It was nowhere near the front lines it was on the western border. The problem is you can’t say that investing in Ukraine is proof the United States is going to provide security guarantees to Ukraine because we’re invested in Ukraine and then do nothing when those factories are bombed. At minimum the United States needs to provide air defense for those factories, if it was me I’d go further up to and including U.S. personal manning them in response to actions like this. Once again making empty statements is not peace through strength it’s being a liar and a politician.
I agree completely.
I would have locked down UA airspace in all of western UA with an NFZ at weapons tight including counter fires and Tail chase shots at offending aircraft REGARDLESS of their locations.
Without interdictions into Pre 2014 Russia, it is self defense. If you begin to interdict locations (assembly areas, airfields etc you enter into the war.) So, yes it’s going to be a weak deterrent but you will be able to help defend western Ukraine.
It would have been so much better to have the troops and Aircraft in place in Feb 2022. Now it will raise a huge period of bedwetting and handwringing. IMO it will lead to nothing (other than safety in the west) . At night, alone in dark, Russian leaders know the truth: The US National Guard could kill or capture every unit they have in the UA without profound difficulty. NATO (and this scares me) is so profoundly mismatched with a paper Bear. We would completely overwhelm and destroy them. And why not, the population, GDPs and military spending are a total mismatch. Russia is not the CCCP. Poland and
the Ukraine have left the building. We need the extra abilities to be able to fight China and Russia at the same time (or formally together).
I fear that once hostilities are joined and the west experiences serious casualties, (and we will) we won’t stop, not unlike in Korea and then Russia will get pushed into its corner and unleash it final option.
This is what scares me at night. We will defeat both Russia and China and push them back until they feel they have to use all their weapons. Then everyone loses.
Damn that stupid memorandum. Whatever happened to “not our problem”?