This theme of a dance with death goes back to wry observations about the behavior of European elites in the face of the Black Death back when it was undermining the feudal system upon which that elite’s power over the majority depended, and much the same can be said of the stewards of US Empire in mid-2023.
I wish I had your optimism. I still see- Biden sending billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine without end - the last week or so had $1.4 billion and $400 million, if I recall right. The US sent cluster munitions, banned by the majority of the world - in recent days they killed and wounded civilian journalists in Zaporizhzhia. There are 600-700 Ukrainian soldiers killed every day as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense. British underwater drones probably attacked the Crimea bridge and Storm Shadow missiles blew up an ammunition dump in Crimea. And, of course, there's the new look of the Motherland Monument in Kiev. There is a report that the head of Ukrainian conscription has fled - somewhere, so there's a bit of positive news. There's a Washington Post report that Ukraine has 30% of its land mined and that it will takes decades, at least, to clear.
Maybe this means that reporting on the war will be more honest, but I have my doubts. The destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa is still reported due to Russian missiles, not Ukrainian air defense - I wish I could post my pictures from a couple of years ago. I expect Biden to cross more red lines and send long-range missiles and jet aircraft. Biden has to have his priorities - Portland still has homeless issues with increasing drug and shooting deaths. But then, I guess Portland is in the wrong country, or a military contract won't address the issues.
I doubt this will change while Biden remains officially in office - the US and Ukraine will continue their slow decline.
Biden himself admitted the US was running out of ammunition to send to Ukraine. The Ukrainians themselves said they were down to 3000 artillery rounds a day. The US doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to make up the shortfall.
That fact alone makes a retrenchment necessary. It may even mean that continued US support for Ukraine, in terms of munitions anyway, is simply impossible. If that's the case, events will take care of themselves.
It is entirely possible we're both right, and lots of MONEY will be flung in the general direction of Ukraine, to be scooped up into any number of moneylaundering schemes. It's even possible the Democrats will make support of the Ukraine war a moral litmus test for the election and try to go full-blown Wilson/Palmer Raids/Red Scare/Sedition Act on all who oppose them.
What's not going to happen is a direct military confrontation between the US and Russia, or the Zelensky regime surviving in Kiev.
Unfortunately, I trust Biden's statements as much as I trust Zelensky's. The US is running out of WW II weapons - that I can believe, and it looks like WW I trench warfare. Cluster weapons are a new evil step - what's next? Abrams tanks? Long range missiles? Weapons I don't even know of? Arestovych, former Ukrainian Presidential advisor, just said brigades of 2000 now only have six cars.
Ukraine has lost, but the most evil President in US history is still finding ways to get Ukrainians killed.
Ironically, I am writing this as my wife is talking with our neighbor in central Ukraine. I WANT to be optimistic!!
I don't see it so much as optimism as necessity, but that presupposes sanity on the part of some of the PTB and I think I'm seeing some signs of it. Besides, I once convinced myself that Reagan was going to get us all killed and made some stupid choices because of that. Add to it the fact I've been hearing the End of The World is just around the corner for all of my 65 years and yet it's still here.
I suppose that makes me optimistic for mere survival. Time will tell; nothing either of us can do about it.
Putin himself recently predicted Poland had designs on Galicia and that the Ukrainian government might go along with it, but he didn't seem very upset at the prospect, and if he's not upset that tells me he won't go to war over it, so that's good.
I respectfully disagree with your use of the Vietnam War as an analogy for what's happening in Ukraine now. I don't think the two can be historically compared.
There was never any danger of direct Soviet military intervention in Vietnam, and China was too preoccupied with things like the Cultural Revolution to consider it, even if the Vietnamese would have allowed it, which was inconceivable. Biden brought us closer to nuclear war with Ukraine than anyone did with Vietnam.
I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis quite well, thank you very much. I was only 4, but I remember my parents driving from San Antonio to the Panhandle through fields of Titan missiles, noses up out of the ground and steaming.
Fortunately, sanity prevailed and, on the way back, I saw cows instead of missiles. I find grazing cattle comforting to this day.
That's the closest to nuclear war we have ever come until now, so yes, you're right to be worried about it. I think self-preservation will prevail in DC. If I'm wrong, it does not matter for we are all dead anyway.
I always get an objective view of this mess when reading you, jbnw. The wiser Mr. & Mrs. America get, the more likely we'll stop being stupid to the lies. God, they sure double down on the lies and we sure are stupid. Best to you...
What is really worrisome to me is that I don't think that the folks telling and spreading the lies actually care if we see they are lies any more. For instance, the Hunter/Joe Biden corruption is as in your face as possible, there are, as Judge Judy demands, receipts, plus pictures and recordings and videos. But the Dems just keep on smiling and saying, really, so the f**k what. Which tells me that they already have things covered, if/when people wake up to the lies.
I think you're both right. It's becoming and more blatantly obvious that only the support of the party by the media matters so the people are fooled. It's like the Biden Burisma bribes - years later, it's finally making a little news - but only after it's really, really, really obvious that Biden can't even give a speech. We discussed it on JPR - Trump was impeached, but Biden bragged about withholding money to get a prosecutor fire and it was ignored.
And yesterday? Drone strikes by Ukraine in Moscow. As Biden and his handles give huge amounts of our money and weapons to Ukraine, Ukraine uses them. Ukrainian losses yesterday? Around 750 killed in action.
But of course, we can't really know what's going on. Even with contacts in Ukraine, it's just small views. The US I can see - Biden has trouble finishing sentences and finding his way off a stage, and Portland shootings, drug deaths, and homelessness are obvious and ignored. A security guard was killed defending the maternity ward in a local hospital where I'd recently had a small surgery - unarmed by hospital policy.
I will still hope for POSITIVE change in Ukraine and the US - but I don't see it under this administration.
I'd really like to see the methods section of studies that say Americans support billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine. Call me soured on corporate statistics, but who besides wealthy liberal Democrats supports this ridiculous waste of taxpayer money? And it's interesting how many normal people instinctively reject the empire's war propaganda, even though they don't read independent media.
How do American leaders keep a straight face? Food price inflation and housing inflation are in the double digits. Soooo much higher than the official stats.
Makes me wonder if those in power whisper to each other, "Do you think the people are gonna buy this load of bs?"
"It doesn't matter whether they buy it or not, we have the tanks and the money."
I wish I had your optimism. I still see- Biden sending billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine without end - the last week or so had $1.4 billion and $400 million, if I recall right. The US sent cluster munitions, banned by the majority of the world - in recent days they killed and wounded civilian journalists in Zaporizhzhia. There are 600-700 Ukrainian soldiers killed every day as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense. British underwater drones probably attacked the Crimea bridge and Storm Shadow missiles blew up an ammunition dump in Crimea. And, of course, there's the new look of the Motherland Monument in Kiev. There is a report that the head of Ukrainian conscription has fled - somewhere, so there's a bit of positive news. There's a Washington Post report that Ukraine has 30% of its land mined and that it will takes decades, at least, to clear.
Maybe this means that reporting on the war will be more honest, but I have my doubts. The destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa is still reported due to Russian missiles, not Ukrainian air defense - I wish I could post my pictures from a couple of years ago. I expect Biden to cross more red lines and send long-range missiles and jet aircraft. Biden has to have his priorities - Portland still has homeless issues with increasing drug and shooting deaths. But then, I guess Portland is in the wrong country, or a military contract won't address the issues.
I doubt this will change while Biden remains officially in office - the US and Ukraine will continue their slow decline.
Biden himself admitted the US was running out of ammunition to send to Ukraine. The Ukrainians themselves said they were down to 3000 artillery rounds a day. The US doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to make up the shortfall.
That fact alone makes a retrenchment necessary. It may even mean that continued US support for Ukraine, in terms of munitions anyway, is simply impossible. If that's the case, events will take care of themselves.
It is entirely possible we're both right, and lots of MONEY will be flung in the general direction of Ukraine, to be scooped up into any number of moneylaundering schemes. It's even possible the Democrats will make support of the Ukraine war a moral litmus test for the election and try to go full-blown Wilson/Palmer Raids/Red Scare/Sedition Act on all who oppose them.
What's not going to happen is a direct military confrontation between the US and Russia, or the Zelensky regime surviving in Kiev.
Unfortunately, I trust Biden's statements as much as I trust Zelensky's. The US is running out of WW II weapons - that I can believe, and it looks like WW I trench warfare. Cluster weapons are a new evil step - what's next? Abrams tanks? Long range missiles? Weapons I don't even know of? Arestovych, former Ukrainian Presidential advisor, just said brigades of 2000 now only have six cars.
Ukraine has lost, but the most evil President in US history is still finding ways to get Ukrainians killed.
Ironically, I am writing this as my wife is talking with our neighbor in central Ukraine. I WANT to be optimistic!!
May be at this point we escape the nuclear tragedy, but I am not so sure of it as
you are. The main issue for the WH now is the reelection. Biden up to now has
escalated again and again. Losing a war (as they see it) would be a disaster.Already
they are using weird legal issues to get rid of Trump and make every effort to stifle
not just the Burisma debacle but RFKjr as well. Naturally they will try to keep the
Ukraine conflict going until past next November, but how can they do it without
further escalation? Far reaching missiles or false flags? A coalition of the "Willing"
entering from Poland? I don't have the answers to these questions, but we now
know that this administration broke every promise of what it would not send
over there. While they claim "no US boots on the ground", they sent already "advisors",
Well, I recall to what this led to in Vietnam. Thus I am far less optimistic than
you are, sorry.
I don't see it so much as optimism as necessity, but that presupposes sanity on the part of some of the PTB and I think I'm seeing some signs of it. Besides, I once convinced myself that Reagan was going to get us all killed and made some stupid choices because of that. Add to it the fact I've been hearing the End of The World is just around the corner for all of my 65 years and yet it's still here.
I suppose that makes me optimistic for mere survival. Time will tell; nothing either of us can do about it.
Putin himself recently predicted Poland had designs on Galicia and that the Ukrainian government might go along with it, but he didn't seem very upset at the prospect, and if he's not upset that tells me he won't go to war over it, so that's good.
I respectfully disagree with your use of the Vietnam War as an analogy for what's happening in Ukraine now. I don't think the two can be historically compared.
There was never any danger of direct Soviet military intervention in Vietnam, and China was too preoccupied with things like the Cultural Revolution to consider it, even if the Vietnamese would have allowed it, which was inconceivable. Biden brought us closer to nuclear war with Ukraine than anyone did with Vietnam.
Thank you for your reply, youngster. You have over 15 years to catch up
with me. :)
So I remember sirens, sounds of bombs (in Berlin) and later (in the US) the
Bay of pigs disaster as well as the Cuban missile crisis. In both cases we were
very lucky to have had a rational POTUS, which we don't have now. Some
in the Pentagon may keep ringing the alarm, but the fanatics (globalists or
neocons) still have power. There is still the firm belief that the Kremlin is
weak and bluffing although this is a delusion. Now I read that a former
Navy Admiral is proposing a war in the Black sea. As I said, I don't know
what all this may lead to, however I cannot anymore assume that the
policy of the US is in sane hands.
Btw, even after the worst nuclear war humans will survive, even if only
a few thousand. I would not guarantee though that they learned the
necessary lessons.
Cheers, my friend
I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis quite well, thank you very much. I was only 4, but I remember my parents driving from San Antonio to the Panhandle through fields of Titan missiles, noses up out of the ground and steaming.
Fortunately, sanity prevailed and, on the way back, I saw cows instead of missiles. I find grazing cattle comforting to this day.
That's the closest to nuclear war we have ever come until now, so yes, you're right to be worried about it. I think self-preservation will prevail in DC. If I'm wrong, it does not matter for we are all dead anyway.
I always get an objective view of this mess when reading you, jbnw. The wiser Mr. & Mrs. America get, the more likely we'll stop being stupid to the lies. God, they sure double down on the lies and we sure are stupid. Best to you...
What is really worrisome to me is that I don't think that the folks telling and spreading the lies actually care if we see they are lies any more. For instance, the Hunter/Joe Biden corruption is as in your face as possible, there are, as Judge Judy demands, receipts, plus pictures and recordings and videos. But the Dems just keep on smiling and saying, really, so the f**k what. Which tells me that they already have things covered, if/when people wake up to the lies.
I think you're both right. It's becoming and more blatantly obvious that only the support of the party by the media matters so the people are fooled. It's like the Biden Burisma bribes - years later, it's finally making a little news - but only after it's really, really, really obvious that Biden can't even give a speech. We discussed it on JPR - Trump was impeached, but Biden bragged about withholding money to get a prosecutor fire and it was ignored.
And yesterday? Drone strikes by Ukraine in Moscow. As Biden and his handles give huge amounts of our money and weapons to Ukraine, Ukraine uses them. Ukrainian losses yesterday? Around 750 killed in action.
But of course, we can't really know what's going on. Even with contacts in Ukraine, it's just small views. The US I can see - Biden has trouble finishing sentences and finding his way off a stage, and Portland shootings, drug deaths, and homelessness are obvious and ignored. A security guard was killed defending the maternity ward in a local hospital where I'd recently had a small surgery - unarmed by hospital policy.
I will still hope for POSITIVE change in Ukraine and the US - but I don't see it under this administration.
Absolutely.
insh'allah
I'd really like to see the methods section of studies that say Americans support billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine. Call me soured on corporate statistics, but who besides wealthy liberal Democrats supports this ridiculous waste of taxpayer money? And it's interesting how many normal people instinctively reject the empire's war propaganda, even though they don't read independent media.
How do American leaders keep a straight face? Food price inflation and housing inflation are in the double digits. Soooo much higher than the official stats.
Makes me wonder if those in power whisper to each other, "Do you think the people are gonna buy this load of bs?"
"It doesn't matter whether they buy it or not, we have the tanks and the money."
But WE- normal people - we have the NUMBERS.