Russia launches attacks on Ukraine

Just so we're clear, your claim (which I took issue with) was:

But your link refers to July 2020. Do you have any links that contain the following: "150,000 russian troops" and "2019"? Something like that? Or are you now adjusting the timeline of your original claim forward to 2020? Or the quantity down to 100k?

 

I hope you don’t get paid in rubles for this.

 

Who would not be impressed, by how he's handled the situation?

 

What difference does it make if it's 2019 or 2020?

We could also add this too:
March 2020:
Russia deployed nearly 90,000 troops, 1,100 tanks, 2,500 armored fighting vehicles, 1,600 artillery and missile systems, 340 combat aircraft and other weapons and equipment on the border with Ukraine.....He also noted that those groups could be strengthened by three mobilization deployment operations centers that could mobilize about 40,000 people. In the immediate vicinity of Ukraine's borders, such centers were established in the town of Boguchar
So that is 130,000 troops
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-de...undreds-of-planes-to-border-with-ukraine.html

Or we can have: December 2018

Speaking at a Ukrainian military event, President Petro Poroshenko said Russia has deployed "more than 80,000 troops, 1,400 artillery and multiple rocket launch systems, 900 tanks, 2,300 armoured combat vehicles, 500 aircraft and 300 helicopters" along their common border.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/ukraine-cites-massive-buildup-of-russian-forces-along-border-1.4200733

Or we can have June 2019:
UNIAN: Ex-member of intelligence says over 120,000 Russian troops in Donbas
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-po...ays-over-120000-russian-troops-in-donbas.html

 

Best thing to happen would be for Ukraine to hold defense and not need US intervention. Jesus Christ every world event does not revolve around America. There are no nations that are more selfish, self righteous, and arrogant than the US.

 

The only reason *any* of this is going well is the Ukrainians putting up the resistance. If the Ukrainians had rolled over, we would have Russian troops now on the border of Poland or Lithuania or something. Sanctions now have an effect because by virtue of this war of attrition, the Russians are now losing the war. It's become a cost negative for them. But that doesn't happen without the Ukrainians taking it to the Russians.

Biden thought that by engaging in the public campaign, it would deter the Russians. In reality, it actually forced the Russians hands since "well, if you know there's no point in hiding it." By beating the drums of war, Biden assured it. Of course, he'll try to claim differently(as will the State Department) but the reality on the ground is what we're faced with.

Now, since you took a shot at my Nationalism/Fascist-technocracy, it's only right that I respond: One of the misfortunes of the Cold War is that we formented future war-time enemies as @Kranes56 pointed out by arming for example the muhajeeden. In reality, we very well could have had economic and political ties with communist countries without becoming communist ourselves(and vice-versa). We can also call the cold war the pointless war. Be it Vietnam or Afghanistan(for the Soviets), it was a waste of resources and manpower.

To me, the point of government is to serve the people. And by virtue of serving the people, the administration retains its strength. This is easier to do from a one-party prospective, since domestic political opposition does not get in the way of policymaking. It isn't a "checks and balances", it's a "managed civil war", but it's still a civil war. That's why nothing ever gets done in Congress. When Martin Van Buren suggested a two party system, he undermined the foundation of the country and set us forth on this course.

A multi-polar party system is better, since by virtue of the dealmaking needed to even form a cabinet to begin with(or a legislature), it forces them to compromise their political views and act as one political body. There isn't a political body in the US today, it's just a hollow shell calling itself Congress.

Politicians would brag about the peaceful transition of power, among other things but to quote Obama: They didn't build that. The people did. The engineers, the firefighters, the store clerks, etc. They're the ones who make human civilization possible. Government's job is to be a watchdog and not screw the pooch.

My view is a more positive spin on what Joseph Goebbels testified at Nuremburg: "It can be a democracy, it can be a dictatorship, it can be communist. Just stir the people with propaganda and you can get them at your whim." But for me, rather than getting them at their whim, if a government can provide for the domestic and economic security, the people will then take that and run with it. As the case is in Switzerland, one of the wealthiest nations on planet earth because they exclusively execute this idea.

 

LOL How can it be a war of attrition after just a few days! It is the sanctions that are causing the problems for Putin, nothing to do with what is going on in Ukraine

 

I would suggest you not get snarky. Yes you impose sanctions when he is building up his troops and three months ago when as you state Biden knew what he was going to do. Yes you begin an immediate shipment of arms and munitions. Yes you begin C&C assistance and resources. The VP went to Munich declaring the sanctions were tough and would deter. Suggest you get an idea of what is and has been going on which was a feckless and weak President over his head.

 

BRUSSELS, April 19 [2021] (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Russian troops have massed on Ukraine's border and in annexed Crimea, the office of the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said after EU foreign ministers were briefed by Ukraine's foreign minister.

In a press conference on Monday, Borrell had originally spoken of more than 150,000 troops, and declined to give a source for the figure.

His office later corrected the number to more than 100,000 troops without giving a reason for the change.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...mbers-more-than-150000-troops-eus-2021-04-19/

Has massed to 100,000 under Biden's watch, that hit 200,000 last week when they invaded.

Trump was which is why Putin didn't invade then and we saw the build up with offensive weapons and staging for an invasion building as we watched troops and equipment massing. Then he did it.

Biden is President this is his ball game and he's fumbled every possession while Putin is on the 30 yard line about to enter the red zone.

 

Wrong! You do not impose severe sanctions on a country that is not violating any international laws. Are you wanting the US to instigate a world war?

 

And Trump did absolutely nothing except praise Putin while he was amassing troops on the border

 

If Biden did, Bluesguy would bitch about it. If he didn’t, Bluesguy would bitch about it… Why bother…

 

This x 1000

 

Look, it now appears certain that Putin has been set on this course for months. The only things that would have prevented an invasion would have been NATO agreeing to withdraw back to its pre-1989 boundaries or a spontaneous revolution in Ukraine leading to the installation of a pro-Putin Government. The latter was never going to happen so that leaves the former. So tell me, how feckless and weak would you be call Biden if he'd agreed to that demand?

To be clear the President can't order direct military intervention without declaring war on Russia, so the only option was and is sanctions. (Apart from weapon deliveries etc to Ukraine which have been happening and maybe could have been accelerated.). In the end though all your really doing is arguing over the timing of the actions Biden could take. And even that's with the benefit of eagle eyed hindsight. Given what is now seen as his clear intention to invade when he was ready and negotiations had been exhausted no-one (not you not I) can say with any certainly that imposing sanctions earlier would have changed things. Instead of deterring Putin it could be argued it would have just accelerated his plans. Same with more weapon deliveries.

It also has to be remembered that those sanctions will hurt the WEST as well. Not as much as Russia by any means (their central bank just doubled money market rate to 20%) but still a lot. Worried about oil and gas prices? You haven't seen anything yet. And that's at a time when inflation is already due to the world's logistics chains not being able to keep up with the post covid expansion.

So yes, very easy to criticize Biden. But then it would be very easy to criticize any President (Republican or Democrat) stuck dealing with this mess. Because none of the options on the table are good and the only thing that would have stopped the invasion would be kissing Putin's ass and I know of only one (ex) President whose officially on the record as being perfectly willing to 'pucker up'. Ask yourself, how 'weak' would that be?

 

Oil price also depends on the rest of OPEC… If they increase their contribution to the world market, they can impact the price hike.

 

There's some flexibility with oils yes. Not so much with gas. Plus Russia also exports a lot of aluminum (it has cheap electricity) and timber products so there are going to impacts. Including stock price drops for any western listed company with significant interests in Russia. Bourses around the world are already seeing this happen.

Basically there are ways the West can adapt to the effects of the sanctions but it will take time for industries to adapt, a lot of time (think months if not a couple of years.) There a going to ripple effects for a while.

 

Im sorry what am I being tagged in?

 

Trump is the glitzier entertainer, no doubt, his background as a reality-tv performer.

He can get an ugly mob shrieking, "Lock her up! Lock her up!" at the plop of a MGA cap - even if he can't actually find some pretext to lock her up, even during the four years he's in charge of the Justice Department.

Statesmanship is a disparate matter.

Americans had tired of the Loser's shtick very quickly, having assigned him relentlessly dismal numbers throughout his regime, and dumped him - by a margin of 7 million - at their first opportunity.

If you want to make the President look bad, the Cry Baby Loser is the last one you should be evoking for comparison.

Meanwhile, the Loser's consistency should be credited. Much attention is being given to the Loser's praise of the KGB thug savaging Ukraine, but he has been smitten with Putin for years:

September 7, 2016

Trump gushed over Putin, who he defended from criticism over the violent annexation of Crimea and his support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.​

“If he says great things about me,
I’m going to say great things about him!"​

True to his word, Trump noted Putin had an “82 percent approval rating,” predicted he would have a “very very good relationship” with Putin, and compared Putin favorably to Obama.

“The man has very strong control over a country... he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader!”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-praises-putin-clinton-defends-email-n644621
​

Yes, one of the Loser's many petty vendettas is aimed at Zelenskyy who failed to contrive any criminal charges against Biden when the Loser pressured him by withholding vitally-needed military aid to Ukraine, but the Loser had been aroused by Little Vlady for quite some time.​

 

Did you manage to make a post without making a strawman .. or was it that the response you are commenting on was from someone else : ?

Did present case
Running around crying "wrong wrong wrong" is not an argument ..

 

Now the Russians have HAD it.... The PBS Travel Guy is cancelling Russia....

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/rick-steves-cancels-tours-russia-154623229.html

I expect the invasion to end any moment with this news...

 

LOL you guys are hilarious.......Yes Trump wanted the rest of the members to pay their share and oh my god got them to pay more. They're now seeing why. It's one the thing to attack him with BS opinion pieces but to praise NATO and trash him because he was wanting them to pay what they agreed with makes you look ignorant as hell much less a vindictive .......you fill in the blank. How f'ing hilarious can one's brain work.

 

We are the world's largest oil producer, OPEC is 3rd behind Russia. If we increase our production, we can impact the market. Energy/Oil is a national security and we need to limit Russia's yesterday. Europe already is, time to step up America.

 

This is, frankly, a disingenuous point. Let me ask you, if you don't agree, how you would have responded, or did you respond, when our exit- turned- evacuation from Afghanistan-- admittedly Biden's game-- didn't go as planned, and you heard a Biden apologist say, "The only reason *any* of this is going badly, is because of the Afghans putting up no resistance...?"

War is not a straight math problem. There are variables which can only be guessed at, and so are, by nature, unpredictable, Just because the odds favor one thing, as when playing a hand of poker, say, does not mean that this is the way the cards will fall, on any given hand. Sometimes, this phux you, other times, it tosses you a lucky break, or several. Just as you cannot excuse a leader who did not prepare enough for less- likely scenarios, nor can you take away from the victory (I am speaking generally-- I know that our current game is unfinished), because good fortune played a role. Do you think Putin was never the beneficiary of good luck?

I am not going to go in depth into everything in your post, specifically, right now, except to say that your take on Biden's strategy is all wrong. His vision was the correct one, is what I've been saying all along, and adding the caveat of it requiring a convincing of a significant part of the other countries of the world, to follow our lead. Anyone who cannot give Biden the credit for helping to inspire, bring about, organize, and manage that cooperation, has lost all credibility, in my estimation. There is no way to predict, the feelings of each nation, on advance. There are so many things, that cannot be known, beforehand. Even the idea of "sanctions," was initially, in large part, a general concept, until Biden went over all the options, with those who had expertise in this type of analysis. For a person to expect the President to spell out every step, in advance, is as ridiculous as expecting a football coach to be able to explain, before the game, how each possession, sequentially, by both teams, is going to go. As you are probably aware, some things will go as expected, some better than that, others won't go at all, and there will likely be some wildcards, in the mix. Yet, if the coach's overall game plan leads to a win, or a successful season, you don't say, unless you are one of those people who most find it difficult to stand, "Yeah, but if the punt returner hadn't brought one back for a T.D...."
It's all part of the contest.

Now Biden felt, reasonably, that there would not be time for the sanctions to work, before Russia had taken Ukraine. Not to take anything away from the fighting spirit, gutsiness, and bravery of the Ukranian people, one could, just as easily "blame" the way things are unfolding on Putin or his troops, not moving more aggressively. You realize, that the bulk of Putin's troops have not yet crossed the border? Was that the original plan, or was it altered due to lack of support for the war, or more opposition to it, among Russians, than Putin had projected, so he was trying to keep down the initial casualty count? Did you know that Kyrgystan refused to send troops, so that, not only was Putin unexpectedly deprived of use of these troops, but he actually sent troops there, in case of an uprising. ALL, par for the course.

But it hasn't been the Ukranians resolute fighting, that has made Biden's plan viable; it is what makes it possible, at least, that all of Ukraine is not overrun, before sanctions work.

Again, your mind is not grasping that, in such circumstances, it is impossible to know what will occur. It was possible that this might deter Putin; yet, even if it did not, it still would serve a purpose. It was beneficial, one way, or another. But only time would tell, which purpose it would serve.

One thing for certain, though, your claim that this "actually forced the Russians' hands," is not only sheer speculation, on your part, but a poor guess, at that. There is no doubt that Putin moved over 100 thousand troops to the border, for a purpose, & he was pushed into nothing. However he, as well, may have had several possible contingencies, in mind. If you cannot grasp this concept, of creating the most favoring options from which one might potentially choose, then it is a hopeless exercise, to try to make any of this clear to you. For one more analog, look at chess. A player does not have a definite plan, every move, but tries to move so as to not block themself in, but rather make available the most possibilities for oneself, while limiting them, for your opponent.