As my friend said, “there is only one thing that can stop Putin and that is a bullet to the back of his head”. Putin is an evil guy. If you look at his history, the eventual outcome for Ukraine is ugly at best. Murderous thugs don’t change their stripes. It’s not as if he has had an awakening. By the way, the only difference between people like Putin and people like Michael Madigan is that Putin has an army. Their personalities and goals are similar.
I have been watching all kinds of things and reading all kinds of things to try and form a coherent opinion about what the US should do with Ukraine.
You have to totally admire the Ukrainians and their defense of their country. If you don’t, you are a Putin crony or you don’t have a heart.
Putin is not Hitler, yet. But, he isn’t a “good guy”.
I saw all kinds of facts about Ukraine. But, they are just that. They aren’t persuasive and logical enough to make the strategic case the US should be heavily committed there. Tucker Carlson made the case on his program we shouldn’t be involved. He is correct. Ukraine strategically is not that important to the United States.
Last night, Tucker offered a slight apology and said he misread the situation.
The reason to be active and not hesitant or passive in Ukraine is Putin must be stopped in his tracks. Communist Party chair Xi is gazing across the pond wondering about his plans for the future. This isn’t a situation in isolation.
I know a few people that were in various levels of the military that don’t go on television to bloviate every night. I asked their opinion. What was interesting was their opinions were all similar. The US and NATO:
Should arm the Ukrainians to the teeth. All kinds of advanced arms so they can defend themselves. Unlimited supply.
Deploy substantial NATO forces to Eastern Europe
Sanction Russia
Freeze their assets
Do the same to Belarus which is just a Russian pawn. Monkey see monkey do.
Promote mutiny in the Russian forces using psychological warfare. Maybe Facebook could stop persecuting conservatives and turn their guns on the Russian Army. The Russian Army isn’t the juggernaut it was supposed to be.
Press for war crime charges against Putin and his inner circle
Support Russian protestors, enable them. If Putin’s going to be dethroned, it has to come from within.
Get the Russian oligarchs to disavow Putin and get rid of him
Stop buying Russian oil.
Pump and explore for American oil, shale, coal, natural gas. Increase the supply of all cheap energy.
This gentleman would go slightly further, but not much.
However, almost everyone with a military pedigree agrees that directly engaging the Russian military with U.S. forces risks escalation with unintended consequences and potential nuclear war. People like Putin are unpredictable.
One of the things that people realized once WW2 got started but never really appreciated prior to the war was the Arsenal of Democracy that America was and is. There is a lot America can do with its economy to cripple Putin and make things hard.
But, I don’t think this administration is willing to do them.
The mouthpiece for Biden, Jen Psaki, is still in “Kermit the Frog” mode. Everything is about being green. She is terribly wrong about the Keystone pipeline and they all are desperately incorrect about green energy. Building Keystone would signal to oil markets that the sands have shifted. It would also signal to OPEC the US is going to go back on the “energy independent” path.
Green energy should be saved for decentralized independent energy projects. For example, put solar panels on your garage and charge your Tesla. Use solar to heat your pool. It’s not the correct form of energy for an on-demand information economy.
I think if you asked people in Eastern Europe today if global warming was critical to them that you’d get a lot of disaffirmation. There seem to be other more pressing matters. Like staying alive and being free and staying warm and getting something to eat. But it seems to be the driving force behind Biden’s energy policy.
Russia’s core strength is energy. Take it away. But, Biden won’t do that. He is just not that smart, and too committed to the hard left of his party. Hard lefties shouldn’t be leading right now. Not only do they lack inspiration, but their vision is wrong too.
From a Ukrainian businessperson:
1) immediately cease any business with any Russian government entity or any organization that has even 1 percent of Russian government interest in it;
2) freeze to the maximum extent possible (meaning anything short of violating human rights or endangering human life) any business in or with Russia - close your books to the new business, start shutting the doors of your offices and outlets, stop accepting new orders and consider cancelling the outstanding ones, and above all stop paying any taxes in Russia;
3) inform your employees in Russia openly and honestly why you do it.
Even Democrats in California now see what their draconian environmental laws are doing to their own state. One of the most leftist state senators now asking for waiver of environmental laws:
SB 886 exempts UC, CSU and California Community College campuses from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, which requires state and local agencies to disclose the environmental implications of their projects.
“If we continue to make it hard or impossible to build enough student housing, we’re going to see more and more student homelessness,” Wiener said.