Posted on 03/02/2022 10:47:27 AM PST by conservative98
Retired Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor joined Tucker Carlson on Fox News Tuesday to discuss the latest developments of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, noting that the first phase of Russia’s incursion is over, marking the “beginning of the end of the Ukrainian resistance.”
“The first five days, we witnessed a very slow, methodical movement of Russian forces into eastern Ukraine,” MacGregor said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Tuesday.
“So this is a — this is the beginning, frankly of the end of Ukrainian resistance,” he added.
Carlson then asked MacGregor what Putin’s endgame is in this conflict, to which MacGregor replied that it’s to take a portion of Ukraine and establish a buffer zone separating NATO with Russia.
“I think Vladimir Putin set out to honor his word of 2007,” MacGregor said simply.
“In 2007 at the Munich Security Conference, he said: We will not tolerate the expansion of NATO to a point where your NATO, your border, is touching Russia, specifically Ukraine and Georgia. We see these as essentially Trojan horses for NATO’s military power and U.S. influence, subversion and so forth.“
“He then turned to several opportunities to reinforce that over and over and over again, most recently with President Biden in the hopes that he could avoid taking action to effectively clean out eastern Ukraine of any opposition forces whatsoever, and to put his forces in a position vis-a-vis NATO to deter us from any further attempts to influence or change Ukraine into effectively a platform for the projection of U.S. and Western power into Russia.““Now, his goal, as we see it, at the moment, is to seize this entire area of eastern Ukraine. That’s pretty clear. He is going to roll up to that river, up near Kyiv, he has actually moved over the river and is preparing to go in and capture that city entirely.“
“At that point, he has to decide what else he wants to do. I don’t think he wants to go any further west. I think he’d be very satisfied to hold that point. But he would like whatever emerges from this that we call Ukraine, whether it’s just the western side or it encompasses some of the east and the west of Ukraine to be neutral, non-aligned, and preferably friendly to Moscow, that he will accept. Anything short of that, his war has been a waste of time.“
MacGregor claimed the Biden administration should then respond by telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Putin’s terms because “there really is no choice.”
“I think President Biden and Sullivan, his National Security Adviser have already given some indication of their readiness to accept something like that,” he said. “They’re not going to have any choice. Either they accept it or then they put him in the position of having to do more than he would like to do, which would probably not go down well with NATO.”
“No one really wants Russian forces on their border, least of all Poland. So I think Sullivan and Biden will essentially tell Zelensky, if he is still the President at that point and if he is still running any semblance of the Ukrainian government, which is largely collapsing now. If he is still there, he is going to be told accept the deal, go neutral, because there really is no choice.”
Biden and the West can’t afford to send forces into Ukraine to push back Russian forces, so their bluster and rhetoric that they’ll take on Putin will fall apart in real time over the coming days, he said.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Ukraine never had a chance. Only fools believe that, the same FOOLS are only getting more people killed at this point.
The general simply stating facts - here and at the link you posted. Not his fault you and many others live in the Land of Make Believe.
Mindlessly sending Javelins and shaking our fist at Putin is not the way.
okie dokie.
I think your right.
Looks to me like Putin is only going to take western Ukraine up to the River....thus he will not be up to Polands border.
“…Carlson then asked MacGregor what Putin’s endgame is in this conflict, to which MacGregor replied that it’s to take a portion of Ukraine and establish a buffer zone separating NATO with Russia….”
***************************************************************
MacGregor speculates that this “buffer zone” will be the portion east of the Dnieper river. IMHO, if the goal is to establish a defensible buffer nation it would also include ALL the territory in southern Ukraine west of the Dnieper that extends up to the Moldova border and to the northernmost border of Transnistria.
Yes I agree with those areas you mentioned......watching how Putins moved throughout the country and where tells more than any reporter guessing.
It’s actually true that what leaders say and communicate with each other in this war is very different then what’s told to the public....and that is on purpose.
he best way to see what things look like is to follow where Putins is going.....and how Nato/Us and EU are responding....
IMO Ukraine will never go back to the nation it was. Whatever is left will be neutral.
Well said.
I guess - probably most of us guess - that there will be some sort of political or security boundary at the Dneiper.
Not a try. 10 years military, tours and all, maintain the club.
But hey, you’re right, I wouldn’t know a thing.
28 years military, assignment at HQ USEUCOM in Stuttgart GE from 1989-1992, 1992, extensive travel through Central and Eastern Europe in 1990 and 1991, direct interactions with host-nation military representatives.
Anything else?
Don't forget about the 10% for the Big Guy, of course he could not get that if the Keystone pipeline were completed. /S
Have you ever interacted with people who had to exist under the Russian jackboot? I have… numerous times.
Ok, tell me what is happening in Ukraine/Russia. You listed off a lot of wog stuff there.
You failed to answer my question.
Thanks for trying.
Well, my father in law was KGB. I was at a Russian’s house last night, and I’ve spent time in Ukraine, but keep measuring. I really don’t care, we need to stay out.
“Well, my father in law was KGB. ”
So, we’re getting somewhere about your sentiments.
You’re jumping to conclusions that I know aren’t right.
Don’t have a dog in that fight, both sides are corrupt. We don’t need to get drawn in. Again, you can see who supports Zelensky and figure it out as well, but you won’t.
My guess has been that Putin’s aim is to keep everything east of the Dnieper. Anything less that isn’t big enough to be a proper buffer state. But I could see him keeping part of the south as well, depending on how the military campaign goes, to establish a border that extends to the Moldova border like you mentioned.
I also am guessing that Putin intends to take Kyiv and some territory to the west of the Dnieper in order to gain a negotiating position that lets him get a guarantee from greater Ukraine that it won’t join NATO. Once he has that he’ll give Kyiv back along with the western holdings and drop back to the Dnieper.
I think the rough model for all of this is Russia’s conflict with Georgia in 2008.
His analysis just a few days prior was stunning in its negativity.
The only people who think Ukraine can win this thing have blue checkmarks next to their Twitter accounts.
Anybody with any understanding of modern military knows it's simply not possible. The only question is how much Russia needs to escalate to achieve victory.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.