Friends, I wish you all a Happy Memorial Day! May you enjoy some contemplative fellowship with your friends and family, and may all who have served our nation, living and dead, be honored and remembered throughout the year.
In other news, two key GOP Senators are apparently readers of this blog, because they are demanding that the Big, Beautiful Bill be altered to include more aggressive spending cuts. Hear hear!
https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/gop-senators-say-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-needs-deeper-cuts/
And President Trump has expressed his displeasure with the attacks on civilians perpetrated by Russia and Putin. He has also, of course, criticized Zelensky on numerous occasions. I suspect the attitude of both men is "Sticks and stones..." The bottom line is that the West continues to funnel massive amounts of money and arms into the conflict, rendering our declarations of horror rather hollow.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114571369956761390
RAY TO DR. WADDY AND JACK
ReplyDeleteAt this point, and once again, the Russia-Ukraine war begs the question of whether or not the U.S. should simply walk away from this conflict completely and permanently. What would happen if we quit supporting Ukraine and stopped diplomatic attempts to resolve this situation?
Ray, those are really two questions, in practice: first, does Trump have the nerve to spit in the face of the Western establishment and abandon Ukraine, and, two, what would happen if he did? I honestly don't know the answer to either question.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteIf you don't know the answer, I sure don't. I'm guessing that Putin may have decided to grab all of Ukraine, and incorporate it into Russia.
This would be consistent with Russian thinking on what they have traditionally thought their legitimate borders to be, before and after The Russian Revolution, under Stalin, and after 1991. I think the plan is to make Ukraine "disappear" as an independent country, and recreate it as just another area of Mother Russia, once again. Just a guess.
Dr. Waddy, Ray, et al from Jack: I would continue to suggest that Putin's essential purpose is to prevent the unbearable strategic threat and affront that Ukrainian membership in NATO would be to Russia.All else is tactic.
ReplyDeleteHow to prevent this; what do Putin and his supporters think necessary to ensure this end? That is the question I think. You can no more ask of rugged, brutalized Russia that it endure such a disgrace than it would be to persuade a mother bear to give up her cubs. Ain't ever gonna happen folks! Its way beyond right or wrong; its stark reality.
Many ancillary issues may well have arisen through 3 years of vicious war. Those are appropriate subjects for negotiation, best between Russia and Ukraine , free of the often uncomprehendingly advanced influence of other nations. But that core issue - prevention of Ukraine in Nato - is absolutely vital to Russia and as much as we denounce Russia's brutality, we cannot objectively gainsay them. No matter what we might think of it (with self confidence much faulted by apparent ignorance of Russian and Ukrainian history and geography), we cannot change this!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: The U.S. made a tragic mistake in encouraging Ukraine to attempt Nato membership. Much of the tragedy inheres in Ukraine's poignant and completely understandable desire to be free of Great Russian oppression. But Nato membership is , terribly regrettably, probably impossible due again , to objectively understandable and in any case unshakeable Russian intransigence on the matter.
ReplyDeleteIt would be very hard for us to admit our mistake and begin doing the difficult but right thing. A good first step would be to stop interfering in any military manner and limit our aid to humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Internationally, we have done the world unprecedented good over the last 110 years but this time we have sadly overreached. Our advancement of Nato to Russia's border had good intent; it was to keep the savage Red Army inside Russia. But we pushed a Russia the ruggedness of which we misjudged, too far.
Especially with the addition of the hard fighting Swedes and Finns, Nato can defeat Russia, if it ever becomes necessary. I do not think any Russian leader who proposed attacking Nato could remain in power very long. BUT! When it comes to the possibility of Ukraine in an alliance formed to contain Russia, all bets are off on what length to which Russia would go in reaction. Imagine Russian troops and bases on the Canadian and Mexican borders. We proved in the Cuban MIssile Crisis how we would respond to such an affront.
We owe Russia no apology; their brutality in Ukraine would make that pusillanimous. But we must act with grim realism and our great President has the guts to do it.
It was folly and some post 1991 relief which brought us to this point. Expert caution was available in the U.S. .
RAY TO JACK
DeletePutin is playing for time. This is Russian Roulette at the best, if you want to call it that in jest. No matter what Trump does, Putin is betting that no country in NATO (including the U.S.) wants to officially go to war with him over Ukraine.
Nor does Putin care about sanctions, which have traditionally not worked in the long run against any country, and especially big ones like Russia.
In the end, I doubt The American people care much about this, as the main concerns of the vast majority of our population is what is happening here, like gas and food prices.
As far as NATO in general goes, it is already on Russia's border. So, Ukraine is a real estate deal, so to speak.
Dr. Waddy and Ray et Al from Jack: Also, DJT is just the kind of guy to quickly disabuse any international power which might think the US fallen should we withdraw our military support for Ukraine.If they have common sense , most of them, including Russia I think, would be cautious. Maybe not China. . . .
ReplyDeleteRay from Jack: It was an badly considered idea right from the start. We should have led the way as Nato's key member in quickly rejecting it. We must learn from it; Russian power is much reduced from the Cold War days but, if motivated, they can still do incalculable evil. They ARE motivated now.
ReplyDeleteRay may be right that Russia's goal is to conquer all of Ukraine, but, at this rate, that could take decades! What can Russia live with, and what can Ukraine live with, and if the answer to both questions is...several hundred thousand more dead Slavs, then that's probably what we'll get.
ReplyDeleteI've never believed there was a realistic path for Ukraine to join NATO, but that doesn't mean that the West will cease to take an interest in Ukraine's security, and whether that happens formally or informally it seems to me it will be equally unacceptable to Russia.