kevinkin

Somehow I think that was disingenuous i.e. an indirect insult.

We just had a thunderstorm so I turned off the watering system just now. The deer in the back yard had a shower and water flowed into the pond. Life goes on.

Man, did I win this one. Maneuver warfare baby.

See ya. I will buy everyone a beer when Ukraine wins.

Are you serious?

Why three and not one or ten? This is not a an high school or college level test you know. Where is the blue book for heaven's sake. So here is a start: take your three statements print them out, go let some young warriors read and laugh at them while we empower the warrior to win the war in several weeks. It's not as complicated as you write about. Firepower has a language all its own. And is not verbose. People have always attacked me first and I just come back with a short retort that frustrates them. I do so with precision not multi worded cluster bombs.

Very Funny. However I am not a kiss *** if you know what that means.

Before I go, I never held contempt for anyone or their positions. If so, prove it to the community. Give us all a break. I think you are becoming very nervous since everything you hold dear for whatever reason is falling apart and you and others are taking it out on me. None can't refute my positions. None. I would welcome a Ukrainian breakthrough, but this war is same old same old. There is difference between cheerleaders and leaders: take a second and think about that is the context of geostrategy.

Ok. I will take a self imposed vacation and when I come back and proven correct it will not be rewarding for me, or you, or Ukraine. I am not aggressive nor a evangelist. People just don't like my views because this is a community of narrow minded thinkers. I would not want to be in a fox hole with them.

Nothing I have posted remoting falls into that spectrum. It's opinion based on interpretation of information available. I believe my interpretation is grounded on the available information and not based on cheerleaders who never had a bullet fire at them in war.

Something you don't get. Just be quiet OK. It takes you paragraphs to make a single point and we all struggle to understand the point you are making. If you don't like my position say "I don't like your position" without all the drama of a 13 year old on her first date.

Interesting thought. I don't think the USA will ever elect a high level military commander to POTUS in my life time. And once they get to that high military level, the Senate and Congress are, well, sort of a lower level position. It's because those in the US military that rise to high ranks are: educated, experienced in communication and can cut through the BS and are overall pretty nice leaders. They want the US to give them a mission and leave them alone. What is most American want - to be left alone in the private lives. That's why I respect Kirby. Non-elected, but a straight shooter. He his loyal to his Boss and will support the Constitution to his death. He is an Admiral and gets it. I think he is the glue that hold the US admin and exec branch together. I am just giving kuddos to Kirby; an adult in the room.

Whatever happened to that guy. Did lose himself in a bottle Irish whiskey? No ill will, but has he disappeared for lack of creditability on news outlets? Maybe he made his money and decided the flak was not worth it. Or maybe when the ****er tucker went by by he did as well.

This war is not fun. And you brought up an escalation approach that I have been condemned for. I like your operational idea. HIMARS across NATO ground covered by F35s etc.. Flights of F15s would keep Russia grounded. They have no solution. Folks don't know how much better our EW is. A measured approach to war gets more people killed. We all know that. We have all read the same books. Just get it done. Leave Putin an escape if need be. But shut this war down. Who cares about exact borders? I know 99.9999% of Americans don't. And we pay the bills. I will support tax dollars going into a quickly wining strategy. But what the US is doing in this war is cruel. I would enjoy reading an essay as to why the USA can't win this war on behalf of Ukraine and the world within 4 weeks. I have my thoughts why and why not.

I guess that's checkmate. Let's reset the clock and call it a night.

Who is they? And I am very interested. Take a day, do some research and post some links. I can't find anything to support what you are saying. At least to a point that would have saved Ukraine from the generation destruction we a watching.

That is interesting. A small little green man invasion would have been more effective than the a moderate conventional strike on Kiev as we witnessed. I think the entire idea was for Russia to surprise the US with a lighting strike. and hold ground without an insurgency. Little green people can't do that. Russia thought they could do this on the cheap. The RA did not amass the arms they have now at the front and all the combat learning they have developed (at least in defensive warfare) and direct it at Ukraine. It would been too obvious to the west and the war would just peter out at the border. To our credit, the west was stronger than Putin thought. Ukraine's defense of itself is a military miracle. So if the US and western Europe got lucky, why tempt those odds?. How do we change those odds? Who is going to benefit in end? The US and Europe are running out of young men to pull triggers. China Russia and Iran know that. Can you imagine the policy delay if the US started a draft? Democracies are a lot stronger when they display strength and compassion. I see neither in the reporting on this war. In DC, we have pencil pushers making well above average salaries watching Ukraine die and going to kid's soccer games in the afternoon. It is embarrassing.

Enough - ever seen the stats on Ukrainian losses? American power should transcend administrations and name blaming. That is just dividing and counter productive. I was not saying Biden screwed up. I was trying to say American has lost it's strategic vision. We are being out maneuvered in the southern hemisphere. Russia and China might be using cannon fodder in Ukraine to keep the west distracted. Horrible. The US should know better.

Wrong? Group speak is just that. I shot an 80 in the rain today and still lost by two stokes. I enjoy the competition. But not losing 500 bucks. Back to the range. So what did I say exactly?

Do you have any proof of that? But if you are correct, the USA is in more of decline a than most understand. It's cards are therefore becoming fewer and fewer. But that's another topic, but still sad. We knew Putin is a madman, we did blink.

My words "stare down" were not precise, but accurate. This war was preventable and it makes me worry about America's role in the world. So many things could have deterred Putin with his economy the size of Italy and with so many structural problems. For example, why did the US publicly announce a strategic shift to the Pacific. That left Putin chomping at the bit and China just ready to finance a disruptive war against the west. This is WW3 and the US can't use proxies to win it. Not just for the west but also for the Russian people. Does anyone hate Russian women and children? These types of regimes have to be beaten to a pulp. Then their people will embrace western ideals. You see, just a few people in the world are are making policy killing thousands in Ukraine just so that their power is maintained. That has to stop. Only the US can do it. The United States spent $766 billion on national defense during fiscal year (FY) 2022 according to the Office of Management and Budget, which amounted to 12 percent of federal spending. Defense spending in 2022 was less than the average for the last decade, which was 15 percent of the budget. How is that money influencing the world for the good if we don't deploy it the name of good. It's embarrassing.

I have been thinking about that but never mentioned that the "dithering" might be thought of luring Putin into a Strategic Trap that they can't get out of. The counter thought is that with China's support, Russian is hanging in and are all the Ukrainian lives worth it? At some point the USA will have put some real skin in the game. I will never take down my American flag, but it might have to lowered to half mast. BTW, this war was nothing fun associated with it.

Tux, I not did not take it that way at all. I enjoy the discussion. This war has created raw emotions. If I bring out those emotions, it's on me, not you. We are mostly all on the same team. I am neither a fool nor an opportunist. "The time for “staring” was between 2014 and 2022 and we failed on that at every turn across the entire political spectrum. The reasons were pretty simple - you can’t just stare, you have to be ready to back it up, and no one in the US or entire western world was going to do that for Ukraine." Funny, someone made my exact point for me; albeit without knowing they did so. Stare is just a metaphor for backing in up. And Ukraine was left out on a limb compared to our support to the ROC.

Using whatever is ever left of American power to stop Putin's war in it's tracks with diplomacy. War is a mistake and not inevitable. We are doing a pretty good job keeping China at bay and out of the ROC; but if the US had all this great intel; what did they do with it? I don't recall any attempt of arm Ukraine like we have the ROC. Ukraine was expendable I guess? Easier to deal with a rational China than a irrational Russia. It almost like we encouraged Russia and did not try to deter Russia. Did POTUS go on prime time to warn off Putin? Nope. Books will be written on such a failure of leadership that is costing so many lives especially knowing if war started it would cause so much human suffering. The wishful thinking that Putin would not attack was not leadership. Ok, I am beating a dead horse.

Interesting but sometimes odd review of open source intel: https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/3511951/russia-ukraine-and-the-future-use-of-strategic-intelligence/ The nature of the crisis—the first major state-on-state conflict in Europe since the Second World War—demanded a unique response. The United States thus sought to leverage intelligence in a manner to convince allies of the imminent threat and, to a lesser degree, dissuade Moscow from acting, while signaling that it had deep insights into the Kremlin’s plans. More than anything else, the United States had the benefit of the truth on its side—Washington was seen as a trusted information broker by most, particularly in the face of a belligerent and perceived pathological liar in Russia. Furthermore, the truth of the intelligence was validated by a far more established third-party open-source community than in previous incidents. So that begs the question: why didn't the US stare down Putin if we so good and knew so much?