Trump is wasting his time with Putin. Time for the most severe of sanctions, including everyone who buys his oil or wheat (looking at you, Hungary and India), while persuading energy producers to open the spigots and drive down the price of oil. Reagan did that, and it worked. Putin's economy is weak, and pain must be imposed. Hopefully, this time, the Euros will go along. Meanwhile, send another tranche of weapons and artillery to Ukraine.
I wonder if we shouldn't be a bit more realistic. Only if the U.S. goes to war (together with all of its so called European allies), risking nuclear escalation, is there any hope of driving Russia out of Ukranian territory. Arming Ukraine to the teeth won't do it, all the moreso since thousands of young men are fleeing military service there. I seriously doubt that the U. S. public would put up with the kind of casualties a major war would involve. I am much reminded of the late days of the Vietnam war, when Nixon and Kissinger couldn't continue to wage the conflict with American conscripts and were looking for some gimmick to exit looking victorious. The idea was to arm our so-called South Vietnamese allies as heavily as possible while negotiating in Paris with Hanoi. We al know how that turned out. Don't think there aren't many important metaphors here.
Trump is wasting his time with Putin. Time for the most severe of sanctions, including everyone who buys his oil or wheat (looking at you, Hungary and India), while persuading energy producers to open the spigots and drive down the price of oil. Reagan did that, and it worked. Putin's economy is weak, and pain must be imposed. Hopefully, this time, the Euros will go along. Meanwhile, send another tranche of weapons and artillery to Ukraine.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m a little worried that my hope was misplaced at this point, waiting for a better read out.
I wonder if we shouldn't be a bit more realistic. Only if the U.S. goes to war (together with all of its so called European allies), risking nuclear escalation, is there any hope of driving Russia out of Ukranian territory. Arming Ukraine to the teeth won't do it, all the moreso since thousands of young men are fleeing military service there. I seriously doubt that the U. S. public would put up with the kind of casualties a major war would involve. I am much reminded of the late days of the Vietnam war, when Nixon and Kissinger couldn't continue to wage the conflict with American conscripts and were looking for some gimmick to exit looking victorious. The idea was to arm our so-called South Vietnamese allies as heavily as possible while negotiating in Paris with Hanoi. We al know how that turned out. Don't think there aren't many important metaphors here.