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Apr 8, 2022Liked by Steve Berman, Chris J. Karr, Jay Berman

Every day through tears I ask “ how much longer, how many more dead before the civilized world screams ENOUGH? And every day there are more atrocities and war crimes and feckless leaders doing nothing to stop the mad man in the Kremlin. I don’t want to see us go to war but reason tells me if we allow this to continue Putin will venture into other countries. Please make this stop.

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Apr 8, 2022Liked by Steve Berman, Chris J. Karr

I get that it's a reflex to blame Biden: let's take a wider eye to the full history and actions of all involved, the mistakes made in the past, and of course what can/should be done going forward.

The assessment regarding how fast Ukraine would fall was solely based on size and technical capabilities of the armies: the poor state of the Russian Army's soldiers/equipement, and the "will to fight" that is present in Ukraine (and absent in Afghanistan) were unknown and in regards to the "will to fight" extremely difficult/impossible to quantify as it's an intangible thing. The will to fight helps explain the difference between expectations/assessments and reality for Afghanistan's and Ukraine's respective performances.

I'm not sure if this is revisionist or accurate, but Obama recently stated that he tried to get the EU/NATO to enact sanctions after Crimea: granted those were limited to the Crimea and not Russia as a whole, but the story itself speaks to the wider Western world ignoring the issue.

The US has been training and equipping Ukraine since the 2014 invasion. The Ukrainian military has evolved from a Soviet-style military to a modern, professional one: that's allowed them to perform so well thus far. If the plan was to sacrifice Ukraine, then why train and equip them?

It has been the US's policy during/since the Cold War to avoid getting into a direct shooting war with Russia. If the goal is to avoid direct engagement with Russia, then re-equipping the Ukrainians is the best move as it's going to be a war of attrition: and Russia, while having more resources at the moment, will be unable to reproduce the lost equipment/soldiers due to the sanctions - 'cause Russia relies on Western technology and machinery.

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