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Posted on 04/24/2025 9:28:41 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
**Europe is already stepping up: more weapons from France, Germany, Sweden and Norway. Several billion dollars worth. And a billion dollars buys a lot more in Swedish weaponry than American.**
And the troops? They may be running out. Any mercenaries available?
That is more than we should do.
We’ve already spent something like $300B that we don’t have.
Both sides will make dream/fantasy demands on the other, pretend to not care and be willing to walk away, and eventually settle on a realistic compromise.
The Ukraine's advantage is having their political system shorted out (no more elections) and with mass censorship. They don't have the sort of political pressure a true democratic government would face.
Russia has the military and economic upper hand, the actual physical advantage.
The Biden administration caused this war (something our media would never claim), and that administration plus Europe kept this war going far beyond a logical / reasonable point excluding the politics and optics.
At the latest, Dec 2023 have been when initiatives for a settlement should have been seriously made and considered. That was the last point where Ukraine actually had a chance and any change to this war was possible.
Post Dec 2023 it has only been a war of attrition but with no chance of changing an inevitable outcome. The lives lost in 2024 and 2025 are purely because of politics on the western side where having ended this war they caused, would have made folks in power look bad.
At this point, it is a pointless bleeding and people are dying because it's politically advantageous to kick the can down the road vs. settling it.
In fact, as this war rages on, Ukraine is only in a WORSE position in every respect: losing more ground, become less capable in face of an enemy that has far greater capabilities / potential.
If the U.S. can have a Monroe Doctrine; then surely Russia can have a Putin Doctrine.
S&B has good 44mag ammo for around $40/50rds from Midway or Bulkammo or Luckygunner, etc. You can buy some and send it to Zee if you want. Leave me out of it.
One supposes the same insistence will remain if Ukraine had a pro Russia government.
AKA - Ukr claims the right to self-defense and be acknowledged as an independant, sovereign state.
Former USSR nations and Taiwan will be watching this carefully, IMHO.
Koffwit will take the demand off the table if Putin objects too strongly.
Germany was severely limited after WWII
Ah, now I understand your post. Well, I get your point but in fact, we live in a representative government and your representatives are the ones who bought that ammo, so they sort of did have that right, and its up to you to change the representation. Representative government is a two edged sword. Sometimes it works and sometimes it steals your wallet.
Unless they are attacking, the Ukrainians need much fewer troops. And they don't do Bakhmut-style hold at all costs but defense in depth.
There are quite a few Columbians. The best foreign fighters according to the Ukrainians are the Finns.
The Ukraine is where the Finns go to experience improved weather.
I think Putin is just demanding no nukes and no NATO membership.
Your #18... interesting points.
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More Fake News.
There is zero chance of that happening unless Ukraine concedes all the annexed area to Russia, agrees to be neutral toward Russia and disavows all association with NATO.
But, allowing the Ukrainians to have its own defense industry would the equivalent of Israel allowing the Palestinians to have one.
Ukraine, with our and NATO’s help, has been the aggressor since 2014 in violation of Ukraine’s constitutional agreement to remain neutral toward Russia.
You can say this started 3 years ago or you can say it started centuries ago. Picking an arbitrary date in between is just propping up an agenda.
It's a condemnation of the Obama regime, neocons like Lindsey Graham and John McCain and the CIA.
Anyone denying that has an agenda or has intentionally has their head stuck in their ass.
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