Can someone explain our Ukraine response?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we quietly support Ukraine, while publicly stating that we are not getting involved, then it appears like Russia's military is struggling to defeat a country whose GDP is less than half of Tennessee's GDP. It also keeps the war from spreading beyond Ukraine.

-OSD Policy Analyst

You meant to sign this,
-OSD Policy Analyst who has zero compunction breaking NDAs and possibly exposing national secrets

I don't work on EUCOM issues, just my opinion.

You may want to closely read your ethics training again. If you use your title and position when stating a position, any reasonable person would conclude that your statement is informed by your position. Most people don't state their opinion and then write, "-Chick Fil A cashier." You wrote OSD policy analyst to give weight and credence to your post, and thats an ethics violation if not an unauthorized disclosure. Maybe next time just say your opinion and leave it at that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we quietly support Ukraine, while publicly stating that we are not getting involved, then it appears like Russia's military is struggling to defeat a country whose GDP is less than half of Tennessee's GDP. It also keeps the war from spreading beyond Ukraine.

-OSD Policy Analyst

You meant to sign this,
-OSD Policy Analyst who has zero compunction breaking NDAs and possibly exposing national secrets

I don't work on EUCOM issues, just my opinion.

You may want to closely read your ethics training again. If you use your title and position when stating a position, any reasonable person would conclude that your statement is informed by your position. Most people don't state their opinion and then write, "-Chick Fil A cashier." You wrote OSD policy analyst to give weight and credence to your post, and thats an ethics violation if not an unauthorized disclosure. Maybe next time just say your opinion and leave it at that.

Not the PP, but I do work for an agency's OIG. You're right that it's stupid to post a reference to your employer on here. With that said, your interpretation of ethics regs are incorrect. Assuming the poster isn't lying (big assumption on here), s/he gave a general description of their supposed position without any reference to a specific office or set of work tasks. Now, if the person said "I work at OUSD(I&S) on topics related to Eurasia," that would be a totally different story. But claiming you have a general job (Policy Analyst) at the Pentagon doesn't rise to the level of an ethics violation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I support the sanctions against Russia, but feel ashamed that Ukraine is being left to fight this alone. We can debate whether that shame should be on half of the US or NATO, but when Ukraine is having to hand out weapons to civilians in the streets to keep up the fight and the rest of us are just sitting around and watching it unfold, there is nothing to be proud of in that. I don’t not blame Zelensky and the rest of Ukraine for feeling very alone right now.

But why aren't European countries helping them? Why should it be the US? Poland, Germany - where are they? The US is not the world's peacekeeper. At some point, Europe needs to wake the hell up and start taking care of their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we quietly support Ukraine, while publicly stating that we are not getting involved, then it appears like Russia's military is struggling to defeat a country whose GDP is less than half of Tennessee's GDP. It also keeps the war from spreading beyond Ukraine.

-OSD Policy Analyst

You meant to sign this,
-OSD Policy Analyst who has zero compunction breaking NDAs and possibly exposing national secrets

I don't work on EUCOM issues, just my opinion.

You may want to closely read your ethics training again. If you use your title and position when stating a position, any reasonable person would conclude that your statement is informed by your position. Most people don't state their opinion and then write, "-Chick Fil A cashier." You wrote OSD policy analyst to give weight and credence to your post, and thats an ethics violation if not an unauthorized disclosure. Maybe next time just say your opinion and leave it at that.

If people at the Pentagon focused less on paper pushing and hall monitoring over minor ethics violations, maybe it could have won in Afghanistan and defended Ukraine from Vlad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support the sanctions against Russia, but feel ashamed that Ukraine is being left to fight this alone. We can debate whether that shame should be on half of the US or NATO, but when Ukraine is having to hand out weapons to civilians in the streets to keep up the fight and the rest of us are just sitting around and watching it unfold, there is nothing to be proud of in that. I don’t not blame Zelensky and the rest of Ukraine for feeling very alone right now.

But why aren't European countries helping them? Why should it be the US? Poland, Germany - where are they? The US is not the world's peacekeeper. At some point, Europe needs to wake the hell up and start taking care of their own.

You don’t want the Poles off the leash. Bet they would love to roll East to retake Polish lands the Soviets kept after World War Two and settle some other scores. Besides protecting member states ouR leadership of NATO also serves to restrain them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we quietly support Ukraine, while publicly stating that we are not getting involved, then it appears like Russia's military is struggling to defeat a country whose GDP is less than half of Tennessee's GDP. It also keeps the war from spreading beyond Ukraine.

-OSD Policy Analyst

You meant to sign this,
-OSD Policy Analyst who has zero compunction breaking NDAs and possibly exposing national secrets

I don't work on EUCOM issues, just my opinion.

You may want to closely read your ethics training again. If you use your title and position when stating a position, any reasonable person would conclude that your statement is informed by your position. Most people don't state their opinion and then write, "-Chick Fil A cashier." You wrote OSD policy analyst to give weight and credence to your post, and thats an ethics violation if not an unauthorized disclosure. Maybe next time just say your opinion and leave it at that.

Go check out the War in Ukraine megathread in the US Army subreddit. By your logic, half of the Army is committing an ethics violation.

[Anonymous]

What response?

We haven’t actually responded. We’re watching Russian troops invade Ukraine.

Sanctions aren’t a response.

Where are our drones? Why not provide some support?

[Anonymous]

Calma

The us is playing this perfectly.

They know Russia does not want to level cities a la 1944

Russia is going to get bogged down in this.

NATO Will be quietly arming resistance.

Us would love nothing more to have Russia stuck in Ukraine like it is 1979 Afghanistan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support the sanctions against Russia, but feel ashamed that Ukraine is being left to fight this alone. We can debate whether that shame should be on half of the US or NATO, but when Ukraine is having to hand out weapons to civilians in the streets to keep up the fight and the rest of us are just sitting around and watching it unfold, there is nothing to be proud of in that. I don’t not blame Zelensky and the rest of Ukraine for feeling very alone right now.

But why aren't European countries helping them? Why should it be the US? Poland, Germany - where are they? The US is not the world's peacekeeper. At some point, Europe needs to wake the hell up and start taking care of their own.

You don’t want the Poles off the leash. Bet they would love to roll East to retake Polish lands the Soviets kept after World War Two and settle some other scores. Besides protecting member states ouR leadership of NATO also serves to restrain them.

+1 This is a surprisingly strong reaction to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am far from a foreign policy expert, and my thinking here is certainly oversimplified. But, in those simple terms, a brutal dictator just invaded a relatively peaceful, democratic country. Why aren't we doing more?

Does this sort of thing happen more frequently than I'm aware of, and the thought is we can't get involved everywhere?

Is it because we don't have a mutual defense agreement with Ukraine?

Because we're scared of war with Russia?

Because we don't care?

I just read an article about harsh(er) sanctions we could bring to bear, but that Biden is holding those for further leverage. Leverage for what, though? The invasion has occurred? Isn't now the time to implement the harshest possible sanctions?

Simply put, are you willing to die for Ukraine? How about your kids, you willing to send them to a war and die for Ukraine?

I'll wait.

Would people now be willing to die for Poland, France and victims of the Holocaust? Probably not. It's not about Ukraine; it's about people not caring about anything anymore.

If you care so much, you and your kids can go to Ukraine and fight the Russian army now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support the sanctions against Russia, but feel ashamed that Ukraine is being left to fight this alone. We can debate whether that shame should be on half of the US or NATO, but when Ukraine is having to hand out weapons to civilians in the streets to keep up the fight and the rest of us are just sitting around and watching it unfold, there is nothing to be proud of in that. I don’t not blame Zelensky and the rest of Ukraine for feeling very alone right now.

But why aren't European countries helping them? Why should it be the US? Poland, Germany - where are they? The US is not the world's peacekeeper. At some point, Europe needs to wake the hell up and start taking care of their own.

You don’t want the Poles off the leash. Bet they would love to roll East to retake Polish lands the Soviets kept after World War Two and settle some other scores. Besides protecting member states ouR leadership of NATO also serves to restrain them.

+1 This is a surprisingly strong reaction to me.

Let’s not get fully carried away, if the poles did launch an offensive into Russia, Russia would start leveling cities in Poland.

I think people are getting a bit carried away that Russian seems to be bogged down. That’s the nature of urban warfare.

You don’t want to see Russia without RoE. Poland has more arms and training but russia would turn it into Syria if struck first by poland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we're on the blame train, I blame Western Europe for financing Russia for years through gas purchases and simultaneously refusing to increase their own military budgets so they can defend themselves.

This. It is an European problem and EU should fix this shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I support the sanctions against Russia, but feel ashamed that Ukraine is being left to fight this alone. We can debate whether that shame should be on half of the US or NATO, but when Ukraine is having to hand out weapons to civilians in the streets to keep up the fight and the rest of us are just sitting around and watching it unfold, there is nothing to be proud of in that. I don’t not blame Zelensky and the rest of Ukraine for feeling very alone right now.

Yes, this.

I think Biden and the NATO countries should immediately seize the assets of Putin and all his cronies/oligarchs and their families, and deport each and every one of them (and their employees and associates) back to Russia!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am far from a foreign policy expert, and my thinking here is certainly oversimplified. But, in those simple terms, a brutal dictator just invaded a relatively peaceful, democratic country. Why aren't we doing more?

Does this sort of thing happen more frequently than I'm aware of, and the thought is we can't get involved everywhere?

Is it because we don't have a mutual defense agreement with Ukraine?

Because we're scared of war with Russia?

Because we don't care?

I just read an article about harsh(er) sanctions we could bring to bear, but that Biden is holding those for further leverage. Leverage for what, though? The invasion has occurred? Isn't now the time to implement the harshest possible sanctions?

Simply put, are you willing to die for Ukraine? How about your kids, you willing to send them to a war and die for Ukraine?

I'll wait.

That's not the choice here.

We could have done more immediately when it was clear Putin was going to invade. Biden said so himself, yet the US didn't appear to be doing much to help arm the Ukrainians. He wasn't amassing troops along the border of Ukraine, or piling up supplies to send into Ukraine when the invasion started. There was definitely more Biden could have done and didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Safe to say Ukraine is not joining NATO after this. Europe does not have the appetite for war this close to home. I feel bad for Zelensky.

The Ukrainian people will never annex their country to Russia after this. They will fight any Russian puppet government forever.