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Thoughts on Ukraine


DakotaHale

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All I can say is I'm glad we're doing something. I'm glad we're standing up for Ukraine. Russian aggression must be stopped at all costs.

But damn, this week has been awful. 2022 is already worse than 2021 somehow in my book.

Markets are down. I've lost money. 

Bidens shitty American Rescue Plan has fucked everybody who takes more than 600 bucks via paypal or other money apps.

That hurts just about everybody who sells shit on the side or does transactions through those apps. 

Absolutely awful.

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Imperialism from autocrats should be contested at any cost and any time. 

(I know that this statement may be seen as hypocritical considering America, but our status as the leader of the Free World demands such action to be taken.)

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Not one drop of American blood should be shed on Ukrainian soil. And any politician who seeks to do so should volunteer to send their family first. If anyone isn't willing to lose their own family, they have no reason to send other people's families to die in a conflict.

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8 minutes ago, jvikings1 said:

Not one drop of American blood should be shed on Ukrainian soil. And any politician who seeks to do so should volunteer to send their family first. If anyone isn't willing to lose their own family, they have no reason to send other people's families to die in a conflict.

I don't think many politicians are advocating for that. I think it's more giving Ukraine the kind of strength they need to either deter Russia or to fight them as hard as they can themselves with material and lethal assistance, as well as economic and diplomatic action that the US can take.

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1 hour ago, Rezi said:

Admit Ukraine as the 51st state.

i refuse to elaborate. 

Ah yes, Hunter Biden the Governor of Ukraine. :p

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17 minutes ago, Patine said:

 

Do you really think that would work? Do you really think Ukraine would want it? Ukraine has more cultural ties to Canada than the U.S. (given the very large number - and percentage of Ukrainian-Canadians in Western Canada - including cultural and linguistic preservation of communities. Here in Edmonton, there are a lot of people with Ukrainian last names, including neighbours and friends of mine (and, in the case of a couple of women in my younger days, more than friends...). The Premier of Alberta, Ed Stelmach, also comes to mind, though I've never personally met him, as well as many other public figures from Western Canada. Ukraine has no commonality of any note with the U.S. So, basically Imperialism and conquest to condemn and oppose the evils of Imperialism and conquest? How shameless, even in humour (but, then again, a lot of the attempts at humour I see here are frankly lame or tasteless).

It was joke. I intentionally picked one of the worst possible scenarios.

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31 minutes ago, Patine said:

I think a worse one would be Putin and Biden going to a tea and dinner and agreeing to arbitrarily partition it - without consulting anyone else - like was a common practice in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

I would support this depending on the kind of tea it is

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Just now, Patine said:

So is the U.S. And they both love to arm, equip, fund, and encourage smaller countries to be too aggressive against each other, or within each other's borders, and prop up tyrants who oppress and commit atrocities and injustices against their own because autocrats kowtow to the bigger powers' stratagem. This has been going on since the late '40's, and it is unacceptable, criminal, and monstrous for BOTH nations to keep doing it, and no one of any conscience or moral fibre should continue to back, not even among these nations own allies or citizens.

patine just run for president at this point bro

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2 minutes ago, Patine said:

What supporting nations from American aggression, no matter the cost?

Whataboutism isn't helpful for every situation. We can't change what the US government is doing on our own. We are reacting to the topic at hand, and you are not. 

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I'm kind of afraid that Biden will use the Ukraine situation to improve is approval rating, especially among moderate independents, by getting too committed to helping Ukraine. The most I'd be willing to do is provide financial aid and weaponry. I might be okay with the US navy going into the Black Sea in a last resort if Russia seems like it's going to outright annex the entire Ukraine, but no boots on the ground. Let Ukrainians do that, support them with navy and air strikes in last resort. Obviously, best case scenario is a diplomatic solution that doesn't result in warfare. 

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3 minutes ago, Patine said:

The term, "whataboutism," is one of those counter-productive and useless buzzwords polluting and degenerating the public course, which, ironicallly, had it's first verified usage by Vladimir Putin, no less. And the rest of your post is a craven abdication of acknowledgement of the broader problem. The situation is indeed dire, but any strong U.S. involvement in their typical, post-WW2 vain will only make things worse, like they almost always do. This is going to be a shitshow, with no heroes and no higher ground, and both sides will end up being to blame for monstrous things, directly or indirectlly, but no U.S. or Russian leader will face any war crimes trials or indictments, but be praised as heroes by many - just like so many times before, and no one learns a damned thing. If you don't like that reaction, I guess realism is not for you!

There are 120 thousand Russian troops on the border of Ukraine. If they invade, there is a right and a wrong. If you can't recognize that, then you have no grip on reality. 

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5 minutes ago, Patine said:

The term, "whataboutism," is one of those counter-productive and useless buzzwords polluting and degenerating the public course, which, ironicallly, had it's first verified usage by Vladimir Putin, no less. And the rest of your post is a craven abdication of acknowledgement of the broader problem. The situation is indeed dire, but any strong U.S. involvement in their typical, post-WW2 vain will only make things worse, like they almost always do. This is going to be a shitshow, with no heroes and no higher ground, and both sides will end up being to blame for monstrous things, directly or indirectlly, but no U.S. or Russian leader will face any war crimes trials or indictments, but be praised as heroes by many - just like so many times before, and no one learns a damned thing. If you don't like that reaction, I guess realism is not for you!

Lecturing others about realism coming from the man who fears credit cards and won't click on unofficial YouTube links is the funniest shit I've seen all day man

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31 minutes ago, Patine said:

Ukraine has 80 000 to 90 000 troops (plus, unlike, Russia, they'll call all of their reserves, and don't need to keep large numbers on their other borders or for internal security areas (like Chechnya or Dagestan), and Ukraine's military equipment is somewhat more advancement except in a few areas and newer Russian equipment models that don't have large numbers in service. Ukrainian troops will be much higher morale, and have a logistical advantage. Russia will NOT use nuclear weapons given the Black Earth region, that is divided between the two nations, and the agricultural heartland of both, would be poisoned. Did the sources that gave you Russia's numbers of troops tell you that, or are still pushing, by intimation, the, "Poland 1939 steamroller," fallacy?

Ukraine also has thousands fewer aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, hundreds fewer naval vessels, and a far smaller military budget(Even if comparable by percentage of each nation's GDP). While I think Ukraine would put up a significant fight, and in the event of a full invasion would bleed the Russians significantly, we must not act as though an invasion does not pose a significant risk to Ukraine and the people of that nation, especially in its eastern regions. And while we can always discuss things such as total potential troop size and the level of modernization for each army, we should not be abandoning our responsibility to support Ukraine with as much as we can.

Edited by The Blood
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1 minute ago, Patine said:

But, as I said, in an earlier thread, roughly two-thirds (at least) of Russia's total military power will be locked up on other international borders, their northern and eastern coastal areas, and areas like Chechnya, Dagestan, their many high-sensitivity military sites (including nuclear launch and surveillance), probably some lingering in Kazakhstan, and garrisoning major Russian cities (especially Moscow) in case pro-Democracy groups start riot or uprisings. Ukraine has no such limits, or at least much fewer (they'd likely want to watch the border with Belarus, but otherwise, nowhere near the forces and resources tied down).

Of course, I'm just stating that there is a significant power difference between these two foes, and Russia can still bring a major punch down on Ukraine even with its international borders and other requirements of military personal and equipment.

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4 minutes ago, Patine said:

Supposedly, the U.S. was supposed to have easily done that in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, too. 🤨

Nonetheless, I think that Ukraine is deliberately being portrayed in propaganda-based Western media as being helpless, powerless, and utterly unable to defend itself to justify the international-level, "white knighting," that has has long been a casus belli for the Imperialistic excesses of Western nations like the U.S., UK, France, and a few others. And I feel that concern should be monitored closely, and any actions that become apparent in that light called to account and not blindly supported.

One is the aggressor and the other is the defender. Ukraine isnt marshaling soldiers to invade Russia, it's the other way around. I don't see how that's hard to understand. 

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5 minutes ago, Patine said:

Supposedly, the U.S. was supposed to have easily done that in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, too. 🤨

 

Afghanistan and Iraq are both examples of mostly successful initial invasions followed by insurgencies, so I wouldn't use them as examples when comparing the military capacity of two nations, as we're discussing a Russian invasion against the organized Ukrainian army, not the following insurgency in the event of a successful takeover.

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