• 0 Posts
  • 30 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: July 14th, 2023

help-circle

  • The weird thing about the war, at least in my little American bubble is that despite the “overwhelming feeling the west has to capitulate eastern Ukraine” or any of it is… Most people I talk to barely know there’s a war going on over there. They certainly don’t understand why. The war fatigue everyone keeps claiming does not apply. I’m starting to believe it’s manufactured. Certainly, the politicians are fighting, because the Reps don’t want the Dems to look like they defeated Russia. That would put them right back in office. Maybe things are different in Europe, but if I stay off the internet, there are no signs of what the media keeps talking about. Occasionally, I see a Ukrainian flag in a window, but I’d wager half the people who see that flag have no idea what country it is.







  • What Andrew says was correct, of course, but Zelenskyy was under pressure to do something, in order to keep the inertia of aid coming in. Now that it looks like a quagmire to the casual observer, things seem a little more perilous.

    I agree that the west can out-produce Russia, but I’m less confident that without the US, China will continue to stand by, if that’s what you can call their current actions.

    I also agree on the Eisenhower reference, and have pointed out before, that as much as people freak out about it, it’s somewhat necessary. I’m a veteran, and I thought the hero worship of the GWOT was too much, but now I fear that the pendulum has swung too far the opposite way. At least back on reddit, you’d see people absolutely trashing the fools that volunteer for the military, complain that defense spending was far too high, etc. Then, as soon as things pop off, it’s, “Russia better stfu or we’ll come over there and kick their ass”. You can’t have it both ways. I’m pretty Left on most issues, but we can’t even focus on building a good society, if we aren’t secure, first. Our advantageous geography has granted us a lot of leeway, but the world gets smaller, everyday, and our allies aren’t granted those advantages, anyway.


  • Ukraine has had a rough few months, for sure. It appears that the Russians have outdone their own doctrine, when it comes to the surovikin line, dooming the Ukrainian offensive. Long term, I don’t think Russia has enough skilled troops to conduct another serious offensive, but I think they’re content to occupy eastern Ukraine. At least until everything is replenished in twenty years, and they decide to move again. The western style of maneuver warfare hasn’t proven fruitful, and that is likely because Ukraine is unable to get and maintain air superiority. But that goes back to my point - the west took too long and sent too little. It’s easy to see why Ukraine is frustrated with the supply situation, and now fatigue is setting in with a lot of people in the US. We’ve fumbled plenty of foreign relations in the past, but this seems like the most justifiable war since WWII, and we’re failing the test.