Over one year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, there are growing differences between Washington and Kyiv on how to move forward in the conflict, POLITICO reported Sunday.
One issue is over Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in battle for over eight months. Biden administration officials think Ukraine has expended too many resources defending Bakhmut and worry it will impact their ability to launch a counteroffensive this spring, but officials in Kyiv have decided to keep fighting for the city.
Another point of contention is over Crimea as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists they will retake the peninsula, which has been under Russian control since 2014 and is populated by people who are happy to be part of the Russian Federation.
While some Biden administration officials have vowed support for Ukrainian attacks on Crimea, the POLITICO report said other US officials believe Zelensky’s insistence that there will be no peace talks until the peninsula is taken will only prolong the war. But publicly, President Biden and other US officials maintain that negotiations will only happen under Kyiv’s terms.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also acknowledged the risk of escalation that would come with a Ukrainian attempt on Crimea, calling it a “red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Pentagon has said it’s unlikely Kyiv can take the peninsula.
The US also appears to be tired of Zelensky’s constant demands for weapons. Two White House officials told POLITICO that there are “grumblings” in Washington over Zelesnky’s constant requests and lack of gratitude. Despite the massive amount of support provided by the US and its allies, Ukrainian officials have frequently said that it’s “not enough” and are demanding fighter jets and longer-range missiles.
The POLITICO report mentioned the Nord Stream sabotage and how US officials are now linking the attack to Ukraine while insisting the Ukrainian government was not involved. But the vague claims are likely an attempt to shift blame from the US following the bombshell report from investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that alleged President Biden ordered the bombing of the pipelines.
Publicly, Biden still maintains he will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” but there are other signs that the US is thinking about winding down its support. CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv in January and told Zelensky that Congress might not pass any more massive aid packages for the war. Ukrainian officials are concerned that the administration might use Congress as an excuse to scale down assistance.
Putin is a murdering pig.
Biden is a senile neocon.
Zelenskyy is a power mad, loser.
Sadly – I think Putin is the most reasonable of the three.
Very deep, but I can’t disagree.
Who has Putin murdered?
You do understand what racism and bigotry is? dont worry though this site is cool with state sponsored racism and bigotry.
If you said “murdering pig” about Zelensky or Biden yep cancelled. Cos you know media standards.
Who has Putin murdered?
Learn to use ‘search engines’.
And try to make sense when you type.
Judging from your typing skills?
You are very young and/or very dumb and/or very lazy.
We are done here.
Bye now.
I see that Darya Dugina is on that list of people allegedly killed by Putin. Yah, sure, you betcha.
I’m reminded of Ken Kesey’s antiwar speech on the UC Berkeley campus
during the Vietnam catastrophe. He arrived on his Bus with its Hells
Angels honor guard and proceeded to the steps of Sproul Hall to give his
speech…
It consisted of the words (my memory): “Just say FU*K it and go home”.
Then he left.
Damn shame when you can’t quote what people actually said. Very low class.
Well, it would be a damn shame if you couldn’t quote what people actually said. But you can quote what people actually said. If that includes certain words associated with (in this case) porn spam, you may have to wait for a human to have a look at it instead of getting instant sugar high posting gratification, but you can do it.
Thanks Thomas. No offense meant to moderators here, who have been exemplary compared to some in other blog venues. My comment was aimed more at the “wokeness” of our anonymous public discourse regime overall.
If Zelensky want to go on fighting Russia alone to retake Crimea, he can definitely go do that. Leave us out of it. In fact, get us out right now!
Tell that to your boy, Putin, he is the one who invaded Ukraine.
Self defense is Ukraine’s right.
And so is self-determination meaning the right to decide by whom a group of people want to be governed since it was established as a principle of nations by our President Wilson.
That was at the core of the so-called Minsk agreements.
We can easily ignore your McCarthyite tactic of smearing anyone disagreeing with US war policy of being a Ruskie-it’s ignorant. There is, of course, no moral justification for state to state war-ever. Yet, in the real world, justification is separate from provocation.
As to the question of provocation, answer a quick series of questions: how many Russian troops are on the US border? How many US troops are on Russia’s border? How would the US have reacted to Mexico being invited into the Warsaw Pact? How many times has the US ignored national sovereignty and borders? We all know the answers to these questions, which betray that US policy is not about Ukraine’s sovereign rights but about weakening Russia as a US imperial goal. The only moral avenue is an immediate ceasefire by all sides and a negotiated settlement of all outstanding issues.
He said they should do it without our help. We aren’t funding Putin. And he didn’t deny Ukraine’s right to self defense.
Putin invaded Ukraine in a war of choice. Ukraine has the right to self defense. .
You keep saying that. But I don’t think it means what you think it means.
I did not say Ukraine did not have the right to defend themselves. And it’s obvious it was Putin’s choice. There were a lot of choices made.
And the Kiev government chose to shell the ethnic Russian people in the Donbas region for 8 long years killing 14,000 people. Those people had a right to self defense also.
“And the Kiev government, Moscow government, and separatist forces chose to shell the ethnic Russian and non-ethnic-Russian people, and each other, in the Donbas region for eight long years killing 14,000 people.”
Fixed, no charge.
Numbers mean little when you use them to make an argument sans history.
Mary an average of 26 civilians were killed in the Donbas annually from 2019, 2020 and 2021. There is no way that justifies the carnage that Putin’s stupid war has unleashed. Tens of thousands of people have died in the last year, maybe more.
I am not saying that there were not problems in the Donbas. But those were internal Ukrainian matters, not justification for a war.
The Obama/Biden/Nuland regime change started it, W. Bush left the the NATO dud behind in 2oo8. Poor Ukraine was a poor state but after the regime change it became even more poor and now it is rubble and dust and debris. Thanks to Biden, it is his war.
He had the opportunity to avoid it, if the good old US would have supported the Minsk agreements and even in December 2021 he could have negotiated a neutral Ukraine, like Austria, but diplomacy is not his forte, he is a bellicose deranged and ruthless, old man. And he picked pathologically really sick advisers.
Using common sense, Russia is defending its right to exist as a sovereign nation, which Biden said he wants Putin, the elected and popular president out and the country chopped up in pieces. To get there Biden was involved in the regime change in Ukraine, Navalny was his boy in waiting.
All that is well known, even MSM reported it.
In 2014 Ukraine became a de facto colony of Washington. That’s how Zelensky sees it. And it’s more true than not. There is an obligation there by the take-over gang, the Neocon-Nazis. However, since the election of Biden was rigged (against both Bernie and The Donald), that obligation does not devolve to the people of the US. Z sees now he’s to be left hanging, twisting slowly in the wind (pace Ehrlichman); but, should have known there’s no honor among thieves. And it redounds to us to clean the Augean Stables.
“…there’s no honor among thieves.” My friend, comparing Zelensky, Biden, or neocons to thieves is an insult to thieves. The National Thieves Association has lodged a complaint with Wasserman-Schultz and “there would be consequences.” (Sarcasm alert)
https://youtu.be/IAHGsyt2kZA
Neocon strategy in Russian direction is cracking apart. America invested too much in this crusade against Russia expecting collapse of Russian economy and the eventual regime change in Moscow. Nothing of this is going to happen and it is unclear what to do next. It looks, the dominating opinion in Washington is to push Europeans forward while themselves stand aside. Not everyone in Europe is happy about such a scenario. Orban is categorically against it. He even supported Chinese peace plan. Still propaganda works and many people in Europe believe that Russia could be defeated militarily. Maybe by next winter they will change their mind.
Yes, to the extent there was a US strategy, it was for regime change effected by economic warfare. That failed. Complete, total failure.
We can’t understand events without admitting to ourselves the real strategic plan and its total failure. It was never supposed to be the Ukraine Army defeats the Russian Army.
The plan looked good. 1 – If Putin didn’t interfere militarily, Ukrainian army would create a humanitarian catastrophe in Donbass and it drastically undermines Putin’s rating. Then Ukraine attacks Crimea and the war happens anyway.
2 – If Putin interferes (as he did), then Washington and all western media accuse Putin and Russia of aggression and EU has no choice but to follow the orders from Washington.
The plan failed. Those drastic economic sanctions against Russia damaged EU more than Russia. Russian economy is doing remarkably well. Russian resources are turning from Europe to Asia which is very good for China. So, this strategy happened to be counterproductive. The ultimate goal of anti-Russian crusade was exactly to put Russian resources under control of western corporations. MIC is okay but it costs too much for American taxpayers and if the anti-Russian crusade fails, in the end it will make US rather weaker than stronger.
The problem is that many people believe the Western narrative of “Putin’s unprovoked war of aggression.” That narrative is too powerful for people to go against in the current climate of inquisition. Any public figure openly doubting the narrative commits political suicide.
Without a solid knowledge of the history of the war, it’s virtually impossible to question the narrative. Still, there are millions of people who are potentially pro-Russian. They just had to go into hiding for the time being, but once the narrative starts to collapse there could be a sea-change.
Governments seem uncontrollably attracted to those red lines, like the moth to the flame, they know it will burn them but cannot stop.
https://patternofhistory.wordpress.com/
I’m reminded of Ken Kesey’s antiwar speech on the UC Berkeley campus during the Vietnam catastrophe. He arrived on his Bus with its Hells Angels honor guard and proceeded to the steps of Sproul Hall to give his speech…
It consisted of the words (my memory): “Just say FU*K it and go home”.
Then he left.
Damn shame when you can’t quote what people actually said. Very low class.
Whether he sees the whole picture or not, Zelensky behaves as if he understands that Biden’s support is tied to weakening Russia, not victory for Ukraine. Towards that end, he has proven that he is willing to exchange the lives of his own soldiers to maximize the damage inflicted on Russian forces by ordering his troops to fight to the death, without any chance of victory. He did it in Mariupol, Lysychans’k, now Bakhmut, and elsewhere.
But he doesn’t seem to realize that the game has changed. The loss of thousands of soldiers in Bakhmut, combined with the subsequent release of 2 to 3 times as many enemy soldiers to fight on other fronts, will cost the AFU dearly. Instead of delaying the inevitable, he may have made it happen sooner.
I think the Biden administration has accepted the fact that Ukraine will be defeated by the end of this year. That, combined with the potential for a significant banking crisis (think Silicon Valley Bank) and the beginning of election season, could end his enthusiasm for this war.
BTW, Scott Ritter recently spoke about why he thinks the war must end before the end of the year. See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCDiw6eg04E
In that case, the US will first have to declare victory. Something like, “Ukraine has valiantly defended its western two-thirds against Russian invasion. We congratulate the brave Ukrainians and send our best wishes for their happy future.”
Is it time to dust off the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner I have stored in my basement? (Sarcasm alert)
Biden says the US will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. Which could mean, as long as it takes to demolish Ukraine. After that, the US can leave the scraps by the roadside and drive on to another big adventure.
Well, that is one thing the U.S. and it’s military is good at.
ZelBoy is suffering from massive overexposure and appears to become more strident, greedy and ungrateful as time commences.
At least the Kardashians and Chip and Joanna Gaines aren’t demanding billions in weaponry.
It is us that is ungrateful. They instigated the coup that started it all, they stopped peacetalks from moving forward that would’ve stopped hostilities by now with things going back to what was before Feb 24 and RIGHT NOW Ukrainian patriots r dying by the thousands defending their land against overwhelming odds and weakening the hated adversary of us, the so called ruskie horde. It even poo pooed the idea of a Chinese peace process. The least it can do if it keeps insisting the continuation of this conflict is to give Ukraine all weapons it needs to fight within the Ukrainian theater.
By this I mean not f16 but artillery pieces and tanks and stuff that can be used in Ukraine not bring about nuclear Armageddon.
Why is US training to Nuclear Strike St. Pettersberg now, US B52 bomber ran a test nuclear strike on St Pettersberg………..
A few days ago Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles hit a NATO HQ in Lvov, Ukraine. It killed approx. 300 including up to 40 foreign high ranking specialists.
The next day US threatened a nuclear strike on Russia.
An American B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber with the call sign NOBLE61 conducted a maneuver over the Baltic Sea, 200 kilometers from St. Petersburg, reports Russian state broadcaster RBC, citing data from FlightRadar24.
According to the real-time flight tracking service, the aircraft, which is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons, flew out of Polish territory and over the Baltic Sea, where it turned toward St. Petersburg, the plane entered a missile launch position on St. Petersburg. Near the Russian island of Gogland, the bomber changed course, flying over Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania before heading toward the U.K.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak commented on the maneuver, posting on Twitter that the B-52 was escorted by Polish fighter jets.
Poland is lucky they were not on the receiving end of a Russian retaliatory nuclear strike. This is utterly reckless behavior and playing chicken with the lives of Polish citizens.
You live in a scary imaginary world.
Its the world we all live in.
Polish citizens have long accepted their government’s heartfelt enthusiasm for initiating a full-scale nuclear conflict with The Russian Federation. I will not shed a tear for them when it finally takes place.
Otherwise, nato and the US armed forces act as drug cartels in Latin America when they dare to threaten St Petersburg. Nothing short of burning them ALL alive in a full-scale nuclear holocaust will stop them.
Given what St Petersburg went through during the Second World War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_siege_on_Leningrad – the sooner – the better, as far as I am concerned.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd99e507a-264c-490f-a254-6de1490e5eac_4200x3766.jpeg
I hate to agree with you on this point. But at some point, people would qualify for the “Well Deserved Red Star!” A glowing Red Star with its center could be the middle of “Warsaw.” …Thanks Styx! I feel dirty. God forbid. (Sarcasm alert)
Great point Dooms! I regret that Antiwar didn’t write an article devoted to the subject unless I missed it? As I said before, you all should thank your lucky stars that I’m not in Putin’s place. But seriously, anyone knows if he’s still not fiddling with that lonely red button in the middle of his desk? (Sarcasm alert)
Interesting.
But the Russians are (publicly) overreacting, imo. And clearly just using this for propaganda. Just like the other ‘side’ does.
First – I am 100% against NATO getting involved in the Ukraine War.
Second – there is no way that America would start WW3 by launching a missile at St. Petersburg from a lumbering whale B-52.
Third – both sides do this to each other often…fly up to the others’ border and see what the other side does. America has done it with China numerous times.
I agree it might be rather silly given the present circumstances.
But it was nothing and I would be astounded if the Russian military didn’t think the same thing.
Playing nuclear chicken is reckless. If the US decided to play that game with two or more bombers coming from different directions at the same time, the world would be a sheet of glass already. That’s what people don’t get, this is EXISTENTIAL for the Russians. If the Russians don’t win, it’s ALL OVER.
It’s not nuclear chicken. It’s SOP…and has been going on for generations.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-china-sea-us-patrol-chinese-fighter-jet-philippines-taiwan-rcna71922
https://news.usni.org/2022/01/24/2-u-s-aircraft-carriers-now-in-south-china-sea-as-chinese-air-force-flies-39-aircraft-near-taiwan
I am not saying it is smart.
But it is nothing out of the ordinary.
And again.
There is NO WAY that America is going to begin WW3 by launching a nuclear missile from a dinosaur B-52.
The world knows that and I guarantee you the Russians knew that too.
We never ever had a deranged president and a bunch of equally deranged and ruthless advisers. They lack character and decency.
Putin must have believed he was dealing with a common sense president and advisers, he was wrong, these people don’t do diplomacy they govern with sanctions and bloody wars as long as it is other nations blood and debris, look at the ME, Iraq, and Syria, and Gaza, and Libya.
Such a blasé attitude about the end of the world could only be supportable if the Russians decide to keep cool heads about the situation. The world has been thus saved from nuclear Armageddon at least once in history. How likely do you think it is that they will continue to be cool under pressure with these kinds of provocations-on-top-of-provocations?
All I did was point out facts.
This kind of thing goes on ALL the time.
Why should I get worked up about something that has been going on for generations?
Part 2.
What are you talking about: ‘if the Russians don’t win, it’s over.’
Define ‘win’?
The end of the US empire, the USA is a global malice, the elected officials are vultures.
A win for Russia in this situation would be the implementation of a European security framework that includes Russia, such as what Russia proposed to the United States before the invasion. As you will recall, this proposal was rejected by the United States (speaking for NATO and Ukraine, one would assume). A win would also include the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, so that Ukraine no longer poses a threat to Russia. What is not being achieved on this score in diplomatic talks will be achieved on the battlefield, since Ukraine and its NATO/US masters refuse to negotiate.
Okay….thank you.
Now please define ‘it’s over’?
What ‘is over’ if the Russians don’t ‘win’?
If you are going to say ‘nuclear war’?
I think you are being an alarmist.
We’ll see, won’t we?
Now, for the ugly part. What do I mean by “it’s ALL OVER”? Simple. Russian nuclear strategy reserves nuclear first strike capabilities in the event of an existential threat to its government or territory. The United States has made noises that it wants to drain Russia, and clearly it will never give up the color revolutions or treaties negotiated in bad faith until the Russian government is disbanded and the territory broken up. I think that should be clear to all readers at this point. It will eventually happen unless Russia manages to secure a proper security framework, as I mentioned before. Interestingly, due to its proxy status and proximity, Ukraine is more under the threat of nuclear attack than the US, but its armed forces are being steadily ground down so there is no need to resort to that. But when certain red lines are crossed, there will be consequences, and if NATO decides to commit to an invasion, nukes WILL be launched. It’s policy. And as soon as one goes off, it’s very likely they all will, on all sides.
1) you are not Putin, You have no idea what he thinks. So you cannot know what they will do (nor can I).
2) so you are actually saying that if Russia does not secure the territories/agreement it wants? That it will deliberately start WW3?
Sorry…but that seems highly unlikely to me.
It is utterly pointless to just obliterate most of humanity… including Russia. Without warning. Just because Putin feels insecure about NATO.
That gains Russia nothing.
3) I think that the only way that Russia starts lobbing nukes is if Ukraine/NATO enters Crimea/Russia itself.
Your third point IS the point. I’m done here.
It was not silly, it is reckless, and the provocations against China are meant to be serious.
By the way, remember how the Americans reacted and shot down a Chinese weather balloon and a few little unidentified objects with $400 000 missiles?
That is loser panic.
That sounds scary. Do you have any sources for those claims?
“The US also appears to be tired of Zelensky’s constant demands for weapons. Two White House officials told POLITICO that there are “grumblings” in Washington over Zelesnky’s constant requests and lack of gratitude.”
If you get the guy to let his country be a sacrificial lamb so you can weaken Russia, you should expect constant requests. And lack of gratitude? That’s rich.
Well, he is “our boy”. We might as well address and treat him as Boy. After all, it is a rich tradition in this country ;-(
The U.S. may be ‘getting tired’ of Zelensky’s demands for weapons but the U.S. under Biden willingly pushed weapons on Ukraine so now cutting them off won’t be so easy.
No doubt it won’t be because of Biden but I think people are getting pissed enough that he might not have any choice.
This is coming after the American tax payer has had their pockets drained significantly. Putting the politics of the war aside, the war itself has put a massive strain on the American economy. The American tax payer has had to foot the bill this whole time.
I really think this is the true point of the war. Our leaders were deep into colonizing our own country well before this war started. But the war provides the fear and pretext we are losing with acceptance of COVID.
We are reaching the limits of American growth – the planet can’t handle much more, particularly with China’s economic growth. So instead of trying to temper our growth and find a new, fairer way to organize society; they are organizing society to scape goat a large portion of our people, demonizing any resistance, and attacking our rivals to the extent of risking global catastrophe.
The results will be a terrified populace kept in line with censorship, mass disenfranchisement, the abandonment of the very concept of civil rights and draconian laws against protesting
The reemergence of fascism is a very real possibility. The failure of the economic war against Russia may collapse Western economies, which are highly indebted. The economic pain may lead to political upheavals that can only be repressed by authoritarian fascist regimes.
All of the significant world powers have been essentially fascist since the 1930s. One gang of fascists happened to beat a different gang of fascists in World War Two, but that didn’t end fascism.
By claiming they are all fascist anyways, you trivialize fascism.
So according to you, who was the biggest fascist, the US/UK, the Nazis or the Bolshevists? In 1941, Truman said that “if we see that the Germans are winning, we should support the Russians, if we see that the Russians are winning, we should support the Germans; the important thing is that they kill as many of each other as possible.” It never was about fighting the Nazis or the Commis; it always was about US/UK imperialism and getting others to kill each other by divide-and-conquer strategies.
Replace Germans by Ukrainians in Truman’s quote and you get what the US is doing today. In my book, that makes the fascist ranking:
1) US/UK
2) Nazis
3) Bolshevists
On the international level, fascism expresses itself as imperialism. The US/UK is driving the imperialist race today as it has been doing for a very long time. It’s anybody’s guess if the No. 2 and 3 would have become fascist or imperialist if it hadn’t been for the Anglo Empire, but we know who started it. The Germans were late for the imperial game, so they tried to play catch-up. Stalin drove a ruthless move towards industrialization to get the country ready for defending against the other Western empires. One thing is certain, Western powers scre… up big time. That leaves the pax-Sinensis by default.
As Burnham noted in The Managerial Revolution, as of the 1920s and 1930s capitalism and socialism were converging in governance form to managerial statism. Which is the essence of fascism (e.g. Mussolini — everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state).
Has managerial statism, aka fascism, taken various forms? Sure. Some are more overtly nationalist than others. Some feature stronger ethnocentric components. Some are friendly to specific religions (e.g. Francoism), some ignore or just go with the prevailing religious trends (e.g. New-Dealism), some are hostile to religion in general (e.g. Stalinism).
What they have in common is an underlying assumption of the primacy of the state in all areas of life that it turns its attention to.
LoL! That must be the Anglo-Saxon definition of fascism.
Continental Civil Law countries recognize the Supremacy of the State, while the Common Law countries of the Anglosphere recognize the supremacy of the private, in particular private property. That’s why the US is a plutocracy mascaraing as a democracy. That’s why Ukraine under US influence is a corrupt oligarchy that’s on its way to fascism. That’s the same process that was at work in Weimar Germany, which ended in fascism. Hitler moved away form the Soviet Union to open the country to American capitalism, which resulted in fascism. Hitler followed the American model, which he greatly admired.
It’s not the State that directs the economy for the common good, it is the global capitalist elite that is the driver for fascism because it exploits the masses for its own benefit. The global elite, which functions outside the control of the State, exploits and impoverishes the people. In the end, that requires a fascist dictatorship to suppress popular discontent.
It is rather telling that Francis Fukuyama, the prophet of liberal democracy, has given up on his idea of the “end of history” to promote the virtue of the Deep State instead. It’s clear where that is going. That’s not because the State is too powerful, that’s because the State is powerless in the face of the global elite. For Pete’s sake, the US government can’t even control its financial sector, which plunges the world into crisis in regular intervals.
The state never directs anything for “the common good.”
The state directs anything it directs for the benefit of itself and those who run it.
First you trivialize fascism, and now you go full fascist by discounting even the possibility that the State can be the embodiment of the Sovereign, which in a democracy is the people. According to that view democracy is impossible and the only way forward is fascism.
As Marx/Engels put it, the state is the executive committee of the ruling class.
He thought it was possible to change that with a dictatorship of the proletariat, but in all of the successful revolutions based on his theory, the vanguard party ended up just substituting itself for the proletariat and constituting itself as the new ruling class.
I have yet to see any other theory of political government successfully solve that substitutism problem either. Like Louis XIV said, “l’etat, c’est moi.”
The state always serves two things: A ruling class, and as DeJasay put it, the maximization of its own discretionary power. Both things are hard-coded in its DNA.
If you suffer a state to live, it will eventually evolve into a managerial, aka fascist, state, as surely as an old man’s hair will gray and his skin will wrinkle.
A few hundred billions are just peanuts. The FED can always print more. The real costs are going to be the result of the economic war. When the petro-dollar collapses, the losses are going to be in the trillions or tens of trillions.
There are rumors that Zelenskiy wants the name “Russia” changed to “Muscovy”. Our government ought to support that and suggest that the Crimea might be ceded to Muscovy.
I have been saying from the beginning that the Ukrainians are not puppets of US/NATO.Zelenskyy is leading a legitimate national resistance movement that sets its own agenda.
In particular, Zelenskyy broke with Biden over China’s peace proposal by asking for a one on one meeting with Xi. Biden and the US administration were surprised because they expected Zelenskyy to tow Washington’s line dismissing the Chinese initiative. It appears that the Chinese were also surprised by Zelensky’s independence because they have not yet responded publicly to his bold request for a summit without Washington participating. I am disappointed by China’s apparent coolness to Zelenskyy’s proposal. I hope China is sincere in its professed interest in acting as a mediator in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine is bankrupt; without US/NATO dollars and weapons it would collapse very quickly.
And them that pay the piper pick the tunes.
The Ukrainian army may collapse, but Ukraine will inevitably eventually prevail. The resistance to Putin’s invasion will continue, even if it has to become an underground partisan movement. It is looking like Russia will never be able to pacify any part of Ukraine outside of Crimea and maybe eastern part of Donbas. The Russian invasion failed months ago. Now it is only a matter of time before Russia gets a political leadership that has the wisdom to withdraw from Ukraine.
I contest your interpretation of the Russian action in Ukraine. Putin, to the growing annoyance of his supporters, labeled the operation as short of war and decidedly short of an invasion for very specific reasons. I’ve seen zero evidence – zero – that the Russians have or have had any intention of “invading” Ukraine.
The action near Kiev was apparently intended to intimidate and send a message of serious intent, was later used to divert Ukrainian forces away from the Donbass, but has yet to morph into any sort of invasion of Ukraine.
“I’ve seen zero evidence – zero – that the Russians have or have had any intention of ‘invading’ Ukraine.”
Then you should probably either catch up on a year’s worth of news that you missed, or consult a dictionary.
Moscow a number of times had declined the Donbass request to join Russia. The Minsk agreements included the Donbass to stay in Ukraine. The Donbass held the balance of power and Moscow needed them to stay in Ukraine. But lets turn truth on its head.
“I’ve seen zero evidence – zero – that the Russians have or have had any intention of ‘invading’ Ukraine.” Is a very accurate statement.
Black is white, up is down just more Big Lies after Big Lies.
Exactly, Putin refused the requests of the Luhanks and Donetsk Republics to become part of Russia for 8 years because Putin wanted to maintain Ukraine as sovereign country.
That is the historical fact no amount of propaganda can undo.
I was referring to an all out invasion and you likely realize that since I’ve recited this point here ad-nauseam.
Insult ignored.
To conquer Ukraine, the Russians would have had to invade with a 1 million strong army because the invading side needs a 3 to 1 superiority. 150k was just a show of force to force Ukraine to the negotiation table, after Ukraine had failed to implement the Minsk II peace agreement for 8 years. It did work until Nato once again sabotaged the peace talks.
No amount of Nato propaganda can undo the historical facts. Even at his advanced age, Chomsky is still more clear in the head than all the propagandists of the collective West combined:
Western elites don’t understand that the rest of the world doesn’t want their war against Russia.
https://youtu.be/-dBfw-SFmhM?t=1
It is Orwellian double think to believe the Ukraine invasion is anything other than a war.
Too bad you don’t pay enough attention to recognize I wasn’t using war in that comment. I was using invasion.
If Russia had decided on an invasion of Ukraine back a year ago, you would not have witnessed events as they actually unfolded.
I guess you just like to score points.
If Russia hadn’t decided on an invasion of Ukraine a year ago, how did Ukraine just happen to get invaded by Russia a year ago? Some kind of accident? Did the Invasion Fairy just magically take those tanks from under Putin’s pillow and put them down in Ukraine or something?
Zelensky has no choice, he can never agree to peace. The Nazi’s in Kiev have been very clear. If Zelensky signs a peace treaty he will hang from the nearest tree. Peace treaty negotiators have already been assassinated.
This is a hard core Nazi regime in Kiev. Funded by the US and EU. Nothing happens in Kiev without the CIA agreeing to it.
Does anybody in the Zelensky or Biden administrations have any real grasp of war? How can they seriously talk about counteroffensives and taking Crimea? You need soldiers for that.
Video games (with grandchildren, in Biden’s case).
I get the sense that American “journalism” is trying very hard to keep Zelenskyy’s implicit expectations of American troops retaking Crimea out of these stories. That truth would help sour the American public’s enthusiasm for more war that only kills faceless Slavs 10,000 miles from our borders.
I think the talk about taking Crimea is the neocon’s latest delusional Ukraine shtick because of the Russian naval base there. It sounds good at the meetings and looks good on the transparencies and the fact that it’s ridiculous is lost in the noise and/or just plain immaterial. The idea is to keep the killing going and the money flowing as long as possible.
They are very good at starting wars in which others get killed. They just haven’t learned how to end a war. We’ll need Putin for that.
America is a senile blind headless horseman lashing out and playing chicken with the world as it’s uni-polar world fades into the twilight.
Götterdämmerung (Ragnarök) coming home to roost!
Anything approaching Ukrainian victory would likely mean nuclear war, which is not in the US interest. Ukraine losing completely would undermine faith in US power, and clarify what the consequences of being a US ally can be as the US provokes another major war with China.
Stalemate is the default policy, but weakens everyone worldwide with pointless bloodshed and economic mayhem. Ukraine will need vast resources poured into it forever if they can’t seize the Donbas from Russia (they can’t). The US cannot fund the nightmare in Ukraine forever and also doesn’t want to. Rhetoric about democracy is cheap, and that’s all it ever was when it comes to our meddling in Ukraine to use them against Russia.
Well said, my friend. I couldn’t disagree except for “Rhetoric about democracy is cheap…” Whenever I hear “rhetoric about democracy,” I expect an expensive price to pay, usually in all three: freedom, money, and blood. Ukraine is paying the lion share so far. (Sarcasm alert)
Democracy and fiat currencies, a match made in hell.
Indeed.
Without the use of Nukes the US is a paper tiger having lost all of our wars and invasions in Asia and the MidEast.The domestic calamities imposed on a lot of sanctioned countries will come home to roost as the US economy falters and the raw materials stolen from other places dwindle.The writing is on the wall for those intelligent enough to see it.Of course no mention of trouble ahead will ever appear in the MSM. The population of America is mostly kept blind deliberately.
That stalemate has become a best case outcome of US policy.
It is a stalemate in a far worse position for Ukraine than it would have had just by honoring the Minsk 2 accord.
This stalemate is therefore an outright defeat of NATO and the US, and would be seen as such by the rest of the world outside the bubble of Democratic big media, in which Biden can do no wrong and did not blow up the pipeline either.
“It is a stalemate in a far worse position for Ukraine than it would have had just by honoring the Minsk 2 accord.”
I wonder what that near agreement in late March of ’22 would look like in comparison also. You know there would be a lot more people breathing right now, and Ukraine would still be near whole.
The peace deal of March 2022 would have kept the Donbass as an autonomous region in Ukraine with the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine being guaranteed: for example, official status of the Russian language, etc.
Since Ukraine would have to abandon Nato membership, the deal would also require guarantees for Ukraine as a neutral country. Only the US and Russia could have given such a guarantee. I’m sure that Russia wouldn’t mind becoming a guarantor of Ukraine’s neutrality; however, the US might not have ratified such a deal just like it didn’t ratify the Budapest Memorandum 20 years ago, which therefore never became international law.
But that ship has left the harbor. Ukraine definitely lost 4 of its region and every day that passes, it’ll lose even more.
Joe Biden is the Nord Stream Bomber.
+++
No honest, sane human being stands with the Ukraine. Ukraine should be seen as nothing but a failed, corrupted state with violent neo-nazi mercenaries and power-hungry politicians.
All you have to do is look up who Stepan Bandera is. That tells you everything you need to know.
Seems like “honest and sane human beings” are a rare species these days. The world has gone MAD.
Poland has 23 MIG-29A’s.
Very old, very dated designs.
And they will be sending – at most – 13.
Yawn.