Amen John, amen. I've seen the consequences of war up close, the cost on human life, and the pain and suffering of the innocents, the children, the orphans produced. I grieve because evil thrives in war. I cannot watch the parade of suffering being produced by this... I expect we will soon see volunteer American healthcare workers moving to Poland and Romania. That is the very small thing some of us can do.
To wargamers and students of WW2, this ground is well known to us, almost a second home of the mind. To see Ukraine being fought over again in my life, to watch the opening moves of WW2 happen again before my eyes, before a world that so obviously learns NOTHING from history, is sad beyond words.
Ukraine cannot win without outside military assistance, it simply cannot. It's like the Arizona National Guard against the US Army, mere numbers and resources are not sustainable. Unless this ceases rather quickly, we will be drawn in. History shows us what happened when we refused to "get involved" in Europe or Asia. Lend-lease to the Brits, the oil embargo against the Imperial Japanese. Sanctions directed to destroy an economy are soft acts of war. Our trajectory is dangerous, speaking objectively. And this time we have war tools that were unfathomable a generation ago. Nuclear war is no longer a remote memory. Putin has the "avenging victim" mentality (like Hitler did). He feels aggrieved by the West. "Make Russia great again." God help us.
Bill, makes one wonder, doesn't it. I have visited his grave and pondered. He is buried at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg , next to "his boys" as he called them. Real leaders, the real thing... We need such folk now.
Careful painting Putin as an idiot. It distracts from understanding the deeper objectives at play. As a tactician, he's extremely strong. You can disagree with his reasons or rational, but don't think for a moment that this isn't going to plan. There is a bigger picture at play. Wars are all about deception and misdirection. What I see being demonstrated at the moment is a cautious approach. This suggests there is a bigger objective which I think has yet to be revealed. In the meantime, get ready.
"Sad" is such an inadequate word to describe this whole Eastern European mess.... it is unfathomable that Putin can unleash such unilateral murder on a population in front of a contemporary world stage without fear. The bumbling destruction by the Russian Army is opening world-war scenarios only military gamers pondered. I pray and hope the Americans move in the right direction without a "Pearl Harbor" moment.
You know, this is all seeming like the Winter War, the invasion of Finland in 1940. Finland was the underdog, the Red Army was misled, unprovisioned, criminally treated by it's own leaders. Lots and lots of Russian soldiers died for no good reason. And yet the Russians still won that war. Considering the rest of WW2 and Finland's Continuation War, the Soviets won that war twice! And yet we still have Finland today, long a bastion and bulwark against Soviet and Russian aggression.
There is a chasm of distance between political leaders and combat leaders. Zelensky is the former which is helpful, but not enough against the weight of a country's army 10 times it's size.
Keep in mind that Putin, besides being seen as a psychotic pariah by the West, is also getting pullback from within Russia itself, and not only from the unwashed but by Kremlinites themselves. I'm counting on God first, and then a military coup to kill the m'fk'er!
Putin is an absolute idiot that is beyond anything I have seen (since I am a boomer) but I have studied about for years. If he is not put down immediately we could be on the verge of what I did as a kid when we had all of the air raid drills.
MAD was a good way to assure all of us that it would never happen except now we have a person that is mad and has his finger on the trigger.
I hope the Russian people rise and haul him out and string him up just like what happened to Mussolini.
Perhaps the most sad part of ALL of this is that we were given warning...Putin did not hide his amassing of troops. We are just reacting now. And the trajectory now is horrid. History will teach us what will likely come next. Does anyone remember what happened in the Polish Katyn Forest in 1940, after the Soviets defeated and occupied Poland? Those who surrender in Ukraine will be gathered up, resistance fighters, soldiers, ANYONE who can rise up against them and be eliminated ( massacred). Nothing has changed in human nature. We need to wake up.
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Couldn't agree more, Rene.
I will ask Him.
As a tactician, he's extremely strong. You can disagree with his reasons or rational, but don't think for a moment that this isn't going to plan. There is a bigger picture at play. Wars are all about deception and misdirection. What I see being demonstrated at the moment is a cautious approach. This suggests there is a bigger objective which I think has yet to be revealed.
In the meantime, get ready.
Let us hope that this ends half as well.
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
Zelensky is the former which is helpful, but not enough against the weight of a country's army 10 times it's size.
MAD was a good way to assure all of us that it would never happen except now we have a person that is mad and has his finger on the trigger.
I hope the Russian people rise and haul him out and string him up just like what happened to Mussolini.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/captured-russians-said-their-leaders-lied-about-the-plan-to-invade-ukraine-leaving-them-unprepared-for-fierce-resistance/ar-AAUJIrk?ocid=msedgntp&fbclid=IwAR1TkAu1PlLMh__FzhmVM0a4zpkcZ53SnHOKq81CxsdiddF5oj_xsqXKN3I
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/pray-for-the-crisis-in-ukraine/