How should west respond to potential (likely) Russian invasion of Ukraine?

[Trausti]

Trump is doing what he he always done, create attention that puts him in the spotlight without concern for consequences.

When he took office heaisked why he can't use nuclear weapons. He suggeted drinking bleach to cure COVID. From ingerviews with peole who wored for him that was typical. An unfathomable level of ignorance.

From interviews with peole who worked with him. He'dd walk into a meeting tossing out odd things a bit like tossing a hand grenade and walk out leveing peopletto figure out how to deal with it.

To me it is lookinglike that may be Putin to some degree

Trump is not a smart person. He may be of average adult intelligence but that means he operates at about a seventh grade level.

Two kids are running for class president. One kid promises more recess time and free candy. The other kid promises to try to get more and better equipment for gym classes. Guess who wins?

Germany Says It Won't Stop Buying Russian Energy Despite Moscow’s War in Ukraine

Germany will continue to buy natural gas, oil and coal from Russia despite Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, the government in Berlin said Monday. Germany and Europe are too dependent on Russian energy imports for power, heating and industrial production to be able to cut trade links wit

www.wsj.com

 

[blastula]

Zelensky in his office, standing at a window.



Okay, now go to the bunker.

 

[Trausti]

 

[Jayjay]

I disagree. Let Putin do the escalation.

I had a thought. Clandestinely hire mercenaries. Keep the weapons and supplies rolling in and put them in the hands of professional experienced soldiers. Pay them through third parties.

And what do you suggest to do when these clandestine operations inevitably come to light (even if it's after the war)? You'll have yet another entry in the long list of US meddling in foreign wars and arming extremist kill squads in corrupt third-world countries.

I don't think the US or NATO should do anything that can't be exposed to daylight. Delivering weapons; fine. Providing intel; also fine. Allowing citizens to go fight for Ukraine without repercussions; kinda iffy but probably fine. Secretly hiring mercenaries; not fine.

 

[Patooka]

I am starting to think NATO should get involved. Provide air cover.

I suspect C-RAMS, MANPADS and Javelins would be far, far, far more effective. Especially considering most of the attacks are from shelling and rockets.

 

[crazyfingers]

I think that the US together with NATO should openly assist Ukraine up until before the point where Putin would go nuclear. Of course no one knows where this is or where it will be tomorrow or next week.

 

[bilby]

I disagree. Let Putin do the escalation.

I had a thought. Clandestinely hire mercenaries. Keep the weapons and supplies rolling in and put them in the hands of professional experienced soldiers. Pay them through third parties.

No, do it openly.
But it's not a war. It's a, whaddaya call, political operation. Protecting civilians for humanitarian reasons, no reason to call it aggression.

Police action?

 

[bleubird]

As oil prices rise, Alaska projects $1 billion-plus in extra state revenue

The money isn’t guaranteed, but the state has earned about as much in the first half of the fiscal year as it budgeted for in the entire year.

www.adn.com

Boy, am I conflicted! This war may help Alaska get out of the red. ANS is well over $120USD. We pump @ 480,000bpd. I don't know what the well head tax is,but the state is projecting $2bUSD this year.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I disagree. Let Putin do the escalation.

I had a thought. Clandestinely hire mercenaries. Keep the weapons and supplies rolling in and put them in the hands of professional experienced soldiers. Pay them through third parties.

No, do it openly.
But it's not a war. It's a, whaddaya call, political operation. Protecting civilians for humanitarian reasons, no reason to call it aggression.

Police action?

No, the point was to echo Putin's weasel-wording, not Truman's. Make Putin declare that 'operations' re tantamount to wars, then he's admitting that he started a war.
Or, he goes along with the wording and he's not forced to say we're at war.

 

[Elixir]

I don't think the US or NATO should do anything that can't be exposed to daylight. Delivering weapons; fine. Providing intel; also fine. Allowing citizens to go fight for Ukraine without repercussions; kinda iffy but probably fine. Secretly hiring mercenaries; not fine.

I agree with that. But maybe we could up the ante for Syrian mercenaries and drive the market up to where Pootey can’t afford them?

 

[Gospel]

Trump is doing what he he always done, create attention that puts him in the spotlight without concern for consequences.

When he took office heaisked why he can't use nuclear weapons. He suggeted drinking bleach to cure COVID. From ingerviews with peole who wored for him that was typical. An unfathomable level of ignorance.

From interviews with peole who worked with him. He'dd walk into a meeting tossing out odd things a bit like tossing a hand grenade and walk out leveing peopletto figure out how to deal with it.

To me it is lookinglike that may be Putin to some degree

Trump is not a smart person. He may be of average adult intelligence but that means he operates at about a seventh grade level.

Two kids are running for class president. One kid promises more recess time and free candy. The other kid promises to try to get more and better equipment for gym classes. Guess who wins?

Germany Says It Won't Stop Buying Russian Energy Despite Moscow’s War in Ukraine

Germany will continue to buy natural gas, oil and coal from Russia despite Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, the government in Berlin said Monday. Germany and Europe are too dependent on Russian energy imports for power, heating and industrial production to be able to cut trade links wit

www.wsj.com

Trump says a lot of things.

 

[steve_bank]

There is nothing clandestine when Biden and other leaders say exactly what is being done. Like giving Ukraine fighter jets.

We are pathetic sometimes. Biden has to plead with the Saudis to increase production. Not to mention Saudi Arabia has rained destruction on Yemen using weapons we sold them.

I have to think our intelligence service has a good idea of the Russian military capacity and how it would match up to NATO. To me it comes down to how Russian jets and pilots match up to NATO. Step 1 destroy air surveillance capacity. Step 2, air superiority.

Don't know about Russia.

Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) is a United States Air Force airborne ground surveillance, battle management and command and control aircraft. It tracks ground vehicles and some aircraft, collects imagery, and relays tactical pictures to ground and air theater commanders. The aircraft is operated by both active duty U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard units and also carries specially trained U.S. Army personnel as additional flight crew.

 

[ZiprHead]

Russia is down another major general.

R.I.P., Vitaly Gerassimov.

Ukraine claims it has killed another Russian general during fighting in Kharkiv

Officials say fighting also killed ‘a number’ of senior Russian army officers

www.independent.co.uk

 Andrey Sukhovetsky

 Vitaly Gerasimov

And earlier a Chechen general was killed, Magomed Tushayev.

Pro-Putin Chechen general who led 'gay purge' killed in Ukraine - The Jerusalem Post.

Russian warlord who led Neo-Nazi ‘Sparta’ battalion shot dead in battle

Vladimir Zhoga, who led the Sparta Battalion, which among the fiercest to fight with the Russian army and was formed in the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Donetsk during the 2014 conflict

www.mirror.co.uk

A notorious Russian warlord who led a Neo-Nazi group of soldiers was killed in battle over the weekend.

Vladimir Zhoga, who led the Sparta Battalion, was killed while fighting in the Ukrainian town of Volnovakha on Saturday.

The group, which has been accused of committing war crimes, is among the fiercest to fight with the Russian army and was formed in the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Donetsk during the 2014 conflict.

Denis Pushilin, who leads Donetsk, confirmed the kill on his Telegram channel.

"Today, the commander of the Sparta separate reconnaissance battalion, Guards Col. Vladimir Zhoga (nom de guerre Vokha), died like a hero in Volnovakha," he wrote.

So it's Ukrainians killing nazis and Russians allying with nazis.

 

[pood]

Biden expected to ban Russian energy imports today.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Biden expected to ban Russian energy imports today.

I've been against this because it's going to dramatically hurt our economy. But at this point, don't know what more the west can do to stop Russia. I'll say this, we should have a Manhattan like project to develop fusion power. Imagine if we had a technology that could lower emissions and bankrupt the Soviet war machine. A win win for sure...

 

[pood]

Fusion power has always been fifty years in the future, and still is. And fifty years from now it likely will still be fifty years in the future.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Russia is down another major general.

R.I.P., Vitaly Gerassimov.

Ukraine claims it has killed another Russian general during fighting in Kharkiv

Officials say fighting also killed ‘a number’ of senior Russian army officers

www.independent.co.uk

 Andrey Sukhovetsky

 Vitaly Gerasimov

The larger issue is that I think that the Russian army is starting to doubt Putin. Generals don't visit the front lines unless they are suspicious of their intel (which comes from Herr Putin) and want to see the truth for themself.

 

[bleubird]

Biden expected to ban Russian energy imports today.

I thought US was a net exporter of oil and gass.

 

[pood]

Potemkin military

The Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military,” said Andrei V. Kozyrev, the foreign minister for Russia under Boris Yeltsin, in a post on Twitter. “Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus. But as a military advisor you cannot report that to the President. So they reported lies to him instead. Potemkin military.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Biden expected to ban Russian energy imports today.

I thought US was a net exporter of oil and gass.

We are. However, our oil is very expensive. It's more expensive for us to "harvest". We operate in the free market. So US companies will buy cheaper oil when available. Sadly, countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia have oil that is very easy to capture and distribute.