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As Ukraine war bogs down, U.S. assessments face scrutiny
Washington Post ^ | July 2, 2022 | Dan Lamothe and Karoun Demirjian

Posted on 07/03/2022 9:39:52 PM PDT by Mount Athos

President Biden said the United States is “rallying the world to stand with Ukraine” and pledged to support the cause “as long as it takes.”

U.S. officials have downplayed the (Russian} gains, calling them halting and incremental.

The scrutiny is fueled by U.S. government assessments of other wars, notably in Afghanistan, where officials habitually glossed over widespread dysfunction and corruption and sidestepped questions of whether battlefield successes were not only achievable but sustainable.

A Ukrainian lawmaker shared similar concerns.

“We are losing the most valuable thing, our soldiers and officers.”

Benjamin Friedman, a policy director at Defense Priorities, said that the stated objective of Ukraine to push Russian forces out seems “increasingly unrealistic” and that the Biden administration must do more to press Ukraine to negotiate with Russia and strive for a political settlement.

“I think we should be doing more to pressure them, and I think we’re sort of doing a disservice not just to regular Ukrainians, but to a lesser extent Americans and everyone else who is suffering economic problems because of the war.”

Friedman said the U.S. government is “spinning for Ukraine for the obvious reason that we are rooting for them.”

“Think of the prognosis on how long the Afghan government would hold after the August 31st withdrawal date,” Meijer said.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said the United States cannot resign itself to a “prolonged never-ending conflict that is wreaking havoc on the American economy and the global economy.”

“People don’t want to see a resigned attitude that this is just going to go on as long as it’s going to go on. What is the plan on the diplomatic front?”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia; US: California
KEYWORDS: again; alreadyposted; angryneoconsonfr; appeasement; appeasers; benjaminfriedman; bidenloverstrollonfr; california; chechens; chechnya; darkmaggots; deathtochechnya; deathtoglobalists; deathtoleftists; deathtoneocons; deathtoputin; deathtorussia; deathtosoros; defensepriorities; demagogicparty; freetraitors; globalistfail; groypers; khana; khanna; liberalworldorder; libertariantraitors; neocons4biden; putinlovertrollsonfr; putinsbuttboys; putinworshippers; rokhana; rokhanna; russia; russianaggression; searchworks; surrenderjunkies; ukraine; ukrainecorruption; ukraineislosing; ukraineslushfund; warofthekeywords; zelenskypuffers; zelenskyqs; zelenskysbuttboys; zelenskyworshippers; zottheneocons; zottherussiantrolls; zotthezelenskybots
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Abbreviated sentences to fit citation limit
1 posted on 07/03/2022 9:39:52 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

The Democrats, as usual, are the party of tough-talking surrender monkeys. They throttle weaponry shipments, then feign surprise when Ukraine can’t hold in the face of Russian firepower Biden deliberately doesn’t come close to matching. I see liberals making excuses for Biden everywhere. They parrot the Biden line that 100+ American howitzers > thosusands of Russian guns.


2 posted on 07/03/2022 9:49:57 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei

I don’t think you quite understand; no amount of weapons is going to make Ukraine defeat The Russian Federation...this is the initial fallacy...but US and Ukraine and ruled by fools. SAD it is a reflection of the population.


3 posted on 07/03/2022 9:56:19 PM PDT by bte
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To: Zhang Fei

Russia is going to run out of troops soon. At that point, Putin will have to decide whether he is going to mobilize. Ukrainians hate the Russians. They are fully mobilized so they can take more casualties than Russia. It is a war of national survival for them.


4 posted on 07/03/2022 9:57:10 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: All

1) The US economic problems are not a result of Ukraine because . . .

2) The price of oil began to climb in mid December, and the rate of that climb established a slope on the graph. That slope angle did not change at all in late Feb when the war started. Oil’s price is not from Ukraine, and so economic problems are not from Ukraine.

3) So if you are trying to sell peace negotiations under the motivation of domestic economy, that fails.

4) There isn’t anything Ukraine can promise that Russia would believe, and vice versa. So cries that there must be peace negotiations are more than a little absurd. Ukraine would start shelling across whatever agreed line within a week of agreement.


5 posted on 07/03/2022 10:00:01 PM PDT by Owen
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To: MinorityRepublican

This is Joe Biden playing Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam and the Republicans should stop being the Amen Chorus but they can’t help themselves being lapdogs of the military-industrial complex that a Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned us all about.


6 posted on 07/03/2022 10:00:31 PM PDT by Nextrush (FREEDOM IS EVERBODY'S BUSINESS-REMEMBER PASTOR NIEMOLLER)
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To: Mount Athos

It may not be “bogged down” very much longer.


7 posted on 07/03/2022 10:01:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

More than one third of the troops the Ukrainian government is fighting against are... Ukrainians.


8 posted on 07/03/2022 10:02:28 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

We are the laughingstock of the world.


9 posted on 07/03/2022 10:04:56 PM PDT by Spok (Don’t pee down my leg and tell me it’s raining.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

“They are fully mobilized so they can take more casualties than Russia”.

Russian population: 145 million.

Population of Ukraine: 35 million.

Attrition favors Russia much more than Ukraine.


10 posted on 07/03/2022 10:06:03 PM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: MinorityRepublican; All

They’re sending the volunteer fat guys to work checkpoints. But at least the trucks have good tires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JuAWgrjq9s


11 posted on 07/03/2022 10:13:27 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Zhang Fei

All too true. Democratic foreign policy combines vanity, moral preening, and lack of strategic realism. Woe unto any country they lead or claim to help!


12 posted on 07/03/2022 10:13:31 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Mount Athos

Let’s declare victory and pull out.


13 posted on 07/03/2022 10:15:38 PM PDT by RedMonqey
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To: bte

[I don’t think you quite understand; no amount of weapons is going to make Ukraine defeat The Russian Federation...this is the initial fallacy...but US and Ukraine and ruled by fools. SAD it is a reflection of the population.]


They’re doing pretty well despite being outgunned 10 to 1. It will be interesting to see what happens when that ratio falls to 5:1. Or 1:1, despite Biden’s relentless obstruction. Russian equipment to North Vietnam helped them shoot down almost 10,000 US aircraft.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of_the_Vietnam_War

It’s only fitting we return the favor in some form.


14 posted on 07/03/2022 10:17:23 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: laplata
Attrition favors Russia much more than Ukraine

Yes but Putin will have to conscript boys from the Elite in Moscow and St. Petersburg to get more fresh troops in Ukraine. So far, he hasn't done that. Right now, Ukraine is a special military operation. So the Russians think that the war is not really impacting them. But if Putin decides to mobilizes, then that will raise the stakes for everyone. The motivation is there in Ukraine. Russia? Not so sure about that.

15 posted on 07/03/2022 10:21:00 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: Mount Athos

We never should have gotten involved in Ukraine in the first place. Meanwhile our southern border is being invaded. Put our troops and “defensive weapons” there.


16 posted on 07/03/2022 10:25:07 PM PDT by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
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To: Mount Athos

The globalists have won a great strategic victory. Russia, a nationalistic threat to the “new world liberal order” has been shown not to be the conventional military juggernaut or power once so feared. NATO, which is the globalist sword, no longer considers the Russian military a credible offensive threat. The Chinese, who have always coveted Russia’s underpopulated rich Far Eastern/Pacific territories and Siberia also realize Russia cannot defend them conventionally. Interesting times are ahead.


17 posted on 07/03/2022 10:26:19 PM PDT by allendale
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To: bte
[...] no amount of weapons is going to make Ukraine defeat The Russian Federation [...]

Let's see you present your evidence for this bold assertion!

We'd all like to hear your concise, logical arguments.

Regards,

18 posted on 07/03/2022 10:27:12 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

They are only postponing the inevitable. There is no way Ukraine can win. Someone should initiate peace talks.


19 posted on 07/03/2022 10:32:17 PM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: Mount Athos

“to press Ukraine to negotiate with Russia and strive for a political settlement.”

How do you say a day late and a dollar short in Ukrainian?


20 posted on 07/03/2022 10:33:08 PM PDT by NorseViking
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