Replies

Good Lord, we never even put anything in what was East Germany (the extent of the “not one inch eastward”, per Goby himself.)

We DID put defensive missiles in Poland to counter Russian buildups near the Russian border, however, and correctly so. Guess who did that? His name starts with “T”.

Fast-forward to today: The problem with getting a cease-fire to hold is that nobody exists who is acceptable to both sides to put troops into some sort of DMZ in Ukraine that could actually mean something.

There might be a sliver of a chance that Trump could schmooozzz Putin that he (Trump) really is neutral, making US troops in Ukraine “ok” to Pooty. But, from Pooty’s standpoint, Trump might be gone (impeached and removed) in 2 years, and, besides, most of Trump’s base would never accept US troops in Ukraine.

Nobody without huge skin in the game would be crazy enough to get between these two parties, leaving the Euros - almost surely unacceptable to Pooty, as the only credible force around... except that it turns out that without US as Article 5 backing (ruled out already), the Euros are not presently credible either. The UK’s Defense Chief has already explained that to have 10k troops on the border, you have to have a force of 40k for the mission, for proper rotations and such. All while not shorting other priorities. The UK could maybe do this in 2-3 years.* But to be capable in 2026? Who is kidding who?

*I’m just imagining the recruitment disaster: Sign up and maybe you’ll get assigned to the Ukrainian DMZ? Hey, yeah, maybe you’ll get to experience the sensual pleasure of a drone up your behind. Cheers, bloke!

This is your starting point, and you’re gonna need at least 200k troops.

On another thread some non-serious poster suggested “observers”, not an actual deterrent force. Uh-huh. Without a credible deterrent / penalty, who will do anything about a reported violation? Or be able to, other than restart the whole war?