Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned in an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Saturday that “time is not on Ukraine’s side” as its economy is in shambles and the country is entirely reliant on foreign aid.
The former officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin believes “that he can wear down the Ukrainians and that US and European unity and support for Ukraine will eventually erode and fracture.” They said while Russia’s economy will “suffer as the war continues,” Russians “have endured far worse.”
Ukraine, on the other hand, they said, has an economy that’s “in shambles,” and the country is entirely reliant on aid from the US and its allies. “Millions of its people have fled, its infrastructure is being destroyed, and much of its mineral wealth, industrial capacity, and considerable agricultural land are under Russian control,” they wrote.
Rice and Gates said that absent any major Ukrainian “breakthroughs,” the West will pressure Kyiv to negotiate a ceasefire. “Under current circumstances, any negotiated ceasefire would leave Russian forces in a strong position to resume their invasion whenever they are ready. That is unacceptable,” they said.
Their prescription to help Ukraine on the battlefield is a “dramatic” increase in Western military aid in the form of longer-range weapons and heavier equipment. “Congress has provided enough money to pay for such reinforcement; what is needed now are decisions by the United States and its allies to provide the Ukrainians the additional military equipment they need — above all, mobile armor,” they wrote.
Rice and Gates said that the US decision to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles is “commendable” but said heavier tanks need to be provided as well. “NATO members also should provide the Ukrainians with longer-range missiles, advanced drones, significant ammunition stocks (including artillery shells), more reconnaissance and surveillance capability, and other equipment. These capabilities are needed in weeks, not months,” they said.
While the two former officials recognize that “defeat is not an option” for Russia and Putin, they make no mention of the risk of nuclear escalation and imply the US must help Ukraine win at all costs. “We have a determined partner in Ukraine that is willing to bear the consequences of war so that we do not have to do so ourselves in the future,” they said.
The two officials claim that Russia wants to conquer all of Ukraine and imply it will move into NATO territory next, but they ignore the real motives for the war, which include NATO expansion and US support for Ukraine after the 2014 ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Gates previously recognized that NATO’s eastward expansion and attempts to absorb Ukraine might provoke Russia. In his memoir, published in 2014, Gates said, “trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching” and added that it was “recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests.”
Rice, who served as secretary of state from 2005 to 2009, was warned in 2008 by then-US Ambassador to Russia William Burns, who is currently the CIA director, that attempting to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO could lead to war in the region. Burns warned Rice in a memo that was later released by WikiLeaks that “Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin).”
Burns said that experts warned Russia was “particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face.”
This doesn’t sound good to me. The ‘possibility of nuclear escalation’?
What a conflagration. NATO can kiss my hindquarters. Do we really want to push for a Third World War, which would be nuclear? We need to get our heads out of our asses, including NATO, before this becomes a situation that cannot be dodged…..
Yes, calling for quantum escalation. Either preparing their out when NATO falls, or bravely chancing the eschaton, Rice & Gates, blooded neocon high priests voicing the mind of Nuland and the sisterhood.
It’s too bad that Putin couldn’t have found a way to remove the perpetrators of the Ukraine war one by one.
The even bigger question, what kind of society produces these types?
Great question Robert…
I am going to light a joint and think on this…
We all need to do more for peace. I’m amazed how many folks I thought were peaceniks quickly picked a side in this one instead of Merley fighting wars.
The wars of this century are the consequences of American hegemonistic politics. When Americans stop the “promotion of democracy” in other continents, there would be no wars. The preparation for this war in Ukraine started with investing 5 billions from US budged in “Ukrainian democracy”.
Maybe I should put it clearer. “Ukrainian democracy” translated from Orwellian to normal language, means neo-Nazism.
Minsk 1 and Minsk 2 failed because they were not negotiated in good faith.
I do not consider is to be a coincidence that Zelensky issued decrees to “re-integrate” Crimea and the Donbass region just 2 months after Biden (who was personally involved in US support for the overthrow of Yanukovych and his Party of Regions) became President.
While I support your call for everyone to do more for peace, I’m not sure what a “peacenik” can do in an environment where the POTUS is unwilling to even consider negotiating positions taken by the other side.
Sadly, I think that Lavrov’s recent comments are a sober assessment of the reality of this war:
“Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia’s security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy… Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.”
‘Vaporizing’ has a cosmic feel to it?….
Gates and Burns reversed their earlier cautionary positions. Rice still believes in the Flaming Sword of Democracy which the US has a moral duty to wield to the End of Days. I believe, with Henry Kissinger, in dealing with the world as it is, imperfect as it is, but it is the one world we all live in — and which we aspire to continue to live in.
Two reliable members of MICIMATT doing its evil work … as they’ve done all their lives. If there is a hell …
Tough competition, but worst section:
“While the two former officials recognize that “defeat is not an option” for Russia and Putin, they make no mention of the risk of nuclear escalation and imply the US must help Ukraine win at all costs. “We have a determined partner in Ukraine that is willing to bear the consequences of war so that we do not have to do so ourselves in the future,” they said.”
Anything more evil than sending other people to die for one’s selfish purpose?
These people, like many before them, have no honor.
That is the reason they were promoted to those jobs.
Truth.
Thanks for the update on the Liars Gates & Rice.
Rice and Gates are neocon warmonger who don’t understand asymmetric wars of national liberation. Time is very much on Ukraine’s side.
I agree. The way Putin is fighting this war is totally unsustainable within the economic, military, and social sectors of the federation.
Same goes to all other elements of power.
World War I, World War II and now potentially WORLD WAR THREE? Not me man, definitely not me… The Russians ain’t sleeping with all this going on….. I am clearly reminded of Michel De Nostradamus, warning of a third world war, which would be nuclear…
“Defeat is not an option”. Then escalation and mutual defeat is the only outcome, as history shows.
https://patternofhistory.wordpress.com/
i wrote something here and then erased it
Ukraine did not do much thinking before 2014, did they? If they had they could have seen that the US was a bag of hot air on which no one should rely. Ukraine could have seen what happened to Georgia in 2009 when they tried their hand against Russia peacekeepers. They could have seen how US broke its word on written agreements with USA. But Ukraine is blind with Russia hatred and it cannot think straight. Now they pay thr consequences.
Yes … Taiwan is at their 2014 moment now … hope they choose a wiser path.
Because the Ukrainian soldiers hide in buildings in the city centers in occupied western Donbass. The Azov Battalion abandoned their positions outside Mariupol and withdrew to the city center, where they placed their armed vehicles next to bomb shelters, so that when the Russians attacked them the shelters would be damaged. They also forced civilians into the theater building where they had their headquarters in the basement.
At other times the Ukies have holed up in abandoned schools and hospitals, so that the media could then write “Russia is bombing schools and hospitals!”
And when Russia liberated Russian Kherson, the Ukrainians started bombing it, just like they have kept bombing Donetsk and other cities. A French reporter in Kherson told the studio that the Ukrainians were bombing the city. They immediately cut her off. That part was left out of the website version of the segment.
Russia bombing Ukraine’s power stations is an efficient way to shorten the duration of the war without using those bombs against soldiers. The Ukrainian trains run on electricity, and this makes it much harder for Ukraine to send Western arms and forced conscripts to the occupied western Donbass.
When Washington invaded Iraq they immediately bombed all the power stations around Baghdad. Before that they and Britain had been bombing Iraq’s infrastructure on average once a week for TWELVE YEARS.
When they attacked Serbia for throwing out the flood of illegal aliens from Albania that had formed the terrorist UCK guerrilla, they bombed power stations, bridges, and everything else they could think of. Then gave food and oil to destroyed cities only if they agreed to turn against the government. Washington supplied the airplanes, missiles and repair parts for Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen, which includes bombing granaries and airports, etc. Washington gives them radar info and resupplies their planes in the air. Washington approves of their blockading Yemen’s ports to prevent the import of necessities, including fuel, which means not even the hospitals can function.
Listening to these people about how not to lose a war is laughable. Besides which, Condi some kind of expert on armored warfare? She know a lot about IR tracking? Even if these people weren’t sociopaths, even if they had the integrity of a mustard seed, they know essentially nothing in the first place.
Look: the US government is more evil than the Nazi German government, in terms of the number of people affected, times the extent of time they’ve been doing this shit.
We all need to acknowledge that.
Said in plain language, which I can understand.
This poor planet, a jewel in space. What did it ever do to deserve what is crawling around on it?
All this makes me wonder if hamburger has its own heaven…
lol, lol, lol…………………………………….
https://tass.ru/politika/16765037
Patrushev: The West is annoyed by Russia’s self-sufficiency, so it seeks to dismember it
If you have Google Chrome, this automatically translates.
Even if the USA and NATO provided the Ukraine with the “goodies” recommended by Rice and Gates, in what universe would it have more of them, have more and better trained troops ready to use them, have better maintenance and repair logistics, and have more ammo, fuel, etc, etc, than the Russians do?
The Ukraine had plenty of “mobile armor” when the war began.
https://armedforces.eu/land_forces/ranking_tanks
Armor that was said to be quite good qualitatively, as well.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/12/15/ukraines-tanks-could-be-better-than-russias-it-might-not-matter/?sh=c0b6384571b9
https://issuu.com/ukrainian_defense_review/docs/udr1_magazine_issuu/s/10208330
Where is all that, now? Have the Russians destroyed most of it, as they claim? If not, why does it need replacement?
Supposing the USA does replenish the Ukrainian tank fleet, but still no “breakthrough” transpires? After all, the Russians have plenty of tanks as well, and the capacity to make more of them. And a larger population to build them, maintain them, and fight with them. And ample anti tank forces too. What happens then? Still more tanks for the Ukraine?
Why do Rice and Gates believe that NATO and the USA have escalation dominance?
After a year of watching Russia counter all the crap we’re pumping in, Rice and Gates believe that more crap, as in more of the same qualitatively and quantitatively, will constitute a change in direction of the war.
Maybe they’re working on a new book sale together…
I think the theory is that NATO can outproduce Russia … we’ll just throw more and more at the Ukrainian cannon fodder until the Russians are defeated. But Russia has now converted to a full war economy and outproducing them on items that count (artillery) will be problematic to say the least.
And the two cretins acknowledge this when then say that Russia cannot lose this … so all this crap is just words to make palatable a real policy to weaken Russia/China and even more importantly to make $ for their masters.
There has never been any chance Ukraine could prevail against Russia in a conventional war. The conflict is an exercise in trading US money and Ukrainian lives for Russian money and Russian lives, at maybe a 10:1 ratio.
“After all, the Russians have plenty of tanks as well, and the capacity to make more of them. And a larger population to build them, maintain them, and fight with them. And ample anti tank forces too. What happens then? Still more tanks for the Ukraine?”
All that and yet, the Russians can’t even take Donbas.
I know, it’s all plan of the SMO.
Looks like Burns knew precisely what was at stake as well as Russian choices.
It is not surprising that cold warriors are coming out to express alarm. Of course they know Russia is sitting pretty, having chosen Bakhmut where Zelenski cannot afford to lose territory, and is constantly sending reinforcements. This cannot last .
Russia has not reacted to Ukrainian sttacks on its territory. It is a war, after alll, not media optics that counts. With build up in Belarus, that particilular venue has been secured.
The problem as these officials see is simple — Russia is lioking beyond Ukraine. This is a war against NATO. Russia has laid out its red lines in December 2021, and Ukraine is merely a trip wire, not the solution. The entire post Cold War period was marked by Russian attempts to find its place in European security structure, but the result was always same. Ever new incidents were manufactured to keep tensions going, while preparing Ukraine for proxy war,
This phase is definitely closed, but what will replace it?
This is where nervousness shows. Uncertainty hangs over Ukraine, It is now openly calling NATO to step up as Ukraine is fighting for NATO aims – clearly spelled.
Unless US is prepared to escallate the war — all stunts will only have temporary media blip.
What is the goal — hegemony or dollar dominance? They are not mutually complimentary,
This is why the only answer is — more weapons, heavier weapons.
But in the midst lies unease. Russia is preparing for war. War with NATO, as half measures practiced by Russia since end of Cold War did not work. A more permanent solution is desired.
And there is no way of knowing just what Russia’s plans are.
One thing is sure. China, Russia and South Africa are conducting naval exercises in Indian Ocean.
All Ukraine’s civil war problems are not limited to four regions Rusdia annexed. Four more regions are questionable. Ukraine cannot easily raise army from those areas. The fact that Ukrainian military and other officials are being rather explicit about shedding blood for NATO, while NATO countries are not asked to shed blood. The leadt they could do is pay for it. This may be challenge to Zelenski who is seen as being too gentle on NATO partners, And the worse things look on front lines, as well as in towns accross Ukraine — the more bitterness, sense of abandonment.
No more talk of fighting for democracy against autoritarism. Unprovoked agression. It is now simple — Russia was identified by NATO as threat, and Ukraine is confronting the threat for NATO. Soeak as bitter people who are abandoned. “As long as it takes”, sure -/ but Rusdia took four regions and declared them part of Russia. All parts ofvtgecfour are not fully under Russian control, but Ukraune knows it is just a.matter of time.
This is an overt invitation for NATO to step into war with Russia.
NATO keeps saying it isn’t going to war directly, but if it does then it can either fail, or succeed and get nuked. The US needs to listen to its own rhetoric that Russia can’t afford to lose.
One of the best analyses for the Russo-Ukrainian war was written by the Greek Herodotus thousands of years ago. In approximate translation:” the line between civilization and barbarism is never a geographic border between countries, but is a moral border within every people and individuals.”
“Former High-Level US Officials Warn Time Is Not on Ukraine’s Side in the Conflict Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates call for a ‘dramatic’ increase in military aid so Ukraine can make gains this year”
Former National Security Advisor (Rice) and former Director of the CIA (Gates) both Republican RINOs pushing for weapons to be sent to Ukraine.
There once war a fire in a house. The man from the
CIA and Victoria Nuland were seen near the house with a box of matches.
The fire station maned by diplomats was devoid of firefighters. Everyone, including the fire fighters, was working at a gas station instead. The fire fighters and other people started pumping gasoline into buckets and throwing the gasoline on the fire.
The fire became huge, but is went out quicker. Unfortunately the spot where the house once stood was nothing but a blackened hole in the ground.
Not to rub salt in the wound, but…on the matter of war criminal Condaleeza Rice…
At the Nuremberg Trials, “From 1945 to 1946, Nazi Germany leaders stood trial for crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit [those] crimes.”
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/nuremberg-trials
And in America? War criminals like Condaleeza Rice – who helped war criminal Bush lie the US into its murderous invasion of Iraq and the global foreign policy disaster of massive human suffering and spiked international terrorism that followed – now gets paid to rationalize torture at Stanford University…when not jetting east to drop thousands on shoes at tony Upper East Side NYC boutiques
https://www.codepink.org/war_criminal_of_the_week_condoleezza_rice
This is America. Even a black woman can become a wealthy, blood soaked warmonger.
In America, being a neocon means never admitting or saying yr sorry for the plagues of violence and human immiseration you’ve unleashed on the planet…
…instead of being reviled as disgraced, blood soaked war criminals – with no right to open yr murderous yaps about anything – ‘reasonable minds’ bend an ear civilly as you blandly rationalize US torture and call for unleashing the four horsemen again.
The first time, Rice ‘warned’ of the mushroom cloud; this time, she’s openly courting it.
Indeed. What would PT Barnum say?
It is to be hoped that he’d have exhibited them, manacled to iron, floor-bolted chairs in a rivet-locked, thick-glass display case of ‘The Most Dangerous and Loathsome Criminally Insane Murderers on the Planet.’
The creepy thrill would be their emotionless eyes following spectators like evil portrait paintings.
Two words here- medication compliance.
Which nations are sending Humanitarian money and supplies, if any? I have contact with a couple of people in Ukraine near Mareffa, and things are really bad there — no gas, no electricity, insufficient medicine or hospital rooms for sick patients or the elderly. It is basic chaos. Children especially are suffering, lack of socialization, friendships, and no regular schooling, etc. The psychic wounds will take years to heal. I really thought Western nations would put up a much better fight to help these people.