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Russia Invades Ukraine
In a speech Wednesday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation,” followed immediately by troops entering Ukraine and large explosions throughout the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack and declared martial law. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it a “full-scale invasion,” adding, “Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
Putin strenuously warned against international meddling. “To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside: if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history,” he said. “All relevant decisions have been taken.”
President Biden issued a statement: “The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces.” He added that he will consult with the leaders of the G7 on Thursday and promised “severe sanctions.”
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That’s a specious parallel.
You never heard of the Budapest accords I guess…
Which would you prioritize? And why aren’t we doing that? Note I’m giving you credit for getting the “our own border” answer correct.
I just see it as an alternative take on the aphorism -“You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”
Hmm.
These are all very Trumpian things to suggest, Gary.
This is what Niven calls the “gripping hand”. A larger fact that makes lesser arguments moot. Shal we or shall we not buy a bell to put about the cat’s neck? Why bother? Nobody’s going to actually do it.
The most helpful thing our retarded and wicked country can do is to shut up and stay out. Nothing we do will be in this country’s interest because our enemies run the country.
We are now coming to China’s rescue. The admin just rolled back some “racist” Trump-imposed sanctions. Laughable pretext, predictable bad results. It’s intentional.
Well, you’re not allowed to state an answer because It. Is. “Not. For. You. To. Decide.”
iWe, this stuff is already baked in and there is precious little we can do. I said this in the wake of the Afghanistan collapse, and not because of that collapse, but because that’s just what’s going to happen with the cabal running this country. Ukraine’s fate was likely sealed on January 6th. Of course the manner of the Afghanistan debacle was an unforced error, but it was going to be nasty no matter what. It would have been nice to see the nastiness *after we left*, but our domestic enemies in government have other priorities.
Despite the fact that I would like to intervene NOWHERE, we are going to have to at some points. I would call those Taiwan, Poland, and Israel. It is flamingly against our interest to let any of those fall. And yet Taiwan might still go down.
Meanwhile, actually *bombing Russian pipelines to Europe* is reckless. (So we’ll probably do it on that basis.)
Hey “Mean Tweets” crowd — how do you like the first half of your administration? Stand by — it’s just getting started.
If we sent forces to “guarantee their territorial integrity”, that’s exactly what we’d be doing.
Nobody needs a military to attack our border. We are being invaded *without even needing* an army.
Seems gratuitous.
Sure, in the John Donne sense. I’m pretty sure you would agree that he means sharply more involved, if we must get into the penny-ante accounting of what constitutes involvement.
Good news! Biden said we’re all praying for Ukraine. That oughta fix things.
But thank you for the beautiful pictures. I’m not a praying man, but I offer the closest I have.
There was a Ukrainian guy in an MMO I was in a decade ago. Nice guy. I’ve been trying to remember his name or handle. The game is long offline, no help there. I hope he’s doing well. And millions of others.
I know it may sound disingenuous to well-wish while argung against intervention. It’s just that there’s no way we accomplish a goal worth seeking, and far too many opportunities (which I feel are unavoidable for this administration) to make things worse. Worse for us, for Europe, and worse for Ukraine.
I agree with your three points. Not the fourth.
Sadly, this is true.
First half? It’s only been a year. We’ve got three quarters to go.
The U.S. has been considered the defacto “Policeman of the World” for about 70 years now.
Increase domestic oil and gas production. Do it yesterday.
I was 11, so you would guess right.
The election is over. The question is what to do now?
You voted for the opposite of this foreign policy, Gary. This was what we were doing. You voted against it.
I think your basis is not strong enough to force a point. A country is not a person. I get that it’s an analogy — I just don’t think it’s close enough to carry your argument.
And you know what? Sometimes — it’s not my problem in the streets, either. It’s good to intervene when you can for acceptable risk/reward. You jump in a river to save a single child. You stay on top of your house when the tsunami carries thousands away.
If there are no cops, does it change the answer? Because there are no cops.
Self-styled. And has no legitimate authority.
Your political choices are disastrous. You would be better of admitting how absolutely wrong you are on EVERYTHING before going anywhere near a voting booth ever again.
Bryan, you remind me of the person who is grievously injured in a car accident, and instead of getting to the hospital, wants to argue that the accident was someone else’s fault.
I repeat, what should we do now?
Dawg is saying not to intervene if it’s pointless. Not “because there are cops.”
You voted for Biden, right?
First reasonable answer I’ve seen. Thank you.
Although it does raise the next question of what the alternative in the “if then else” construct above should be.
Ummm… https://ricochet.com/1138956/the-terrible-sea-lion/
That’s a Dynamite article!
That’s about where I stand on this, as well. I could armchair-president some fantasy actions to address the crisis, but why bother? I’m not qualified to do so, anyway. Even if I was qualified and my ideas were both sound and adopted, I’m sure that the current administration would fail to successfully implement them. They lack the patriotism, intelligence, wisdom, and backbone to deal with a problem of this magnitude.
I also have serious doubts about our military readiness. Paradoxically, the more prepared we are for war, the less likely we are to get pulled into one, and vice versa. We’re in a vice versa world right now. More’s the pity. At least the military is well trained on diversity and preferred pronouns and can discuss the carbon footprint of an armored battalion. I’m sure that has Putin quaking in his boots.