Posted on 07/25/2023 2:35:20 AM PDT by Cronos
Governments start wars in pursuit of various objectives, from conquering territory to changing the regime of a hostile state. Once a war begins, the stakes are immediately raised. It is one of the paradoxes of war that even as its original objectives drift out of reach or are cast aside, the necessity of not being seen as the loser only grows in importance—such importance, in fact, that even if winning is no longer possible, governments will still persevere to show that they have not been beaten.
...All of these dynamics are evident in Russia’s war against Ukraine. r Putin set as his objectives the “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine. - By the first, he meant regime change, in which case the war has clearly been a failure. - As for demilitarization, Ukraine is on its way to becoming the most militarized country in Europe. - Many of the Russian speakers in Ukraine on whose behalf Putin claimed to be acting now prefer to speak Ukrainian, while the Russian-speaking areas of the Donbas have been battered, deindustrialized, and depopulated because of this ruinous war.
...Russian forces have failed to take complete control of any of the four oblasts that Putin claimed for Russia in September2022. Much of the ground initially seized after the full-scale invasion has been relinquished..
Putin is not close to achieving any of his war aims while the price of his gambit grows ever steeper.
...Being stuck with bits and pieces of Ukrainian territory with hostile populations, massive reconstruction bills, and long frontlines with an undefeated Ukraine, would not look like a big win—especially when set against the many casualties incurred by Russian forces, the degradation of the Russian army, the sputtering Russian economy, and the knock to Russia’s standing as a great and influential power.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignaffairs.com ...
And you are cheering for the extermination of 48 million Eastern Orthodox Christian Ukrainians.
And your precious Putin is using Islamic Jihadis from Chechnya to do that
Your profile says May 2001, making you a relative newbie. I wonder if claiming an early join date is lke claiming false medals?
Who is this Zhukov ? Is it some girl who blew you off in Elementary School that you haven’t gotten over ?
Voldemort Zelensky is murdering them. Just a fact check, since you’re always incorrect or lying.
Listen, troll, I arrived on Free Republic on Saturday, October 31, 1998. First day I got the internet, learned about it from Rush Limbaugh. Three days before the 6th year elections of the Bubba the Rapist regime. I did not register an account to begin posting until later.
Only an imbecile like you would consider that a “newbie.” It’s amazing how my state has managed to attract such moronic detritus who thinks we’re still fighting the Soviet Union from 70 years ago.
Blah, blah, blah BS
Why weren’t in DC on that date with Freepers celebrating the March For Justice?
Yes, that's you.
"Why weren’t in DC on that date with Freepers celebrating the March For Justice?"
Speak English. Your grammar is atrocious.
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