Russia sent a formal diplomatic note to the US this week calling on Washington and NATO to stop arming Ukraine. The note, which was obtained by The Washington Post, said the Western campaign to pour weapons into Ukraine was “adding fuel” to the conflict and could lead to “unpredictable consequences.”
The diplomatic note was sent Tuesday, when news broke of a new massive US military aid package for Ukraine. President Biden announced the new aid on Wednesday, which is worth $800 million and includes howitzers for the first time. The package also includes helicopters, armed Switchblade drones, coastal defense drones, armored vehicles, radar systems, and thousands of Stinger and Javelin missiles.
The Russian note was sent to the State Department by the Russian Embassy in Washington. It said the US and its NATO allies were ignoring “rigorous principles” on the transfer of weapons into the conflict zone and said the Western powers are oblivious to “the threat of high-precision weapons falling into the hands of radical nationalists, extremists and bandit forces in Ukraine.”
The Russians accused NATO of pressuring Ukraine to “abandon” peace talks with Moscow “in order to continue the bloodshed.” The US and most of its NATO allies have shown little interest in supporting the negotiations between the warring sides. The Western powers are signaling that they don’t want Kyiv to make any concessions to Moscow.
The Post reported last week that for some NATO members “it’s better for the Ukrainians to keep fighting, and dying, than to achieve a peace that comes too early or at too high a cost to Kyiv and the rest of Europe.”
The formal Russian protest of the US arming Ukraine could be a precursor to Russia launching airstrikes on weapons shipments in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that Moscow would view US or NATO vehicles transporting arms inside Ukraine as “legitimate military targets.”
It’s not clear if any US or NATO vehicles have actually brought weapons into Ukraine since Russia invaded. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has said that Ukrainian troops bring the weapons into Ukraine after the US brings them to Eastern Europe. So far, there haven’t been reports of Russia targeting weapons shipments as they enter Ukraine, but Moscow has hit weapons depots. Earlier this week, Russia said it destroyed an S-300 missile defense system in Ukraine that was provided by a European country.
Russia’s protest highlights the danger of the US-led campaign to pour weapons into Ukraine and the risk of provoking Moscow. On top of arming the Ukrainians, the US is also providing them with intelligence for attacks on Russian forces. The huge amount of support raises questions about at what point Russia would consider the US a co-belligerent in the war.
Nothing good is happening. Pray For peace! Happy Easter!
WORLD PEACE & PERSONAL PEACE! Happy Easter!
People, I assume, have been praying. And you are right, nothing good is happening. Maybe we should face reality and either there is no god, or he is a sadistic prick.
The crucified god is a pretty good symbol for contemporary man. With Jesus it was Rome, for today’s Everyman, Washington.
Wru:
Prayer is a place where people come together to declare their wishes and hopes, whether Jews, Christians, Muslims….For peace.
All well and good. And yet there is never peace. Maybe because there is no god. I didn’t say praying was bad or wrong, just a waste of time. I should be allowed to voice my opinion if the concept of god keeps getting crammed down my throat.
Agreed, Wars. If there was a “god”, why would he/she make this world such a miserable place to live while proclaiming unconditional love for all?
As a Pagan, my deity is the Goddess that is personified in Nature. Nature will always be more powerful than humankind and can be construed as both malevolent and benevolent.
I think god is unknowable. I couldn’t believe in the unknowable no matter how hard I tried so I gave up trying. If that means I rot in hell then at least I know I was right and god is indeed a sadistic prick.
What would America do if Russia was arming a country near our boarder?
We already went through that with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the naval blockade of Cuba.
Eggsactly!
Har! 😁
:-}
that was a very long time ago. i think that today’s uncle sam would start throwing blows in every direction.
John McCain never left Washington, his spirit roams the halls of D.C.
The spirit of NECON RAT RINO snakes.
Are we anti-war or are we anti-USA?
Are preemptive wars by other imperialist powers (like Russia) good?
Are the only bad wars the ones fought by the USA?
There are very few justified wars. Putin’s war against Ukraine is not one of them. Russia has legitimate security concerns about NATO expansion. But Russia’s security is not our concern. I am against NATO and US/NATO imperialism. But Russia’s war is only making NATO and the Ukrainian Nazis stronger*. Russia needs to address its legitimate security concerns without invading a country that Russia has a sordid history of subjugating and oppressing.
* It needs to be reiterated that most Ukrainians are not Nazis. They are mostly just people who want to live their lives in peace, but who want to defend their homeland from foreign invaders.
I agree Ukrainians aren’t all Nazis but the idea that there’s only a few Nazis undermined by what we have seen. Russia should not have invaded but NATO should have not expanded and surrounded Russia.
I agree that US and NATO deliberately instigated the war and that NATO expansion is the root cause. Likewise, the Versailles Treaty was the root cause of the anger that brought the Nazis to power in Germany. Hitler claimed the persecution of Germans in Silesia justified the invasion of Poland. It backfired catastrophically. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the same kind of miscalculation. It will only unite all Ukrainians against Russia and make the Nazis national resistance heroes.
What Putin should have done to keep Ukraine out of NATO? China is Ukraine’s leading trade partner. Putin could have worked with China to use its economic influence with Ukraine to make Ukrainian neutrality a condition for economic cooperation. China’s EuroAsian railroad will bypass Ukraine. China could have located a trunk line through Ukraine and China and Russia could have both offered Ukraine most favored nation status in return for a treaty of neutrality with a Chinese commitment to sanctioning Ukraine if it refused. Putin also should have supported an indigenous anti-Nazi and anti-coup political movement and a resistance. Millions of Ukrainians hate the Nazis and don’t support EuroMaidan.
Two of my grand parents were Ruthenian Catholics and I have Russian Orthodox aunts, uncles and cousins. All the eligible men in my family fought the Nazis in WWII and our family would do so again. But Ukrainians hate the Russians worse than the Nazis. The other side of my family is Irish and Czech. Ukrainians and Russians are like Irish and the English. And the IRA came close to siding with the Germans in WWII. Our families preserve the memories of what the Russians and the Cossacks did to our people for centuries. And most of the Russian speaking Ukrainians resent Russian imperialism like the English speaking Irish hate British imperialism.
Finally, the Nazi movement in Ukraine does not threaten Russia or world peace the way Nazi Germany did. The Nazis were a threat because Germany was a world power. Without Germany the Nazis in Hungary and the fascists in Spain oppressed their own people, but did not have the capacity to threaten other countries. I am against the Nazis in Ukraine. But Ukraine is not a strategic threat to any other country. The main threat to peace in the world is the US.
As for Russia, it is a declining power. It’s birthrate and its GDP/PPP are declining. The collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the expansion of NATO from 16 to 30 nations poses a strategic threat to Russia that would only be marginally increased if Ukraine aligned with NATO. Russia’s best future is an alliance with China. But the alliance would have to be on China’s terms and on China’s time line. China’s plans are very long range. The Belt and Road project is being planned into the 22nd century. China’s plans depends on peace. That is why they have not forced the questions of Taiwan or Hong Kong. Time is on China’s side and Russia would be better off working in China’s time frame then trying to force China to confront the G7 before China is ready.
If the Russians want to de-Nazify Ukraine, they should withdraw except for Crimea and stop making the Azov Brigade national heroes. That was how Israel turned Hezbollah from a sectarian group to the most powerful political force in Lebanon. Think Blowback.
Yes, except for Crimea; a little detail. If Crimea were not the only Russian base to the Atlantic, I doubt we would have this war.
For all we know, Ukraine was probably preparing to take back Crimea. The arming of Ukraine started slowly and was in crescendo with Trump, then with Congress just before Russia decided to attack.
The so called “strategic blunder” of which many criticize Putin was probably the least poisonous of the poisons that he had to choose from.
Ukraine was deliberately and steadily collaborating more and more with NATO . They participated in the attack on Iraq and the invasion of Afghanistan, they allowed bio-labs in Ukraine and NATO had an office in Kiev (which they abandoned once the 1st tank crossed the border). For all practical purposes it was a NATO member minus the Article 5 guarantee. That would never come because Ukraine’s purpose was to be used as a proxy just as they are being used now.
Zelensky is still dreaming that he is fighting to prove himself to NATO and has not yet realized that he is being used at the cost of thousands of lives.
Zelenskyy is leading a resistance that has been beating the Russian invaders. eventually they will drive the Russians outof the Ukraine, even if it takes a generation.
But Ukraine lacks the military capacity to take back Crimea. It would be a disaster if they tried. Crimeans are mostly Russians and would vote to be with Russia in any plebicite. Crimea is not really part of Ukraine. Separate history.
Twitler
is a plebicite
Well said, Marti!—-particularly your observation that the Ukes sent troops to Iraq. Ain’t Karma a bitch?
or,.. they can level it and blow them all back into NATO.
” OUR SACRED AGREEMENT” pres joey blowey
HMM.
” Sacred “¿
Joey going to break his sacred agreement and Betray it?
Since WHEN is defending the fascism that is breaking out globally a “Sacred ” thing?
Is THE HEAD, THE CHIEF, THE ROSH OF NATO going to betray a sacred covenant?
I’ll bet a deep fried doughnut he will.
2 kitty
out FCC
since the coup in 2014 14,000 russians have been killed
in the donbas region by the constant shelling by the
ukraine military, they had to be stopped
You are neither.
You are missing the elephant in the room.
It is called missile crisis. And Ukraine has been poking and probing Russian border, gathering forces to push Donbas population out to Russia. Shelling the region for eight ears, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure.
Nazii groups running the country with a good cover of a president, with NATO runnIng lose all over Ukraine. Biolabs with — in Pentagon words, “not offensive biowespons”.
The membership issue was purely academic.
But Ukraine — while accute, is not the only issue. Missile launchers are in Romania and Poland. With more coming.
So, US can intervene 5,000 miles away from
home claiming the presence of WMD. None found — and no appology. Can waddle into Syria — for no reason whatsoever.
Here again, thousands of miles away from US homeland,
US is raising donations to pour weapons into the warzone, having no intention to remove launchers away from Russia’s vicinity. Russia has bern endangered through NATO expansion and pleading for yesrs with NATO to get assurances for its security.
I have no idea why is it so complicated to distinguish imperial games of conquest — Iraq, Acghanistan, Syria, Libya, and the defense of borders in the case of Russia.
The whole world knows the difference. This is the first military challenge of the American hegemonic power. Here is where the dilemma starts — wars are the blight on human existence. A failure to solve problems. But wars happen and at preset are no longer one sided.
And the Empire cannot lose it, and Russia
cannot be seen as winning. For Russiia it is existential conflict. But for China as well. And many, many others.
US and UK are leading the collection of former colonial powers in an enthusiastic full court press on anything Russia and Russian.
Will this conflict escallate? Yes it will.
It may end up earlier only if Europeans find the price too high, the enthusiasm may wane and some sort of settlement mabenecessary. As a stop gap situation may be possible, an uneasy peace, but better than a shooting war.
In the long run, economies that producre, have resources and adapt will stay relatively insulated from conflict, will prosper. Others that will not adapt and develop self sufficiency, and have reliable access to resources will weaken.
After the era of unchallenged empirial targetting various countries for either invasion or economic strangulation — a new event has the world divided. US and Europeans (Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Australia) are leading the old guard defending its wiorld order.
.
Challengers will be gathering around Russia, Chna, India and others risking a great deal to stand up for their interests.
So, in a forseable future there will be wars and conflicts. No longer a simple, predictable one sided imperial ventures against weaker. There will be blowbacks and diplomatic and economic reallignment.
No longer simplicity we are used to — empire kicking some weaker countries around. It will mean some hitting back, and an uneasy, confused world.
Donbass is an internal security matter for the Ukraine, Russia is stirring up trouble by supporting the rebels. We didn’t say much when Putin leveled Grozny because internal Russian matter. Once Russian troops step over the border it is a whole different kettle of fish
Nicely assessed, though deeply disturbing for the obvious reasons. These are tumultuous times we are living in…
I asked this question , when NATO invades yet another country what will be the responce of the US / UK when Russia arms the other side , IMO this is exactly what is going to happen , the US / UK have opened Pandoras Box by pouring arms into Ukraine they are setting a precedent which will not go un-noticed .
The US and Russia each “arming the other side” when one of the two gets aggressive isn’t anything new.
So,can you point out to us where we can find the link to Russia’s arming of others in the midst of a hot war ?
Otherwise you’re just farting words
Sure, here are a couple:
Soviet Union in the Korean War
Vietnam War — Involvement of other countries — Soviet Union
But not on the scale of how Weapons are pouring into Ukraine , every NATO country is involved..
“But not on the scale of how Weapons are pouring into Ukraine”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#Soviet_Union The Russians disagree with you:
“The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam with medical supplies, arms, tanks, planes, helicopters, artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and other military equipment. Soviet crews fired Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles at U.S. F-4 Phantoms, which were shot down over Thanh Hóa in 1965. Over a dozen Soviet soldiers lost their lives in this conflict. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian Federation officials acknowledged that the Soviet Union had stationed up to 3,000 troops in Vietnam during the war.
“Some Russian sources give more specific numbers: Between 1953 and 1991, the hardware donated by the Soviet Union included 2,000 tanks, 1,700 APCs, 7,000 artillery guns, over 5,000 anti-aircraft guns, 158 surface-to-air missile launchers, and 120 helicopters. During the war, the Soviets sent North Vietnam annual arms shipments worth $450 million. From July 1965 to the end of 1974, fighting in Vietnam was observed by some 6,500 officers and generals, as well as more than 4,500 soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Armed Forces. In addition, Soviet military schools and academies began training Vietnamese soldiers—in all more than 10,000 military personnel.”
And just as with “every NATO country being involved,” North Vietnam also received material assistance from, at least, China, North Korea, Czechoslovakia and Cuba.
Most of the weapons being illegally transported into the conflict zone are coming from Russia.
You really need to see this to understand. From GoldSilver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6hIlfHWaGU
Albania was pro-Chinese, not pro-Russian. After the death of Stalin, USSR-China relations deteriorated to the point of a military confrontation. Only in Putin time, all Russian-Chinese disagreements were regulated.
The membership in NATO not a problem. The problem is American military infrastructure and American missiles near Russian borders.
The strategic balance in Europe decisively shifted after the USSR collapsed and NATO expanded from 16 to 30 countries. Three NATO countries are already on Russia’s borders. Even if Ukraine joined NATO (which I oppose) that would only marginally alter the strategic balance which tilted away from Russia many years ago. Russia still has access to the Black Sea through Crimea where the overwhelming majority of the people want to be with Russia. The war with Ukraine is actually weakening Russia’s security. Russia may have 6,000 nukes, but it has to accept that it is a declining power. It’s population and its GDP/PPP are declining. Russia’s best future would be as a major ally and junior partner with China.
Russia’s security concerns are legitimate as were Germany’s unfair treatment by the treaty of Versailles. But neither Hitler nor Putin have the right to use war as a means of resetting geopolitical setbacks. The Ukrainian war will be as disastrous for Putin and Russia as the invasion of Poland was for Hitler and Germany.
Splitting Ukraine from Russia would be like splitting North and South US times 10. Now, generally I think a multitude of regional states preferable in almost every way, and would gladly accede to both these propositions, were it not for the Imperial designs of present day Washington. They have no intention of stopping with Ukraine to reduce Russia to subservience, in order to freely exploit it along with all its former ethnic regions. History as recent as the decade following the USSR collapse gives a pretty good idea of what would be in store from Merkan Democracy & Freedom.
“….The huge amount of support raises questions about at what point Russia would consider the US a co-belligerent in the war.”
that would be cuban missile crisis time, all over again, wouldn’t it?
I am assuming like some that eventually for nato to get the message, Russia will hit some supply lines or vehicles/trains etc in Poland or Romania.
and then we will see what a paper tiger nato really is
Or, train radars on new entrants to NATO, like Sweden and Finland (no way would Russia allow control of the Baltic Sea).
Americans have a lot of enemies in the world. Sooner or later even Putin would come to conclusion that the only way to cope with the situation is the mirror response of a larger scale.
I think this war could have been over by now, if the west had stayed out but it appears now Ukraine will not surrender. They will likely force Russia to take the whole country by force or else settle for an ongoing war much like occured in the Donbass except now some distace further west, and with millions of $ of new weapons. If I were Kiev’s handlers, I’d wait to see where Russia stops then build a resistance and continue light provocations -until the west is ready for the last battle. (Not that I want it.) Russia doesn’t want to take cities. But IMHO Kiev will never surrender. So Russia will take the east and south and the rest will remain antagonistic to Russia. The new smaller Ukraine along with the rest of Europe will then prepare for the next great war.
I agree.
Ironically, the invasion may have occurred because the US started sending so many arms to Ukraine before the invasion. There are indications that the US is attempting to implement the same strategy in Ukraine that was used in Afghanistan to bring down the Soviet Union. The idea is to wage war that significantly weakens the enemy without committing our own troops. The cost born by Afghans didn’t even factor into the equation.
In my opinion, Putin drew a line in the sand in 2014. Kyiv can have Ukraine. But it will not include the areas populated by ethnic Russians. (i.e. It will not include Crimea or the Donbass region.) So, I don’t think he wants to conquer Kyiv. He only wants to prevent Kyiv (and its US sponsors) from taking back Crimea and Donbass.
I see the diplomatic note as another line drawn in the sand. I am convinced that Russia can and will stop the majority of US weapons from reaching the major battle zone. If civilians, Americans, or NATO forces are caught moving such weapons within Ukraine, they have been told that they will be stopped by any means necessary.
Biden may have been convinced that Russia was bluffing about a number of things that have occurred since February. I think it would be incredibly foolish to assume that Russia is bluffing now.
I agree. Biden is assuring a sound defeat for the DNC in the midterms. He has not been good about managing the economy, p*ss poor about his climate strategy, sent ungodly amounts of money to the MIC without concern for Main Street, blibber blabbers constantly, and, has taken us to the edge of an all out war with Russia. All of our presidents since Clinton have been idiots. Really. W. took us out of the ABM treaty, Trump took us out of the INF treaty.
What do you mean, “since Clinton?” I would not exclude him. Isn’t he the one who started NATO’s eastward movement?
i’m sure that things started the very day that reagan was almost done away with
And Clinton did plenty more than that. But you really have to go back until the day each and every one of us were born.
I believe the intention was to back off to Donbas in order to relieve the onslaught that had been going on for sight years. I believe the end result (I hope) would be something like Korea. There will be a line of demarcation similar to the 38th parallel.
The stated goal was denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine. But how could Russia achieve that without either agreement from Ukraine or total control of the country. Russia are probably scratching their heads wondering how they can achieve those goals without a bloodbath (should Ukraine refuse to surrender) or if they should just abandon those goals and protect the eastern parts. It all depends on whether Ukraine surrenders after the battle for Donbass is over or if they force Russia to assault cities. (IMO)
“The stated goal” and the actual objective are not necessarily the same thing.
“We’re going to take over your whole country, install a new regime and eliminate anti-Russian political groups” encouraged a defense in depth and a focus on fortifying cities deeper in the interior that seemed to have columns converging on them. Those were resources that couldn’t be brought to bear on the fights in LPR, DPR, Mariupol, etc.
That would have been the smart way to play it, and I still see no reason to especially believe that’s not how it was played.
But yes, it’s possible that Putin and/or his military planners were deranged, or wildly over-estimated their military capabilities, and are now trying to get their asses out of a crack.
Denazification in history will always be an ongoing process. The beast will always rear its ugly head again. To achieve denazification on the ground, Russia can destroy the Nazi battalions as in Mariupol. Denazification of Ukraine can only be to achieved by a peace treaty in which Kyiv agrees to stop treating Nazi-collaborator Stepan Bandera as a national hero and reinstate the rights of the Russian speaking part of the population.
I think that you will find that about 70% of the Ukrainian army is surrounded and trapped in the East and Donbass. If Russia can hold them in for another dew weeks, then they, like Mariupol, will be out of food and out of ammunition and will be forced to surrender. The forces in the North from Kyiv to Chernobyl were achieving nothing but Propaganda, bringing them to stop any chance of relief for the eastern front will create a huge defeat for the Ukrainian army not just the Militias.
All the evidence points to another world war. And the pattern of history suggests the consequences of events in Ukraine are all too predictable.
https://patternofhistory.wordpress.com/
To me it just looks like an escalation of the Syrian war, which when it came down to it, the West was not willing to enter into directly so Syria won.
China India should ot even buy oil from Russia. Will be sanctioned. But the thugs of West can pour arms to Ukraine
Once Russia decides to bring in and use large amounts of artillery, the war will escalate into complete destruction. The US/NATO decision to provide howitzers just raised that possibility.
Most people do not realize how serious that escalation will be: barring nukes, there is nothing compared to how concerted use of artillery will destroy everything.
This war needs an exit ramp, and no one is providing it.
We have taken out the ramp.
Reports are that the Russian forces are moving more artillery into the Donbas region, and they seem to have been using quite a bit of it there already. That might make the difference in whether Putin can declare victory on the basis of an LPR/DPR/land corridor gain sooner and GTFO of the wider war.
If the operations west of Donbas weren’t just strategic feints to keep pressure on the Donbas operations, he’ll have a much harder time getting back into the western fight than he had the first time, and those US/NATO howitzers will be part of the reason. They’re probably digging in/concealing, registering every road junction in the country, and disposing their counter-battery radars to match, right now.
“If the operations west of Donbas
just strategic feints”
LOL
Well, it’s either that or complete military incompetence. I prefer to think it’s the former and that Vladimir Putin and the entire Soviet military establishment can put together an aggregate IQ over 90.
I would guess the western feint had a resistance/logistics stop line. Now, it’s forward, back, or entrench, accordingly. Likely, Putin feels he might be able to bargain with Zelensky rather than who might come next.
I will give you that. Russia is a bit rusty on the offense and they are paying the price. But Ukraine doesn’t have unlimited man power regardless of the amount of weapons being poured into the country.
Those 155s’ are truly devastating, except, when they (and the ammunition needed)need to move. Without air superiority, might as well bury them where they are at.
Displacement is always the hardest part, regardless of weapons systems involved. That’s why you keep it to a minimum if you can.
One thing Ukraine has going for it is the apparently bottomless willingness of the US and NATO to pour the weapons systems and ammo in. Quite possibly more so than there are trained crews to use it. So:
You place a battery with good coverage of several key road junctions, etc.., dig in, and stock it well with ammo. The enemy advances. You use up your ammo wrecking the advance at those pre-registered targets if you can. If counter-battery fire gets too hot, you blow any remaining ammo in place before you spike the 155s and bug out five or ten miles to the rear where your next battery, well-stocked with ammo, dug in, with good coverage of several key road junctions, etc. (and possibly good info from your counter-battery radar on where that previous fire was coming from), awaits.
Grudgingly giving up terrain is easier on you than trying to take terrain is on the enemy, especially if you have an effectively unlimited supply of weapons and ordnance pre-positioned and at your disposal, while the enemy has to truck in every round of ammo, every gallon of gas, every gallon of water, and every ration.
While the Russians have established air superiority, they haven’t established air supremacy, or Ukrainian helicopters wouldn’t be attacking inside Russia itself at will. And they don’t seem to be very good at combined arms.
Real points. I read today the US was including 11 mu 17 transport helicopters in the package until this morning when they were cancelled. They were given 5, 2 years ago. Guess they aren’t planning on moving them. They are receiving 18 guns, and 40,000 rounds.
At some point Russia may perforce unleash their AWACS and fighter bombers. They could bring Ukraine to its knees in a heartbeat, … were they fighting Ukraine.
The evidence belies Russia’s claim that the advance on Kyiv was a strategic feint. The photos from all sources show lots of wrecked Russian vehicles. The Ukrainian claims that hundreds of Russian tanks were destroyed or abandoned seems credible. Russia also admitted to 1,351 casualties in the first four weeks when most of the action was around Kyiv and Mariupol. The casualty figure were certainly higher when the Russians withdrew. If Kyiv maneuver was a feint why would the Russians announce that it was a fake attack? Why would Russia announce its main objective, thereby giving the Ukrainians several weeks to redeploy and plan for the offensive? In a real feinting maneuver Russia would have not announced its purpose, held back key units from the front lines at Kyiv for redeployment in the East, quickly pivoted and transferred forces to the east to reinforce an attack in the Donbass without giving the Ukrainians time to prepare for the Eastern Russian offensive as they have been doing for the past several weeks while the Russians licked their wounds, regrouped and reorganized their damaged forces after the debacle at Kyiv.
Also, why would Putin fire his operational commander if the Kyiv maneuver went according to plan?
It looks like the Russians went for broke in Kyiv and they broke down there. They lost men and material, and retreated to reorganize their damaged battle groups. It was not quite a rout, but it looks more like a busted plan than a feint.
To take Kyiv, the Russian’s would have had to send far more troops and be prepared for tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of casualties. I don’t believe that was the intention.
So the parachute regiment that was wiped out just a pawn? Boy I wouldn’t want to be a Russian soldier and treated in that way.
OK. So what was the purpose of the Russian thrust at Kyiv? The lost over 1,000 troops and hundreds of tanks and retreated without engaging any concentration of Ukrainian military and without achieving any objective except killing a lot of civilians. The Russians don’t believe in the Ukrainian nation and they underestimated rthemotivation of its fighters.
The US plan is to escalate incrementally to keep it going. As Hillary said, they would like to replicate Zbig’s genius -trapping Russia in the Afghan quagmire for a decade- to erode the power of the regime until it collapses and she and her group can feed on the corpse.
Russia can leave at any time.
If their trucks still have fuel the Russians can get in them and drive back to Russia. The Ukrainians will stop at the border. Otherwise they can walk back. Best option is to shoot their officers, drop their weapons and walk towards the rising sun.
US, please stop supporting Ukraine so we can go in, annihilate them and take their land.
The only way Ukraine will be destroyed is what you foolishly think is a good thing. The longer it goes, the less livable Ukraine will become.
I rather assumed that DJ was being facetious but perhaps I am wrong.
By “we” he meant Russia. He was being sarcastic.
Yes, I was. You know me by know.
Russia has no intention of taking their land. Russia has been stretched to the limits of their patience. Beginning with Billie Clinton, there has been a concerted effort by us to play Risk for real. Should Sweden and Finland become NATO members, there is no telling how Russia will react. Leading up to the war, we conducted exercises in the Black Sea, the other waters from which Russia can reach the Atlantic. A hemmed in Russia (which is why Russia is so touchy about Ukraine) would be very dangerous.
Unlike Chamberlain’s failed attempt at drawing the Nazis into an alliance against the Soviet Union in 1938, this is indeed a real example of appeasement. For 20 years, Putin has hoped to appease the US Empire, all in vain. If the Empire were to stop expanding, it would cease to be the Empire.
Why do you hate Ukraine to the point of wanting it completely destroyed?
I take it, you don’t live in Ukraine?
It was sarcasm. Im with Ukraine, the underdog in this war.
Hopeful sign. Marine Le Pen stole a march on the Pope, announcing her position as France’s anti-war/anti-colonial candidate.
Yep pretty funny to watch the French surrender when the Russians are still thousands of miles from their border.
Gee I wonder how WAPO somehow managed to get hold of an official diplomatic note? https://media0.giphy.com/media/wR32WiuLP6IvK/giphy.gif
We could stop the war. We could have prevented the war. Bringing in Finland and Sweden and arming them would serve the purpose of controlling the Baltic Sea, the only other waters that Russian ships and subs would be able to reach he Atlantic. There is no question but that we are engaged in a war with Russia.
Of course they are legitimate targets. Why wouldn’t they be?
Russia Formally Warns US to Stop Arming Ukraine.
right then, wasn’t that the very first thing that russia did and said when this war fiasco started a month ago?
Russia brought this on themselves. They should have crushed the US-installed government and taken over Ukraine in 2014. Instead, they wasted 8 years on useless diplomacy and let the US and UK arm Ukraine during that time. When they finally decided to invade, it was too limited an operation. A quick and brutal war would have already crushed Ukraine and Russia would have taken it over.
And unlike Iraq, Afghanistan, Nam, etc., training and arming Nazis, making Ukraine a kinda Nazi Mecca from all over west and east Europe, has, sadly, proven effective.
And the neocon/Nazi pollution in the US has created a comprehensively corrupt warfare state. It’s a terrible mistake ever to allow this kind of thing to grow.
Sadly, Putin doesn’t have enough common sense and strength to deal with aggressive countries.
In hindsight I agree. But it seems not to be in the Russian character, … consider how extensively they tried avoid war with Bonaparte and Kaiser/Fuhrer only to have to pay the heaviest price. Similarly confronted now, Putin was clearly too long-suffering. Russia has a profoundly complex soul.
In the end, Putin’s cautious approach will pay off, just as in Syria.
Politics isn’t a static one-dimensional process. Politics is dynamic and can at each instant flip into its very opposite. There simply was no justification for a full-scale Russian invasion 8 years ago. It’s true, that gave Ukraine the opportunity to rearm; however, Russia will prevail, and, even though there is war hysteria in the West now, in the end, the truth will prevail and justify Russia’s action.
Putin is confronting a formidable enemy. It’s not just that Nato is 20 times stronger than Russia, the Western/Anglosphere cultural hegemony is such that it can push its narrative on the world. Neither China nor Russia has the soft power to counter that. Putin needs cunning and caution to win against Goliath. Rushing into action would be his and Russia’s doom.
Right, Russian army ground to dust, economy in ruins, German defense budget doubled, Finland and Sweden joining NATO I am sure there are a few other victories in there that I missed.
Ukraine is its own country. They have a right to exist.
Granted. But the Ukrainian government lost the right to govern in the Donbas when that government was the result of a US funded coup. After that event, the government in Kiev instituted measures to violate the rights of citizens of non Ukrainian ethnic backgrounds. The incorporation of Ukrainian ethnic supremacy factions in the Ukrainian security services and military was targeted at ethnic groups on violation of their human rights.
Under recognized principles of the rights of human beings, a state does not own it’s people. When a state egregiously violates the rights of people that under a government, the people of that state, or a region of that state, have the right to separate from that government. That was the foundational principle of the USA when the colonies revolted against British government rule.
Sadly, many have forgotten these principles. Some of us haven’t.
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They certainly do. What I have a problem with is the US overthrowing the government in 2014 and sending them weapons to attack civilians in Lugansk and Donetsk. These countries have a right to exist. They voted for independence in 2014 just as Ukraine and Belarus did in in 1991, even through they were part of Russia and the USSR for 100 years. Because they voted the wrong way, Ukraine declared them “terrorists” and began attacking them.
Have you seen the shopping list of stuff the US government is planning on handing over to the Ukrainians? In just this order. According to some records, freely and openly offered by the Pentagon, the US government has been arming the Ukrainians for a decade now. There are US and UK feet on the ground inside the Ukraine.
I thought we left something like $6-Billion dollars of weapons and weapons systems, and the Americans trained to operate them (whether they wanted to be left in Afghanistan or not), when we skedaddled out of Afghanistan?
How big is the US Military Industrial Complex’s stockpile of weapons?
enriching Raytheon is going to get us all killed.
this is how WWIII starts.
It was shocking to find out that there is zero U.S. diplomacy efforts for peace.
Where the U.S. diplomatic efforts are is in using diplomats to arrange weapons into Ukraine.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2992414/fact-sheet-us-security-assistance-to-ukraine/
it says in part: “More than 30 nations have sent Ukraine security assistance, thanks in part to our diplomacy”
we find little diplomacy, mostly propaganda and arms-dealing. to be fair: also every now and then something needlessly provocative to Russia, such as awards honoring “pussy riot.”
Dunno they get to sell a 100k Javelin missile instead of a 5million dollar tank? At least as far as Russia goes I expect a “peace” dividend. Now we need to start talking up china
I suppose Russia has to do this request formally before they unleash hell. But in all honesty, why bother when the west has made their intention crystal clear?
The Russian Defense Ministry reports that up to 30 militants of the Polish PMC have been eliminated in the Izyum region. The Polish PMC’s have been operation in Ukraine since 2014 and have been on the front lines leading the ethnic cleansing campaigns. They take their orders from the Polish MOD and NATO.
In Mariupol the only resistance now is the Azovstal industrial plant where foreign mercenaries and NATO forces are surrounded and its only a matter of time till they surrender or are eliminated. NATO has lost the war in the Donbass.
From April 3 to April 13 a minimum 1,600 Ukrainian fighters surrendered to Russian and DPR forces.
267 Ukrainian service members from 503rd Battalion of the 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at the district of Kalmiyusky.
30 Ukrainian service members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) surrendered at the district of Levoberezhny.
160 Ukrainian service members of the 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at Kalmiyuskiy.
1,026 Ukrainian service members of the 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, surrendered at Kalmiyuskiy.
134 Ukrainian service members of the 36th Marine Brigade, including 14 officers, surrendered at Kalmiyuskiy.
In summary the Ukrainian forces have surrendered, what is left in Mariupol is the hard core NATO, foreign mercenaries and Azov Nazi’s. Obviously it is NATO external powers and Ukrainian traitors that are keeping this war going.
The letter Z is now serving a similar function to the Star of David in Nazi Germany. The US and EU politicians have now rehabilitated the Third Reich.
To quote Josip Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, “this war must be won on the battlefield“. I think Russia agrees with you. WAR IT IS.
“The letter Z is now serving a similar function to the Star of David in Nazi Germany.”
You almost got it right this time, the letter Z fills the same function as the SWASTIKA did in Nazi Germany. Combine two Z’s and you even get one!
We must keep in mind the relative scale of things. The US is sending 18 howitzers. Every one of the hundred or more Russian Battalion Combat Groups has that many, and some have twice as many.
The US is sending a lot of ammo for them. Every day, that much is fired off by the Russians from over 100 times as many such guns, and a look at Mariupol is enough to show what that can mean.
The Czechs sent one AA missile battery. Most of Ukraine is covered with Russia’s newer version of those, dozens of batteries. Limited Russian use of close air support seems linked to limited IFF among the masses of Russian AA systems.
I am reminded of a silly novel about a war between Russia and China, in which the game changer was supposed to be a single US Armored Cav Regiment helping one side with something like 50 tanks.
Krugman warns of this effect as “innumeracy.” Losing track of the numbers, of the forest for a single impressive tree.
The standard US 155mm shell is guided, not yer regular spray and pray, or prey.
Several billion dollars worth of military hardware have already been spend/pledged by Nato members. That is a substantial amount.
We are crossing into more and more dangerous territory every day. Just how will we escalate this conflict next? Find out tomorrow at 9.
arming ukraine which is not in nato,is an overt act of war is it not?
Of course, it would be better if our Congress and president would be honest, debate and vote on whether or not to have us in war against Russia and openly declare war or not. Of course, the dirty satanic rat snakes that they clearly are will not do this. I don’t think most Americans would support a war against Russia, threatening to go towards a full blown nuclear war.
I wonder if real estate prices around NATO bases is droping. Tactical Nuclear weapons aren’t exactly precision weapons.
The Russians are pretty stupid to make such a request.
Its not like any of their other security concerns have ever been met; why would NATO start now?
Russia has already been forced to pull back from Kiev, and the troops in Chernobyl were poisoned by their deployment.
The Russian ‘special operation’ is a disastrous real war.
I was amazed how NATO cried like babies when their transport plane full of lethal cargo was shot down the other day.
That’s chutzpah at its worst