Here is my problem with how we and NATO have chosen to deal incrementally with “escalation.” In this war Russia is clearly the aggressor which decided to use its half vast version of blitzkreig to knock out Ukraine and make it part of Putin’s new Russia. From the start Russia kept upping the ante in firepower and brutality including war crimes. We meaning the United States And NATO reacted always incrementally because we were afraid Putin would escalate” if we gave the Ukrainians enough firepower to actually resist and begin “winning “ as in actually winning back parts of their country.
So now after almost a year Ukraine has clawed back some territory but remains out manned and outgunned and we still sit hamstrung because we are playing this game by Putin’s rules. Now we await a potential new Russian offensive and we are weak kneed on giving Ukraine the one thing they most need to kick th3 Russians again. Control of the air above the battle space. Why it is almost as if our generals and policy makers have concluded because there are no Americans, Germans or Brits being subjected to the rain of death from Russian artillery or missiles and drones it is acceptable.
We are in for a dime. When are we going to start being a true ally and go in for the dollar?
Well said Lucian. The faster we build up the quicker the balance shifts. I’d never thought about ‘escalation’. Nothing so far is an escalation. Thanks for your laserlike insight.
"It’s past time for American media to stop echoing Russian propaganda by calling our shipment of increasingly sophisticated and deadly weapons to Ukraine an escalation."
If truth be told, the first nine words of Mr. T.'s remark could be applied to a multitude of subjects. In fact, there's a story that Muckrack, a journalists' site, referenced today about the NYTimes hyping a story to hurt Hillary while quashing a story damaging to Trump. The NYTimes, friends! The American media has much to answer for. Shall we start with Trump?
Absolutely! There's only one "reason" for this utterly senseless war and that's Putin and his insane dream of reconstituting Imperial Russia "glory". Everything else is BS and talking points for Useful Idiots.
Once it sank in that Putin's nuclear threats were just noise it's been impossible to take much of anything he says seriously. (a/k/a The boy who cried Wolf.) … Your choice of news photos is often a show-stopper, especially for someone who rarely watches tv. Tonight's is yet another.
There’s a simple way for Russians to die of old age, and that’s to stay home, if they go to Ukraine, the Ukrainians are going to kill them in the thousands, I suppose it’s the gene pool self correcting. I truly believe that as fellow humans that desire to live in freedom, we who do enjoy freedom, have an obligation to help them in any way we can. Look at this way, if what is happening in Ukraine was happening here, they would have to issue a body bag to every combatant crossing our border with intent to do us harm. We should give them what they need, especially arms that they can readily adapt to using successfully. Someone in our military has been trying to get rid of our A-10’s for years now, but the ground combatants love them, for good reason, they are deadly against enemy armor, I am not a pilot and I have never flown in one, but I have been in combat on the ground and had close in air support, let me tell you the moan of those cannons is the sweetest sound you will ever hear. I hope their pilots are training on them as I type this, the Ukrainians have the will to shut this horror down, we should give them the tools they need to accomplish that.
I am in agreement with you, Dick. Enough pussy-footing around with not providing those F-16s! War is ugly, people die. Innocents on both sides are destroyed. Those reporters from Meduza who fled Russia, have gone underground. They know their lives are at stake, but they are bound and determined to get the word out to Russians to resist, that the Western World is sending weaponry to Ukraine to fight against Putin’s regime. We have to make Ukraine whole again. Putin and his generals must be destroyed.
At the beginning of the war, a column of Russian armor and troop transports stretched from the Belarusian border to the exurbs of Kyiv. F-16s? Hell, think what two squadrons of A-10 Warthogs would have done to the Russian war machine. Cripple the head and tail of the snake and then pick off everything in between. That kind of mass destruction of the Russian army might well have inspired the military to send Putin packing.
Great idea, George, but why not seek air superiority with F-16s as well. Maybe a couple AC-130 gunships would help the ground game too. But A-10s shooting up columns of trucks and long trains?? Wow!!
When neither side is making gains it's just a slaughter in place day after day with nothing to show for the massive loss of life and it makes no sense., I agree that to just supply enough arms to stop Ukraine from losing but not enough to enable them to win is nothing less that stupid. Biden has always been too timid in my estimation and it seems those around him also, unless he is getting good advice but sr tubornly ignoring it. He should consult with retired general Wesley Clark. But then he wouldn't listen to him..
I understand counting casualties is one way to tally a war. Russian soldier casualties compared to Ukrainian soldier causalities.
If you count all losses, Ukraine has lost far more than Russia. Homes, infrastructure, civilian lives, and then there are those Ukrainians who were forced to leave their country, put on trains to live in Russia, children who will be lied to, and indoctrinated. All these losses, yet they are not losing the War, but they could.
In the beginning of the war, I watched the news every morning. It was brutal. I saw footage after a bombing, a woman being carried on a stretcher, who was pregnant. Later a doctor explained that her pelvis was broken, and she needed surgery .He said when they told her that her baby was dead, she cried, "Kill me now, kill me now." She had been waiting in a hallway on a gurney with other women who were pregnant, and one who had given birth had an infant in her arms. It did not take long for the Network News to stop covering the ongoing aftermath with that raw honesty. So now there is a disconnect. We no longer see reports as we did in the beginning. I know the war has changed to some degree, but that is no excuse for the lack of video footage of what is happening to the Ukrainian people and their country. Why are American people being coddled. If we want Americans to continue to support the Ukrainian people in this important struggle, Americans need to see it. Network News needs to show us the destruction, and the way people are living, by candle light with no heat or water. The way soldiers are faring in t he cold. Otherwise I think we risk losing funding.
This is the 21st century. Isn't there a tech wizard somewhere who could build a weapons system that would take out missiles or incoming shells? NATO should offer a lifetime of free cheeseburgers or a Cadillac to some crazed genius who sees what the rest of us can't imagine. What is so bothersome is the way the west gives Mr. Putin such authority. Make him an offer he can't refuse. Seriously President Biden must stop allowing Mr. Putin to write the rules. You fight wars to win. Somewhere in the distance General Patton is screaming.
Here is my problem with how we and NATO have chosen to deal incrementally with “escalation.” In this war Russia is clearly the aggressor which decided to use its half vast version of blitzkreig to knock out Ukraine and make it part of Putin’s new Russia. From the start Russia kept upping the ante in firepower and brutality including war crimes. We meaning the United States And NATO reacted always incrementally because we were afraid Putin would escalate” if we gave the Ukrainians enough firepower to actually resist and begin “winning “ as in actually winning back parts of their country.
So now after almost a year Ukraine has clawed back some territory but remains out manned and outgunned and we still sit hamstrung because we are playing this game by Putin’s rules. Now we await a potential new Russian offensive and we are weak kneed on giving Ukraine the one thing they most need to kick th3 Russians again. Control of the air above the battle space. Why it is almost as if our generals and policy makers have concluded because there are no Americans, Germans or Brits being subjected to the rain of death from Russian artillery or missiles and drones it is acceptable.
We are in for a dime. When are we going to start being a true ally and go in for the dollar?
I learned in 4th grade that if you want to deal with a bully, you punch him in the mouth. They do cave in. Otherwise, they just keep on bullying!
Bullies always whine, soon Putin will call this event a Witch Hunt!!!
I think I just heard that recently from another bully. Hmm. Who was that?!?
Well said Lucian. The faster we build up the quicker the balance shifts. I’d never thought about ‘escalation’. Nothing so far is an escalation. Thanks for your laserlike insight.
I’ll add Slava Ukraini for the first time.
"It’s past time for American media to stop echoing Russian propaganda by calling our shipment of increasingly sophisticated and deadly weapons to Ukraine an escalation."
If truth be told, the first nine words of Mr. T.'s remark could be applied to a multitude of subjects. In fact, there's a story that Muckrack, a journalists' site, referenced today about the NYTimes hyping a story to hurt Hillary while quashing a story damaging to Trump. The NYTimes, friends! The American media has much to answer for. Shall we start with Trump?
Go to the source and target Murdoch.
Absolutely! There's only one "reason" for this utterly senseless war and that's Putin and his insane dream of reconstituting Imperial Russia "glory". Everything else is BS and talking points for Useful Idiots.
If you got nothing, you bluster. If you got the stuff, you use it.
Once it sank in that Putin's nuclear threats were just noise it's been impossible to take much of anything he says seriously. (a/k/a The boy who cried Wolf.) … Your choice of news photos is often a show-stopper, especially for someone who rarely watches tv. Tonight's is yet another.
"It's not an escalation to match an aggressor weapon-for-weapon" Well spoken.
There’s a simple way for Russians to die of old age, and that’s to stay home, if they go to Ukraine, the Ukrainians are going to kill them in the thousands, I suppose it’s the gene pool self correcting. I truly believe that as fellow humans that desire to live in freedom, we who do enjoy freedom, have an obligation to help them in any way we can. Look at this way, if what is happening in Ukraine was happening here, they would have to issue a body bag to every combatant crossing our border with intent to do us harm. We should give them what they need, especially arms that they can readily adapt to using successfully. Someone in our military has been trying to get rid of our A-10’s for years now, but the ground combatants love them, for good reason, they are deadly against enemy armor, I am not a pilot and I have never flown in one, but I have been in combat on the ground and had close in air support, let me tell you the moan of those cannons is the sweetest sound you will ever hear. I hope their pilots are training on them as I type this, the Ukrainians have the will to shut this horror down, we should give them the tools they need to accomplish that.
I am in agreement with you, Dick. Enough pussy-footing around with not providing those F-16s! War is ugly, people die. Innocents on both sides are destroyed. Those reporters from Meduza who fled Russia, have gone underground. They know their lives are at stake, but they are bound and determined to get the word out to Russians to resist, that the Western World is sending weaponry to Ukraine to fight against Putin’s regime. We have to make Ukraine whole again. Putin and his generals must be destroyed.
My understanding is that the Russian soldiers don't volunteer, but are conscripted or sent to prison.
At the beginning of the war, a column of Russian armor and troop transports stretched from the Belarusian border to the exurbs of Kyiv. F-16s? Hell, think what two squadrons of A-10 Warthogs would have done to the Russian war machine. Cripple the head and tail of the snake and then pick off everything in between. That kind of mass destruction of the Russian army might well have inspired the military to send Putin packing.
Great idea, George, but why not seek air superiority with F-16s as well. Maybe a couple AC-130 gunships would help the ground game too. But A-10s shooting up columns of trucks and long trains?? Wow!!
When neither side is making gains it's just a slaughter in place day after day with nothing to show for the massive loss of life and it makes no sense., I agree that to just supply enough arms to stop Ukraine from losing but not enough to enable them to win is nothing less that stupid. Biden has always been too timid in my estimation and it seems those around him also, unless he is getting good advice but sr tubornly ignoring it. He should consult with retired general Wesley Clark. But then he wouldn't listen to him..
Exactly!
A powerful piece, Lucian. Also very informative to a reader who knew very little about the weapons.
Thanks Joyce.
I understand counting casualties is one way to tally a war. Russian soldier casualties compared to Ukrainian soldier causalities.
If you count all losses, Ukraine has lost far more than Russia. Homes, infrastructure, civilian lives, and then there are those Ukrainians who were forced to leave their country, put on trains to live in Russia, children who will be lied to, and indoctrinated. All these losses, yet they are not losing the War, but they could.
In the beginning of the war, I watched the news every morning. It was brutal. I saw footage after a bombing, a woman being carried on a stretcher, who was pregnant. Later a doctor explained that her pelvis was broken, and she needed surgery .He said when they told her that her baby was dead, she cried, "Kill me now, kill me now." She had been waiting in a hallway on a gurney with other women who were pregnant, and one who had given birth had an infant in her arms. It did not take long for the Network News to stop covering the ongoing aftermath with that raw honesty. So now there is a disconnect. We no longer see reports as we did in the beginning. I know the war has changed to some degree, but that is no excuse for the lack of video footage of what is happening to the Ukrainian people and their country. Why are American people being coddled. If we want Americans to continue to support the Ukrainian people in this important struggle, Americans need to see it. Network News needs to show us the destruction, and the way people are living, by candle light with no heat or water. The way soldiers are faring in t he cold. Otherwise I think we risk losing funding.
This is the 21st century. Isn't there a tech wizard somewhere who could build a weapons system that would take out missiles or incoming shells? NATO should offer a lifetime of free cheeseburgers or a Cadillac to some crazed genius who sees what the rest of us can't imagine. What is so bothersome is the way the west gives Mr. Putin such authority. Make him an offer he can't refuse. Seriously President Biden must stop allowing Mr. Putin to write the rules. You fight wars to win. Somewhere in the distance General Patton is screaming.