I think (or at least, I hope) that there’s a big difference between the war in Ukraine falling off the headlines due to the public’s usual short attention span, and the attention and support of NATO and US leadership. It was either Biden or the Defense Secretary who recently said that the US “will move heaven and earth” to support Ukraine.
The military industrial complex will move to make sure that we continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. And, of course, to top off our stockpiles from which the weapons have been taken. Arsenal of democracy and all that.
So, in your opinion, what’s the appropriate alternative? ISTM that Russia is visiting a NAZI Germany blitzkrieg kind of horror upon Ukraine. In the interest of not supporting the “military industrial complex”, do we just stand by and let it happen?
Yeah, that really doesn’t seem like a good reason to not do it. In this case, it seems like that’s a good thing in every way.
The “west” knows that after Ukraine Russia has to go after Poland and direct conflict against NATO. They also know Russia’s conventional forces would be utterly outmatched and destroyed almost instantly. This is extremely scary because it leads to escalation, probably nuclear war. We are not all that interested in saving Ukraine, but we sure as hell want them to hold of the Russians as long as possible.
It’s just a jaded observation that for some folks, war is good for business. Not a judgement about whether the cause is just or not.
The land is so flat and barren that you could see a man walking from a half a mile. (binoculars)
Tanks must stand out even farther. I can see why casualties are high.
Putin’s new plan to win the war: send in the old men.
A bit concerned by the pushes Russia has been making. While Russia is taking big losses, so is Ukraine, and Russia has more troops. Germany, France, and Italy aren’t projecting the unity and strength that the UK or the US are. I’m not saying it’s likely, but I do fear an agreement with conceding land, once food and energy pain increase, followed by a renewed push once Russia regroups.
“specialisms”? Come on, Beeb, you are supposed to know English.
And the historical parallels continue. Next, he needs to conscript the young adolescents…
When various NATO countries started sending supplies to Urkaine, my wife asked me if I was eligible to be drafted. I’m 46, so I laughed and answered, “If they’re drafting my old ass then we’re in deep, deep trouble.” If Russia wants to bring in old men, they’re in deep, deep trouble.
It actually makes sense to open up the age bracket. The older men may already have the training to operate the tanks pulled out of storage.
Yes, I’m sure the extremely powerful military-industrial complex will get bored of making shit tons of money with no risk to American troops.
This is an unusually direct statement from ISW analysts. Its interesting ISW feels Severodonetsk is not a high value strategic target. Russia is needlessly expending a lot of resources and soldiers.
I guess that could eventually work to Ukraine’s advantage. Russia will come out of this with a weaker force and limited economic assets from Severodonetsk.
Have to see how it plays out.
Bolding is from ISW
Russia is getting close to the bottom of the barrel. It’s not there yet–the barrel is big. But the strategic outlook is getting worse and worse.
As others pointed out, if the United States was willing to spend trillions in Iraq and Afghanistan for military interventions, for 20 years, that were far less justified than helping out Ukraine, there’s no reason the US should bail out on Ukraine within less than a year, at a tiny fraction of the cost of Iraq/Afghanistan, for a war that is totally legit-justified for Ukraine and its western allies to wage.
Man, as that article basically states, if you lose your experienced trainers, you lose your ability to regenerate an army. That’s not the absolute bottom of the barrel, but if you scrape further it really will probably become an existential war for you. And remember, this is an invasion of choice. The only real danger to Russia is the one they present to themselves. Putin could come up with another silly lie and stop hollowing out his remaining military force at pretty much any time. He’s too stupid or too mad to stop himself at this point, and that kind of makes me shiver inside.
And yeah, @Velocity Ukraine is offering the deal of “You supply us weapons, and we will kill and die so Russia doesn’t decide they need to invade a NATO country next.” Whether or not the trillions spent in Afghanistan (maybe) or Iraq (almost certainly not) were worth it. Ukraine is offering us an amazing bargain. We’d be insane to not support them enough to at least push the Russians back to their borders and hammer them on their side of the border if the were dumb enough to build up on the borders of Ukraine again.
So, I’m pretty much thinking this is going to drag on long enough that Ukraine might as well get any systems they’re willing to receive, get trained on and maintain with the west’s support. At the very least, start supplying them with some generation of F-16. It’s not the best at anything, but it’s OK at most everything.
I don’t know if Ukraine unilaterally offered this, but it’s certainly what the West put on the table, and Ukraine has accepted, grudgingly or not. The ugliness of realpolitik laid bare.
Most of the older guys could probably benefit from losing weight, so they will get healthier from not being fed well. Those field rations that expired 10 years ago will be good for them.