Posted on 03/01/2023 5:59:02 PM PST by delta7
…. In January, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, is alarmed by losses the Ukrainian army is suffering in Bakhmut. According to Spiegel, in a secret meeting, the BND told a group of Bundestag lawmakers that the Ukrainian army is losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day. The BND warned that the capture of Bakhmut by Russian forces would have significant consequences, as it would allow Russia to make further advances.
According to Politico, four senior U.S. Defense Department officials told House Armed Services Committee lawmakers in a classified briefing earlier this year that Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to recapture Crimea from Russian troops ‘in the near future’.
On February 24 of this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that “Kyiv’s Western partners have growing doubts over its ability to reconquer all its territory.” According to the WSJ:
…the public rhetoric [of Western governments] masks deepening private doubts among politicians in the U.K., France and Germany that Ukraine will be able to expel the Russians from eastern Ukraine and Crimea, which Russia has controlled since 2014, and a belief that the West can only help sustain the war effort for so long, especially if the conflict settles into a stalemate, officials from the three countries say.
“We keep repeating that Russia mustn’t win, but what does that mean? If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraine’s losses will become unbearable,” a senior French official said. “And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea.”
At the Munich Security Conference last month, Gen. Petr Pavel, the Czech Republic’s president-elect and a former NATO commander, admitted that “we may end up in a situation where liberating some parts of Ukrainian territory will cost such losses that will be unbearable for Ukrainian society.”
On the final day of the Conference, comments by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, sounded even more dire: Borrell warned that the Ukraine war will be ‘over’ unless the EU finds a way to speed up the provision of ammunition to Ukraine.
That, however, is more easily said than done: Western arsenals are almost empty.
The hard reality today is that Ukraine will not recover all of the territory it has lost since 2015. At some stage, Ukraine will be forced to cede at least some territory to Russia. Moreover, if this war continues, Ukraine may well lose even more territory. Worst of all, vast numbers of Ukrainians will die, much of the Ukrainian infrastructure that remains intact will be destroyed, and the risk of nuclear war will increase…
“BORDERS AREN’T SACRED, HUMAN LIVES ARE”
Garbage take. Borders were created to protect human lives. So to sacrifice one is to necessarily sacrifice the other.
Candor
Garbage take. Borders didn’t protect the Donbass from Azov artillery for 8 years. They didn’t protect Libya from the NATO attack.
It increasingly looks as if Vlad’s well defined speech of Feb 24 is becoming reality, and there is nothing Biden’s war cheerleaders can do about it. Of course, in the end , Vlad may go even further and liberate Odessa thus hamstringing the Ukies for decades.
No human being has any claim on another’s property... Same goes for their countries, and ALL countries have borders.
Donbass is within borders of Ukraine. As well as Crimea and the rest. Don’t use arguments out of your derriere, troll.
Serbia and Libya would be fascinated to know this. As would Syria who we are breaking off for a rebel group at this very moment.
Back to the children’s table for you!
You’re a Banderist troll located in New York. Already figured you out.
That just encourages aggression.
Russia is a bully, and always has been. And, like all bullies, Russia is insecure and paranoid. Thus, bullies are forever looking for victims — smaller and weaker than they — and will continue to aggress them. These “conquests” feed the bully’s ego, and temporarily assuage his insecurity and paranoia. But, bullies can never be permanently assuaged; it simply is not in their makeup. BUT, bullies can be STOPPED, as history has shown.
America doesn’t anymore.
Or Syria. Why are we in Syria? Were we invited? No. But we are there anyhow, and the upper brass lied to Trump about it.
What about our “aggression” in former Yugoslavia? In the end we peeled off a chunk of Serbia, built an American base constructed for the ages on it (Bondsteel) and it’s still a little NATO statelet being babysat by NATO troops. Kosovo was the last straw for the Russians. That’s when Putin came to power. (And he warned Kosovo set a dangerous example, citing Transnistria as an example.) Did borders count then? How about Libya? Iraq? Syria? Looks like a case of “rules for thee but not for me.”
Who gives a ####?
What would we do if Mexico made a deal with Russia that would effectively allow Russia to put missiles there?
What did WE DO during the cuban missile crisis?
I know what Putin is. But WT# are WE doing letting every nickel and dime eastern european country into NATO?
You gonna go fight and die when the ever improtant ESTONIA gets invaded?
At least dems won’t get anymore graft from Ukraine.
I’ve not been around FR a while. Telling the truth is still legal, right?
Bro what are you 90???
Russia’s army can’t defeat a third world dem owned cesspool like Ukraine.
And LIKE I SAID, what would we do if Russia made the same pact with Mexico what NATO was going to make with Ukraine?
What if Russia started making these treaties with ALL of the central American countries. Effectively letting them put missiles right on our border?
What did we do when Cuba tried it.
And like I said, I know what Putin is, but at least progressive FREAKS can’t run around destroying the minds of their children.
Physician, haal thyself
Land for peace worked out great for Europe, the last time they tried it.
Nice try.
I was opposed to the US getting involved in the Balkans in the 1990s.
As for Libya, when did we invade Libya? We bombed Ghaddafi’s HQ in 1986 and we fired some cruise missiles at it in 2011. No boots on the ground and no invasion.
And Syria? Terrorist hunting. Just as Russia did (and is still doing).
Had to Google this clown. Apparently his biggest accomplishment in life was runner-up in the 2020 Green Party of Canada leadership election. Just goes to show, every Green is actually a Watermelon...
Agreeing with bankwalker’s #17. This is not the olden golden FR of 20 years ago or even five years ago. And, yes, welcome back!
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