Thank you for the thoughtful response. Meanwhile people are killing and dying and a country is in ruins. And having read Sleepwalkers a few months, it is not unprecedented that a small thing becomes a big thing. Let us pray which I am doing more and more.
There is no doubt it is ugly. By my calculation more than 100,000 Ukrainians and a like number of Russians have either died or been wounded. Reliable numbers are hard to come by. I would not call this war a small thing, at least not in terms of casualties and destruction. To me aside from the war going on for some time, there is a danger it starts to spread into Europe proper (I have never considered Ukraine as Europe, but many do).
You write, "Some commentators are saying Putin is so fearful that he won't meet anyone in public except his praetorian guard."
And don't all those guarding Putin have guns? It only takes one. My guess is that there are a collection of powerful Russian elites trying to find the right one, the one that can end this. One guy, one bullet, one time.
If regime change is NOT the objective, then what is? If Putin and his supporters remain in power, what likelihood is that the war ever ends?
What did wars in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan accomplish? What is the purpose of this war? Was it provoked by the US demand that Ukraine be armed and protected by NATO? And what was the US involvement in 2014 coup? I thought the Minsk Accords had ended the conflict about the Donbass Luhansk border. What happened?
As an ordinary US citizen/taxpayer, it is very unclear why the US is spending $100 billion dollars to defend Ukraine’s border, particularly, when the same US government is doing so little to defend our own. Ukrainians are killing Russians; Russians killing Ukrainians and the USA is financing this killing. Ukraine is being devastated.
100s of 1000s dead. Millions of refugees. Wives without husbands and children without fathers. The country is, literally, a war zone with destruction everywhere. Who benefits?
How does it end, if, in fact, it does. What is the purpose of all of this? To prevent Russia from expanding into Eastern Europe? Is that even feasible for the Russians?
And if Putin's Russia was such a menace to Europe, why is the US paying for the war and not the Europeans? Why did Germany enter into an energy deal to buy Russian gas and oil if the Russians were an existential threat? And why were Nordstrom 1 and 2 built?
Russia does not seem to be any threat to the US. Is it?
Who benefits from this war? What is the US interest? Why are the Europeans not financing this war? It is all very confusing.
Dear Bob, It would take more than an afternoon to answer the important questions you have raised. There are different ways of reconstructing the history of what led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Likewise, there are many questions about the enthusiasm of the US for supporting Ukraine in the conflict, which has cost upwards of $100 billion and also weakened the US especially in the Pacific because vital supplies either have been consumed or depleted. The fact that we barely, if at all, defend our own borders and airspace is (as they say in French), a Shanda.
I think the answer is in large part political in the US --Biden was trying to redeem the Afghanistan tragedy and blunder by pushing the Ukraine war and resisting any negotiation between the parties. As things now stand, that is by the board and either the conflict will continue without resolution, or some major event will alter the situation. My sense is that heavier pressure is on Russia's leaders because Russians in general do not like war and casualties --after all, that is what assured the collapse of the USSR over much smaller losses in Afghanistan. To me, Russia's current leaders are on a knife's edge and are in a trap. That appears to suit the Biden administration, but there is no assurance where the final outcome leads. It is reasonable to be concerned about some idiotic move, like a resort to nuclear weapons or other WMD, just as it is reasonable to assume that Russia fully mobilizes and decides to try and crush Ukraine by overwhelming force ( a la WW2). I do not have a crystal ball, but it seems to me we are approaching a deadly point in the conflict (deadly, that is, for world peace). --Steve
Thank you for the thoughtful response. Meanwhile people are killing and dying and a country is in ruins. And having read Sleepwalkers a few months, it is not unprecedented that a small thing becomes a big thing. Let us pray which I am doing more and more.
There is no doubt it is ugly. By my calculation more than 100,000 Ukrainians and a like number of Russians have either died or been wounded. Reliable numbers are hard to come by. I would not call this war a small thing, at least not in terms of casualties and destruction. To me aside from the war going on for some time, there is a danger it starts to spread into Europe proper (I have never considered Ukraine as Europe, but many do).
You write, "Some commentators are saying Putin is so fearful that he won't meet anyone in public except his praetorian guard."
And don't all those guarding Putin have guns? It only takes one. My guess is that there are a collection of powerful Russian elites trying to find the right one, the one that can end this. One guy, one bullet, one time.
Then what? Peace in Ukraine? Somehow I doubt that but I am not an expert.
I don't know the answer as it depends who is the successor. A shock change in Russian leadership represents an unknown but clear danger.
If regime change is NOT the objective, then what is? If Putin and his supporters remain in power, what likelihood is that the war ever ends?
What did wars in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan accomplish? What is the purpose of this war? Was it provoked by the US demand that Ukraine be armed and protected by NATO? And what was the US involvement in 2014 coup? I thought the Minsk Accords had ended the conflict about the Donbass Luhansk border. What happened?
As an ordinary US citizen/taxpayer, it is very unclear why the US is spending $100 billion dollars to defend Ukraine’s border, particularly, when the same US government is doing so little to defend our own. Ukrainians are killing Russians; Russians killing Ukrainians and the USA is financing this killing. Ukraine is being devastated.
100s of 1000s dead. Millions of refugees. Wives without husbands and children without fathers. The country is, literally, a war zone with destruction everywhere. Who benefits?
How does it end, if, in fact, it does. What is the purpose of all of this? To prevent Russia from expanding into Eastern Europe? Is that even feasible for the Russians?
And if Putin's Russia was such a menace to Europe, why is the US paying for the war and not the Europeans? Why did Germany enter into an energy deal to buy Russian gas and oil if the Russians were an existential threat? And why were Nordstrom 1 and 2 built?
Russia does not seem to be any threat to the US. Is it?
Who benefits from this war? What is the US interest? Why are the Europeans not financing this war? It is all very confusing.
I forgot to mention --why not subscribe?
will do give me a few days.
Dear Bob, It would take more than an afternoon to answer the important questions you have raised. There are different ways of reconstructing the history of what led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Likewise, there are many questions about the enthusiasm of the US for supporting Ukraine in the conflict, which has cost upwards of $100 billion and also weakened the US especially in the Pacific because vital supplies either have been consumed or depleted. The fact that we barely, if at all, defend our own borders and airspace is (as they say in French), a Shanda.
I think the answer is in large part political in the US --Biden was trying to redeem the Afghanistan tragedy and blunder by pushing the Ukraine war and resisting any negotiation between the parties. As things now stand, that is by the board and either the conflict will continue without resolution, or some major event will alter the situation. My sense is that heavier pressure is on Russia's leaders because Russians in general do not like war and casualties --after all, that is what assured the collapse of the USSR over much smaller losses in Afghanistan. To me, Russia's current leaders are on a knife's edge and are in a trap. That appears to suit the Biden administration, but there is no assurance where the final outcome leads. It is reasonable to be concerned about some idiotic move, like a resort to nuclear weapons or other WMD, just as it is reasonable to assume that Russia fully mobilizes and decides to try and crush Ukraine by overwhelming force ( a la WW2). I do not have a crystal ball, but it seems to me we are approaching a deadly point in the conflict (deadly, that is, for world peace). --Steve