“What a waste of lives and money for nothing.”
Indeed. The Russians supposedly started this war to prevent any new members from joining NATO and now Finland and Sweden have joined NATO. Further, both Switzerland and Austria are integrating their forces with NATO, a precursor step towards formal membership. Moldova is also a likely candidate for NATO membership.
Russia wanted to steal away Crimea and now the peninsula is untenable for military use. The Russia Black Sea squadron has been forced to retreat from Sevastopol to Novorossiya. Air fields are also being evacuated to prevent further loss of irreplaceable Soviet-era aircraft.
At the end of this the Russians will be denied their victory in Ukraine (and Moldova) and the Putin regime will likely collapse from within.
And at what cost? 500,000 dead Russian men? 1,000,000 dead Russian men? All so “Vladimir the Terrible” (the name given to him by Russia 1 Television) can have a legacy?
“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
- Proverbs 16:18
Ukraine has lost much territory, taken the bulk of the military casualties, virtually all of the civilian deaths, economic distress and destroyed infrastructure.
Finland and Sweden join NATO, scary!
Another nation destroyed by NATO hubris.
“The Russians supposedly started this war to prevent any new members from joining NATO”
No, that is a big part, but that is far from the only reason.
When nazi elements seized the government, they attacked Russian speaking areas in the east with artillery, killing over 10,000. The Ukes were going to make Crimea into a NATO navy base. Russia has been based there longer than Ohio has been part of America. And in the 1940s there was a huge war over there, tens of millions died. The Ukes are run by the direct heirs to the nazis that attacked then. Same emblems, same rhetoric, same flags, same torchlight parades.
No way that was going to be allowed.
It isn’t all just “NATO” and it isn’t the other old saw “rebuilding the empire”.