Re: 68 - You skipped WHY LTC MacGregor said what he did:
“Well, Vladimir Putin is carrying through on something that he has been warning us about at least for the last 15 years, which is he will not tolerate U.S. forces or missiles on his borders.”
“And we ignored him and he finally acted. He was not going to allow Ukraine, under any circumstances, to join NATO.”
“I see no reason why we should fight with the Russians over something that they have been talking about for years, we simply chose to ignore it. And more importantly, the population there is indistinguishable from their own.
You know, the thing that is so disturbing, on one hand, we will not send our forces to fight. But we’re urging Ukrainians to die pointlessly in a fight they can’t win. We’re going to create a far worse humanitarian disaster than anything you’ve seen so far if this does not stop.”
MacGregor was very clear on WHY he said what he did.
This is typically what US Foreign Policy achieves. We tend to support the losing side in a roughly stalemated situation while we manage an international "peace process". This results in far more casualties and lasting grievances than would a quick, decisive victory by either side. For example Afghanistan, Iraq where we continue to keep the Shia majority from decisive power, Kosovo, Bosnia, Palestine, etc., etc.
We maximize global misery.