asurob

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

This absolutely, various op eds are working hard to undermine the current US support for the war because of ...well reasons.  Mostly to do whatever damage they can to the current administration. 
Say what you want about the current occupant of the White House.  His handling of the Russian invasion of a European democracy and the unifying of NATO countries to oppose it has absolutely been spot on.  We all know with a certainty how this would have gone had the previous administration been in charge. 

Avoiding any partisan statement whatsoever, it's clear that in virtually every US administration before this one there was a distinct lack of desire and/or political will to grab the nettle on Russia. In some cases those reasons were understandable and justifiable at the time and some were not. What is quite clear is that this administration decided as of last April that the time had come to do so and then put considerable effort and time in to alter the outcome Putin expected. This was not without cost. I personally think that the conduct of the exit from Afghanistan was affected as officials were at the time already feverishly working the issue. DC observers were criticizing Jake Sherman at the time for seeming preoccupied as Kabul fell. Now, we know why. 
In short, I think Putin would have succeeded at almost any time before 2020 in getting a better outcome with greater or lesser levels of resistance depending on the particular occupant of the office but the reaction of this White House has been highly exceptional in scope and degree. 

Why can't those American and British imperialists let Putin kill Ukrainians in peace!?
Some of those "enlightened" far left and far right pro-Putin types are something else.

The President of Poland visited the Ukrainian parliament in person.
Relations between Poland and Ukraine seem better than ever.

I agree.
Only a monster would shoot in portrait.

well, one more:  did you hear the utter bull-s--t RP spewed about covid and vaccines?  How many americans died because he sat there in the senate telling endless lies, attacking the CDC constantly?  feeding into the lie machine that was literally killing hundreds of americans every day.  That's Rand Paul.

as if no one has bothered to think about where the weapons are going?  Oh, gosh golly, we're all utterly f-ing incompetent and need serial con man RP to lecture us on good governance.

This is not quite right.  ~1/2 US people don't end up paying federal income taxes.  This gets promulgated into the myth that half of america is free loading.  These are children, stay at home parents, disabled, etc plus the majority which is low income folks.  But low income folks DO pay social security and medicare taxes.  Since Social Security, and Medicare make up ~1/3 of the budget and around half of mandatory spending, they are chipping in.  And they are paying all sorts of state & local taxes.  I don't want to distract just wanted to clarify a bit.
But if anyone thinks being low income worker is free loading, they should try it for a while. 

Ignoring any specific personalities in this post; I just wanted to highlight that this attitude is one of the things I love about working with most Americans. If more of us chose to view the world this way it will be a better place, doing what’s right because you can, not because it is easy. If it also happens to strengthen your allies and interests, even better. Am I optimistic? Yes, but it sure as hell beats being negative for the sake of being negative - nothing gets done with that attitude. 
Just a little positive thought from a Canadian! Back to the war… this is all I will say on this topic. 
(Also, long time thread watcher, second post. Been here since around page 150 or so. Thanks to all for the excellent insights and to the strength of our Ukrainian members here. Glory to Ukraine!) 

I was just coming to post this.  At some point...the Russian navy will figure out it's a bad idea to sail anywhere within missile range right guys?  Right?

Its on the to-do list.  Right after "combined arms" and "logistics", and slightly in front of "do not try the same water crossing more than three times [baby steps]"

https://news.sky.com/story/as-boris-johnson-heads-to-finland-what-will-it-mean-if-the-finns-join-nato-12610045
Finland's prime minister and president have said the historically neutral country, which fought the Soviets in WWII and lost, must seek membership of the defensive pact. 
 
Let me be the first to congratulate Vlad Putin on rescuing NATO from the dustbin of history.  Actions, meet consequences.  I expect Sweden to follow soon.

Take with a grain of salt of course. What's sure is that Russians didn't give up on the Snake Island, which slowly turns into Black Sea Fleet's Chornobayivka. 
 

https://news.sky.com/story/as-boris-johnson-heads-to-finland-what-will-it-mean-if-the-finns-join-nato-12610045
Finland's prime minister and president have said the historically neutral country, which fought the Soviets in WWII and lost, must seek membership of the defensive pact. 
 
Let me be the first to congratulate Vlad Putin on rescuing NATO from the dustbin of history.  Actions, meet consequences.  I expect Sweden to follow soon.

https://news.sky.com/story/as-boris-johnson-heads-to-finland-what-will-it-mean-if-the-finns-join-nato-12610045
Finland's prime minister and president have said the historically neutral country, which fought the Soviets in WWII and lost, must seek membership of the defensive pact. 
 
Let me be the first to congratulate Vlad Putin on rescuing NATO from the dustbin of history.  Actions, meet consequences.  I expect Sweden to follow soon.

Total respect for the guys in Azovstal, how they keep going I don't know.  Hope they are getting supplied somehow but don't want any details.

https://news.sky.com/story/as-boris-johnson-heads-to-finland-what-will-it-mean-if-the-finns-join-nato-12610045
Finland's prime minister and president have said the historically neutral country, which fought the Soviets in WWII and lost, must seek membership of the defensive pact. 
 
Let me be the first to congratulate Vlad Putin on rescuing NATO from the dustbin of history.  Actions, meet consequences.  I expect Sweden to follow soon.

https://news.sky.com/story/as-boris-johnson-heads-to-finland-what-will-it-mean-if-the-finns-join-nato-12610045
Finland's prime minister and president have said the historically neutral country, which fought the Soviets in WWII and lost, must seek membership of the defensive pact. 
 
Let me be the first to congratulate Vlad Putin on rescuing NATO from the dustbin of history.  Actions, meet consequences.  I expect Sweden to follow soon.

https://news.sky.com/story/as-boris-johnson-heads-to-finland-what-will-it-mean-if-the-finns-join-nato-12610045
Finland's prime minister and president have said the historically neutral country, which fought the Soviets in WWII and lost, must seek membership of the defensive pact. 
 
Let me be the first to congratulate Vlad Putin on rescuing NATO from the dustbin of history.  Actions, meet consequences.  I expect Sweden to follow soon.