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It’s Costing Peanuts for the US to Defeat Russia
CEPA ^ | 18-NOV-2022 | Timothy Ash

Posted on 11/19/2022 10:14:44 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas

The Ukrainian armed forces have already killed or wounded upwards of 100,000 Russian troops, half its original fighting force; there have been almost 8,000 confirmed losses of armored vehicles including thousands of tanks, thousands of APCs, artillery pieces, hundreds of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, and numerous naval vessels. US spending of 5.6% of its defense budget to destroy nearly half of Russia’s conventional military capability seems like an absolutely incredible investment. If we divide out the US defense budget to the threats it faces, Russia would perhaps be of the order of $100bn-150bn in spend-to-threat. So spending just $40bn a year, erodes a threat value of $100-150bn, a two-to-three time return. 

The US military might reasonably wish Russia to continue deploying military forces for Ukraine to destroy. 

...

In conclusion, on so many levels, continued US support for Ukraine is a no-brainer from a bang for buck perspective. Ukraine is no Vietnam or Afghanistan for the US, but it is exactly that for Russia. A Russia continually mired in a war it cannot win is a huge strategic win for the US.

Why would anyone object to that?

(Excerpt) Read more at cepa.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1timothylearysdead; 2nononohesoutside; 3lookingin; cepa; keepdreamingtimmy; purebs; putinlovertrollsonfr; putinsbuttboys; putinworshippers; russiansuicide; timothyash; vladtheimploder; zottherussiantrolls
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To: GrumpyOldGuy
Anyone that believes Russia will actually collapse and become NOT a threat is smoking something

You sound like you are stuck in the 1960s mentality where the US government told everyone Russia was a super power.

They aren't anymore. They have the economic power of Italy, or Texas. The only reason the Russians could invade Ukraine is that the Ukrainians believed that the West would protect them from Russia and the Ukrainians gave up the 3rd largest nuclear weapons inventory in the world.

101 posted on 11/19/2022 5:53:46 PM PST by freeandfreezing
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To: SpeedyInTexas

You need to leave the bomb-grade reefer alone...


102 posted on 11/19/2022 11:53:36 PM PST by ganeemead (Ukraine/Zelensky: Adding an element of chutzpah to ordinary Nazism...)
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To: SpeedyInTexas

Inflation. We are paying for it indirectly.


103 posted on 11/19/2022 11:56:09 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: Regulator
All so Sorors and his buddies can get the Crimean oil and gas.

Bingo!

Not to mention all the other Ukraine area natural resources.

104 posted on 11/20/2022 6:32:19 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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To: cmj328
We should give Russia democrats to staff their gulags, and in return they can give us propane for our cookouts.

A better idea would be to give Russia democrats to fill their gulags...

105 posted on 11/20/2022 6:41:28 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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To: lodi90

If Ukraine is so important and worth risking the destruction of civilization as we know it, why is the country not a NATO member already? If its worth defending then why not make it a full fledged member? Evidently because its not worth WWIII.

Ukraine is a den of corruption and thievery. We don’t even know where all the weapons we send to them are going. We do know that they are speculating in risky investment with some of the money and buying luxury real estate abroad. Gee, what a shock! How many more billions should we send them and for how long?

I understand the problems associated with aggression but we had opportunities to peacefully resolve the status of Ukraine and failed to find a working resolution — becauase of a failure of leadership and pressures from the MIC. Make no mistake, some well connected people are prospering from the ongoing conflict.

What concerns me is that we’re at a point where a miscalculation or mistake could plunge us into a disaster of unthinkable proportions. Is the corrupt backwater that is Ukraine really worth that?

We have become perilously close to igniting WWIII on several occasions since the end of WWII. We’ve been very lucky so far.


106 posted on 11/20/2022 6:49:03 AM PST by Starboard
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
As has been pointed out a number of times, Trump was right about the undue burden on the US, and now NATO's actually trying to carry its own weight. Meanwhile, Putin's continuing war against Ukraine is bleeding Russia white, but remember, Russia was occupied by Putin before Ukraine was. Thanks SpeedyInTexas.

107 posted on 11/20/2022 9:29:23 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Glad2bnuts

Current day Russians….Many in my area……..

Pushy,rude,demanding people.

.


108 posted on 11/20/2022 9:45:30 AM PST by Mears (.)
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To: BlackbirdSST

Compare the “folly” of WWIII where millions die in the war and millions more die due to the decades of radiation exposure.

I believe that as in the micro, so the macro. And just as it is necessary to stand up for your family and neighbors to stop an unlawful attack, so nations must also stop unlawful attacks.


109 posted on 11/20/2022 11:27:05 AM PST by taxcontrol (The choice is clear - either live as a slave on your knees or die as a free citizen on your feet.)
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To: taxcontrol

I see. You’re one of the ‘We are the world’ types. It appears you have no upper limit to your Global Folly.


110 posted on 11/20/2022 12:16:36 PM PST by BlackbirdSST (Trump WON!!! He will win 2024!)
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To: BlackbirdSST

No, I am one of the ones that says it is better to fight on someone else’s soil and use someone else’s army / fathers / brothers.

War is coming. The central banks are going to fight over the dollar or BRICS for the dominant world currency. I would rather fight a weakened enemy than a strong one.


111 posted on 11/20/2022 1:58:54 PM PST by taxcontrol (The choice is clear - either live as a slave on your knees or die as a free citizen on your feet.)
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To: Starboard

Russia isn’t a den of thievery and corruption? Russia’s corrupting influence does not affect the US?

Ukraine isn’t that important in the big picture. It’s a backwater politically. What’s important is the US/NATO projecting strength and not being bullied with nuclear blackmail. Everybody is watching now. Iran. The Chinese Communist Party. Saudi Arabia. Taiwan. How the US responds will in large part determine their future actions.

If they sense weakness and division, as Putin did, they will make war. If nuclear sabre rattling works they will nuke up, too. Sooner or later somebody will use nukes because they will calculate that the west is weak and won’t respond.

In Ukraine the US can set the security framework for decades and kick Russian corruption out of Europe. Or we can have dishonor now in surrendering to a genocidal mass murderer and have our war later. Hundreds of thousands are already dead due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We must chose wisely. With the Kremlin and it’s imperialist ambitions or against. There is no door number 3 here.


112 posted on 11/20/2022 4:40:50 PM PST by lodi90
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To: lodi90

“have our war later”

************

This won’t be a nice, little contained war. It will be a far reaching catastrophe of unthinkable proportions that will have serious fallout (pun intended) for decades to come. Once the nukes start flying it will be very difficult to contain their use. All for a corrupt, backwater, undemocratic state that is already largely Russian in many respects. I would prefer not to see parts of the world incinerated over such a place.

We have already missed (or is it really ‘avoided’?) several opportunities to defuse this mess before it got to this point. I have no doubt that Trump would have found a way to prevent such a mess. Unfortunately we have already displayed epic weakness under Biden; look no further than the Afghanistan debacle. And now military recruiting is faltering, which is no surprise.

There are threats everywhere in this world. Some are more consequential than others. We are already burning up an enormous amount of financial resources and drawing down our military stockpiles in this mess, not to mention the worldwide economic impact of sanctions. We are in fact weakening our ability to deal with other more important challenges. That’s not very wise.


113 posted on 11/21/2022 8:30:53 AM PST by Starboard
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