Will Russia invade Ukraine?

[jax_hwy_engineer]

Pretty bold and slanderous to outright call a person pro-Russia for questioning the narrative around this conflict, Bridge Troll.

WarDamJagsFan, there's no reasoning here, this thread evidently just serves to post articles written by a DC thinktank to further justify our involvement in a war I wish we weren't "involved" in.

[BridgeTroll]

Pretty bold and slanderous to outright call a person pro-Russia for questioning the narrative around this conflict, Bridge Troll.

WarDamJagsFan, there's no reasoning here, this thread evidently just serves to post articles written by a DC thinktank to further justify our involvement in a war I wish we weren't "involved" in.

Lol... slanderous?  Would you be slanderous calling me pro Ukraine?  Please  slander me...

[WarDamJagFan]

Pretty bold and slanderous to outright call a person pro-Russia for questioning the narrative around this conflict, Bridge Troll.

WarDamJagsFan, there's no reasoning here, this thread evidently just serves to post articles written by a DC thinktank to further justify our involvement in a war I wish we weren't "involved" in.

Haha. Wild isn't it? My position is the reason Ukrainians are being slaughtered? Hilarious!  Russia "defeat" is the only option apparently. So the war continues on. If anything, our continued support is only delaying the inevitable which is why casualties continue to skyrocket.
 
But hey, he's a Troll right? Trolls gotta tow the line and keep their head stuck in Washington's sandbox. "Russia wasn't provoked! All those warnings Russia continued to state year-after-year about NATO's eastward expansion to potentially be met with military intervention couldn't have ever been taken seriously!!"

[BridgeTroll]

It is very simply a false  narrative that  you  and the GOP are buying... hook,line, and sinker...

https://disinfowatch.org/disinfo/putin-repeats-false-claim-about-post-cold-war-nato-enlargement-during-carlson-interview/

https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/ukraine-fact-fait.aspx?lang=eng#dataset-filter

https://balkaninsight.com/2022/06/22/the-truth-behind-the-myth-of-russia-threatened-by-nato/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/one-more-time-its-not-about-nato/

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/exposing-russia-s-false-nato-narrative/

[BridgeTroll]

But wait there is more... even Republicans know it...

Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck in an interview last week that "Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it's infected a good chunk of my party's base."

Rep. Michael Turner, the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, agreed with McCaul during a CNN interview Sunday: "We see, directly coming from Russia, attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages – some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/04/12/house-republicans-aid-ukraine-russia-war-putin/73275132007/

[jaxoNOLE]

 It isn't inherently pro-Russia to:

• Debate whether the cost of supporting Ukrainian combat victory is worthwhile
• Think our money and weapons are better utilized elsewhere
• Question whether we should be responsible for funding the defense of a country we don't have a mutual defense obligation to
• Believe the pre-war relationship with Russia was mishandled and contributed to Putin's decision to invade

It is unquestionably pro-Russia to:

• Assert that reports of war crimes and Putin's ambition are primarily propaganda
• Engage in whataboutism and moral equivalency to deflect from Russian misdeeds (I thought they were propaganda, anyway? Why deflect?)
• Sympathize or agree with the sentiment that Ukraine is rightfully Russian territory
• Assert that the invasion of Ukraine is a defensive operation against Western aggression

I'd prefer we confront Russian aggression now, while they are already wounded from a protracted campaign, but certainly respect and share the concerns surrounding cost, our own military readiness, and the indeterminate length of the commitment. If we can't commit fully, I question whether we should be engaging in half-assed support of a stalemate. Practical considerations of US involvement aside, Putin's earned his cubicle next to Hitler and Stalin in the furnace room.

[Tacachale]

It is very simply a false  narrative that  you  and the GOP are buying... hook,line, and sinker...

https://disinfowatch.org/disinfo/putin-repeats-false-claim-about-post-cold-war-nato-enlargement-during-carlson-interview/

https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/ukraine-fact-fait.aspx?lang=eng#dataset-filter

https://balkaninsight.com/2022/06/22/the-truth-behind-the-myth-of-russia-threatened-by-nato/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/one-more-time-its-not-about-nato/

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/exposing-russia-s-false-nato-narrative/

What’s especially tedious about these claims is that you have believe the US is solely responsible for the uprising against the pro-Russian president in Ukraine, but that Russia’s demonstrable interference in Ukraine, which involved proven work by future Trump lackeys Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, had nothing to do with the rise of said Russian puppet. And that Russia somehow isn’t expansionist despite repeatedly invading Georgia and Ukraine and even *illegally annexing part of Ukraine*.

[BridgeTroll]

I hope Johnson, Greene and Trump are high fiving themselves... congratulations... good effing job.

https://www.aei.org/articles/russian-strikes-more-effective-as-ukraine-exhausts-defenses/

The exhaustion of US-provided air defenses resulting from delays in the resumption of US military aid to Ukraine combined with improvements in Russian strike tactics have led to the increasing effectiveness of Russian missile and drone strike strikes against Ukraine without a dramatic increase in the size or frequency of such strikes. Russian forces have conducted two sets of large missile strikes since intensifying missile and drone strikes at the end of December 2023:  a series of strikes primarily targeting industrial and military facilities and critical infrastructure between December 2023 and February 2024 and an ongoing series of strikes heavily targeting Ukraine’s energy grid since late March. Russian forces have not notably increased the number or size of their strikes since the initial intensification of their strike campaign in December 2023 and have conducted a relatively consistent number and intensity of strikes over the winter and into the spring. Russian forces have nonetheless inflicted increasing and long-term damage to Ukrainian energy infrastructure this spring.[ii] The increased effectiveness of Russian strikes does not appear to result from the use of more missiles and drones in each strike. Instead, Russian forces are exploiting the degradation of Ukraine’s air defense umbrella caused by continued delays in Western security assistance and appear to be leveraging tactical adaptations stemming from several months of Russian efforts to test Ukrainian air defenses.[iii]  This pattern is alarming because it suggests that, absent a rapid resumption of US military aid, Russian forces can continue to deal severe damage to Ukrainian forces on the front lines and to Ukrainian critical infrastructure in the rear even with the limited number of missiles Russia is likely to have available in the coming months.

[BridgeTroll]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/america%E2%80%99s-stark-choice-ukraine-and-cost-letting-russia-win

AMERICA’S STARK CHOICE IN UKRAINE AND THE COST OF LETTING RUSSIA WIN
Apr 16, 2024 - ISW Press

[BridgeTroll]

Putin is not only ethnically cleansing Ukraine… he is also ethnically cleansing Russia…

https://jamestown.org/program/ethnically-non-russian-formations-in-russias-war-on-ukraine-the-volga-region/

[BridgeTroll]

I have known this for a while... now you should read and understand...

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/why-you-cant-be-iran-hawk-and-russia-dove

Why You Can’t Be an Iran Hawk and a Russia Dove

Frederick W. Kagan, Ashka Jhaveri, Annika Ganzeveld, Nicholas Carl, and George Barros

April 18, 2024

A Russian victory is an Iranian victory. Moscow and Tehran have formed a military bloc with the aim of defeating the United States and its allies in the Middle East, Europe, and around the world. Russian and Iranian military forces have been fighting alongside one another in Syria for nearly a decade. The Russians have given Iran advanced air defenses and access to other military technologies and techniques, in addition to a front-row seat observing their efforts to defeat American and NATO missile defenses in Ukraine.[1] The Iranians in turn have given the Russians drones and access to drone technologies, including assisting with the construction of a massive factory to turn out thousands of Iranian drones in Russia.[2] Further Russian support to Iran has been limited in part because of the setbacks Russia has suffered in Ukraine. A victorious Russia will be free to give Iran the advanced aircraft and missile technologies Tehran has long sought.[3] If Russia gains control of Ukraine’s resources, as it seeks to do, it will be able to rebuild its own military and help Iran at the same time. Those concerned with the growth of Iran’s military power, ambitions, and aggression in the Middle East must recognize the degree to which Iran’s fortunes rise and fall with Russia’s....

[Florida Power And Light]

On this subject matter,I am drawn to Judge Napalotano and the Gray Zone for prescient insights.

[BridgeTroll]

On this subject matter,I am drawn to Judge Napalotano and the Gray Zone for prescient insights.

Spelling counts... sheesh...lol

[BridgeTroll]

Following the Ukrainian losses of Avdiivka, and Bakhmut... Russia is beginning its attack on Chasiv Yar... the loss of this city could be devastating...  here is a battle map and overview.

https://frontelligence.substack.com/p/battle-for-chasiv-yar

[Florida Power And Light]

On this subject matter,I am drawn to Judge Napalotano and the Gray Zone for prescient insights.

Spelling counts... sheesh...lol

Yep

“ E”. “ A”  Gray (ing) Zone  et al
Italian names…. Growing up in Miami amidst so many Italians…. Eventually I gave up on the Spell. The Jewish named (s)were, at times, also problematic.

Glad   Bridge you are apparently aeareaware of these programs.