The votes in September 2022 were called by pro-Russian officials in the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, and in Russian-held parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, with questions on the ballot varying slightly depending on the region. Together the four regions make up around 18% of Ukraine’s territory.
Sham or not, the significance is that Putin and Russia now consider these territories as part of Russia as well as Crimea. They are part of the Russian homeland. Retaking them will be considered a direct attack on Russia,
That you can’t even be honest with the basic facts at hand shows how bankrupt your entire position on this matter is. That’s very disappointing. I expect better from FReepers. Perhaps you have some skin this game that clouds your view? Russian wife?
The most important basic fact is that these territories are now under the control of Russia. It doesn't matter what Ukraine thinks or the US or NATO or the UN thinks. Denying the reality on the ground prevents a real, viable solution.
We never recognized the Soviets control over the Baltic States. We called them captive nations. It took 45 years of a containment policy and eventual fall of the Soviet Union to free these countries. We did not intervene militarily because we understood the limitations of military power and the risks involved. Similarly, we did not intervene in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.
We have no treaty obligations with Ukraine. Strategically, the eastern boundaries of Ukraine are not important for us. Certainly, it is not worth borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Ukraine, one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This war has been ongoing since 2014 when Victoria Nuland helped engineer a coup against the duly elected government of Ukraine. This spawned the separatist movement in the the Donbas and elicited the unopposed Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea.
Nuland and Biden are back in power. This is payback for Putin embarrassing them the first time and the Biden Crime Family has profited from Ukraine. Hunter and Burisma along with quid pro Joe. Trump was impeached over a "perfect phone call" to Zelensky.
I am disappointed with some Freepers who blindly follow the fool in the WH who has never been right about a major foreign policy issue in over 50 years. The Biden Crime Family has been selling us down the river. We got out of one endless war (Afghanistan) to get right away into another one. Follow the money. Who benefits?
Removing Russian corruption and influence in Europe isn’t in American interest? LMAO. You know very well that is not true. European security is very much in our political and economic interest.
You never answered my question about Zaporizhia. There was no vote in that city and Putin fantastically declared it part of Russia. Is it part of Russia or Ukraine? The world is watching to our response here. Make the wrong choice and across the globe we will certainly pay in blood and treasure. “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
Poland has ordered 1000 tanks and is quickly building the best military in Europe. There is exactly 0% chance that they and other frontline states will allow the complete collapse of Ukraine. Rotely repeating maximalist Kremlin talking points doesn’t make them reality. Russia’s “second army of the world” is weak and being beaten to a standstill by motley army of Ukrainian citizen soldiers.
I’m surprised any conservative would accept Stalinist Kremlin “elections” after having the 2020 election stolen from us in a similar manner.
I’m surprised any conservative would breezily deny 40 million Ukrainians the right to self determination and sovereignty after conservatives face strikingly similar battles here.
Ukraine is ultimate rorschach test for conservatives. Do we still believe in Reagan’s Peace Through Strength and the right of all people to live in peace. Or are we butt hurt situational conservatives happy to consign million of Ukrainians to misery, slavery and death in the Russian World?
If the answer is the later I am sad to say you can declare conservatism is a dead as a political movement. When we stand for nothing we will be nothing. Just go ahead and vote for your favorite corporatist or communist because Reagan’s Shining City Upon A Hill will be truly dead and gone. Killed by a generation of weak and butt hurt conservatives.