G.I. Joe

Heh.  Starshe Edda needs to learn what another 'geopolitical error'  is.  Attacking Poland or any other Baltic State.  Damn, the Russian bear's face is already stung and badly swollen from sticking it into the Ukrainian wasp nest.   And they want to do it again... with murder hornets this time.  That is some cosmic level stupidity going on right now.

Meanwhile in Poland - Land Forces Training Center, 10 minute drive from my apartment:
 

Absolutely. The tendency is reactionary whether on the left or right and against democratic government (i.e. small 'L' liberal ideas of government). John Ganz writes about this a lot in a substack called Unpopular Front where he goes deeply into the Dreyfus Affair, the attempted coup of 1934 in Paris, etc. He speaks from somewhere in the middle/left but is well worth reading for everyone because what we are looking at in modern American politics is not a normal partisan dispute. It's about the basics of what our society considers to be a legitimate way to govern. His take is that we are in a similar moment to post-Dreyfus France. 
https://johnganz.substack.com/p/feb-6-1934jan-6-2021
What does this have to do with Ukraine? Simply that the global rise in this sort of politics has it's spiritual home and inspiration in Putin's mode of government as much as the Bund looked to Berlin. This is part of and the point of the war.
 

No, not missing any point. I merely think your premise is mistaken, and (possibly) skewed by good old fashioned partisanship.  Too much time reading those sinister Liberal Sites, tsk tsk....
Nobody can seriously deny that isolationism is a much bigger faction in the GOP today. The American Conservative reads now like Pat Buchanan essays cribbed by AI.
And there's a logic to it: it gets votes with The Dam Furriners Took Our Jerbs! folks (they DO have some valid gripes on that, btw).
...That said, since Reagan, the GOP has always made one huge exception to their idee fixe of Big Gov Bad / Starve The Beast: that's the uniformed services and MIC.
All those GOP Congressmen live or die based on defence plants and bases in their districts. Hell, that's all the industry left there now (see point above), other than building  trades and agribiz (which also likes globalism and Ukraine btw).
Also, NO US flag officer* backs Russia.  Serving officers (and revolving door retirees in the MIC) still command respect, even among the wingnuts.
Finally, there's America's 51st State in the Mideast which will NOT be cut off, ever. Good luck tackling that one, Tucker.  Didn't work out well for Buchanan.
So whose interests will most (not all, sure) of these Reps *actually* vote when push comes to shove?  You really don't think there's more than enough largesse out there to tip the balance as needed?

* MacGregor retired at only LTC; he has been a Team B gadfly since 73 Easting. There is no Smedley Butler out there.

1.  Before we blame all this on isolationist Deplorable Know Nothings, take a deep whiff of this....
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/12/russia-sitrep-of-sorts.html
This is the Old (nonwoke) Left Berniecrat blog, although they've chucked him too now. The founders keep quoting the same 8 highly erratic people (Ritter, MacGregor, Helmer, MofA, Mercouris, etc.) in rotation, while ruthlessly sanitising anyone who dares challenge Kremlin-origin alternative facts.
Such as:
- the UA is now losing a battalion a day in Bakhmut, and while lavishly equipped out of NATO's now rapidly depleting stocks they are incompetently/cowardly commanded and poorly fed, while medevac is at 1941 levels. Local logistics is a corrupt shambles; their rail net is shut down. The UA can't keep tank battalions operating, still less warplane squadrons. Their sole effective strike arm, HIMARS/arty is all Western-crewed and you know, those perfidious BoJo commandos.....
- Azov, Kraken, et al., are mafiya-run SS skinhead militias who won't fight (unless trapped a la Mariupol). They force middle aged UA conscripts to stay in the line, when they aren't busy enforcing blanket 'OPSEC' on civilians, cleansing out Russian speakers or reselling foreign provided kit in Africa for big $$$.
- Whole regions of Ukraine are depopulating now, as their freezing-in-the-dark people decamp to become (unwelcome) refugees across the energy strapped EU. Their economy (already a patchwork of mafiya fiefdoms) is now ceasing to function, for war or any other purpose. EU cities are filled with Ukrainian child prostitutes. Oh, and huge numbers have fled, or been driven out to mother Russia.
(4th grade schoolyard logic: Well uhh... YOU are a poopyhead times 2!!!!!)
There's a Russian guy who comments, and even he prods now and then at the Putin rahrah echo chamber and quickly realises he is walking on eggshells. No outside views are tolerated: that is all a Vast MSMDNC Conspiracy.
2.  Once you're done there, go do a Ukraine search on pretty much any 'Left' journal or publication outside the Anglosphere (or nations bordering Russia who actually KNOW what they're dealing with).
...They make Tucker look 'fair and balanced'.

That lawn mower brigade was snarling at my mixed race 8 year old back in 2020 on the street in front of my house. 
Sorry to personalize it but I think it's important to that people understand what it was like to keep a baseball bat by the front door because actual fascists were parading around your city for a couple of years.
PS The point not being that my family went through some things but to make it clear that what people saw from a distance as a sudden event was actually a sustained effort for months/years that culminated in that event. And part of that effort was that the local police were effectively paralyzed by the administration in office. That's *not* a clown car. Tucker and his ilk should not be underestimated. 

I suspect this is a bit more than it seems.  Clearly the west has a lot to learn from the UA. but this point goes back to some references as to training the 82nd was doing with XIII corps.  There appears to be some things going on with Palantir that may reflect a different US war fighting capability than reflected in previous wars.  Just a guess.

The ANA wasn't nearly as motivated, educated, and committed like the UA are.

Just to be clear.
I don't fear a single match.  I fear an eager nearby crowd with combustibles.
Now back to my self-imposed temporary exile, but first I want to wish everyone the happiest of holidays.  For me that is Christmas, but celebrate as you wish, safely with the ones you love.  

Thank you for the link. I'll never again be able to hear 'Carol of the Bells' without thinking about its origins as the Ukrainian folk song  Щедрик (Shchedryk). BTW, for anyone interested, there are some beautiful arrangements on YT in its original form.
 
 

It seems he has many facts not exactly straight. Not ignoring suffering any single one of them, but number of 250k Ukrainian civilians killed seems way too high, and info about AFU capturing more vehicles at Izyum than NATO supplied to them is also probably highly exaggarated. Zeihan is very talented speaker, but he has tendency to be charrypeaking info that supports his views.
However, his concern about environmental disaster cause of this fleet of Russian rusty tankers recargoing at sea to circumvent sanctions is very good point. As well as crude oil stopping in pipelines due to weather- it is curious if Russians can figure out response to this problem somehow, as they partially did with their fleet of transport civilian planes that theoretically should being already grounded yet are still largely flying. Many inventive ways they can circumvent sanctions would require separate long video on its own.
 
A thread for memory, capturing most iconic photos of this war. Worth to remember them especially by us, who have luck to live in countries untouched by war, while we will tomorrow sat at Christmas tables (note some are very brutal and unblurred):
 

I was under the impression that the main reason stuff never gets fixed like economy or infrastructure is there isn't one agreed upon way to fix it and there isn't a majority enough to decide upon one way of attempting to resolve it.
Also it's really goddamn cheap all things considered. Consider if Russia had successfully annexed Ukraine? Not only would a emboldened Russia sit on NATO's eastern flank, China would undoubtedly be more confident of pressing against Taiwan. A U.S forced again to defend Europe and Asia is way more expensive than a scenario where Poland and Ukraine in the future could handle a Russian resurgence or flare up while the U.S focuses on Asia.
 
 

interesting article on the development of drone industry in US.
The drone wranglers: How the most authentic Old West town in the US is delivering the future of flight | ZDNET

Seems Zelensky was able to get under someone's skin
‘Get Rid of the Video!’: Putin Crony Freaks Out in Live TV Flop Over Zelensky Clip (yahoo.com)
 

Ah, this clarifies my thinking greatly, DanCA.  Putin is unintentionally running an experiment to see just how far he can push russian society until it breaks (meaning, breaks Putin).  There's been previous experiments but the conditions were very different so they don't tell us as much as one would think.  The number of casualties considered 'acceptable' in WW1 was certainly higher while communication, education, etc were much lower and the economy and people's expectations were vastly different.  As Steve has said, all the conditions for a tipping point are there but we won't know we've reached it until it actually tips. 
And much thanks to Harmon Rabb for the Xmas tree pick and his thoughts.  We had heavy freezing rain here last night so can't leave the house w/o falling, dog can't even do it.  But the electricity is on and it will all be melted by dawn tomorrow.  In Urkraine it's bad weather plus no electricity and it won't all be gone by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, some news from the front in the summary below.  Seems the grinding progress on Svatove-Kremmina front continues to grind forward, slowly. 
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/23/2143459/-Ukraine-update-Russia-sends-all-forces-in-Svatove-to-the-front-lines-as-Ukraine-presses-closer
 

You said it Billy Ringo!
I want to wish our friends living in Ukraine who contribute to this forum and the brave members of the AFU a Merry Christmas.
Last year around this time I remember I was thinking about corporate holiday bonuses and taking a vacation, this year I feel like none of that even matters.
All I want for Christmas is victory for Ukraine!
 

I woke up this morning to sub zero wind chills, howling wind and a little ice/snow on the ground.  Worried about the heat, do we have food in the fridge for a day or so, are the roads clear enough to go see my girlfriend,  etc.
Then I thought about Ukraine.  And I STFU about my own concerns.  
God Bless all of you in harms way, the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian refugees scattered all over Europe, and those in Ukraine trying to go about their daily lives with air raid sirens in the background wondering if today is their unlucky day.  The Ukrainian children taken from their homes/parents and now living in some backward hole in Russia---and think about my own kids in a similar situation.  Those that are no longer with us.
It makes me sad, then angry as Hell. 
God bless all of you going through such Hell and a return to safety and normalcy as soon as possible.  I've got nothing much else to offer but my words and my prayers. 
Peace to all.
(With apologies if this is a little off topic with regards to military strategy,etc. )
 

https://warontherocks.com/2022/12/is-china-planning-to-attack-taiwan-a-careful-consideration-of-available-evidence-says-no/
Opinion piece:
There is a conspicuous lack of evidence that the government has decided to pursue a military solution.... Chinese leaders routinely direct the military to prepare for Taiwan contingencies.
Neither has Beijing made any effort to rally public sentiment in favor of war against the island.... a course of action that would very likely shock the public, lead to severe economic disruption, and expose many people to serious harm or death. National unification may be a popular idea among Chinese citizens, but war isn’t.
The wargames favored at U.S. think tanks typically explore the devastating first few days of conflict but rarely consider what might happen afterwards. 
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2022/08/12/in-think-tanks-taiwan-war-game-us-beats-china-at-high-cost/

Some variants had Japan involved from the start. The Philippines allowed U.S. basing in some iterations, but not others. Game moderators permitted U.S. strikes on mainland China in some, but not others.
In a version earlier in the week, the United States lost 700 aircraft over the three-week battle.
War games once dominated discussions but fell to a low point during the counterinsurgency decades of the early 2000s.
A heavy element in the Marine planning for a war with China is its Marine Littoral Regiment, a still-forming unit that is experimenting with new weapons systems, formations and employment strategies....
In every scenario, once the conflict stars there’s a “forest of Chinese ships” around Taiwan. In other games the Chinese military sunk an entire Amphibious Ready Group twice.... every single time no Marine made it to the beaches of Taiwan
The Marines’ key weapon, the Naval Strike Missile, simply can’t shoot far enough with its 100 nautical mile range.... If I’m not on Taiwan, that weapon is basically useless.
While the China team had early successes, they lost far too much and took too many strikes on their ports and supply chain to continue the fight.
By the end of the game, the China team had more than 30 battalions on Taiwan, quite a feat in under three weeks of battle.
But the U.S. was able to cut off the Chinese resupply entirely, leaving thousands of simulated Chinese soldiers foraging for food, low on ammunition and trying to outmaneuver U.S. forces in a cat-and-mouse fight.
Once the U.S. gets its forces flowing into theater, the result is almost unchangeable — the U.S. wins, but at a heavy cost.... the Chinese Navy ceased to exist in any functional capacity after a few weeks of U.S. strikes.

President Zelensky. From the front line at Bakhmut to the Congress of the USA. References to Americans desperately fighting the Nazis on Christmas Eve in Battle of the Bulge. To the turning point in the American War for Independence: The Battle of Saratoga. Not asking for American soldiers fighting in Ukraine, assuring instead, Ukrainians can definitely fly American jets and drive American tanks (!).
But the two simple words that should ring out, should be THE message to everyone, everywhere:
”ONLY VICTORY”

Apparently Morocco has decided to support Ukraine in this war. Nothing wrong with another source of Soviet era tanks if true. According to the article Morocco will send over 90 T-72s, with a batch of 30 more to follow.
https://www.military.africa/2022/12/morocco-choose-sides-supplies-t-72b-tanks-to-ukraine/
 

From Wash Post

Had to post it just for the LOTR reference. I didn't get through the paywall, though the thread gives basic idea about what the Palantir software does.
 

dammit dammit dammit.  Now I gotta shake hands, smile warmly and say thank you to both McConnell and Grassley?  WTF is going on???  Ohhhhhh, this how our gov't is supposed to work, been so long I forgot -- Folks working together across party lines to do the obvious right thing, both morally and for US/world interests.  This is great news that two very powerful GOPers are putting their weight behind supporting Ukraine.

Your timing is all too perfect over here...

Come to Canada my friends. Cheap hydro power and all the snow you can eat.