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US’ Afghanistan playbook bodes ill for Ukraine
Global Times ^ | Dec 26, 2022 | Nebojsa Malic

Posted on 01/14/2023 11:10:24 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

Just before disbanding for the Christmas holidays, the US Congress passed a $45 billion "aid" package for Ukraine.

Before Zelensky's speech on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden announced another $2.2 billion that will immediately go to Kiev, mainly as weapons and ammunition. This includes a single battery of "Patriot" air defense missiles, the latest Western "wonder weapon" that's somehow supposed to turn the tide of the war.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a damning admission on Thursday, saying that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan - in August 2021 - made it easier to aid Ukraine. The head of the Russian Duma's foreign relations committee, Konstantin Kosachev, took this to mean that the US "fled Afghanistan to free its hand to prepare for war" in Ukraine, thanking Blinken for his sincerity.

None of this would matter much if the Western strategy actually worked. But facts and numbers indicate that it is not. Quite the opposite, actually. The sanctions have not had the desired effect on Russia, but ended up weakening the economies of America's allies in Europe. The billions burned to bankroll Kiev may have lined the pockets of a few military contractors, but they ultimately harmed the overall American economy from which they were extracted.

Nor has Western military industries proven capable of dealing with a sustained conventional war. If the numbers recently reported in US media are correct, the West can make up to 40,000 artillery rounds for 155mm howitzers a month - the amount the Ukrainians expend in about a week.

Many NATO militaries are almost out of resources to spare. Setting up new production lines is easier said than done.

It is said that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

(Excerpt) Read more at globaltimes.cn ...


TOPICS: Russia
KEYWORDS:
We shouldn't be the ones to encourage this conflict to be fought to the last Ukrainian but that is what we are going to do.
1 posted on 01/14/2023 11:10:24 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Global Times = more Russian propaganda

IGNORE


2 posted on 01/14/2023 11:16:28 PM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: MinorityRepublican

Why are we even reading Chinese Communist Party newspapers for opinions. I get maybe looking at it to see what the CCP party line is, but looks like you’re reading it like it’s your sunday paper!


3 posted on 01/14/2023 11:19:57 PM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: canuck_conservative
Global Times = more Russian propaganda

I'm for Ukraine. But if we are funding Zelensky, we do get to have a say in this matter and we can pressure him to sign a peace deal with the Russians.

4 posted on 01/14/2023 11:20:31 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

The minor difference that the Afghanis largely didn’t care or actively prefer the Taliban and participated very little in the fighting beyond taking a paycheck and much of the actual footwork was down by Americans whereas the majority of Ukranians vigorously oppose and hate the Russians and are doing almost all the fighting which is strange for people who supposedly all secretly love Putin according to some people here.


5 posted on 01/14/2023 11:23:11 PM PST by jarwulf
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To: canuck_conservative

Yup, tons of Russian and PRC articles being posted in this ‘conservative’ website these days. Is this what it means to be a conservative these days? Spending all of your time reading and regurgitating propaganda from literal communist party organs?


6 posted on 01/14/2023 11:27:10 PM PST by jarwulf
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To: MinorityRepublican
But if we are funding Zelensky, we do get to have a say in this matter and we can pressure him to sign a peace deal with the Russians

real peace deal yes, surrender no

so far the so-called "peace deals" have all been one-sided giveaways to Russia

there can't be any peace until Ukraine's future security is guaranteed, and Russia agrees to pay for the damage it caused


7 posted on 01/14/2023 11:31:18 PM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: canuck_conservative
there can't be any peace until Ukraine's future security is guaranteed, and Russia agrees to pay for the damage it caused

I'll get the Israelis involved somehow and they'll help Ukraine to build nuclear weapons. That's how you get it done.

8 posted on 01/14/2023 11:36:08 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican
"US’ Afghanistan playbook bodes ill for Ukraine"


9 posted on 01/14/2023 11:39:36 PM PST by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: canuck_conservative

Reparations, ahh, history shows how well reparations work to insure lasting peace in a region.


10 posted on 01/14/2023 11:41:42 PM PST by Waverunner
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To: Waverunner
Reparations, ahh, history shows how well reparations work to insure lasting peace in a region.

Ukraine and the West will probably demand reparations but we know that's not going to work.

11 posted on 01/14/2023 11:47:02 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican
You have got to love our contingent of Biden/AOC loving neocon arm chair warriors. Not one would ever put their own lives at risk but they love to celebrate the deaths of others. They don't care that Ukraine is a giant money laundering machine enabling the Democrats to keep fixing elections with $Billions of taxpayer dollars. This is all a big football game to them. They continue pretending to be interested in the plight of Ukrainians. What a joke!

They pretend not to realize that the Russians are profiting more than any other entity from this nonsense. The Russians made over $100 Billion more from their exports in 2022 than they did in 2021. The money train is still going on and on. And it is our allies that are the ones enriching them the most!


12 posted on 01/14/2023 11:54:15 PM PST by fireman15 (Irritating people are the grit from which we fashion our pearl. I provide the grit. You're Welcome.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

This isn’t the Afghanistan playbook.

There are no American service personal in Ukraine.

The Ukrainians themselves are doing all the fighting, plus a few foreign volunteers that are in the equivalent of a foreign legion.

The US trained Afghan Army didn’t last a week without active American military help.

The Ukrainians have been fighting the Imperial Russian Army toe to toe for 10 months.

Since the Russian invasion the US has sold 1 trillion USD of LNG to Europe. Europe natural gas market before the Russian invasion was mainly a Russian/Qatari market.


13 posted on 01/15/2023 1:09:30 AM PST by Reaganez
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To: MinorityRepublican

Joe and Hunters bank accounts love this war


14 posted on 01/15/2023 1:57:32 AM PST by ballplayer
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To: canuck_conservative
"Global Times = more Russian propaganda"

Afghanistan and Iraq worked out so well though. Results were so good that even Canadians had to love it.....

15 posted on 01/15/2023 3:10:57 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (Germans are bat-crap crazy for cold showers, high energy bills, and boiled turnips.)
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To: Reaganez

So many are ignorant of the fact that the Military Industrial Complex does not want to win wars - it just wants to fight wars forever. Peace and propserity is never the end goal but lucrative government contracts and trillions in foreign “aid” for connected families to skim. Over 70 years and we have not won a war yet but keep moving from one war to another.


16 posted on 01/15/2023 3:16:57 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (Germans are bat-crap crazy for cold showers, high energy bills, and boiled turnips.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

If the gop had their way, we would still be in Afghanistan.


17 posted on 01/15/2023 5:55:21 AM PST by Theoria
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To: wildcard_redneck
So many are ignorant of the fact that the Military Industrial Complex does not want to win wars - it just wants to fight wars forever.

Which is why we need to push Zelensky for peace. Otherwise, we will have Ukrainians die the next 10 years. But hey, it's good for business. Our defense companies will be happy.

18 posted on 01/15/2023 2:47:16 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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