Ok, you want to now take issue with Bennets initial comments that have lead many, including me, to think that the current Administration has interfered with possible negotiations. Ok, fine, but the business insider piece you cite (thank you) notes that Bennet is "walking back" his initial claims. Fair enough, there's no dispositive proof that the original story was correct, just as there's no hard proof that Brandon blew up the Nordstream pipeline. The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift, but that's for sure the way to bet.
But now you've got me curious about this : all those kremlin sympathizers here on FR who wax indignant about NATO.
Is everyone on FR who is objecting to the march to WWIII a Kremlin sympathizer? I have to admit I haven't seen any FReeper wax indignant about NATO, but its impossible to read every post, so there might be some. And would anyone (like Trump) who wonders what NATO is for now that the Soviet Union is long gone a Kremlin sympathizer? And what, exactly, is our beef with Russia in the context of Ukraine? I feel bad for the Ukrainian people suffering under this needless war, but what's the US interest that justifies risking WWIII?
“Wait, I thought you were taking issue with the idea that something short of an actual military occupation of Kiev could bring about the Russians stated objective of a pro Russian, and non NATO Ukrainian regime. You know, the way the CIA ended the communist Allende regime and replaced it with Pinochet? Did I miss your point?”
Yeah, you sure did. For one thing, Chile was not in the middle of an existential war against a country that wanted to remove the Chilean government and install one of its proxies. When a country is under attack — especially an existential one where it is seeking to survive intact — that country is going to resist any and all attempts by its attacker to overthrow its government. A simple “palace coup” isn’t going to do it, because not only would the head-of-state have to be removed, but most if not all of its legislature and courts and bureaucracies, as well.
“The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift, but that’s for sure the way to bet.”
Sounds like you are putting your money on Russia.
“But now you’ve got me curious about this : all those kremlin sympathizers here on FR who wax indignant about NATO.”
Yeah, because so many of them have used any ascension of Ukraine into NATO as the main casus belli. If Zelensky pledged that Ukraine would not join NATO — which apparently he had done, as reported from different sources — one would necessarily assume that such a pledge would appease Putin and cause Putin to scale back and become reasonable in negotiations. But, what did Putin do? He doubled down.
“Is everyone on FR who is objecting to the march to WWIII a Kremlin sympathizer?”
Oh, stop with the hyperbole and sensationalism about WWIII, which is no more than a Russian talking point. Just think about it: Who is screeching about WWIII and nuclear war at every opportunity? Russia.
“I have to admit I haven’t seen any FReeper wax indignant about NATO, but its impossible to read every post, so there might be some.”
There are more than just “some.”
“And would anyone (like Trump) who wonders what NATO is for now that the Soviet Union is long gone a Kremlin sympathizer?”
Nice try. Trump said that his complaint with NATO is that all the NATO members aren’t paying their fair share, and the US has been picking up the majority of the tab. He said that had to stop. And, when he became president, he told NATO as much, and that encouraged the membership to pony up and increase their contributions.
“And what, exactly, is our beef with Russia in the context of Ukraine?”
We have a problem with a bully of a country with imperial designs gobbling up its neighbors; because sooner or later it comes to our door, when it would be a hell of a lot more costly to oppose it.
“I feel bad for the Ukrainian people suffering under this needless war...”
That Russia started.
“...but what’s the US interest that justifies risking WWIII?”
WWIII would result in the utter destruction of Russia, and Russia knows it. But Russia also knows that by continuously threatening WWIII it can count on weak knees in the West to clutch their pearls and pull a Neville Chamberlain act, in which case Russia wins by bluff and bully.
All while OUR Wall doesn't get built, the political grifters and their contractors cash in, and the DC Swampniks start talking about cutting Social Security.