
Dude, you're employing yet another typical tactic used by russians and their sycophants.
You made a bunch of statements that are contrary to the facts on the ground that have been acknowledged by all sides.
You're unable to discuss the issue effectively with someone like me precisely because I *do* understand exactly what the geopolitical context of this conflict is. To save face, you project your own inabilities onto me and then you turn tail and run,... like the russians in Ukraine :D.
I'm not employing any "tactic". I'm simply stating that your childish take on it strongly suggests that you have a very limited understanding of the real global and geopolitical context in which this conflict is taking place.
Sweetie, I'm just speaking to your level. You tried to make several claims that are completely contrary to the reality on the ground as acknowledged by the rooskies and the Ukrainians and third party observers. I presented a rebuttal that you were unable to counter, so you're doing what russians and their sycophants usually do when they are unable to mount a counter-argument.
If you have a counter-argument to make, then make it. If I have no understanding of the geopolitical context in which this is taking place, then it should be a cakewalk for you to issue a rebuttal.
All Andrew/Russia/Putin's views on this depend on the idea that it's only the US and Russia that have legitimate interests here. The rest of Europe and Ukraine itself has a say in all this. They live next to a country with lots of nuclear bombs and can quite reasonably want to defend against this. There's also the possibility of Iran getting nuclear weapons and they can quite reasonably want to defend against that. Ukraine is their neighbour too and it's quite reasonable for them to form whatever alliances they want with each other.
If Russia respects the borders as they've been since the USSR fell, and doesn't bother anyone, no one will bother Russia. In fact, other countries have bent over backwards to accommodate Russia - pipelines making them reliant on Ru gas is not something you build to a country you plan to attack. They could become a prosperous, sensible nation and get along with everyone.
The funny thing is, Western people generally like and feel warmly towards Russian people. At least before this debacle....
I think it's also worth noting that here that Western Europe as a bloc is massively bigger than Russia in terms of population, GDP and GDP per head and is far more technologically advanced. If the US weren't involved it would spend more on defence, particularly nuclear deterrence... Russia is struggling with Ukraine, how do you. think it would do against Poland? Let alone Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
Put simply, Russia is demanding to a more powerful neighbour that it be given special treatment because it has nuclear weapons and just might be insane enough to use them.
That's most likely coming.
So, the Kharkov Feint brings us one major step closer to a general war.
Putn won't get the kind of victory he wanted but Joe Biden won't get the kind of war he can win with lots of money, HIMARS, satellites and drones, either.
IN fact, Joe is $31 trilion in debt, inflation has doubled our cost of living and most of America is way below A1 if Joe could evern get anybody worth training to enlist.
Joe is probably counting our oh, so loyal Afghan Interpreters and Illegal Immirants-maybe a service-for-citizenship deal?
Ha! Oh, yeah! That's just what they all came to America for, as wellas Europe.
I think PUtin was trying to avoid all this but we can look forward to a world ruled by China, I guess.
If russia increases this into a larger war, it's just going to mean more russians for us to kill.
That's a good thing :).
Except Ukrainian forces have been almost literally decimated by Russians. That's not likely to change. You seem happy that the US is willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers for America's selfish geopolitical objectives. What a strange person you are.
Except Ukrainian forces have *not* been almost decimated by the russians. If that were true, the russians wouldn't be running.
Again, why are russians and their sycophants so incompetent at getting their lies straight? LOL!
When you speak of "selfish geopolitical objectives", you're projecting russia's own thinking onto the U.S. This war was started by Vlad Pootie against an independent and sovereign Ukraine that refused to bow before Moscow. Pootie couldn't stand that, so he launched his war against Ukraine thinking he'd conquer Kyiv in a few days. The Ukrainians outwitted the rooskies and now the rooskies are foaming and gnashing their teeth.
You seem happy that russia is willing to sacrifice thousands upon thousands of russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians for Pootie's selfish geopolitical objectives. What a strange russified person you are.
Dude, if you're going to try and engage on this topic, it would be much better if you made an effort to be objective about it. You're talking like a child. You clearly have no understanding about the geopolitical context in which this conflict is occurring, so I'm not inclined to even discuss it with you.
A lot of people on Russia's side of the debate think everyone else is just misinformed about the "geopolitical context" and if they knew they'd see that Russia was right. That's simply not the case. A lot of people don't know much about it, sure, but plenty do and they just disagree that Russia has any reasonable excuse for what it's doing.
Well, it would help if you showed at least some awareness of the actual geopolitical context. If you understood it, you simply could not, reasonably, disagree with Russia's position. No reasonable person could or would.
Lots of very well informed people think Russia's wrong here. The idea that everyone who disagrees with you is misinformed or unreasonable is, well, generally unreasonable, and almost certainly so for something as complex as this.
To be clear, I don't think I'm very well informed, but reasonably so. To hopefully show some awareness.... I've read a fair bit on what was agreed at different stages following the break up of the USSR, including the minutes from the "not one inch" meeting. I'm aware of how nato expansion has gone. I know that the US reneged on a nuclear deterrence treaty. I've read/watched "realist" arguments of, eg, Mearsheimer. I understand that there are neo-nazi elements in Ukraine's army. I'm aware of euromaidan and fighting since 2014. I work with people from Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic states including Russian speakers from Ukraine and the Baltics.
Dude, you're employing yet another typical tactic used by russians and their sycophants.
You made a bunch of statements that are contrary to the facts on the ground that have been acknowledged by all sides.
You're unable to discuss the issue effectively with someone like me precisely because I *do* understand exactly what the geopolitical context of this conflict is. To save face, you project your own inabilities onto me and then you turn tail and run,... like the russians in Ukraine :D.
I'm not employing any "tactic". I'm simply stating that your childish take on it strongly suggests that you have a very limited understanding of the real global and geopolitical context in which this conflict is taking place.
Sweetie, I'm just speaking to your level. You tried to make several claims that are completely contrary to the reality on the ground as acknowledged by the rooskies and the Ukrainians and third party observers. I presented a rebuttal that you were unable to counter, so you're doing what russians and their sycophants usually do when they are unable to mount a counter-argument.
If you have a counter-argument to make, then make it. If I have no understanding of the geopolitical context in which this is taking place, then it should be a cakewalk for you to issue a rebuttal.