"You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine."
Posted on 11/23/2019 7:27:23 AM PST by Krosan
U.S. military aid is a luxury, not a necessity, for Ukrainian combat operations to counter Russian aggression. From what I’ve seen, the country is perfectly capable of fighting its own war—with or without the American military aid.
However, recent news reports and social media commentaries highlight the fact that Ukraine’s armed forces suffered at least 13 combat deaths during the 55 days in which the Trump administration withheld nearly $400 million in military aid from mid-July to mid-September.
The implication is that Ukraine is treading water in its war effort, suspended over the abyss of defeat at Russia’s hands only by the lift of uninterrupted U.S. military aid. The instant that assistance is cut off, this line of thinking goes, Ukraine’s ability to defend itself founders.
Well, that conclusion doesn’t jibe with what I’ve observed while covering the war, often from the front lines, since the summer of 2014.
President Donald Trump’s temporary suspension of U.S. military aid to Ukraine this summer is at the heart of a House impeachment inquiry. According to Democrats, Trump allegedly tried to leverage that defense assistance as a way to coerce Ukraine into investigating the role of Joe Biden’s son in a Ukrainian energy company. [...]
[...]
Correlating the holdup in U.S. military aid with the rate of Ukrainian front-line casualties is a bogus conclusion, reflecting an ignorance of Ukraine’s military capabilities as well as a distorted understanding of the true nature of the war in the Donbas.
“Did Trump’s delay in providing military assistance to Ukraine have an effect on the war? I think that this delay did not have any influence on the situation in the eastern war zone,” Ukrainian army sniper Alexander Pochynok told The Daily Signal.
“As for the soldiers who were killed—blame the enemy,” Pochynok said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Peterson is a former USAF special operations pilot and a combat veteran, so he knows about war and he is on the ground there.
I assume he meant flounders, not founders?
Excellent point. I also noticed that Ms Cooper said the 55 days merely held up the writing of contracts but they were almost caught up to where they would have been before the pause.
I think it’s a credit to Ukraine that President Trump held up the funds until he was sure the new president was the real deal. The release of funds means he believes the Ukrainians are in good hands.
Founders is correct.
They need A10s.
Sounds to me as though our military aide is not even needed.
They have a regiment of Su-25s, but these wouldn’t survive the Russian air defense and neither would A-10s.
Javelin’s are good, but they would have been very useful 5 years ago, when Russians were grabbing more land. Obama was so stupid about his differentiating between lethal/non-lethal weapons because Javelin is clearly a defensive weapon.
the POTUS tried to leverage that defense assistance as a way to see if the Ukraine was actually intent on investigating CORRUPTION......
How the meme of “investigating a political opponent” was allowed to be substituted and spread unchecked is beyond belief!!!!!!!
Military aid is a great way to spend money and to steal it by all involved parties.
Ukraine has a lot of low tech weapons, but the US aid of night vision, secure radios, counter battery radars and Javelins is something that they can’t make themselves. Peterson goes into more detail about that in the article.
In 2015 General Breedlove set up a deal where Ukraine would trade their APC-s with Pakistan for their TOW-2 ATGMs, but Obama forbid it and sacked Breedlove.
I liked Ukraine a lot better when it was a corrupt Russian satellite instead of a corrupt American one.
Yes, let Ukraine defend itself. I do not buy that we need to be there, need to be funding them, etc. Redirect that money to a closer, more immediate threat, the 2,000 mile border with Mexico.
"You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine."
One of a few things Obama did right. Might be a broken clock thing.
Which definition is he using then in the sentence:
founder:
n. One who founds or establishes.
n. An originator; one from whom anything derives its beginning; an author: as, the founder of a sect of philosophers; the founder of a family.
n. One who establishes by endowment; one who provides a permanent fund for any purpose: as, the founder of a college or hospital.
Not disputing you, but I just do not see a definition that fits with his train of thought.
Thanks.
It was a very well written piece. Thanks for sharing.
The verb, to founder, means to fail or sink...as in a ship or an enterprise foundering. Source, well, pretty sure it’s in the dictionary.
I doubt that the transcription was even completed.
And in Ukraine, it was lunch time...while in DC, it was 6 or 7 in the morning.
I'm wondering if any of it is true.
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