When Russian troops rolled across the Ukrainian border in February 2022, Joe Biden had to make a decision that held more consequence for American and global security than any other by a president since the end of the Cold War.
Nothing about Yanukovych or Poroshenko? Seems like they should be included in the backstory to events in Ukraine.
Were there any other options other than military intervention? Were there any negotiation options with Russia that could have avoided all this death and destruction?
I don't think there were any options. Putin from the get-go was always looking for some sort of provocation and is not short of creating provocation. The conflict in the dawn boss region and other Eastern Ukrainian provinces. Were manufactured by the russians to create a pretext for the russian military to go in.
He's following the same playbook in Ukraine that he did in northern Georgia. And everybody's acting like it's the West fault that the war started. No this is solid on putin
Obama should have committed to a stronger response when Russia took Crimea. Unfortunateely, Obama had a problem issuing "red lines" and then not following through (Syria).Ukraine was guaranteed territorial integrity in 1997 when the Ukrainian government gave up their nuclear weapons to Russia. Putin has broken every agreement made.
Appeasers in the west want to stop the war by using the Minsk agreement which was FORCED on Ukraine and requires Ukraine giving up eastern provinces. Wars of aggression to obtain territory were what caused many wars in the 20th century especially WW2. We can't slide back to allowing an aggressor bully to take territory from weaker neighbors.
I firmly believe Trump is a Russian asset and that Putin was hoping he could invade Ukraine unimpeded during a second Trump term, but when Trump lost, Putin opted to go after all, banking on the chaos Trump had already sewn with our European and NATO allies. Biden reversed that masterfully, but we can see the future of a second Trump term for Ukraine by the actions of MAGA allies in Congress.
There's a great line in one of the Marx Brothers movies. Chico is giving Harpo a hard time, so Groucho intervenes and says: "Hey, you big bully, quit picking on that little bully!" The same applies to Putin vis-a-vis Zelensky."
Zelensky enjoyed teasing the Russian bear by threatening to join NATO. Ukraine should cede the ethnically Russian parts to Russia. As to Crimea, some US historians pointed to the similarities between Russia's annexation of Crimea and our own annexation of much of Mexico in the War with Mexico in 1846.
Ukraine wanted to join NATO for the same reason Latvia. Estonia and several other Iron Curtain nations joined because they know the Russian bear more than you do.
Russia promised ukraine territorial integrity in 1997 in exchange for Ukraine giving up nukes and russia broke it immediately in 2014 and 2022.
In case you missed that they did the same thing in Georgia they're doing in Eastern Ukraine. Sending in subversives to undermine the region and then claim they need to move in troops.
Putin's "brain" Alexandre Dugin, outlined all this in his 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics laid all this out and Putin is following the playroom. No need to read the book. There's a good synopsis on wikipedia.
Dennis, I'll make one more comment and then shut up. Although my writing pales in comparison to that of Dr. Brands, I have done a fair amount of editorial writing over the years. A year or so ago, I had an editorial titled "A Titoist Solution to the War in Ukraine." I'm old enough to recall how Tito, Nasser, Sukarno, etc. proposed a third way between East and West. I'd like to see an alliance of countries ranging from Sweden in the north to Greece in the south which would not be a threat to Russia. In my op-ed, I joked that now that Sweden is part of NATO, which countries are next to join? Lichenstein, Andorra, Vatican City?
Regarding your titoist third way- that might have been an option a decade ago, but I think the toothpaste is out of the tube now
I think the very, very real element of who wants to join. NATO completely relies on the fact that they know what the Russians want. And they don't want it .
The preeminent talking point keeps coming from the left and the far right that we spur the attack on by trying to GET those countries to join NATO. But that's false. They wanted it because they know exactly how aggressive russians are with regarding to their sphere of influence
For some reason, this comment that I posted earlier never went through. I have to repost it
Zelensky no more "poked the bear" than did Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or any other former Iron Curtain nation. They know better than you, apparently, what Russia is like and want NO part of it.
Russia guaranteed ukraine's territorial integrity in nineteen ninety seven and promptly violated it in twenty fourteen and then again now in
Russia gave agreements that they wouldn't adhere to territorial integrity of Ukraine in 1997 in Putin violated it in 2014 and again in 2022.
Nothing about Yanukovych or Poroshenko? Seems like they should be included in the backstory to events in Ukraine.
Were there any other options other than military intervention? Were there any negotiation options with Russia that could have avoided all this death and destruction?
I don't think there were any options. Putin from the get-go was always looking for some sort of provocation and is not short of creating provocation. The conflict in the dawn boss region and other Eastern Ukrainian provinces. Were manufactured by the russians to create a pretext for the russian military to go in.
He's following the same playbook in Ukraine that he did in northern Georgia. And everybody's acting like it's the West fault that the war started. No this is solid on putin
And then on October 6, 2023, Hamas militants attacked Israel.
Obama should have committed to a stronger response when Russia took Crimea. Unfortunateely, Obama had a problem issuing "red lines" and then not following through (Syria).Ukraine was guaranteed territorial integrity in 1997 when the Ukrainian government gave up their nuclear weapons to Russia. Putin has broken every agreement made.
Appeasers in the west want to stop the war by using the Minsk agreement which was FORCED on Ukraine and requires Ukraine giving up eastern provinces. Wars of aggression to obtain territory were what caused many wars in the 20th century especially WW2. We can't slide back to allowing an aggressor bully to take territory from weaker neighbors.
I firmly believe Trump is a Russian asset and that Putin was hoping he could invade Ukraine unimpeded during a second Trump term, but when Trump lost, Putin opted to go after all, banking on the chaos Trump had already sewn with our European and NATO allies. Biden reversed that masterfully, but we can see the future of a second Trump term for Ukraine by the actions of MAGA allies in Congress.
There's a great line in one of the Marx Brothers movies. Chico is giving Harpo a hard time, so Groucho intervenes and says: "Hey, you big bully, quit picking on that little bully!" The same applies to Putin vis-a-vis Zelensky."
How is Zelensky/Ukraine the "little bully?"
Zelensky enjoyed teasing the Russian bear by threatening to join NATO. Ukraine should cede the ethnically Russian parts to Russia. As to Crimea, some US historians pointed to the similarities between Russia's annexation of Crimea and our own annexation of much of Mexico in the War with Mexico in 1846.
Ukraine wanted to join NATO for the same reason Latvia. Estonia and several other Iron Curtain nations joined because they know the Russian bear more than you do.
Russia promised ukraine territorial integrity in 1997 in exchange for Ukraine giving up nukes and russia broke it immediately in 2014 and 2022.
In case you missed that they did the same thing in Georgia they're doing in Eastern Ukraine. Sending in subversives to undermine the region and then claim they need to move in troops.
Putin's "brain" Alexandre Dugin, outlined all this in his 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics laid all this out and Putin is following the playroom. No need to read the book. There's a good synopsis on wikipedia.
Dennis, I'll make one more comment and then shut up. Although my writing pales in comparison to that of Dr. Brands, I have done a fair amount of editorial writing over the years. A year or so ago, I had an editorial titled "A Titoist Solution to the War in Ukraine." I'm old enough to recall how Tito, Nasser, Sukarno, etc. proposed a third way between East and West. I'd like to see an alliance of countries ranging from Sweden in the north to Greece in the south which would not be a threat to Russia. In my op-ed, I joked that now that Sweden is part of NATO, which countries are next to join? Lichenstein, Andorra, Vatican City?
Regarding your titoist third way- that might have been an option a decade ago, but I think the toothpaste is out of the tube now
I think the very, very real element of who wants to join. NATO completely relies on the fact that they know what the Russians want. And they don't want it .
The preeminent talking point keeps coming from the left and the far right that we spur the attack on by trying to GET those countries to join NATO. But that's false. They wanted it because they know exactly how aggressive russians are with regarding to their sphere of influence
For some reason, this comment that I posted earlier never went through. I have to repost it
Zelensky no more "poked the bear" than did Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or any other former Iron Curtain nation. They know better than you, apparently, what Russia is like and want NO part of it.
Russia guaranteed ukraine's territorial integrity in nineteen ninety seven and promptly violated it in twenty fourteen and then again now in
Russia gave agreements that they wouldn't adhere to territorial integrity of Ukraine in 1997 in Putin violated it in 2014 and again in 2022.