Putin's "special operation" has certainly awakened the EU and many democracies around the World. Our world has become so dangerous on two major fronts, physical warfare and cyber warfare (misinformation).
Thank you, Diane for this silver lining in the midst of the grayish clouds overhanging the counter offensive. Personally, I have always been, and remain, an optimist. But I am also mindful of the fact that favorable polling is not always a precursor of favorable outcomes. For example, the real numbers show increasing discrepancies between commitments of support and the support that has been actually provided. And the numbers show that even the commitments have been slowing. Furthermore, even in democracies it is not always the dog that wags the tail but quite the opposite......often through use of procedural roadblocks.....to frustrate or defer the will of the majority.
However, there is one bit of information" that could be very important to establish in the continuing struggle against errant politicians and experts who call for pressures on Ukraine and decrease of support. Perhaps some of your readers will be able to pull it together.
There is a Brown University study that shows that during the 22 years of US participation in wars in the Middle East, the cost to the U.S. has been $6.4 trillion - trillion.... not billion. Yet, one would be hard-pressed to identify tangible results. The war in Ukraine has cost the US $66 billion. And - in 18 months the "primary existential threat" to the US has already been severely crippled.
It would be interesting to show how much it would have cost the U.S. annually to maintain an appropriate level of preparedness in Europe and NATO had the russians not invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The War in Ukraine is complex, and predicting how it will end is difficult.
Ukraine needs more weapons like the F-16, the Storm Shadow missiles, tanks, artillery, demining equipment, and long-range Himars to cause damage to the Russian forces' storage depots, supply lines, and command centers in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Ukraine also needs more people to be trained in those weapons. Without those, the ground war will be at a stalemate.
Ukraine could lose the war without the support of the Western countries. If Ukraine stops fighting because of a lack of weapons, it will be the end of Ukraine, and Poland and the Baltic countries will be next on Putin's occupation list.
The best scenario is for the West to continue to support Ukraine and for the Russian population, oligarchs, and the military to rise and remove Putin with a leader who will stop the war and the illegal occupation of Ukraine.
The UN should also remove Russia from the organization for violating the UN Charter.
Thank you Diane,
Putin's "special operation" has certainly awakened the EU and many democracies around the World. Our world has become so dangerous on two major fronts, physical warfare and cyber warfare (misinformation).
Thank you, Diane for this silver lining in the midst of the grayish clouds overhanging the counter offensive. Personally, I have always been, and remain, an optimist. But I am also mindful of the fact that favorable polling is not always a precursor of favorable outcomes. For example, the real numbers show increasing discrepancies between commitments of support and the support that has been actually provided. And the numbers show that even the commitments have been slowing. Furthermore, even in democracies it is not always the dog that wags the tail but quite the opposite......often through use of procedural roadblocks.....to frustrate or defer the will of the majority.
However, there is one bit of information" that could be very important to establish in the continuing struggle against errant politicians and experts who call for pressures on Ukraine and decrease of support. Perhaps some of your readers will be able to pull it together.
There is a Brown University study that shows that during the 22 years of US participation in wars in the Middle East, the cost to the U.S. has been $6.4 trillion - trillion.... not billion. Yet, one would be hard-pressed to identify tangible results. The war in Ukraine has cost the US $66 billion. And - in 18 months the "primary existential threat" to the US has already been severely crippled.
It would be interesting to show how much it would have cost the U.S. annually to maintain an appropriate level of preparedness in Europe and NATO had the russians not invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Excellent, thank you. Very interesting.
Reads like a statistics war games manual. Thank you Diane, for such detailed analysis of the ongoing conflict.
Thank you, Diane.
Dianne,
that is a great analysis. Thank you.
The War in Ukraine is complex, and predicting how it will end is difficult.
Ukraine needs more weapons like the F-16, the Storm Shadow missiles, tanks, artillery, demining equipment, and long-range Himars to cause damage to the Russian forces' storage depots, supply lines, and command centers in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Ukraine also needs more people to be trained in those weapons. Without those, the ground war will be at a stalemate.
Ukraine could lose the war without the support of the Western countries. If Ukraine stops fighting because of a lack of weapons, it will be the end of Ukraine, and Poland and the Baltic countries will be next on Putin's occupation list.
The best scenario is for the West to continue to support Ukraine and for the Russian population, oligarchs, and the military to rise and remove Putin with a leader who will stop the war and the illegal occupation of Ukraine.
The UN should also remove Russia from the organization for violating the UN Charter.
Excellent analysis - once again. Not sure when the WEST will wake up & together - end this most destructive war. . . . . .