old salt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 8:17 pm
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:32 pm
But yeah, we
should be providing full capabilities with drones, training the Ukrainians, assisting the Ukrainians, on using the very best capabilities. Same for anti-ship capabilities, as well as defensive anti-missile capabilities.
The objective should be for Ukraine to win, and do so as expeditiously as possible. But without our (NATO) directly in battle.
So, the Europeans and Biden are the problem, not Putin...that's your constant refrain.
You may wish to re-calibrate your assessment about how much the Biden Admin is doing, & is willing to do, to help the Ukrainians "win".
It was a tough day for poor John Kirby. He had to bob & weave through an entire DoD presser filled with specific questions about the military aid.
Then he had to listen to this from a friend & former colleague, then respond, which he did, very professionally, cordially, respectfully, & credibly.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6302338168001#sp=show-clips
I'm closer to Keane in his assessment of what we should be doing than you are...by a long shot.
My only objection to his analysis is this notion that the
only appropriate consideration for the Biden Admin is what Keane or I think would help most...btw, he's calling for the MiGs, the tanks, etc, more of everything faster...opposite of you. He's saying we shouldn't be looking for an "off ramp" for Putin, we should be solely focused on the destruction of Putin's military.
Again, I'm closer...but I think the politics of going too far out in front on this is that such would likely get a backlash from allies, create a narrative that the US is the provocative, overly aggressive player, making everything worse and putting the whole world at risk...instead, the politics, as played to date, clearly keep Putin and Russia in the box of the aggressor with no moral standing. And, apparently in disagreement with Keane, I think that's super important.
I also think that Keane is exaggerating, for effect, the gap between what he's saying we should do and what we're actually doing, which has been massive and quite effective...maybe surprisingly effective, but that's why we're tripling down on our commitments to do more...not everything or as fast as Keane and I would perhaps like but more and more and more.
Send in the drones folks. And for the stuff that takes longer, work hard on it, and get it done as soon as practical, because this ain't gonna be finished overnight.
BTW, I don't really want Kirby or Biden or anyone else to announce what we're specifically doing at each step. Let the Russians guess. We don't need special credit, pats on the back from the media for big showy displays of muscle...let the destroyed Russian tanks and planes and missiles and ships and artillery batteries, the Russian casualties, do the talking.