28 Comments

It's not just Putin who has elections ahead, and has to think about domestic pressures.

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Dec 29, 2023·edited Dec 29, 2023

America entering the war in the near future is unlikely. Historically, American presidents do not enter wars during an election year. In addition, war would be unpopular and then there is the whole Houthi problem that would worsen if the USA attacked.

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The Kremlin horn blows fantastically beautifully.

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The article contains numerous specific assertions of fact. Which of these assertions do you disagree with and what is your basis for doing so?

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Dec 28, 2023·edited Dec 28, 2023

There is no one the Russians can negotiate with to reach a deal. US/NATO's history of dealing in bad faith has led the Russian to impose their unilateral solution on Ukraine.

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Not sure that's how it stated, but that's where NATO is now.

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What fool can trust the US, after they reneged on the Minsk, and other agreements? The Biden regime cannot be trusted, same goes for NATO. Russia is now forced to deal on Russian terms.

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The US was not a signatory to either of the Minsk agreements (2014 and 2015) and did not support those deals. Minsk 1 and 2 were deals that involved the Russians, the two so-called Donetsk republics, Germany and France, Ukraine plus the OSCE as overseer and (presumably) guarantor.

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Yes, but is there anyone who doubts that the US is the wire puller of the whole Ukraine operation? Supposedly, Angela Merkel confessed that Minsk was just a tactic to stall for time to build up Ukraine's forces. Was this a Franco-German strategy, or did the orders come from Washington?

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I can't answer your question and I am unsure anyone can without insider information. The US certainly is pushing the Ukraine war, but so are the Germans (for example) and the British.

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The draft age of 60 is worse than it seems because many of the elderly are being put in the infantry which is the most physically demanding of military jobs. "Infantry" is from the French/Latin "Infant" meaning young.

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A number to watch is how many Ukrainians surrender. If a big increase begins, the end is close.

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I apologize for being pushy, especially since I'm not a paid subscriber, but I am concerned about the seeming ineffectiveness of our military. First, trillions of dollars spent since 9/11, and yet we seem to quickly run out of something as essential as artillery shells, as well as other basic items. Second, our equipment itself seems to be chintzy, unable to hold up to sustained use. Third, our military advice to the Ukrainians on a spring offensive was at the least hubristic, at the worst catastrophic. How big of a jackpot are we in here?

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My site is free. There are no paid subscribers. You point to a number of serious problems, most of them unresolved. There are efforts underway to fix many of the issues, but unfortunately they probably fall well short of the need and will take years to implement.

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Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

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Hello, I would like to know more about your thoughts on the strategic position and future of the Baltic countries. If you have already written about it, I would be grateful for direction to those essays. I did already look, but I did not see anything directly on the subject. Thank you.

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In 2017 in my description of NATO fighting capabilities I wrote about the military posture of the Baltic states. Since then, I have not done any updating but probably it would be a good idea. See: https://nododigordio.org/in-evidenza/bryen-la-nato-combattera-e-per-cosa/

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Sorry, Is that available in English?

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author

Not anymore. Just run it through google Translate.

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Thank you, I am grateful.

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At this point the Kremlin judges that no government in the West is "Agreement Capable". Consequently, the Russians intend to implement their objectives entirely by military force. The only thing up for negotiation is whether Kiev signs unconditional surrender terms NOW or signs surrender terms sometime in the future when thousands and thousands more Ukrainians will be dead and virtually the entire country reduced to rubble

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Did you see the video of a Ukrainian soldier with Downs Syndrome that had been sent to the trenches?

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Yes I did.

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In the past two weeks the entire Russian leadership has reiterated in a very public way there's no backing down on their part from longstanding war aims; to wit, Ukraine never enters NATO; Ukraine is completely demilitarized; and that the Banderite factions that prevail in Kyiv, are removed.

Furthermore, Putin himself as stated that Ukraine will be reduced to a landlocked rump state; and almost all of eastern Ukraine will be annexed into the Russian Federation.

So what exactly is supposed to be negotiated? As far as I can see it's either Ukraine's unconditional surrender now; or Ukraine's unconditional surrender after virtually the entire under 50 male demographic cohort is annihilated and virtually all the country is reduced to rubble.

It's hard to imagine the US blessing such a "negotiation". And furthermore Putin has publicly excoriated himself four trusting the West ever to negotiate in good faith and honor any agreements.

I'm beginning to think that any feelers for negotiations coming out of Russia as reported recently by the New York Times are part of a strategic deception campaign cooked up by the Kremlin to completely demoralize and factionalize the government in Kiev, poisoning relations with the US in the process. And furthermore such a gambit is designed to corrode morale on the Ukrainian army's front lines.

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So your logic mistake is that you consider that it's a war, using war logic, as it is special operation are on

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Fascinating. The political Gnosticism of the liberal imperium, as Professor Patrick Deneen puts it, is fundamentally at fault and the poor Ukrainian’s pay the price.

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Agreed but please, no one put a gun to Ukraine's head and forced them decimate Eastern Ukraine and gamble everything on entry into NATO. The Banderite Ukro-Nazis thugs terrorize a lot of Ukrainians that's for sure but by and large both the elite and much of the General population were all in on a war against Russia. Hard to shed tears for such saps and suckers. (of course maybe have the population did flee the country.)

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Well said it was a ten year low level war in the Donbas with the Ukrainians destroying the ethnic Russians . I think you were all together, correct

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