Look what '"Slava Ukraini" -- recently bellowed at the Academy Awards by Darryl Hannah -- has done to the Democratic Party. There is no longer a peace wing. Both Bernie Sanders and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, after retracting its letter in the fall of 2022 calling on Biden to pursue diplomacy with Russia, have locked loins with Never Trump neocons. They demand weapons and funds to fight a proxy war that will only end when Putin is in the Hague and the Russian Federation is broken up into dozens of little pieces; either that or WWIII. Then Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna can sing in Valhalla with Stepan Bandera.
Thanks Thomas for this fluent exposition of what is still a much more ambiguous political landscape than the US pseudo-left or right would admit. Russia's invasion was wrong and criminal, and should be reversed and punished. But some basic questions have never been posed, let alone answered: if Trump is such a Russia ally or tool, why didn't Putin invade Ukraine during Trump's first term? Why did Putin annex Crimea in 2014, but not Donbas? What do the people of Donbas want? Why did the Kyiv government, under Zelensky's predecessor since 2014 and continued by Zelensky, press the Donbas separatists militarily (i.e. with artillery fire—see OSCE ceasefire monitoring reports) instead of respecting the Minsk accords? What exactly do Russia's war aims appear to be at this stage—what are they going for on the battlefield, and what are they passing up? One lesson from all this for the US establishment is that the political and media firmaments veer far too readily into good-guy/bad-guy narratives. Even in this case—an outright invasion, a war of aggression—there are ambiguities that need to be grasped. You don't have to be an advocate of cynical Kissingerian realpolitik to recognize that a Donbas settlement won't be lasting unless and until it addresses these factors.
And finally, one continues to be astonished that the establishment Dems (who should have been out the door on Nov. 6 2024) are unable to articulate the massive crime that Trump is openly engineering—turning the Ukraine relationship into a protection racket in which US military power will keep the Russians at bay, in exchange for a major piece of the action. Perhaps because this is how US foreign policy has really worked all along, all over the world for decades.
My only basis for authority on matters military is that West Point (The Unitied States Military Academy) is located within my county of residence. But I shall plow on.
I do not know what 'stalemate' truly exists that Mr. Hersh refers too. His informants are simply not well-informed. Ukraine had the largest and best equipped army in Europe at the start of the Russian Special Military Operation. I think the best thought experiment to conduct is to consider how well U.S. forces would have fared going into Ukraine instead of the Russians. In 2022 Ukraine possessed a first class air defense system along with fully fortified defense structures in eastern Ukraine. The United States has not conducted battle against a peer foe since Korea. Our problem is perception. Our press is ignorant of one of the maxims of armed conflict: destroy the army of your enemy. That is precisely what the Russian forces are doing to Ukraine. At least 500,000 Ukraine soldiers have died. Maybe closer to a million. Close to 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the backwater Kursk oblast of Russia in the last month. Along with those poor souls, their best heavy weaponry has been vaporized.
What will be tough for my fellow Americans to reckon with is that our opinion in this matter, matters nought.
Our overpriced weapons systems were designed for the last century. Couple that with the depleted inventories of ours and the soon to former NATO allies. The ability that the U.S. military can take the battle to the Russians is a sad delusion. We cannot dictate any terms to the Russian Federation.
Russia is blessed with resources. Europe is not. Europe has nothing that Russia needs. I seriously doubt that the Russian government wants to occupy the hostile population that Europeans would be.
Lastly, this is all about those Russian resources. Our idiot oligarchs will attempt to seize them as long as there are still Ukrainians to advance.
No, Trump will not get a cease fire nor a "peace agreement." Russia has been burned too many times in the past by the West. Russia will finish this on the battlefield.
I was interested in documentation of the Zelensky money grab angle, until you opined that Ukraine was on the verge of capitulating. You lost me there. Most posts are saying the opposite. Have a blessed day and be grateful you're not vacationing in Ukraine or Russia.
Most reporting has the Ukrainian army very much reduced, and people fleeing rather than being forced to serve. The right-wing western part of the country (descendents of people who supported the Germans in WWII) still hate the Russians — and often, the Russian-speaking eastern half, whom they try to suppress. But the country as a whole can't win against Russian resources. It's a game of attrition at this point, and Ukraine's way behind.
Google around and you'll see it, or listen to the Mearsheimer interview linked in the piece.
Look what '"Slava Ukraini" -- recently bellowed at the Academy Awards by Darryl Hannah -- has done to the Democratic Party. There is no longer a peace wing. Both Bernie Sanders and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, after retracting its letter in the fall of 2022 calling on Biden to pursue diplomacy with Russia, have locked loins with Never Trump neocons. They demand weapons and funds to fight a proxy war that will only end when Putin is in the Hague and the Russian Federation is broken up into dozens of little pieces; either that or WWIII. Then Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna can sing in Valhalla with Stepan Bandera.
Thanks Thomas for this fluent exposition of what is still a much more ambiguous political landscape than the US pseudo-left or right would admit. Russia's invasion was wrong and criminal, and should be reversed and punished. But some basic questions have never been posed, let alone answered: if Trump is such a Russia ally or tool, why didn't Putin invade Ukraine during Trump's first term? Why did Putin annex Crimea in 2014, but not Donbas? What do the people of Donbas want? Why did the Kyiv government, under Zelensky's predecessor since 2014 and continued by Zelensky, press the Donbas separatists militarily (i.e. with artillery fire—see OSCE ceasefire monitoring reports) instead of respecting the Minsk accords? What exactly do Russia's war aims appear to be at this stage—what are they going for on the battlefield, and what are they passing up? One lesson from all this for the US establishment is that the political and media firmaments veer far too readily into good-guy/bad-guy narratives. Even in this case—an outright invasion, a war of aggression—there are ambiguities that need to be grasped. You don't have to be an advocate of cynical Kissingerian realpolitik to recognize that a Donbas settlement won't be lasting unless and until it addresses these factors.
And finally, one continues to be astonished that the establishment Dems (who should have been out the door on Nov. 6 2024) are unable to articulate the massive crime that Trump is openly engineering—turning the Ukraine relationship into a protection racket in which US military power will keep the Russians at bay, in exchange for a major piece of the action. Perhaps because this is how US foreign policy has really worked all along, all over the world for decades.
My only basis for authority on matters military is that West Point (The Unitied States Military Academy) is located within my county of residence. But I shall plow on.
I do not know what 'stalemate' truly exists that Mr. Hersh refers too. His informants are simply not well-informed. Ukraine had the largest and best equipped army in Europe at the start of the Russian Special Military Operation. I think the best thought experiment to conduct is to consider how well U.S. forces would have fared going into Ukraine instead of the Russians. In 2022 Ukraine possessed a first class air defense system along with fully fortified defense structures in eastern Ukraine. The United States has not conducted battle against a peer foe since Korea. Our problem is perception. Our press is ignorant of one of the maxims of armed conflict: destroy the army of your enemy. That is precisely what the Russian forces are doing to Ukraine. At least 500,000 Ukraine soldiers have died. Maybe closer to a million. Close to 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the backwater Kursk oblast of Russia in the last month. Along with those poor souls, their best heavy weaponry has been vaporized.
What will be tough for my fellow Americans to reckon with is that our opinion in this matter, matters nought.
Our overpriced weapons systems were designed for the last century. Couple that with the depleted inventories of ours and the soon to former NATO allies. The ability that the U.S. military can take the battle to the Russians is a sad delusion. We cannot dictate any terms to the Russian Federation.
Russia is blessed with resources. Europe is not. Europe has nothing that Russia needs. I seriously doubt that the Russian government wants to occupy the hostile population that Europeans would be.
Lastly, this is all about those Russian resources. Our idiot oligarchs will attempt to seize them as long as there are still Ukrainians to advance.
No, Trump will not get a cease fire nor a "peace agreement." Russia has been burned too many times in the past by the West. Russia will finish this on the battlefield.
I was interested in documentation of the Zelensky money grab angle, until you opined that Ukraine was on the verge of capitulating. You lost me there. Most posts are saying the opposite. Have a blessed day and be grateful you're not vacationing in Ukraine or Russia.
Most reporting has the Ukrainian army very much reduced, and people fleeing rather than being forced to serve. The right-wing western part of the country (descendents of people who supported the Germans in WWII) still hate the Russians — and often, the Russian-speaking eastern half, whom they try to suppress. But the country as a whole can't win against Russian resources. It's a game of attrition at this point, and Ukraine's way behind.
Google around and you'll see it, or listen to the Mearsheimer interview linked in the piece.
Thanks for the comment!
Agree, Jack. This could take a while. Listening to Trump, I think he's prepared to wait out the steps.
Mearshimer?? Seriously? What are you doing??