Have you ever heard about the city of Orsk? It is close to the Kazachstan border, where many fled to avoid conscription. It is under water now, heavy floods, dams broken.
It is a bad sign when the Kazach autorities manage a disaster better than your autorities, but that is what is happening now there. (Cite in German):
Last week, Wasili Kosupiza, the mayor of the city, was still relaxed when inspecting the dam. “There is no threat at the moment. People are not afraid that they could be flooded. This year’s flood is the first test of the dam’s strength”
I don’t know whether the mayor wore a suit stating “I really don’t care, do you?” but that is the spirit. Corruption, incompetence, callousness, indiference. Ukraine still has a chance.
Only somewhat related, but Serbia and France have announced a potential deal for France to sell Rafale warplanes to Serbia, which would be a huge break in traditional Serbian politics - the Serbs were long a Russian clientele and bought Russian arms. This could mark a big move by Serbia away from being a Russian ally and shifting towards the West instead, further isolating Russia just that little bit more.
At this moment, even if Congress suddenly approved the $60 billion aid bill tomorrow and Biden signed it at once, how fast is stuff even going to get to Ukraine?
I would suggest that the US stockpile up weapons and ammo on the Polish-Ukrainian border in advance right now, that way, once the bill passes and is signed, the stuff can move IMMEDIATELY into Ukraine.
P.S. U.S. foreign aid in 2022, and then again in 2023, was roughly four times higher to Ukraine than Israel. But the quality of the weapons supplied to Ukraine was lower.
This is something I’ve been arguing for a long time - that the way the United States and the international community tackle the issue of “nuclear proliferation” is absolutely ass-backwards.
Those who proliferate, are rewarded, and those who go nuke-free, are punished. And then the international community scratches its head as to why more and more nations want nukes.
I don’t think it’s a question of Ukraine’s status versus Israel’s: I think it’s a question of Russia’s versus Iran’s. Russia has nukes, and so we don’t want to escalate versus them, while Iran (probably) doesn’t yet, and even if they do, they (probably) can’t deliver them intercontinentally, so we’re not as worried about escalating versus them.
Exactly. IMO @Chronos has it forwards and the blog cited by @PhillyGuy has it completely backwards.
Plus of course, the longstanding supportive relationship between Israel and the USA as contrasted with the last 10 years of a closely supportive relationship by not quite half the US electorate and close to half of elected officials with … Russia.
It seems that they need missiles for the battery’s they have as much as they need new systems. In an interview Zelensky said a power plant was hit due to lack of missiles.
Another article on Russia crippling Ukraine’s energy grid. This could break support in Ukraine for the war. I know how miserable it is to lose power for even a week. Sitting in the dark with no heat is very depressing. At least I could install a whole house generator. That’s not practical in Ukraine.
The White House asked Ukraine not to target Russia’s oil infrastructure because it does not want rising oil prices, especially in an election year.
However the US has largely stopped contributing to the Ukrainian defensive effort so it has less influence on Ukraine’s strategy. And beyond that on what a future Ukraine might choose to look like (if it gets to make a choice).
Did they actually, or is that just speculation? Because a skilled politician could work that to their advantage. “Rising oil prices are due to the war in Ukraine, a war started by Trump’s unrequited love interest Putin.”
A politician would need an immense amount of skill to counter the negative sentiment that occurs when prices are actually rising and people have less money in their pocket.
You could argue that by targeting Russian oil refineries, Ukraine is actually putting Biden under pressure to get a grip on the situation somehow, or to find a way to send military aid without using Congress (I understand there are ways).
For a while, the U.S. was finding ways. But as far as I can gather, those ways are basically exhausted. From what I am read behind Claire Berlinski’s foreign policy paywall, it has been 481 days since the U.S. congress authorized funds, and, as a result, Ukraine is in grave danger (besides having already gotten the message that, if they survive, they need to rectify the mistake of giving up nuclear weapons). Directly relevant to the thread: Surely other neighboring nations, like Poland and the Baltic states, will start thinking the same.
If you have evidence that Biden can fix this unilaterally, please advise. But as of now, I think all the blame is on the unwillingness of most U.S. House of Representatives Republicans to stand up to the pro-Russian-expansionism members of their caucus.
As for being pro-Putin, you can’t get more pro-Putin and expansionist than this, in both the sentiment and the concrete action, and it is coming from someone who has strangely become one of the most powerful figures in the United States:
I think you are right. Biden it seems cannot do any more military drawdowns; the other thing I saw was the White House giving incentives to US defence contractors to partner with Ukraine. But that is probably very thin gruel indeed.
