Blake Powers is very worried about what may happen on Monday.
[Monday-morning update]
@VodkaPundit It's nice to have been wrong. Though I admit, from his demeanor this morning, I wonder if some reality might not have penetrated the bubble…
Have to agree with SMR here -Laughing Wolf is reading a lot into the situation. But we only have to wait a couple days to find out so …
I’m am supremely confident we’ll have a major nuclear exchange with Russia. It’s was baked into the cake the moment Joe Biden was sworn in, since he is always makes the wrong decisions.
But, optimist that I am, I know that the vast majority of the bullseyes on Russian targeting maps are deep blue liberal urban centers, which are deep blue because part of our Cold War strategy was to get all the useless whiny eaters to move to the bullseyes on Soviet nuclear attack maps, so that we don’t have to listen to them whine as we go about cleaning up the radioactive post-apocalyptic landscape.
The “B” Ark strategy!
I know you jest but obviously no one would come out of it ok regardless of party. I for one, would either die in the initial exchange or suffer from being downwind.
I’m not sure why our leaders and media think we can attack Russia but Russia is forbidden from responding. The risks we face are enormous but we have the least serious people pulling the strings.
If we are in a war with Russia, we need to be in the war with Russia and stop playing in Ukraine.
If we are in a war with Russia, we need to be in the war with Russia and stop playing in Ukraine.
Why? Do you really think that’s a better idea?
Looks to me like “playing in Ukraine” is a winning strategy while a full blown war with Russia may well not be in a lot of ways. Not just the potential for a global nuclear war, but also it plays into Putin’s persecution complex propaganda. Presently, the war ends when Russia withdraws. Ukrainians don’t have the capability to march into Russia and continue the war and have demonstrated no inclination to do so. We already see that in the Kiev and northwest Ukraine fronts. There’s no fighting there because there are no Russians there.
But if there were heavy NATO strikes deep into Russia, then Putin can legitimately claim that the country is under attack. Right now, he can’t massively mobilize Russia because there’s no threat to mobilize against.
I don’t think Russia will withdraw. The West is already conditioned to view Russian occupation of Ukraine as a victory for Ukraine.
I don’t see how doing what we are already doing isn’t “playing into Putin’s plans” when it comes to the final outcome or even the Russian justifications for their war. Because that is the same in either scenario, wouldn’t the fears you raise apply to your own policies?
The problem I have with this whole situation is that it is being conducted by people who don’t have our country’s interests in mind and are both corrupt and incompetent. This plays out in the PR campaign and in the reckless tactics used.
Democrats are sore losers and sore winners. I have no faith they will end this conflict in a way that wont lead to more.
And when do we get to vote on going to war?
Because that is the same in either scenario, wouldn’t the fears you raise apply to your own policies?
Perhaps. But we see Russia already blinked when it came to the present relatively passive supplying of Ukraine with advanced arms.
And when do we get to vote on going to war?
2022. Keep in mind that Russia didn’t ask for our vote before invading Ukraine. Not everything is decided by vote.
Still here… So far so good.
Wow. And I dusted and vacuumed the shelter, specially!
When Russia decides to do something, we wont know it is coming, just wake up and no satellites or no wake up at all.
They don’t want a war with us, so maybe there will be no response. That has to be the calculation, that Russia is too scared to go to war with the USA and wont respond.
Wait until they find out they are already at war with us.
Oh I think they know. Just like in Vietnam. At the conclusion of that war tho Vietnam exchanged Russian military aid for trade with the US. Whose to say maybe Ukraine and Russia will return to being trading partners again someday? After the existing generation that experienced the war dies off. Are we headed for a protracted stalemate? Putin didn’t take the May 9th window to escalate, so who knows? I think we/NATO need an exit ramp as much as Putin. But if Putin continues at the current rate he will significantly damage Russian military strength. He needs the exit ramp too. Escalation is a dead end because nuclear is not a viable option when this war is being already being won with asymmetric weapons. NATO could hand off tactical nukes to the Ukrainians as well should they be employed on Ukrainian soil by Russia first. Or maybe fuel/air bombs as a better response. Asymmetrical but devastating when used on a city. As I’ve said before, this goes nowhere good.
And Korea.
“I think we/NATO need an exit ramp as much as Putin.”
Yes, rather than sinking the Russian navy. It is one thing to be meddlesome on the battlefield and another to strike at prestige targets. Tit for tat is the rational response.
I don’t quite get your comments here. Are you saying that Ukraine should deliberately choose ineffective and possibly suicidal strategies in order to give some nebulous group an exit ramp? What would be the point of the exercise?
Parts of Donesk and Luhansk are essentially Russian. They speak Russian, they have Russian identity and haven’t been effectively a part of Ukraine since the Crimean invasion. Our news media don’t report this because they are in the tank for Ukraine. Fine. Ukraine was invaded true. But try to remember when you are being propagandized by the media. It’s hard for the media to hoodwink people when there are adults in the room.
To me it seems of little consequence to Ukraine to give up these easternmost regions since they effectively haven’t been Ukrainian in years. Same with Crimea. And the Tartar decedents there seem to have little affinity for being Ukrainian.
So we solidify the status quo since 2014. What’s the big deal? For US anyway. Sorry if Ukraine feels differently, but I’m a citizen of the Unites States first and foremost.
Ukraine gets to keep Odessa and most of the Black Sea coast west of Mariupol. That retains port access and prevents Ukraine from being land-locked so that they can export their grain to the world. Seems like a reasonable exchange in place of a nuclear war. Should peace break out, Ukraine will get reparations from the West to repair their economy. Ukraine will be fine. Pity the worn torn inhabitants of Donesk and Luhansk who have to rely on Russia for rebuild. Think East Germany vs West Germany after WWII.
I expect little to change under the Brandon administration. If Trump gets re-elected expect a major shakeup in foreign policy and the above getting implemented. Trump can reach across to the Russians in a way Brandon cannot. Screw what the Left thinks. Why in hell are Marxists opposed to the President being in the tank with a Marxist regime anyway? I guess it’s the wrong type of Marxist eh?
@David
We don’t know about Odessa yet. Reparations money to Ukraine? In front door and out the back door into the pocket s of the Bidens and their ilk.
What makes it possible for Ukraine to target anything? Are we helping with target selection? How many special forces do we have in Ukraine? CIA? National Guard? Vets?
Game Theory shows Tit for Tat is the most rational response. What do you think is an appropriate Tat for Russia to respond to our Tits with?
What American losses are you willing to absorb in this? Do you think we are untouchable?
When is a proxy war not a proxy war?
“For US anyway. Sorry if Ukraine feels differently, but I’m a citizen of the Unites States first and foremost.”
IMO, we would be grinding out both Ukraine and Russia in a protracted war if we were acting in our own interests, and that still might happen. That would be the Great Game move.
Right now, we are in the position of chasing a squirter and not knowing what we are running into.
Game Theory shows Tit for Tat is the most rational response. What do you think is an appropriate Tat for Russia to respond to our Tits with?
If Russia was doing tit for tat, then they wouldn’t have invaded in the first place. Sinking those prestige ships helps reduce Russia’s ability to play this game.
“If Russia was doing tit for tat’
If you think Russia is acting irrationally, then you might want to reconsider your bloodlust.
I never said Russia was doing tit for tat. I said it was the rational thing for them to do and we don’t want them to do it because a proportional response would be very very bad for us.
I don’t think you are ready for war and are supporting policies that are shortsighted but also with some potential crippling blowback here in the USA at a time when we are already on poor footing.
Ukraine is cutting gas to Europe. It looks like they think that maybe the oil markets shouldn’t be so stable. They are an unreliable ally. They aren’t even an ally but a partner of convenience acting in their own best interests, not ours.
What other unexpected things can happen? It is easy to dodge questions on the internet but reality has a way of getting those questions answered and asking some new ones as well.
What makes you think Biden and his controllers have the football? Devolution……
What makes you think Biden and his controllers have the football? Devolution……
Hmm, I believe you. Seems to have moved! Check out that box on the lead guitar! It certainly seems conducting a nuclear war would be very unsatisfactory….
Well, that was anti-climatic.
At least we didn’t need to wait decades for this prediction to be proven wrong.
Where do you come up with these Clowns?
Have to agree with SMR here -Laughing Wolf is reading a lot into the situation. But we only have to wait a couple days to find out so …
I’m am supremely confident we’ll have a major nuclear exchange with Russia. It’s was baked into the cake the moment Joe Biden was sworn in, since he is always makes the wrong decisions.
But, optimist that I am, I know that the vast majority of the bullseyes on Russian targeting maps are deep blue liberal urban centers, which are deep blue because part of our Cold War strategy was to get all the useless whiny eaters to move to the bullseyes on Soviet nuclear attack maps, so that we don’t have to listen to them whine as we go about cleaning up the radioactive post-apocalyptic landscape.
The “B” Ark strategy!
I know you jest but obviously no one would come out of it ok regardless of party. I for one, would either die in the initial exchange or suffer from being downwind.
I’m not sure why our leaders and media think we can attack Russia but Russia is forbidden from responding. The risks we face are enormous but we have the least serious people pulling the strings.
If we are in a war with Russia, we need to be in the war with Russia and stop playing in Ukraine.
If we are in a war with Russia, we need to be in the war with Russia and stop playing in Ukraine.
Why? Do you really think that’s a better idea?
Looks to me like “playing in Ukraine” is a winning strategy while a full blown war with Russia may well not be in a lot of ways. Not just the potential for a global nuclear war, but also it plays into Putin’s persecution complex propaganda. Presently, the war ends when Russia withdraws. Ukrainians don’t have the capability to march into Russia and continue the war and have demonstrated no inclination to do so. We already see that in the Kiev and northwest Ukraine fronts. There’s no fighting there because there are no Russians there.
But if there were heavy NATO strikes deep into Russia, then Putin can legitimately claim that the country is under attack. Right now, he can’t massively mobilize Russia because there’s no threat to mobilize against.
I don’t think Russia will withdraw. The West is already conditioned to view Russian occupation of Ukraine as a victory for Ukraine.
I don’t see how doing what we are already doing isn’t “playing into Putin’s plans” when it comes to the final outcome or even the Russian justifications for their war. Because that is the same in either scenario, wouldn’t the fears you raise apply to your own policies?
The problem I have with this whole situation is that it is being conducted by people who don’t have our country’s interests in mind and are both corrupt and incompetent. This plays out in the PR campaign and in the reckless tactics used.
Democrats are sore losers and sore winners. I have no faith they will end this conflict in a way that wont lead to more.
And when do we get to vote on going to war?
Because that is the same in either scenario, wouldn’t the fears you raise apply to your own policies?
Perhaps. But we see Russia already blinked when it came to the present relatively passive supplying of Ukraine with advanced arms.
And when do we get to vote on going to war?
2022. Keep in mind that Russia didn’t ask for our vote before invading Ukraine. Not everything is decided by vote.
Still here… So far so good.
Wow. And I dusted and vacuumed the shelter, specially!
When Russia decides to do something, we wont know it is coming, just wake up and no satellites or no wake up at all.
They don’t want a war with us, so maybe there will be no response. That has to be the calculation, that Russia is too scared to go to war with the USA and wont respond.
Wait until they find out they are already at war with us.
Oh I think they know. Just like in Vietnam. At the conclusion of that war tho Vietnam exchanged Russian military aid for trade with the US. Whose to say maybe Ukraine and Russia will return to being trading partners again someday? After the existing generation that experienced the war dies off. Are we headed for a protracted stalemate? Putin didn’t take the May 9th window to escalate, so who knows? I think we/NATO need an exit ramp as much as Putin. But if Putin continues at the current rate he will significantly damage Russian military strength. He needs the exit ramp too. Escalation is a dead end because nuclear is not a viable option when this war is being already being won with asymmetric weapons. NATO could hand off tactical nukes to the Ukrainians as well should they be employed on Ukrainian soil by Russia first. Or maybe fuel/air bombs as a better response. Asymmetrical but devastating when used on a city. As I’ve said before, this goes nowhere good.
And Korea.
“I think we/NATO need an exit ramp as much as Putin.”
Yes, rather than sinking the Russian navy. It is one thing to be meddlesome on the battlefield and another to strike at prestige targets. Tit for tat is the rational response.
I don’t quite get your comments here. Are you saying that Ukraine should deliberately choose ineffective and possibly suicidal strategies in order to give some nebulous group an exit ramp? What would be the point of the exercise?
Parts of Donesk and Luhansk are essentially Russian. They speak Russian, they have Russian identity and haven’t been effectively a part of Ukraine since the Crimean invasion. Our news media don’t report this because they are in the tank for Ukraine. Fine. Ukraine was invaded true. But try to remember when you are being propagandized by the media. It’s hard for the media to hoodwink people when there are adults in the room.
To me it seems of little consequence to Ukraine to give up these easternmost regions since they effectively haven’t been Ukrainian in years. Same with Crimea. And the Tartar decedents there seem to have little affinity for being Ukrainian.
So we solidify the status quo since 2014. What’s the big deal? For US anyway. Sorry if Ukraine feels differently, but I’m a citizen of the Unites States first and foremost.
Ukraine gets to keep Odessa and most of the Black Sea coast west of Mariupol. That retains port access and prevents Ukraine from being land-locked so that they can export their grain to the world. Seems like a reasonable exchange in place of a nuclear war. Should peace break out, Ukraine will get reparations from the West to repair their economy. Ukraine will be fine. Pity the worn torn inhabitants of Donesk and Luhansk who have to rely on Russia for rebuild. Think East Germany vs West Germany after WWII.
I expect little to change under the Brandon administration. If Trump gets re-elected expect a major shakeup in foreign policy and the above getting implemented. Trump can reach across to the Russians in a way Brandon cannot. Screw what the Left thinks. Why in hell are Marxists opposed to the President being in the tank with a Marxist regime anyway? I guess it’s the wrong type of Marxist eh?
@David
We don’t know about Odessa yet. Reparations money to Ukraine? In front door and out the back door into the pocket s of the Bidens and their ilk.
What makes it possible for Ukraine to target anything? Are we helping with target selection? How many special forces do we have in Ukraine? CIA? National Guard? Vets?
Game Theory shows Tit for Tat is the most rational response. What do you think is an appropriate Tat for Russia to respond to our Tits with?
What American losses are you willing to absorb in this? Do you think we are untouchable?
When is a proxy war not a proxy war?
“For US anyway. Sorry if Ukraine feels differently, but I’m a citizen of the Unites States first and foremost.”
IMO, we would be grinding out both Ukraine and Russia in a protracted war if we were acting in our own interests, and that still might happen. That would be the Great Game move.
Right now, we are in the position of chasing a squirter and not knowing what we are running into.
Game Theory shows Tit for Tat is the most rational response. What do you think is an appropriate Tat for Russia to respond to our Tits with?
If Russia was doing tit for tat, then they wouldn’t have invaded in the first place. Sinking those prestige ships helps reduce Russia’s ability to play this game.
“If Russia was doing tit for tat’
If you think Russia is acting irrationally, then you might want to reconsider your bloodlust.
I never said Russia was doing tit for tat. I said it was the rational thing for them to do and we don’t want them to do it because a proportional response would be very very bad for us.
I don’t think you are ready for war and are supporting policies that are shortsighted but also with some potential crippling blowback here in the USA at a time when we are already on poor footing.
Ukraine is cutting gas to Europe. It looks like they think that maybe the oil markets shouldn’t be so stable. They are an unreliable ally. They aren’t even an ally but a partner of convenience acting in their own best interests, not ours.
What other unexpected things can happen? It is easy to dodge questions on the internet but reality has a way of getting those questions answered and asking some new ones as well.
What makes you think Biden and his controllers have the football? Devolution……
What makes you think Biden and his controllers have the football? Devolution……
Hmm, I believe you. Seems to have moved! Check out that box on the lead guitar! It certainly seems conducting a nuclear war would be very unsatisfactory….
Well, that was anti-climatic.
At least we didn’t need to wait decades for this prediction to be proven wrong.