Shorten the War!

11 July 2022, 02:15 PM

Piano*Dad

Shorten the War!

quote:
Why aren’t we sending more HIMARS? I put that question on Friday to a senior U.S. defense official, who responded by pointing out all the difficulties involved, from moving these systems to Ukraine to training enough Ukrainians to operate them to providing spare parts to keep them functioning. All true. But why doesn’t the administration announce right now that it is planning to send 60 HIMARS as soon as practicable and ramp up training to make sure Ukraine has enough operators to use them? That kind of commitment could shift the balance of power on the ground, enabling a Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back lost land. Simply making the announcement would buoy Ukrainian spirits and undermine Russian morale.

The U.S. military is very good at achieving tactical goals: If you tell soldiers or Marines to take a hill, they will move heaven and earth to take it. The problem is that it isn’t clear what goal the U.S. aid program is trying to achieve. President Biden recently pledged to continue supporting Ukraine “as long as it takes” to ensure it is “not defeated” by Russia. That’s not good enough. Our goal should not be averting a Ukrainian defeat. It should be enabling a Ukrainian victory. That’s the only way to shorten the war and end the suffering.

11 July 2022, 04:04 PM

Qaanaaq-Liaaq

When Ukraine got independence from the former Soviet Union, Ukraine held about one-third of the USSR’s nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world. But Ukraine gave them all back to Russia shortly afterward. I bet Ukraine now wishes they never did that. Because of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), I doubt that Russia would have invaded Ukraine if Ukraine was a nuclear power also.

11 July 2022, 05:04 PM

Piano*Dad

Indeed. But Ukraine did that to win approval for full independence, thinking that Russia wouldn't renege on that commitment. Oh well ...

13 July 2022, 11:03 AM

Mikhailoh

I cannot help but wonder if this war would have happened if NATO and the rest of the west had said we would come to Ukraine's defense militarily.

13 July 2022, 12:18 PM

QuirtEvans

quote:
Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
I cannot help but wonder if this war would have happened if NATO and the rest of the west had said we would come to Ukraine's defense militarily.

To do that, Ukraine would have had to join NATO. So far, at least, Putin has not been willing to take actions against NATO members, because of (is it Section 5?).

I don't know the history of why they didn't. But, in retrospect, it was a mistake.

13 July 2022, 12:45 PM

Mikhailoh

To join NATO apparently your borders have to be uncontested. That is obviously not the case with Ukraine. Still, I agree with you. We gobbled up pretty much the rest of what was Soviet territory in Europe and should have made an accommodation for Ukraine. Leaving them undefended was too much of a temptation.