WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please donate to keep ReaderRant online to serve political discussion and its members. (Blue Ridge Photography pays the bills for RR).
Every war is remembered in history by places, even hundreds of years later. For Ukraine, the two names now known around the world are Mariupol and Bucha.
The eastern port of Mariupol has been under siege for weeks, with those left in the ruins of the city scrounging for shelter, food and medicine.
The northern town of Bucha, on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, has become the center of claims of war crimes committed by Russian troops. Pictures of unarmed dead civilians, some with hands tied behind their backs, have ignited global outrage and calls for more sanctions on Moscow, which says the images are staged.
As Ukraine retakes territory formerly held by Russia, the US and European allies will be faced, directly, with evidence that will test their resolve to remain outside the conflict. Personally, I think we've been too timid by half.
We've been aware of the atrocities and war crimes for weeks, but have been content with half-measures. If "we" believe in the defense of democracy and the western world order, we should be willing to put up.
Last edited by NW Ponderer; 04/04/2204:52 PM.
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
It's fear. And it's for a very good reason since Putin promised early on to rain down nuclear destruction on anyone who defied him.
President Biden made it clear from the start that if we crossed certain lines it would be the beginning of WW3 and no one is really certain whether mutually assured destruction is acceptable to Vlad Putin.
So, yeah, the timidity is fairly well-founded. And I'm pretty sure Putin knew from the start that our hands would be tied and whatever he did would be met with the timidity we've seen.
I don't think he counted on the backlash though. The outrage.
Atrocities and war crimes.
If Putin had gone looking for a Waterloo he couldn't have picked a better one.
...President Biden made it clear from the start that if we crossed certain lines it would be the beginning of WW3 and no one is really certain whether mutually assured destruction is acceptable to Vlad Putin....
So the West just sit around twiddling its thumbs out of fear of mutual distraction?
Vlad wants a legacy. If there is mutual destruction, there is no legacy.
Experts are saying that Vlad is dying and doesn't have much more time.
So the West just sit around twiddling its thumbs out of fear
Exactly.
Although $10Billion in weaponry and worldwide sanctions is not sitting around and twiddling your thumbs.
And that "fear" is more caution than cowardice.
I have no idea what Vlad wants. Nor do I particularly care. Bombing the sh*t out of people to get what you want is very much out of fashion.
We want this war to end, but bombing the sh*t out of somebody else is not the civilized way to end it. It's more the end-of-civilization way to do it. We really don't want that. No matter how romantic it might sound.
Russia has f*cked up mightily. Putin knows it. What remains to be seen is what he's going to do to get out of this mess.
Putin, like all bullies, is really a coward at heart. And losing face is the worst insult he can imagine. So, what he will do is convert this war into a low grade fever for the world. He's retreated from Kyiv and will concentrate on trying to get that land bridge from Crimea to the Donbas, and consolidating the gains in the Donbas. Then he can "declare victory", and assert that is all they ever intended to do. Then he'll continue the campaign of periodically lobbing missiles into Ukraine into the indefinite future, just to be a pain in the ass, until "the west" allows him to keep his gains, and in return expecting them to drop sanctions.
Last edited by NW Ponderer; 04/05/2204:12 PM.
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
But a lot of European nations do. A lot of other nations who might have found themselves underserved by the West found a business partner in Russia. It's a big, rich country, so we can't exactly pretend it just doesn't exist.
But a lot of European nations do. A lot of other nations who might have found themselves underserved by the West found a business partner in Russia. It's a big, rich country, so we can't exactly pretend it just doesn't exist.
Like other wars, this one will pass.
Understood. That may very well be one of the biggest changes Putin has wrought upon his people...ISOLATION. It's obviously going to take a long time, but this is already "1934 all over again".
"The Best of the Leon Russell Festivals" DVD deepfreezefilms.com
