Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

This Time It’s Different
The American Conservative ^ | Jan 26, 2023 | Douglas Macgregor

Posted on 01/27/2023 6:38:57 AM PST by Chunga85

Until it decided to confront Moscow with an existential military threat in Ukraine, Washington confined the use of American military power to conflicts that Americans could afford to lose, wars with weak opponents in the developing world from Saigon to Baghdad that did not present an existential threat to U.S. forces or American territory. This time—a proxy war with Russia—is different.

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hegemony; maidan; minskii; nordstream
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-114 next last
To: Krosan

“Domino theory is solid and proven. What happened is that the leftist academics trained everyone to say “lol ... domino theory ...” as if it hadn’t been conclusively proven.”
***********************************************************************

LOL - Yes, we all remember well how, once South Vietnam fell, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma quickly fell in turn. Seriously, warmonger, try your silliness on the less knowledgeable .


61 posted on 01/27/2023 7:51:39 AM PST by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA. -PRO-MAX)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: pierrem15

We are sleepwalking our way into a direct confrontation with the Russians. We have already declared war on them using the most extreme sanctions ever imposed on an adversary, and that includes the Third Reich and Imperial Japan. Who blew up the Nordstream pipeline?

Russia and the US don’t want a nuclear exchange. But if Russia is being forced out of Ukraine, they may use tactical nuclear weapons to turn the tide of battle. What would the US response be? Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We have no defense treaty with Ukraine and no obligation to defend them.

The Law of Unintended Consequences obtains. Any miscalculation up the escalation ladder poses a serious risk of expanding the war. Is the sovereignty of Ukraine worth a real war with Russia? Zelensky wants fighter jets and optimally a US enforced no-fly zone over Ukraine.


62 posted on 01/27/2023 7:53:27 AM PST by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Chunga85

ping


63 posted on 01/27/2023 7:56:36 AM PST by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Salohcin

“NATO has no plans or desire to invade Russia.”

This is why I don’t like to spend much time on FR. A *long time ago* I used to “think” this way too. It does bother me how I could have been that brainwashed.


64 posted on 01/27/2023 7:57:27 AM PST by Chunga85 (An arrogant govt combined with an ignorant population is a recipe for disaster.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: webheart

Unfortunately I think most, if not all, foreign aid is just a money laundering operation for American Oligarchs.
It’s why we should never do it unless the country is in absolute dire need (ex: it just hade a huge earthquake)


65 posted on 01/27/2023 8:05:11 AM PST by escapefromboston (Free Chauvin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: crz

I have no dog in the hunt, and I do not care, but yes, they are failing...it was supposed to be 100% withing a few months of initiating hostilities. Russia is now conventional paper tiger...not the boogeyman we were trained to expect in the 80’s. May they continue to get mangled in the Ukraine.


66 posted on 01/27/2023 8:05:59 AM PST by USAF1985 (Joe McCarthy is a hero...he was absolutely, 100% correct! (Let’s go Brandon!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Chunga85

There’s no question our neocon foreign policy establishment wants WW3 in order to remove Putin and break up Russia so that then we will have the edge when confronting China. The only question is whether the American & European people are willing to go along with this plan. It’s already contributing to inflation here and abroad, and without cheap Russian energy European industry will be unable to compete globally and will collapse economically. So in order to keep the plebs in line and supportive of WW3, I’m expecting a false flag terrorism attack that will be blamed on Russia to bring everyone onboard. The US intends to retain economic hegemony by keeping the dollar as the world currency, and will do everything necessary to keep the status quo. The rest of the Western democracies will follow since they too have their economies enmeshed in the Western financial ponzi scheme, so upsetting it would threaten them too.


67 posted on 01/27/2023 8:08:46 AM PST by jimwatx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: webheart
If it comes to a nuclear showdown, will Joe Biden stop?

I actually think poor, stupid old Biden has been a brake on the drive towards nuclear war coming from the State Department, which may be one reason they are now conspiring to get rid of him.

68 posted on 01/27/2023 8:10:04 AM PST by Jim Noble (You have sat too long for any good you have been doing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Fai Mao
2014 with Putin brazenly talking about little green men taking control of Crimea, made it pretty obvious that Russia invaded Crimea. In 2022 Putin talking about a special military operation to demilitarize and de Nazi Ukraine again made it obvious who stated this war.

Kind of WW2 appeasement all over again and we all know how that turned out. I was in Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia last summer and the people all thought Putin needed to be stopped before he invaded their country. This is not a US-Russia proxy war, this is a proxy war between all of Europe plus the USA, UK,Turkey war against Russia.

69 posted on 01/27/2023 8:11:41 AM PST by Robert357
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: USAF1985

You have a “dog in the hunt.” $100 billion and counting. Zelensky says it will cost a trillion dollars to rebuild Ukraine. How much of the tab will the US pick up?


70 posted on 01/27/2023 8:20:10 AM PST by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Jim Noble

“Russia would never dare to use nukes”

Mr. Noble, I disagree with you on this. Not only would they dare, but it would create the understanding that the act would be retaliated. And as long as they could, this tossing of ICBM’s and ground base/air launches would continue until one or all sides would run out or destroy the ability to survive on the planet, probably option 2. And our relationships with the Ukraine existed during the Clinton administration and before. 1999 was a banner year for the Ukraine and treaties with the US.

This whole affair is nothing more than a civil war only with better toys. And the Ukraine has been turned into a toys for tots drop off by NATO and the ignoring of the Budapest Memorandum.

The Ukraine has always had yellow cake and with a little work at places like the Pridniprovskyi Chemical Plant in south central Ukraine, all they need is a delivery option they may already have under a tarp behind the garage. You can fool some of the people some of the time...

wy69


71 posted on 01/27/2023 8:23:26 AM PST by whitney69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: whitney69

“1999 was a banner year for the Ukraine and treaties with the US”

Please point me to one treaty which binds the US to the defense of Ukraine.


72 posted on 01/27/2023 8:47:12 AM PST by Jim Noble (You have sat too long for any good you have been doing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: MeganC
Hey it’s another troll.

Said the troll.

73 posted on 01/27/2023 8:47:38 AM PST by Allegra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Robert357

And Xiden and the US allied with with globohomo are still worse than Putin. The real tyrant in Washington DC.

If Xiden supports Ukraine I am against them. Ands the media is lying. The only reason Xiden supports Ukraine is that it was his personal ATM for money laundering.

I am not pro-Russian. Xiden is worse.


74 posted on 01/27/2023 8:52:18 AM PST by Fai Mao (Stop feeding the beast, and steal its food!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Allegra

You forgot to reply from your TTFlyer account.


75 posted on 01/27/2023 9:00:35 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: 2banana
The Ukraine is taking at least 300 KIAs per day...

America is not even remotely ready for that...

Won't be able to do that with volunteer enlistments, there would have to be a draft. At that point, the Ukraine flags would come down on college campuses across the western world.

76 posted on 01/27/2023 9:02:47 AM PST by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: All

Russia invaded for no reason at all. Ukraine is none of their business.

Ukraine will win.


77 posted on 01/27/2023 9:10:12 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: MeganC

LOL - project much?


78 posted on 01/27/2023 9:15:54 AM PST by Allegra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: kabar
The law of unintended or undesired consequences also applies if we do nothing. One of those is obviously further Russian aggression. But another is that another power might decide that precipitating a wider war is in its interests: China invading Taiwan in the face of Western weakness, or Poland acting to drag NATO into the conflict. Like the Russians, many of those here on the other side seem to think Washington is the only power with agency.

And tac nukes to turn the tide of battle won't work. First off, they won't work on dispersed military forces. Even if a hole is knocked in Ukrainian defensive lines, Russia lacks the mobility to take advantage of it. Secondly, any WMD use would bring almost immediate US and NATO intervention. If the US simply makes it plain that this is simply a war about Ukraine and not regime change in Moscow or about seizing actual and not claimed Russian territory, the war is not an existential threat to Russia and the Russians know that.

79 posted on 01/27/2023 9:19:34 AM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: jimwatx
There’s no question our neocon foreign policy establishment wants WW3 in order to remove Putin and break up Russia so that then we will have the edge when confronting China.

Actually that’s not only very much in question, it’s ludicrous. 🙄

80 posted on 01/27/2023 9:24:27 AM PST by Salohcin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-114 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson