Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Zelensky. If you ask me, I think he and Putin are in on this together so Putin can get a cut of the US money to Ukraine to fund this “war”.

That’s what I believe. We got fooled by Pakistanis the same way with “counterterrorism” funds . Let’s not get started with Israel.

The whole world knows we are foolish. We just give give give and get nothing in return but Europeans making fun of us when he have to pay for their defense . Trump is right about America first . Our country is in squalor and the migrants and foreign nations are not our first responsibility

Then you don't understand anything.

The money in aid goes from the US treasury to US defense contractors to build more arms that go into the US depot. The current arms in the US depot that are set to expire for non-use, will be sent to Ukraine for the Ukrainians to use against the Russians. There is no "money transfer" that you infer, that happens where Putin would get a cut.

I don’t know if you’re joking or serious . Military aid is only a sector of foreign aid. There’s also humanitarian aid. Arms are also currency in the same way drugs are. Better than cash and can be sold to anybody wanting arms like Palestinians for example. Zelensky and Putin are not enemies . I stand by this

Do you have any, you know, proof?

Intuition . I just think Zelensky is a double agent . His friendliness with NeoNazi Ukrainians , and semi downplaying of 10/7 to turn attention back to Ukraine when he is Jewish shows he has no scruples or morals in my opinion

Russian trolls are out in force tonight

In your dreams. This is such a weak response like Pavlovian dogs you have been trained with the scripted retort . I’m American and pro America. Russia and Ukraine can go to hell for all I care-I do believe this is their mutual game against us.

It’s disgusting to see two threads : one about Americans not having 500 dollars in savings , and the other about millions in arms and other aid being sent no strings attached to countries that hate us. The moment we have less people like you in government , the better we all will be

DP - this is incorrect use of “in your dreams” as a retort. Russian trolls are a nightmare not a dream.

US intelligence indicates that Russian trolls are out in force on American social media stirring up populist outrage over MAGA talking points.

That is not saying that your post was artificially contrived but that it is an actual problem. But, I can see why you may be offended to have your views automatically dismissed as Russian in origin.

Nonetheless, I strongly disagree with you that Ukraine can go to hell or that it is somehow equivalent to its much larger invading neighbor Russia. Russia already is hell with extremely low freedom rankings, no democratic opposition tolerated, subservient judiciary and controlled media. Ukraine is defending its freedom (and Eurooe) from Russian aggression and stated objective to impose authoritarian empire controlled by a war criminal. We have been members of NATO for 80 years to protect aiSA, Canada and Western Europe.

If you are concerned about Americans having low savings, as am I, Democrats offer superior substantive policies to improve living standards for average Americans by working to foster:
- livable wages,
- continue strong job, wage and economic growth and
- universal health care so that low and middle income people can also have access to quality health care.

I’ve been hearing Democrats are working for universal health care since Hillarycare. Our government is not interested in universal health care for Americans. Neither the Republican nor Democratic Party want that. For some reason, you think someone that’s anti Ukraine/Russia war or anti Biden is automatically a Republican or a Russian troll. I am not aligned with either of these parties. The insurance companies that line their pockets certainly do not want universal health care and they line the pockets of both Dems and Republicans .

Strong job , wage, and economic growth is the picture on the surface but that’s largely because Americans have to work more than one job to make ends meet these days and turnover is high so jobs are always hiring. People are stressed and highly dissatisfied with their jobs. Cops, teachers, even the military are all finding it difficult to retain or hire these days. The days of people working the same job for 30 years and getting a pension are long gone. Sure the economy is growing but it’s largely because the economy is transient not because it’s healthy .

It’s disgusting to see that our lawmakers can pass a bill in the middle of the night so Ukrainians and Israelis can go kill people but they can’t pass a bill on gun control so our kids don’t get potentially shot at school , church, or at the mall. They can protect Ukraine and Israel’s borders but can’t protect ours. They endorse the bombing of Rafah , when bombing refugees is a war crime, but chastize Putin and Xi. So many discrepancies and hypocrisies that make zero sense .

Also, the defense industry makes a huge chunk of that economic growth and market health. Without it, you will see how truly unhealthy and poor our economy really is. It’s all an illusion

DP.
Thank you for saying this much better than I would.
I am not “pro” Israel or Russia or Ukraine or Palestine.
I’ve been watching this from afar so to speak and I am amazed at the hypocrisy.
I’ve tried to voice it on Gaza thread and Ukraine thread but all I get is being called a Russian troll. Not even a Gaza troll lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Two years ago NATO might have been able to swat Russia around, but that's not the case any more. NATO committed far more to the Ukrainian conflict than people want to admit, and what is left is a little concerning. The conflict also exposed just how badly decayed the "arsenal of democracy" has become. NATO can not match Russian manufacturing of arms. In fact NATO may not be able to match NK's production.

The Russian army is now far more formidable than it was two years ago, while ours continues to shrink. We seem to lose a copter or plane every day, and the British can't get either of their carriers sea-worthy. A hot war with Russia would be an absolute slog at this point. We would probably need a draft and a war-time economy to win it. It would not be a fun time.

LOL on the Russian army is far more formidable. They have emptied their prisons for cannon fodder and their human losses are only eclipsed by the losses in armaments, ships etc.

I love how you guys seamlessly switch between "Russia is going to conquer all of Europe if we don't give Ukraine all this money" and "Actually, every Russian is dead and they are out of tanks."

So is Russia formidable or feeble?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t trust Zelensky. If you ask me, I think he and Putin are in on this together so Putin can get a cut of the US money to Ukraine to fund this “war”.

That’s what I believe. We got fooled by Pakistanis the same way with “counterterrorism” funds . Let’s not get started with Israel.

The whole world knows we are foolish. We just give give give and get nothing in return but Europeans making fun of us when he have to pay for their defense . Trump is right about America first . Our country is in squalor and the migrants and foreign nations are not our first responsibility

Then you don't understand anything.

The money in aid goes from the US treasury to US defense contractors to build more arms that go into the US depot. The current arms in the US depot that are set to expire for non-use, will be sent to Ukraine for the Ukrainians to use against the Russians. There is no "money transfer" that you infer, that happens where Putin would get a cut.

I don’t know if you’re joking or serious . Military aid is only a sector of foreign aid. There’s also humanitarian aid. Arms are also currency in the same way drugs are. Better than cash and can be sold to anybody wanting arms like Palestinians for example. Zelensky and Putin are not enemies . I stand by this

Do you have any, you know, proof?

Intuition . I just think Zelensky is a double agent . His friendliness with NeoNazi Ukrainians , and semi downplaying of 10/7 to turn attention back to Ukraine when he is Jewish shows he has no scruples or morals in my opinion

Russian trolls are out in force tonight

In your dreams. This is such a weak response like Pavlovian dogs you have been trained with the scripted retort . I’m American and pro America. Russia and Ukraine can go to hell for all I care-I do believe this is their mutual game against us.

It’s disgusting to see two threads : one about Americans not having 500 dollars in savings , and the other about millions in arms and other aid being sent no strings attached to countries that hate us. The moment we have less people like you in government , the better we all will be

DP - this is incorrect use of “in your dreams” as a retort. Russian trolls are a nightmare not a dream.

US intelligence indicates that Russian trolls are out in force on American social media stirring up populist outrage over MAGA talking points.

That is not saying that your post was artificially contrived but that it is an actual problem. But, I can see why you may be offended to have your views automatically dismissed as Russian in origin.

Nonetheless, I strongly disagree with you that Ukraine can go to hell or that it is somehow equivalent to its much larger invading neighbor Russia. Russia already is hell with extremely low freedom rankings, no democratic opposition tolerated, subservient judiciary and controlled media. Ukraine is defending its freedom (and Eurooe) from Russian aggression and stated objective to impose authoritarian empire controlled by a war criminal. We have been members of NATO for 80 years to protect aiSA, Canada and Western Europe.

If you are concerned about Americans having low savings, as am I, Democrats offer superior substantive policies to improve living standards for average Americans by working to foster:
- livable wages,
- continue strong job, wage and economic growth and
- universal health care so that low and middle income people can also have access to quality health care.

I’ve been hearing Democrats are working for universal health care since Hillarycare. Our government is not interested in universal health care for Americans. Neither the Republican nor Democratic Party want that. For some reason, you think someone that’s anti Ukraine/Russia war or anti Biden is automatically a Republican or a Russian troll. I am not aligned with either of these parties. The insurance companies that line their pockets certainly do not want universal health care and they line the pockets of both Dems and Republicans .

Strong job , wage, and economic growth is the picture on the surface but that’s largely because Americans have to work more than one job to make ends meet these days and turnover is high so jobs are always hiring. People are stressed and highly dissatisfied with their jobs. Cops, teachers, even the military are all finding it difficult to retain or hire these days. The days of people working the same job for 30 years and getting a pension are long gone. Sure the economy is growing but it’s largely because the economy is transient not because it’s healthy .

It’s disgusting to see that our lawmakers can pass a bill in the middle of the night so Ukrainians and Israelis can go kill people but they can’t pass a bill on gun control so our kids don’t get potentially shot at school , church, or at the mall. They can protect Ukraine and Israel’s borders but can’t protect ours. They endorse the bombing of Rafah , when bombing refugees is a war crime, but chastize Putin and Xi. So many discrepancies and hypocrisies that make zero sense .

Also, the defense industry makes a huge chunk of that economic growth and market health. Without it, you will see how truly unhealthy and poor our economy really is. It’s all an illusion

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poster who says “they are in it together” has a point.
I am in Kazakhstan (before y’all start Borat is banned here) and the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs always had their business closely tied. The Russian ones wanted the friendly Ukrainian ones to rule the country, but another faction came to power and so it all began.
The whole “Ukraine is fighting for its freedom” is just bull for the wide eyed western public who will now have to put up with inflation and what not.
How hard is it to understand that it’s just the big bourgeoisie fighting?
And no I am not saying Russia is good. They are all the same and they have zero compassion for the ordinary man who has to suffer. It’s all the same since Marx.

Yes, the Russian Oligarchs and Ukrainian Oligarchs were one and the same. Paul Manafort did their bidding. It wasn't an accident that he was Trump's campaign manager.

The current Ukrainian leadership is not cut from that cloth. That was the whole thing about removing the previous Solicitor when Biden was VP - Ukraine has been trying to get out from under Russia's yoke. Russia is upset about it hence the invasion, first Crimea, then Donbas then Feb 2023. To suggest they are still aligned is simply ludacrious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poster who says “they are in it together” has a point.
I am in Kazakhstan (before y’all start Borat is banned here) and the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs always had their business closely tied. The Russian ones wanted the friendly Ukrainian ones to rule the country, but another faction came to power and so it all began.
The whole “Ukraine is fighting for its freedom” is just bull for the wide eyed western public who will now have to put up with inflation and what not.
How hard is it to understand that it’s just the big bourgeoisie fighting?
And no I am not saying Russia is good. They are all the same and they have zero compassion for the ordinary man who has to suffer. It’s all the same since Marx.

A very enlightening post, comrade.

Anonymous wrote:“Foreign aid is stealing money from poor people in rich countries, and giving it to rich people in poor countries.”
- Ron Paul

Anonymous wrote:In case this is a more appropriate thread for this post. Heather Cox Richardson had a piece on bipartisan efforts to help Ukraine resist Russian aggression which are being stalled by Trump's MAGA wing:

"The Senate passed a $95 billion national security supplemental bill, providing funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and humanitarian aid to Gaza. Most of the money in the measure will stay in the United States, paying defense contractors to restock the matériel the U.S. sends to Ukraine.

The vote was 70–29 and was strongly bipartisan. Twenty-two Republicans joined Democrats in support of the bill, overcoming the opposition of far-right Republicans.

The measure went to the House of Representatives, where House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he will not take it up, even though his far-right supporters acknowledged that a majority of the representatives supported it and that if it did come to the floor, it would pass.

Yesterday, House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner (R-OH)—who had just returned from his third trip to Ukraine, where he told President Volodymyr Zelensky that reinforcements were coming—told Politico’s Rachel Bade: “We have to get this done…. This is no longer an issue of, ‘When do we support Ukraine?’ If we do not move, this will be abandoning Ukraine.”

“The speaker will need to bring it to the floor,” Turner said. “You’re either for or against the authoritarian governments invading democratic countries.… You’re either for or against the killing of innocent civilians. You’re either for or against Russia reconstituting the Soviet Union.”

Today, Biden spoke to the press to “call on the Speaker to let the full House speak its mind and not allow a minority of the most extreme voices in the House to block this bill even from being voted on—even from being voted on. This is a critical act for the House to move. It needs to move.”:

More at: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-13-2024

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that people still feel that the only way to make US foreign policy is to give out as much money as possible to our "allies."

UGH.

No wonder the US is in debt to our eyeballs.

I get it - I agree that you gotta help your friends. I disagree we need to do anything more to help Israel. First off, they got the money. And if they don't, there's plenty of rich Jews that can privately fund the whole country. Second, I'm not really seeing how they are our "ally" beyond that influential and rich Jews live in the US so politically, we deem them as such. Lastly, for what they are doing to Palestine, not sure why we are funding them for genocide.

On Ukraine - I don't know. When will it be enough? Are we supporting Ukraine? Hell, no. We are just anti Putin/Russia. However, if Putin gets his way with Ukraine, I'm actually unsure how this hurts the US in ways that are unimaginable. I think that Putin truly wants Ukraine because of stupid reasons connected to nationalism v he wants to use it as his first step to achieve world domination. Seriously. I think he has bigger problems and took an unwise gamble to take Ukraine thinking it was going to be easier. But the US is funding this thing like it's our war and it really isn't. We want to beat Putin but it's not really our war.

Lastly, Taiwan. Dear God, the US has to let it go. China, unlike Russia, are not fools and do not gamble like that. China won't do a thing to Taiwan because they have big probs on the mainland. Taiwan is absolutely fine. They are prob the strongest little country in the world! They got the trade doing great, the tech/IT/econ doing well, they got their shit together culturally, politically and domestically. I really think that we need to not take care of them!

There are those who I think think by being able to shell out funds to countries makes us powerful and leverages the perspective that we are good to our friends. The actual truth is domestically, we have more and more probs that we should be throwing more and more money to resolving but we don't because it's too messy. It's easy to shell out money on the foreign policy front - it's really just money and might we are exporting. I think there was a time when that was really important but not much in these cases and the world is changing to a certain extent. There's more than 1-2 heavyweights in the world now and our "power" is not defined the same way as it used to be. The world is changing but the US is not.

We are supporting Ukraine's soverignty. It is far less expensive to do what we are doing, than to let Russia take Ukraine (because then they would take the Baltics, Poland etc etc etc)

We are supporting israel's soverignty, though I would prefer more aid and a restriction on offensive weapons. Defensive, sure.

Taiwan...don't you think China is watching our politcs saying, well if they aren't going to defend Ukraine, then they won't defend taiwan either?

Ukraine is not a member of NATO. The Baltics are members of NATO.

In any conventional conflict, NATO would crush Russia in less than two weeks.

Taiwan is a different issue.

We will support Ukraine but not indefinitely. If they can't defeat Russia, they can't defeat Russia.

Two years ago NATO might have been able to swat Russia around, but that's not the case any more. NATO committed far more to the Ukrainian conflict than people want to admit, and what is left is a little concerning. The conflict also exposed just how badly decayed the "arsenal of democracy" has become. NATO can not match Russian manufacturing of arms. In fact NATO may not be able to match NK's production.

The Russian army is now far more formidable than it was two years ago, while ours continues to shrink. We seem to lose a copter or plane every day, and the British can't get either of their carriers sea-worthy. A hot war with Russia would be an absolute slog at this point. We would probably need a draft and a war-time economy to win it. It would not be a fun time.

This is absolutely delusional.

NATO and the US does not do trench warfare. Or artillery duels that last for years.

The West does air power.

There is nothing in the Russian arsenal that can stop F-22s, F-35s, B-1s and B-2s. Not to mention cruise missiles. And once air defense is taken care of, it's carnage time. Everything from old timey B-52s, which can level a city in a minute, to Apaches, which can provide close air support.

It literally would take NATO and the US two weeks to obliterate what remains of Russian forces.

The problem is that Ukraine does not have those weapons. It's a horrible war. It's WWI with drones. The vast majority of casualties are due to artillery, which would never happen in any NATO engagement.

Ukraine needs ammo, which Republicans are denying them. All NATO countries were unprepared for a war where 20,000 shells are fired each and every day. It's not how NATO fights. So it's definitely a strain.

But Ukraine is in trouble now because of the the ammo shortage. Europe has finally ramped up production to 24/7. But in the meantime, only the US has the resources to sustain Ukraine. And if Russia does take Ukraine, it will be the Baltics next. NATO countries. Russia is an imperial country. They will go there.

NATO would deal with that pretty quickly, but it's best to avoid direct confrontation with a nuclear adversary.

Supporting Ukraine - giving them the ammo - is the only way to keep the US and NATO out of a much, much more serious engagement.

Profoundly disappointed with the idiocy of Mike Johnson and Republicans.

Thank you for this hot-take. You either read a lot of comic books or are a 3+ star.

NATO simply doesn't produce enough to degrade Russia significantly. The US only made 55 Tomahawks last year, and fired 80+ at the Houthi in one day. That was a year+ of production to take out a few sheds and trucks.

Also since my first post, the US had this happen:
https://theaviationist.com/2024/02/13/f-35c-nose-landing-gear-collapse-while-parked/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2024/02/12/utah-national-guard-helicopter/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that people still feel that the only way to make US foreign policy is to give out as much money as possible to our "allies."

UGH.

No wonder the US is in debt to our eyeballs.

I get it - I agree that you gotta help your friends. I disagree we need to do anything more to help Israel. First off, they got the money. And if they don't, there's plenty of rich Jews that can privately fund the whole country. Second, I'm not really seeing how they are our "ally" beyond that influential and rich Jews live in the US so politically, we deem them as such. Lastly, for what they are doing to Palestine, not sure why we are funding them for genocide.

On Ukraine - I don't know. When will it be enough? Are we supporting Ukraine? Hell, no. We are just anti Putin/Russia. However, if Putin gets his way with Ukraine, I'm actually unsure how this hurts the US in ways that are unimaginable. I think that Putin truly wants Ukraine because of stupid reasons connected to nationalism v he wants to use it as his first step to achieve world domination. Seriously. I think he has bigger problems and took an unwise gamble to take Ukraine thinking it was going to be easier. But the US is funding this thing like it's our war and it really isn't. We want to beat Putin but it's not really our war.

Lastly, Taiwan. Dear God, the US has to let it go. China, unlike Russia, are not fools and do not gamble like that. China won't do a thing to Taiwan because they have big probs on the mainland. Taiwan is absolutely fine. They are prob the strongest little country in the world! They got the trade doing great, the tech/IT/econ doing well, they got their shit together culturally, politically and domestically. I really think that we need to not take care of them!

There are those who I think think by being able to shell out funds to countries makes us powerful and leverages the perspective that we are good to our friends. The actual truth is domestically, we have more and more probs that we should be throwing more and more money to resolving but we don't because it's too messy. It's easy to shell out money on the foreign policy front - it's really just money and might we are exporting. I think there was a time when that was really important but not much in these cases and the world is changing to a certain extent. There's more than 1-2 heavyweights in the world now and our "power" is not defined the same way as it used to be. The world is changing but the US is not.

We are supporting Ukraine's soverignty. It is far less expensive to do what we are doing, than to let Russia take Ukraine (because then they would take the Baltics, Poland etc etc etc)

We are supporting israel's soverignty, though I would prefer more aid and a restriction on offensive weapons. Defensive, sure.

Taiwan...don't you think China is watching our politcs saying, well if they aren't going to defend Ukraine, then they won't defend taiwan either?

Ukraine is not a member of NATO. The Baltics are members of NATO.

In any conventional conflict, NATO would crush Russia in less than two weeks.

Taiwan is a different issue.

We will support Ukraine but not indefinitely. If they can't defeat Russia, they can't defeat Russia.

Two years ago NATO might have been able to swat Russia around, but that's not the case any more. NATO committed far more to the Ukrainian conflict than people want to admit, and what is left is a little concerning. The conflict also exposed just how badly decayed the "arsenal of democracy" has become. NATO can not match Russian manufacturing of arms. In fact NATO may not be able to match NK's production.

The Russian army is now far more formidable than it was two years ago, while ours continues to shrink. We seem to lose a copter or plane every day, and the British can't get either of their carriers sea-worthy. A hot war with Russia would be an absolute slog at this point. We would probably need a draft and a war-time economy to win it. It would not be a fun time.

This is absolutely delusional.

NATO and the US does not do trench warfare. Or artillery duels that last for years.

The West does air power.

There is nothing in the Russian arsenal that can stop F-22s, F-35s, B-1s and B-2s. Not to mention cruise missiles. And once air defense is taken care of, it's carnage time. Everything from old timey B-52s, which can level a city in a minute, to Apaches, which can provide close air support.

It literally would take NATO and the US two weeks to obliterate what remains of Russian forces.

The problem is that Ukraine does not have those weapons. It's a horrible war. It's WWI with drones. The vast majority of casualties are due to artillery, which would never happen in any NATO engagement.

Ukraine needs ammo, which Republicans are denying them. All NATO countries were unprepared for a war where 20,000 shells are fired each and every day. It's not how NATO fights. So it's definitely a strain.

But Ukraine is in trouble now because of the the ammo shortage. Europe has finally ramped up production to 24/7. But in the meantime, only the US has the resources to sustain Ukraine. And if Russia does take Ukraine, it will be the Baltics next. NATO countries. Russia is an imperial country. They will go there.

NATO would deal with that pretty quickly, but it's best to avoid direct confrontation with a nuclear adversary.

Supporting Ukraine - giving them the ammo - is the only way to keep the US and NATO out of a much, much more serious engagement.

Profoundly disappointed with the idiocy of Mike Johnson and Republicans.

Thank you for this hot-take. You either read a lot of comic books or are a 3+ star.

NATO simply doesn't produce enough to degrade Russia significantly. The US only made 55 Tomahawks last year, and fired 80+ at the Houthi in one day. That was a year+ of production to take out a few sheds and trucks.

Also since my first post, the US had this happen:
https://theaviationist.com/2024/02/13/f-35c-nose-landing-gear-collapse-while-parked/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2024/02/12/utah-national-guard-helicopter/

Anonymous wrote:The poster who says “they are in it together” has a point.
I am in Kazakhstan (before y’all start Borat is banned here) and the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs always had their business closely tied. The Russian ones wanted the friendly Ukrainian ones to rule the country, but another faction came to power and so it all began.
The whole “Ukraine is fighting for its freedom” is just bull for the wide eyed western public who will now have to put up with inflation and what not.
How hard is it to understand that it’s just the big bourgeoisie fighting?
And no I am not saying Russia is good. They are all the same and they have zero compassion for the ordinary man who has to suffer. It’s all the same since Marx.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that people still feel that the only way to make US foreign policy is to give out as much money as possible to our "allies."

UGH.

No wonder the US is in debt to our eyeballs.

I get it - I agree that you gotta help your friends. I disagree we need to do anything more to help Israel. First off, they got the money. And if they don't, there's plenty of rich Jews that can privately fund the whole country. Second, I'm not really seeing how they are our "ally" beyond that influential and rich Jews live in the US so politically, we deem them as such. Lastly, for what they are doing to Palestine, not sure why we are funding them for genocide.

On Ukraine - I don't know. When will it be enough? Are we supporting Ukraine? Hell, no. We are just anti Putin/Russia. However, if Putin gets his way with Ukraine, I'm actually unsure how this hurts the US in ways that are unimaginable. I think that Putin truly wants Ukraine because of stupid reasons connected to nationalism v he wants to use it as his first step to achieve world domination. Seriously. I think he has bigger problems and took an unwise gamble to take Ukraine thinking it was going to be easier. But the US is funding this thing like it's our war and it really isn't. We want to beat Putin but it's not really our war.

Lastly, Taiwan. Dear God, the US has to let it go. China, unlike Russia, are not fools and do not gamble like that. China won't do a thing to Taiwan because they have big probs on the mainland. Taiwan is absolutely fine. They are prob the strongest little country in the world! They got the trade doing great, the tech/IT/econ doing well, they got their shit together culturally, politically and domestically. I really think that we need to not take care of them!

There are those who I think think by being able to shell out funds to countries makes us powerful and leverages the perspective that we are good to our friends. The actual truth is domestically, we have more and more probs that we should be throwing more and more money to resolving but we don't because it's too messy. It's easy to shell out money on the foreign policy front - it's really just money and might we are exporting. I think there was a time when that was really important but not much in these cases and the world is changing to a certain extent. There's more than 1-2 heavyweights in the world now and our "power" is not defined the same way as it used to be. The world is changing but the US is not.

We are supporting Ukraine's soverignty. It is far less expensive to do what we are doing, than to let Russia take Ukraine (because then they would take the Baltics, Poland etc etc etc)

We are supporting israel's soverignty, though I would prefer more aid and a restriction on offensive weapons. Defensive, sure.

Taiwan...don't you think China is watching our politcs saying, well if they aren't going to defend Ukraine, then they won't defend taiwan either?

Ukraine is not a member of NATO. The Baltics are members of NATO.

In any conventional conflict, NATO would crush Russia in less than two weeks.

Taiwan is a different issue.

We will support Ukraine but not indefinitely. If they can't defeat Russia, they can't defeat Russia.

Two years ago NATO might have been able to swat Russia around, but that's not the case any more. NATO committed far more to the Ukrainian conflict than people want to admit, and what is left is a little concerning. The conflict also exposed just how badly decayed the "arsenal of democracy" has become. NATO can not match Russian manufacturing of arms. In fact NATO may not be able to match NK's production.

The Russian army is now far more formidable than it was two years ago, while ours continues to shrink. We seem to lose a copter or plane every day, and the British can't get either of their carriers sea-worthy. A hot war with Russia would be an absolute slog at this point. We would probably need a draft and a war-time economy to win it. It would not be a fun time.

This is absolutely delusional.

NATO and the US does not do trench warfare. Or artillery duels that last for years.

The West does air power.

There is nothing in the Russian arsenal that can stop F-22s, F-35s, B-1s and B-2s. Not to mention cruise missiles. And once air defense is taken care of, it's carnage time. Everything from old timey B-52s, which can level a city in a minute, to Apaches, which can provide close air support.

It literally would take NATO and the US two weeks to obliterate what remains of Russian forces.

The problem is that Ukraine does not have those weapons. It's a horrible war. It's WWI with drones. The vast majority of casualties are due to artillery, which would never happen in any NATO engagement.

Ukraine needs ammo, which Republicans are denying them. All NATO countries were unprepared for a war where 20,000 shells are fired each and every day. It's not how NATO fights. So it's definitely a strain.

But Ukraine is in trouble now because of the the ammo shortage. Europe has finally ramped up production to 24/7. But in the meantime, only the US has the resources to sustain Ukraine. And if Russia does take Ukraine, it will be the Baltics next. NATO countries. Russia is an imperial country. They will go there.

NATO would deal with that pretty quickly, but it's best to avoid direct confrontation with a nuclear adversary.

Supporting Ukraine - giving them the ammo - is the only way to keep the US and NATO out of a much, much more serious engagement.

Profoundly disappointed with the idiocy of Mike Johnson and Republicans.

Anonymous wrote:The poster who says “they are in it together” has a point.
I am in Kazakhstan (before y’all start Borat is banned here) and the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs always had their business closely tied. The Russian ones wanted the friendly Ukrainian ones to rule the country, but another faction came to power and so it all began.
The whole “Ukraine is fighting for its freedom” is just bull for the wide eyed western public who will now have to put up with inflation and what not.
How hard is it to understand that it’s just the big bourgeoisie fighting?
And no I am not saying Russia is good. They are all the same and they have zero compassion for the ordinary man who has to suffer. It’s all the same since Marx.