Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

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Anonymous wrote:These stiff sanctions and total exclusion of Russia are worrying me. I think they will push Putin over the edge. Similar to how Hitler and Germany were punished after WWI. And the way Hitler reacted. Scary stuff.

the key word here is *after*. We are in the middle of a war, not after it. If we continue after it ends, that would be bad. But during a war you want us to give up?

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Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

So does "driving a lot" correlate to being an "elite?"

Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

Anonymous wrote:These stiff sanctions and total exclusion of Russia are worrying me. I think they will push Putin over the edge. Similar to how Hitler and Germany were punished after WWI. And the way Hitler reacted. Scary stuff.

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Anonymous wrote:We have tried to give Putin off ramp for weeks. For months,
He is sending in troops to kill civilians.
F this guy.
I just read a good piece by Fiona Hill, and she breaks it down.
We can’t be paralyzed by fear. We have to anticipate and move to act.

We have acted and all Putin does is escalate. I’m not sure what additional actions you mean?

What's the alternative, just let Putin keep conquering and destabilizing? This needs to come to an end, and that end cannot mean Putin winning.

Cut off his money supply - which is oil. Stop buying oil from Russia and sanction sales.
And, give Ukraine more lethal weapons to give them at least a chance.

The sanctions are meaningless if they don’t include energy. Oil production and exports from Russia have not slowed since the invasion started. Do people realize this? If we want to help Ukraine we need to stop consuming so much gas and be prepared to pay high prices at the pump.

Or, we could actually increase our supply and help out Europe by providing the oil that they have bought from Russia.
And, we need to stop buying oil from Russia.....

Well, we knew this to be true. What was especially shameful was the unwillingness to stop even after Putin invaded Ukraine, trying to assure the public that these sections won't impact energy prices. I am critical of Biden taking us back to energy dependence on foreign sources but I would have gladly met the consequences of cutting off Russian oil flow. They are so tone deaf.

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Anonymous wrote:Zelenskyy is my hero. Putin would have taken the ride.

He is your hero as long as Russia doesn't aim their missiles towards the US.. Or as long as they don't target your area with the massive cyber attacks to make it uninhabitable for a while. Once your kids are cold and hungry, we will see how you will cheer foreign officials bravery that may drag us into a war we were trying to avoid for many decades. I will admire from afar.. as long as we don't get deeply involved

Frankly, I would die for Ukraine (I live in DC). So yes, I stand with Zelensky against insane bully monsters. They must go even if I die.

Great, I will buy you a one way ticket so that you could go die for Ukraine I am not willing to even lose a finger for them if it means that our country will be attacked and we have to live under the shadow of constant extermination threat. why do we care about this country so much more than other horrible places we had abandoned and condemned their residents to tortuous lives (hello, Afganistan?) Is this because you are more likely to die for European white people, because it's ok for brown people to suffer all over the world? You are all hypocrites.

DP. Are you asking why anyone in the US cares about Ukraine? We don't especially care about Ukraine. We care about Putin and his aggression.

Zelensky, whatever his imperfections, is doing a great job as a war president. He's not my hero, but I can admit that he's admirable. And if Putin starts launching nukes at DC, it won't be because Zelensky is charismatic. It will be because Putin is an insane idiot who went nuts during the pandemic.

He is dragging other countries into his war, he said he wants volunteers from other countries. Fine, but I am sorry, it's not OUR war. USA has no business going into a full blown war with a nuclear power to save another "democracy" that had its own basket of problems all these years and in fact, had a civil war type of situation in its eastern parts for a while now. This wasn't our business then and it's not our business now. We shouldn't go beyond sanctions and humanitarian aid for the citizens of Ukraine and trying to save innocent civilians from this situation. If we stick to this and don't send troops beyond civilian evacuation asistance, if we don't threaten any military action or cyber attacks, I think we'll be fine. I doubt Russians want their country flattened. Even if we have more power to flatten them first, they have enough to flatten some of our cities too, this isn't giving me warm fuzzies. There are 3 countries that would be totally idiotic for us to get into war with: Russia, China, North Korea. You cannot console yourself with the citizens of these countries trying to control their despots, we have to be more diplomatically savvy and avoid direct conflict. The end.

Is your name Neville? Appeasement does not work with the insane. Putin is insane.

Exactly, and Russia is not Iraq.

It's all our business. Everywhere. That sucks but we have created a world order that we have to ensure works. That order has to work or we don't get to do whatever it is that you like to do. Our standard of living is based on that world order. We had to confront the USSR to keep our world order. When it broke up it seems like the world was safe but it got a lot less safe. We will have to confront Russia. And then likely China. China becomes easier if we handle Russia. There is no free lunch in this world.

So you're encouraging your kids to enlist?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have tried to give Putin off ramp for weeks. For months,
He is sending in troops to kill civilians.
F this guy.
I just read a good piece by Fiona Hill, and she breaks it down.
We can’t be paralyzed by fear. We have to anticipate and move to act.

We have acted and all Putin does is escalate. I’m not sure what additional actions you mean?

What's the alternative, just let Putin keep conquering and destabilizing? This needs to come to an end, and that end cannot mean Putin winning.

Cut off his money supply - which is oil. Stop buying oil from Russia and sanction sales.
And, give Ukraine more lethal weapons to give them at least a chance.

The sanctions are meaningless if they don’t include energy. Oil production and exports from Russia have not slowed since the invasion started. Do people realize this? If we want to help Ukraine we need to stop consuming so much gas and be prepared to pay high prices at the pump.

Or, we could actually increase our supply and help out Europe by providing the oil that they have bought from Russia.
And, we need to stop buying oil from Russia.....

Well, we knew this to be true. What was especially shameful was the unwillingness to stop even after Putin invaded Ukraine, trying to assure the public that these sections won't impact energy prices. I am critical of Biden taking us back to energy dependence on foreign sources but I would have gladly met the consequences of cutting off Russian oil flow. They are so tone deaf.

Anonymous wrote:How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have tried to give Putin off ramp for weeks. For months,
He is sending in troops to kill civilians.
F this guy.
I just read a good piece by Fiona Hill, and she breaks it down.
We can’t be paralyzed by fear. We have to anticipate and move to act.

We have acted and all Putin does is escalate. I’m not sure what additional actions you mean?

What's the alternative, just let Putin keep conquering and destabilizing? This needs to come to an end, and that end cannot mean Putin winning.

Cut off his money supply - which is oil. Stop buying oil from Russia and sanction sales.
And, give Ukraine more lethal weapons to give them at least a chance.

The sanctions are meaningless if they don’t include energy. Oil production and exports from Russia have not slowed since the invasion started. Do people realize this? If we want to help Ukraine we need to stop consuming so much gas and be prepared to pay high prices at the pump.

Or, we could actually increase our supply and help out Europe by providing the oil that they have bought from Russia.
And, we need to stop buying oil from Russia.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have tried to give Putin off ramp for weeks. For months,
He is sending in troops to kill civilians.
F this guy.
I just read a good piece by Fiona Hill, and she breaks it down.
We can’t be paralyzed by fear. We have to anticipate and move to act.

We have acted and all Putin does is escalate. I’m not sure what additional actions you mean?

What's the alternative, just let Putin keep conquering and destabilizing? This needs to come to an end, and that end cannot mean Putin winning.

Cut off his money supply - which is oil. Stop buying oil from Russia and sanction sales.
And, give Ukraine more lethal weapons to give them at least a chance.

The sanctions are meaningless if they don’t include energy. Oil production and exports from Russia have not slowed since the invasion started. Do people realize this? If we want to help Ukraine we need to stop consuming so much gas and be prepared to pay high prices at the pump.