That is war. People die.
Ref - a great book I’m currently reading, “Poilu”, Louis Barthas. A memoir of a French soldier in the trenches of WWI. People die.
My point is you all need to consider the big picture of US power when looking at the situation in Ukraine. Its a bit hard to grasp the vast totality of US power without truly studying it. Ukraine is not modern war in all its forms. Its a peculiar situation due to the many constraints on both sides. Its a “little war”. A “big war”, when the US is truly involved, will look entirely different.
Ukraine ping
citizen: [Yeah, and no doubt our military brass is just itching to use those planes. Lose a few pilots? Who cares, gotta break those eggs, right, for that omelette? ]
https://theintercept.com/empire-politician/biden-walks-back-opposition-gulf-war/
He was against the operation to kill bin Laden:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/12/barack-obama-memoir-joe-biden-bin-laden-raid
He handed back a high-level defector who wanted to spill every secret he knew in exchange for political asylum:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/05/02/white-house-disputes-report-on-bo-xilai-deputy/
Biden doesn’t care about foreign policy. But he’s afraid of becoming a second Jimmy Carter. Carter lost Iran. He lost Nicaragua. Then the Russians invaded Afghanistan. Biden’s already lost Afghanistan. He doesn’t want to be the president that lost Ukraine. At the same time, his disinterest in foreign policy and typical Democrat timidity and stupidity means he’s giving Ukraine the minimum possible.
The brass doesn’t make decisions to intervene. Nothing happens without Biden’s direct order. Remember that colonel who criticized Biden in 2021 over the withdrawal from Afghanistan?
He ended up in the brig and almost lost his pension. And that was just over public griping. A general who ordered his men into combat without presidential authorization would suffer even worse consequences. There’s a reason a Navy boat crew ended up being taken hostage by Iran during Obama’s tenure. Obama ordered no action to be taken against the Iranians taking them into custody as it was happening.