Down The Primrose Path

Democrats Historical Events Putin Republicans 147 Comments

John Daniel Davidson;

At multiple points leading up to the current crisis, there were ways for the United States and Europe to create off-ramps for both Moscow and Kyiv, to shepherd a negotiated settlement so that both sides got a minimum of what they needed, and some of what they wanted.

What might that have looked like? For Moscow, a recognition of its strategic claim on Crimea and the port of Sevastopol as the home of its Black Sea Fleet. For Kyiv, the promise of political independence and greater integration with Europe in exchange for territorial concessions.

The West should have also considered the folly and recklessness of floating the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine, something no serious person ever thought Russia would accept without going to war to prevent it. And yet as far back as 2008, the United States openly discussed the possibility of Ukraine’s membership in NATO, even as Kyiv still claimed sovereignty over Russia’s most important naval base in Sevastopol. Under these conditions, the idea of Ukraine joining NATO was preposterous.

h/t Jim

147 Replies to “Down The Primrose Path”

  2. It’s almost as if the depraved idiots running western governments and alliances deliberately wanted a war with Russia. Trump managed to keep the lid on for 4 years, but with Dementia Joe in office, the Democrat neo-con warmongers are running amok. At this point, if Russia nukes DC, I won’t shed any tears.

    1. If you look at my past comments, I’ve been saying the same thing for at least a week now.
      Seems like the notion is catching on. I may not be so crazy after all.

      1. Collapse the Swift system and you collapse the West most quickly, if you view it through that lens, it starts to make sense.

    2. Nor I.

      Listen:

      I live within walking distance of Parliament Hill.

      I live alone in a bachelor apartment in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods of Ottawa. I count among my close neighbours a notorious homeless shelter.

      After decades of hard work, I can’t afford to live anywhere else, though my landlord has been encouraging me to move out for years so he can finally renovate and flip a property of which I am the only full-time resident left. (He rents the rest out on Airbnb for a king’s ransom.)

      I live hand-to-mouth on what remains of my earnings after my ex-wife, happily married to another woman who does quite well as a lawyer at a top form in Montreal, gets her pocket money from hubby to squander on travel and her hobby of “fostering” rez mutts.

      If Chrystia gets what she thinks she wants, and the bomb is dropped on Ottawa, I doubt I’ll feel a thing.

      I have nothing to lose. I’m ready.

      I wonder if my wife is.

      2. So you’re a failure in life, both and in marriage and economically. Can’t say I am surprised.

        Is your ex’s partner Asian by any chance? That would explain more.

        1. Easy there, big guy. You don’t want to kick someone who’s down. That’s not Queensbury rules, ol’ chap!

          1. Au contraire, I absolutely want to kick him while he is down. Would not do it to others, but this one deserves it. And more.

      3. We actually have some things in common.

        I’m not as close to the hill as you are, but I share your contempt for this poor excuse for a cosmopolitan city.

        I’m unable to work, or provide any income. I can’t even apply for government assistance. I am sustaining myself purely by using up my life savings, of which I am fortunate, through some very disciplined planning, to have a substantial war chest.

        That’s the only blessing I have living here, but I’d gladly give all of it up if I can just get the hell out of here.

        Then, I won’t care what happens to this burg.

    4. Remember when Zelenski was despised by the MSM and the left for not saying what they wanted to hear about his phone call with then president Trump. A Trump puppet or liar they claimed…not a word about that not so long ago episode now.
      The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

    5. JDD, is an idiot that fails to grasp why the O’Butthole, and his lefty Jew cabal, needed this war.

  3. No matter what your view is on the invasion, one thing is perfectly clear. Grand Marshall Blackie is milking it for all its worth. Daily press conferences from Dear Leader and his incompetent lapdog cabinet ministers, on how they are spreading freedom in Europe. In Canada, not so much.

    1. Surely he knows that no one really takes him seriously.

      Say what you will about Zelensky but Zelensky didn’t run away from bouncy castles.

      Or actual weapons.

      1. Russia should have put out some bouncy castles and tried. Just say’n you never know, betting that if Putin did put out bouncy castles in Ukraine Trudeau would have tried to freeze Canadian bank accounts all over again and maybe skipped Canada for New Zealand.

      2. Justin’s army didn’t tell him that they refused to open fire on their own countrymen.

  4. My own take? – there’s only one (reasonably) quick, clean way out of this – Putin’s head on a platter, and the Russian higher-ups solemnly intoning “it was all HIS fault!” And I suspect his army and oligarchs have figgered that out – it’s pretty certain from his somewhat-eccentric seating arrangements at the conference table, that Vlad has.

    I don’t see Ukraine joining NATO as a certainty; but the longer this misadventure goes on, and the bloodier Russia gets in trying to subdue the Ukrainians, the likelihood grows that it will become an eventuality. I don’t see Ukraine ceding territory to Russia anytime soon – Russia has unveiled a whole new paradigm of treachery in this invasion, the Ukrainians are infuriated, and more ‘n more, so’s everybody else. Vlad’s only hope for significant territorial gains, to include Donetsk, Luhansk and a land-bridge to the Crimea, is a decisive victory – failing that, Ukraine is likely to demand Russia out of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the Crimea back as well, which ain’t gonna’ happen – not while Vlad sits at his desk, which brings us back to Point One. A humiliating crawl-away after launching an imperialistic invasion against his “brothers” in Ukraine would cost Vlad everything anyway – and pretty sure he knows that too.

    If something “Nemtsovian” happens to Vlad, this could wind-up fairly quickly – but the longer Vlad is on the throne, the uglier it’s gonna’ get.

    1. So basically … you believe the Russian people should surrender their country to corrupt bankers and Hillary Clinton. You want to put Hunter Biden back on the Burisma Board … an energy company that controls the flow of Russian gas through Ukrainian pipelines. You really want Biden to go full Corn Pop on Putin. Just so the Transgenders in Russia can sleep safe with the same (real) sex partners? You’re basically calling for the assassination of a world leader? Are you a CIA disinformation bot?

      1. You spend an awful lot of time and effort putting words in people’s mouths, Kenji – project much?

        1. Actually, having all 535 politicos heads on platters in DC would end ALL of this.
          Would send a message to the useless parasites infecting the body politic.
          Then the grown-ups could take over and start fixing things.

          The answer to 1984 is , 1776.
          ” The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and Patriots “.

      2. Nah. He’s just a useful idiot.

        We are finding out, to be sure, who on SDA would welcome the end of globalism and who just needs something to grumble about.

      3. I agree. There is more here than meets the eye. Propaganda by Western media abounds.

      4. “So basically … you believe the Russian people should surrender their country to corrupt bankers and Hillary Clinton. ”

        Kenji, if I did not know you from the past I would assume that you’re a graduate from the Cathy Newman school of argument.

    2. Everything you’ve imagined over Putin was also said about Bush during the Iraq invasion. In your line of thinking GWB would be languishing in a prison cell in the Hague to this day. Don’t count on it. And don’t believe the social media propaganda frenzy. Consider everything coming out of Western media to have the same level of veracity as Saddam’s minister of propaganda.

    3. Globohomo would like to take down Russia only to fly the rainbow flag over the Kremlin and force black worship on to the Slavs by decorating huge vurals of saint George Floyd all over red square and flood both Russia and Ukraine with cultural enrichers from those places…you know. And the sham of those poor Russian children missing out story hour by some pervert drag queen.

      2. Suuuure, Ukrainians are the only NAZIs in the world who fight for “globohomo”. How the fuck do you morons manage to suppress cognitive dissonance so effectively is truly a something psychologists should study.

    4. Y Knott
      O’Butthole’s head, along with Suckerburger’s, would be better and have the same effect.

    5. He’s not trying to subdue the Ukes. He wants them neutralized, in the diplomatic sense – no NATO or EU. He takes the parts he wants and withdraws.

    6. More likely they will split Ukraine in two from Kyev south to Moldova. They will keep the East and leave the west as a buffer state.
      They made a mistake attacking in winter when the ground is soft. They should have waited until late summer when the ground is hard. Then their armored groups could spread out and attack from numerous directions. Right now a few guys with Javelin missiles can hold up an entire convoy for hours.
      But eventually they will split the country in two unless they can agree to a truce which will likely result in the same result.

  5. Yeah but as per Kameltoe: “So, Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So basically, that’s wrong.”

    All kind of thoughtful texts/essays, and for what? Our dear leaders are at kindergarten level/walking corpse.

    1. – And just think – Kamala’s staffers say she never studies her briefing notes…

      1. “A better explanation can be given by a kindergartener.”

        Sorry – forgot the “/sarc” tag… 😉

    3. See Dick. See Dick run. Run run run.
      See Jane. Kameltoe was reading a Grade 1 primer.

      1. Yep 🙂 And these guys & gals suppose to lead us in this WW3 that’s shaping up. SMFH.

  6. Crimea and to a lesser extent, the Russian-speaking Eastern parts of Ukraine are the key here.
    The bumbling around with dangling ideas of EU membership (maybe …) and NATO membership (a recipe for war) have obscured the core issues.

    Biden (and I use that name not for Joe, the demented cretin, but for the group of puppet-masters behind him) has taken a bad situation and turned it into a catastrophe. I have difficulty deciding if it is incompetence or deliberate.

    1. I have difficulty deciding if it is incompetence or deliberate.

      ¿Por qué no los dos?

    2. deliberate. By the puppetry of Biden’s penis. They’ve got him by the balls too.

    3. “Biden (and I use that name not for Joe, the demented cretin, but for the group of puppet-masters behind him) has taken a bad situation and turned it into a catastrophe.”

      I do not know why people are being so restrained, this shit show was and continues to be the work of Obama, Hilliary, the Biden crime family, Blinken and Victoria Nuland. The A-team who bought you the disasters in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

      1. SHE came SHE saw … and WWIII started. SHE would love mutually assured nuclear annihilation to be HER final act …

      1. Yes, those post com block countries that are parts of NATO are safe, those that aren’t in NATO have Siberian Mongols occupying pats of their territory: Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova.

        1. Your anti-Russian bigotry is becoming tiresome. I have a Russian-Ukrainian wife. Knock it off already. Fyckhead.

    5. Deliberate by some, incompetence by those who should be controlling and directing them.

    6. Phillip, Both. Deliberately incompetent, and I mean deliberately incompetent, not incompetently deliberate. Ya gotta destroy it all, before you can RESET everything and BUILD BACK BETTER!

    7. Philip:

      and I use that name not for Joe, the demented cretin, but for the group of puppet-masters behind him

      I like the way Jim Kunstler always writes Joe Biden as “Joe Biden”.

  7. Meanwhile, Zelensky’s chief of staff calls for nuclear war with Russia—excuse me, a “no-fly” zone over which NATO would open fire on Russian fighters and bombers. (Biden’s puppetmasters, thankfully, still value their lives and refuse to do anything of the sort.)

    If the Zelensky gang had been more careful what they wished for, none of this would have happened.

    https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1010807/ukrainian-official-pens-op-ed-for-nyt-from-a-bunker-in-the-capital-with

    1. India abstained on the vote to condemn Russia’s assertion of her right to exist.

      So real news will still be out there even if Chrystia succeeds in banning Russian news sources.

  9. Wow so the Soviet 70s style propaganda does actually work on some people. How does it feel to be one of Putins useful idiots?

    2. A hell of a lot better than one of the Biden puppet masters sycophant dimwits.

      Nope. I won’t wear the ribbon. The ribbon of stupidity

    3. Years of CBC propaganda along with other Canadian Legacy media coupled with outright lies from those that brought you WE Charity, SNC-Lavalin, and the marginalizing people they disagree with as having “unacceptable views” will do that – Not Putin.

      Do you seriously think that f*cking with your law abiding taxpaying citizens for 7 years buy’s their support when you need it?

    4. You’d be the resident expert on acting like an idiot, except in your case, it’s the useless version. Shouldn’t you be out stealing jobs from truckers who got fucked over by the ukro-nazi and her puppet?

    5. For once, accidentally I am sure, you’re on the right side of history, don’t get too cocky, even a blind squirrel…

    1. 3 words – Israeli Natural Gas. Israel has discovered massive reserves of natural gas on their continental shelf, and have started to monetise it. They suggested building a pipeline into the bottom of Europe to balance-out Nordstream, but OH, nonononono – “we MUST support those disenfranchised Palestinians and BOYCOTT anything Israeli – why, it’s just such a convenient excuse to cover-up our progressive-left-elites’ centuries-old antisemitism…”

      I’m led to believe that Russia’s (extremely expensive) presence in Syria propping-up Assad has two reasons behind it:
      1) Syria is Russia’s only foothold on the Mediterranean, and
      2) the Gulf states, plus a couple further-east former Soviet republics who’d LOVE to tear a chunk out of Russia’s market-share, are also rich in gas and would love to build pipelines into the bottom of Europe – but the pipelines would have to run through Syria…

      1. That is also. Israel and Turkey are very active in the conflict, although not that openly.

        3) Russkij gangsters have got too cocky and obnoxious, they have wanted a cut from European action a bit too big.

      2. Three more words: Polish Natural Gas.
        Two more words: Polish Coal.
        Two more words: Romanian Coal.

        All suppressed by the Nordstream sucking green Germans on Kremlin’s payroll.

  11. A worth reading article but Russia also would not accept Ukraine’s membershi pof the EU, seeing that as a Trojan horse; don’t forget that the EU wants to form an EU army. That would have again resulted in NATO being on Russia’s borders.

  12. Breaking: Russia has declared the US ambassador persona non grata and ordered him out of Russia.

    John Sullivan is a Trump appointee kept on by Joe Biden.

    Only tweets so far but more reliable sources expected to follow.

  13. Jame sHoward Kunstler …
    “The current CIA-approved narrative wants you to believe that Vlad Putin seeks to reassemble the old Soviet Union and will move next to capture the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. I doubt this since all those countries have their own cultures rather emphatically hostile to Russia and required onerous operating subsidies from Moscow back in the Soviet day. Ukraine will surely be enough of a burden for Russia going forward.

    An alternate narrative to the CIA’s scare story would follow the Occam’s Razor rule that the simplest explanation is probably the truth — namely, that there was no other way to stop Ukraine’s shelling and mortar attacks against the ethnic Russian population in the Donbas which, by the way, was carried out with US-gifted armaments. And there was no other way to disabuse the USA from the idea that Ukraine should join NATO and thereby become a missile launching base on Russia’s border.”

    RTWT
    https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/dont-look-now-2/

    1. “Ukraine’s shelling and mortar attacks against the ethnic Russian population in the Donbas “

      That should read “Ukraine trying to reunite the entire Ukraine by waging war on the Russian Financed Ukrainian Rebels in the breakaway Donbas Region of Ukraine.”

      The United States did something similar in the 1860’s to reunite breakaway Southern States of the United States of America and we also ended that reprehensible “Peculiar Southern Institution” called Slavery.

      Didn’t Pierre Trudeau do something on a lesser scale in the 1970’s to keep that other language speaking province of Quebec in Canada. Something War Measures Act? Shootings, Kidnappings, and hundreds of Bombings by rebels sounds a whole lot like a guerilla war.

      1. ” Didn’t Pierre Trudeau do something on a lesser scale in the 1970’s to keep that other language speaking province of Quebec in Canada. Something War Measures Act? Shootings, Kidnappings, and hundreds of Bombings by rebels sounds a whole lot like a guerilla war.”

        Yes it does.
        Shame the rebels never succeeded, would be a different Canada now.

    2. “The current CIA-approved narrative wants you to believe that Vlad Putin seeks to reassemble the old Soviet Union and will move next to capture the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.”

      Vlad IS planning to retake the Baltic States, and for a number of years now he’s been using his chosen seedcorn – freely giving Russian passports to anybody in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who shows the slightest interest. This is exactly how he took Abkhazia and Moldova from Georgia, and how he took Crimea and is now attempting to take Donetsk and Luhansk from Ukraine. He’s just GOT to march-in to protect Russians living there; and there are a lot of former Soviet bigwigs and families in the Baltic States, who were shipped-in to run the place during Soviet times as the Politburo only trusted Russians to manage the SSR’s. Funny how not a single one of the Baltic States wants to rejoin Russia…

      The Baltic States know what the passport-game means, and they’re waging serious hearts-and-minds campaigns to absorb the former Soviet Russians into their cultures and countries, plus inviting NATO exercises and contingents to set-up on their soil. It’s pretty obvious why Zelensky wants to join NATO and the EU – and why Vlad would invade to stop him.

      1. @ Y.Knott – “The Baltic States know what the passport-game means,”

        Are we talking about Putin here, or Trudeau, the US democrats, or the EU?

        A little confused about the “passport game”.

          1. @Clayton E Cramer,

            I’d rather you explain the “passport game” to me, you sound very, very intelligent. BTW will you help support to get Trudeau to bring in 1 million Ukrainian refugees? It would help meet his promised immigration quota for the next two years.

            We should be sending boats and planes to Ukraine like we did for the Lebanese dual citizens in 2006, at a cost of only $94 million.

          2. Paul, if Little Potato was interested in accepting refugees for “the good of humanity”, he would’ve taken-in the white South African farmers; instead, they all ended-up going to Russia as the only country that would let them in. Our lefty elites? – “OH nonononono, we want FEWER privileged white male cisheterosexual rayciss-misoginiss-haters, NOT more!”

            Likewise, I doubt Little Potato will want many Ukrainian immigrants. Some of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Truckers’ Protest were Eastern Europeans who’d lived under communism and could see what our Liberal government was clearly setting-out to do here in Canada. The Ukrainians have seen that movie too, and I don’t imagine they’d placidly settle down in Toronto, collect their welfare and vote Liberal like good little captive voters.

            Besides, I betcha’ Little Potato admires Vlad’s basic dictatorship too… (-_-)

          3. @Y. Knott

            Ah, so Trudeau plays this “passport game” as well. Probably the EU and the US democrats every bit as much.

            There is no question that Blackface admires dictators, he emulates them and brags about it.

      2. OK so you admit there are sizable Russian minorities in these states. Becaue who else would want a Russian passport. Estonians don’t really get to live and work in Russia, while speaking Estonian.

        Part of your reasoning sounds a bit like rehashed 1930’s Baltic Nazi propaganda, to be honest – those beastly Slavs, infiltrating our pure Aryan lands, and then triggering Soviet invasions. We must fight!

          1. “Occupation ” not “domination” Brutal sociopathic occupation and at times genocide. This a Siberian Mongol way.

        2. FOAD, every citizen of civilized world loyal to Pootinistan is a traitor and deserves traitor’s treatment. Banishment is better than what they deserve.

      3. “This is exactly how he took Abkhazia and Moldova from Georgia, ”

        Ugh, I think you mean he took Abkhazia and Ossetia from Georgia and Transnistria from Moldova. But yes, your analysis is spot on.

        All Baltic states should void citizenship of every Siberian Mongol passport holder and have them expelled. At bayonet point of need be.. they are nothing but remnants of occupation force. Now is probably a good time to do that.

        1. *sigh* – figgers you’d be the one to correct my mammoth $crew-up. “Abkhazia and Ossetia from Georgia, Transnistria from Moldova” – got it! 😉

          – Also figgers you’re the only one to correct me on this. Going back to lurking – all our fellow-commentators are entitled to their opinions of course, but D@MN! some of them are lame…

          And I totally agree re: passports; one-month amnesty to turn ’em in and take our passport instead: then collect their holders, drive ’em to the nearest border crossing, make clear to them they’re no longer welcome in our country and turn ’em loose. If they come back, they’re arrested and driven back to the border.

  14. I think PDT would have been able to make a fair and reasonable peace deal because although he may be a bombastic PITA, he knows everyone in a deal needs to feel they are getting something.

    Trump would have done something simple like making an agreement that Ukraine agrees to not join NATO or the Russian version of it for 10 or 20 years. (this would raise Russia’s stature too) Maybe with a few caveats like if Russia joins NATO, then Ukraine can too. After privately reminding that China will never be their “Everlasting Socialist Friend,” just like Mao and Brezhnev in the late 1960’s. Because you know China is eyeing that big, empty resource rich Siberia after they take Taiwan.

    A big part of his deal would be economic, with some sort of Ukraine is a Russian-European-North American Duty free zone. Trump understands money makes war AND peace possible.

    1. “would have been” but reality is that Big Fraud of 2020 happened and we are at a point where ALL G7 leaders are incapable of dealing with this crisis. All our Dear Leaders are a bunch of clueless neo-eco-Marxist woke/WEF gloablists. And I have a strong impression that the West is being played like a violin. Shooting themselves in the foot with SWIFT shutdown etc. Xi is laughing, probably Putin as well. Because that loong line of military supplies looked like a click-bait to me. And I don’t know but the ‘war’ so far is more for the media. Keep in mind that Putin is KGB, he’s MASTER in manipulation, disinformation and propaganda.

      1. Yup, this whole thing smells like G7/ G20 globalism from the beginning. No Putin isn’t a fucking good guy, and yes China is obviously a murderous bloody communist regime – but this has all been manufactured by globalists on all sides playing a geopolitical 4 dimensional chess game, with Ukraine as the field of battle and all of us the pawns.

        Picking sides in this is simply foolish, although obviously the devastation on Ukraine is barbaric and criminal in need of civilized humanitarian support.

        The point is who is truly responsible here. Obviously Putin for pulling the trigger, but who set the trap?

          1. @Ward – quite possibly. We will know for certain once the dust settles and who ends up with allot more power than they started with and a few extra 400ft yachts.

          3. They should turn yacht into a Ukrainian refugee hotel, that’s what Poles have done with some of seized Pootinista property.

        2. My guess: this is a war-by-proxy, phase 2 of a WW3 which started with Wufan Flu as phase 1. Probably Xi is trying to slide to #1. And this Ukraine escalation is sort of “Look, squirell!” while Xi is grabbing control of energy supply chain. Yes, what’s happening in Ukraine is terrible. But while everyone is busy condemning Putin, singing Give Peace a Chance and dealing with refugee crisis, China is reshaping entire energy supply chain.

          1. @DanC – Likely as well, China has everything to gain here and the west pushed Putin into it’s arms. If that was the case then it’s some excellent strategic misdirection by China during it’s global popularity downfall. China pretends to remain “neutral” while watching enemies on all it’s own borders weaken (economically, politically and militarily). Quite a play if that was the case.

  15. NATO is a defensive alliance.

    Ukrainian membership of NATO is no threat to Russian security. The only reason that Russia has to invade Ukraine now is that NATO membership would make invasion more difficult in the future..

    Invaders always have excuses.. that doesn’t make them legitimate.

    1. Didn’t the “defensive” alliance of NATO bomb Serbia for 3 months to force them to allow Kosovo independence?

      2. You’re saying it like bombing Serbia was bad thing? Like ever?

        Besides yes it was a NATO operation, no NATO memeber was obliged to participate. NATO members are only obliged to defend one another. And none wants to attack the Siberian Mongols… ever. Every neighbor of Siberian Mongol OTOH wants to join NATO to protect from themselves from Siberian Mongols, because those who don’t end up with Siberian Mongols invading their countries.

    2. Didn’t that “defensive alliance” bomb Libya, force a regime change and gave Libya back to an endless civil war? Which later resulted in the overrunning of the American embassy and killing of diplomats as the US gov’t sat on its a$$.

    4. Except once on NATO the Ukraine could force Russia into conflict over Crimea, which the Russians will not give back. Then Ukraine brings the rest of NATO in and voila, Russia is toast.
      I think alot of the people asserting there was no justification for Russia’s actions are being purposely obtuse.

  16. Thought two:

    Would Russia be capable of waging war if they did not have higher oil prices and more demand?

    Russia is selling 500,000 Bbls/day to the US and how much more to Canada and Europe? That is $50,000,000.00 dollars per DAY going to Russia, $18 Billion per year from the US alone. $18 Billion per year an Energy Independent US would not be sending to Russia.

    If the Keystone pipeline had been finished, that is not only the 18 Billion dollars from the US that Putin would not had to wage war, but how much lower would world oil prces have been? Maybe $70/bbl or $60/bbl?

    At $60/bbl, that 500,000 bbl/day is only 11 Billion per year, not $18 Billion. Would Russia be able to wage war if their economy is getting 60% less for their oil, not just from the US, but also Europe and the World? Would they be able to buy the Jets, Tanks, Warships, Missiles, and all the bombs, rockets, and shells needed to attack Ukraine? It takes a lot of actual money to keep their own people employed, fed, and happy. If their income is less, then the military does not get all they want. They get only 1/2 or 1/3 of all the jets, tanks, and ammo they want. Warships get postponed, new tanks orders are cancelled, drills and exercises get cancelled.

    Stupid Executive Orders F. Joe Biden implemented in his first week made this war possible by making the US dependent on Russian Oil AND Raising the price of oil and natural gas world wide. What policies? Cancelling Keystone XL and stopping all fracking leases and permits on Federal Land.

    Less Oil Supply means Higher Prices means Russia can finance a bigger military.

  17. “What might that have looked like? For Moscow, a recognition of its strategic claim on Crimea and the port of Sevastopol as the home of its Black Sea Fleet. For Kyiv, the promise of political independence and greater integration with Europe in exchange for territorial concessions.”

    The flaw in all these arguments is the silly presumption that “recognition” and “territorial concessions” would have satiated Putin’s imperious greed.

  18. “The West should have also considered the folly and recklessness of floating the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine”. Of course, but our dear governments will never recognize that, because it would mean admitting they were wrong (which they never do) and that they have to share part of the blame for the huge mess this situation has become. Easier to stay the course with the message “Russia=evil” and “our expansion=good, their expansion=bad”.

  19. Putin spent well when he funded all those anti-oil and anti-pipeline protest movements.

    I guess all those protesters are proud of how they enriched and enabled Putin?

    1. Putin wasn’t playing that game alone – all the GREEEENS in the ‘States, from Bill Gates to the Sierra Club, were right in there pushing-away too, and still are. I support Jason Kenney wanting to take the fight to them and drive their anti-oil charade out of Alberta – but I notice he hasn’t yet…

  20. Does anyone really believe this is about NATO membership?

    NATO is all over Europe. It’s already on Russia’s borders. Putin wants to recreate the Soviet empire from its long scattered ashes. Russia is ripe for a change in leadership. You can’t pay armies when your oil is shut in.

      1. I would imagine money. And an economy that runs on energy, mostly exported energy, isn’t going to survive when buyers can only be found at much diminished prices.

    1. Why go back 30 years? Just go back 8. Russia was losing control of its former colony, it preferring trade with the west, trade that accelerated the last 10 years.

      Look at Georgia. Chechnya, Was NATO membership a concern there as well?

      If NATO membership was questionable before 2014, it certainly wasn’t afterwards. It became a primary endeavor for Ukraine’s survival.

    2. Thank you for the link!
      Everyone needs to consider these remarks before they commit to an opinion.

  23. Under the Budapest Memorandum of 1993 the US, UK and Russia individually gave assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. Putin decided this was a bad deal and ignored this undertaking (much like China has done with their undertaking with respect to Hong Kong). Starting this war is evidence of a madman and history has shown that appeasement of Russia with respect to the Ukraine would have stopped there.

    1. The USA has not followed up on their commitment to protect Ukraine under the Budapest Memorandum. Why should anyone trust any guarantees made by the USA after this?

      Since Putin lied about so much regarding Russian / Ukrainian history, at the very least, the US should state that loaning Ukraine multiple weapons systems – like the A-10 – is within the bounds of the Budapest Memorandum. If Putin doesn’t like it, invite him to court in the Hague for discussions.

      A few squadrons of A-10s – which some Ukrainian pilots have trained on – could make short work of that long convoy.

      1. And from what airbase are your A10 Squadrons going to fly out of? Because if it’s on NATO soil (and it would have to be at this point) then NATO has just committed an act of war against Russia. Not our cat’s paw Ukraine but the US-led NATO itself. Now the stakes have been raised to unimaginable levels. Even our addled dementia patient in the White House isn’t that dumb.

        1. Applause! Nonsense, NATO is already sending weapons to Ukraine. If they can send missiles they can send planes. Similarly they can send volunteers as long s they are all under Ukrainian control all is kosher.

          Although they will not send A-10s ever as they do not have enough of them, the stocks of spares are low and production lines have long closed. A couple of squadrons of F-16s OTOH…..

      2. The Budapest Memorandum was three separate agreements where each signatory made individual commitments so technically the US did not guarantee Ukraine sovereignty and has no grounds to act under that agreement. However, you are right that there is nothing to prevent the US from supporting the Ukraine with weapon systems (much like the Lend Lease Program in WWII). You could argue that the West has a moral obligation since we enabled Russian aggression through our insane energy policies. Also, it is now in the West’s security interest that not only does Russia fail in Ukraine but the Putin is no longer the leader of Russia. Hopefully Russians will rise to the occasion and do it sooner than later.

        1. “Hopefully Russians will rise to the occasion and do it sooner than later.”

          I would be very surprised if the happened. Unless things go very badly for the Pootinista attack. An average Siberian Mongol loves and worships their dictators and loves raping and pillaging their betters in the name of mother russia.

  24. Speculation is a fools errand. Nothing is cut and dried. Everything – agreements, accords whatever – is null and void.
    Zelensky has reportedly made some changes in his management team.
    How many Alexander Vindmans are there?
    Ukraine? How about Canada? Who’s going to stop him?

  25. Then I guess you could also say that, given the recent events, the need for Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO was because of the continual and real threat Russia posed.
    Besides, NATO is defensive. If you’re not belligerent, why would you oppose it? US nukes on Ukrainian soil would be a completely different issue, so don’t confuse them. Russia shouldn’t have to tolerate US nukes anywhere near them, but that’s not the what the war is about.

  27. Like I said. Who’s going to stop him?
    Pentagon Press Sec. Kirby “Our Minuteman-III intercontinental ballistic missile test launch scheduled for this week [will be] postponed…to demonstrate that we are a responsible nuclear power.”

  28. Follow the money.
    1949 – NATO created to repel threat of Soviet invasion of Western Europe. NATO guns pointed at Russia.
    1954 – Warsaw Pact created to assist Moscow to repel NATO guns pointed at Russia.
    1991 – The Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact dissolves. NATO guns still pointed at Russia.
    1954 – 1989 – NATO spent over 10 trillion in 1992 dollars to keep guns pointed at Russia.
    1991 – NATO does not reciprocate and dissolve. Keeps guns pointed at Russia.
    1994 – NATO spending on their guns pointed at Russia continues the trend of dropping up to 20%.
    1991 – NATO pledges no eastward expansion.
    1997 – NATO expands to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for more guns pointed at Russia.
    2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO for more guns pointed at Russia.
    2009 – Albania and Croatia join NATO for even more guns pointed at Russia.
    2017 – Montenegro joins NATO to add their guns pointed at Russia.
    2020 – North Macedonia joins NATO to add their guns pointed at Russia.
    2022 – Russia invades Ukraine.
    It’s obvious NATO is a gift to those that make the guns and bullets while maintaining an American hegemony over Europe.
    Its why they remained and didn’t dissolve after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
    They were desperate to find an enemy to justify their existence. They prodded the Russian bear until the bear reacted.
    Now they can relax and rake in the money if they don’t provoke Russia into going nuclear with their hysteric media leading the charge.

    2. Right out of the Russian propaganda playbook.
      What Numbnuts leaves out: all these countries were under the Russian Communist heel, and decided never again.
      Now that Russia’s fascist, you all love it.

    4. You do understand that all those neighbors pointing their guns at poor old russia, do so because they are under threat of russian invasion? Those who don;t like Ukrine, Georgia or Moldova get invaded.

      Also not sure how Croatia, Sovenia and Albania aim their guns at russia.

  29. And here’s another thing I did not know – Russia demanded that NATO be disbanded, not that Ukraine not join it. Thru Instapundit:

    “So yes, Russia does feel threatened by NATO, but not in the sense that Russia or you imply. Russia feels threatened because it wants its empire back, and NATO is standing in the way.

    This seems a relevant moment to remind readers that dissolving NATO was precisely what Russia demanded in its ultimatum before it invaded Ukraine. It did not demand that Ukraine abstain from joining NATO, as many seem to think. Here are the so-caled treaties Russia issued on December 17:

    Treaty between The United States of America and the Russian Federation on security guarantees

    Agreement on measures to ensure the security of The Russian Federation and member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization”

    https://claireberlinski.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-editor-a-response?s=r

    1. And I personally feel myself a bit suspicious of the Russian “two-day victory speech”; not that the words themselves are in any way unbelievable, but seeing them all in one place is – though I note that Vlad did not sign it.

      However, if two words could add a patina of plausibility to it all, they’d be “Boris Nemtsov”.

      Or maybe “Sergei Magnitsky”.

      Or maybe “Aleksander Litvinenko”.

      Or maybe “Anna Politkovskaya”.

      Or maybe “Sergei Skripal”, or “his daughter”.

      Need more? – there’s lots more.

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