Anonymous ID: b1cb54 June 23, 2022, 4:55 p.m. No.16496970   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6976 >>7005 >>7031 >>7137 >>7269 >>7348

The Ukraine war response is fast becoming Biden’s second blunder

 

BY WILLIAM MOLONEY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 06/22/22 2:30 PM ET

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

 

The precipitous and chaotic American abandonment of Afghanistan, without proper consultation and support for allies, less than a year ago was a great shock to the NATO alliance, raising grave doubts about the judgment, stability and reliability of the U.S. as leader of the free world. The resulting cracks in the alliance were only papered over by the blunt truth that our allies had nowhere to go outside the security umbrella provided by the U.S. under Article 5.

 

Now, in the rapidly changing landscape of the Ukraine war, we are seeing ominous signs that the U.S. may be leading NATO in the direction of an even worse strategic humiliation — one that can result in a dramatic reconfiguration of the world’s geopolitical structure.

 

The New York Times reported recently on a June 16 visit to Kyiv by leaders of four NATO countries — France, Germany, Italy and Romania — during which they delivered a dual message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the more public and cosmetic level, the Western leaders demonstrated their support against Russian aggression by offering Ukraine a path to European Union membership but they “did not promise the country additional heavy weapons on the scale it says it needs to repel a bloody Russian advance in the East.”

 

The European leaders carefully adhered to the Biden administration’s policy by insisting “they were not pressing Mr. Zelensky to accept a peace deal with Moscow,” according to the Times. But, as reflected in the palpable disappointment of the Ukrainians, the EU’s key leaders were clearly signaling the limits of their own support.

 

This new European stance now places the Biden administration on the horns of a possibly insoluble dilemma, as David Goldman reported in a recent Asia Times article. With the war having reached a critical stage and the world economy reeling from supply shocks in energy and food previously supplied by Russia and Ukraine, Goldman asserts that America’s boasts of “driving Putin from power, destroying Russia’s capacity to make war, and halving the size of Russia’s economy look ridiculous in retrospect.”

 

China has departed from its early public neutrality regarding the war by reaffirming its partnership with Russia and effectively calling for a compromise peace — as have others, including, evidently, our European allies. The pressure is mounting on President Biden, who until now has brooked no dissent from Ukraine’s demand for the full restoration of its pre-2014 borders.

 

A slippery slope filled with a series of bad choices awaits the Biden administration. A compromise peace, which much of the world apparently desires for various self-interested reasons, inevitably would begin with negotiations. Unless Russia is allowed to continue its territorial gains during the negotiations, a ceasefire would be required — and historically, these involve freezing the existing territorial division between combatants for the duration. As we have learned from Korea, the Middle East, and other such arrangements, these temporary demarcation lines often evolve into de facto permanent borders.

 

Russia has made strategic territorial gains, so such an outcome would be disastrous for Ukraine — and humiliating for the United States. Yet, since European leaders and the U.S. so far have refused to supply the arsenal of modern weaponry that Ukraine has said it needs to survive, it is difficult to see any other scenario unfolding.

 

cont

 

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3530178-the-ukraine-war-response-is-fast-becoming-bidens-second-blunder/

Anonymous ID: b1cb54 June 23, 2022, 5:06 p.m. No.16497031   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7137 >>7269 >>7348

>>16496970

 

finally, somebody from the West points it out. The Russians are winning even though they are outnumbered 3 to 1 and they are not running out of shells, the West and Ukraine are

 

The Return of Industrial Warfare

Alex Vershinin

17 June 2022

9 Minute Read

 

Can the West still provide the arsenal of democracy?

 

The war in Ukraine has proven that the age of industrial warfare is still here. The massive consumption of equipment, vehicles and ammunition requires a large-scale industrial base for resupply – quantity still has a quality of its own. The mass scale combat has pitted 250,000 Ukrainian soldiers, together with 450,000 recently mobilised citizen soldiers against about 200,000 Russian and separatist troops. The effort to arm, feed and supply these armies is a monumental task. Ammunition resupply is particularly onerous. For Ukraine, compounding this task are Russian deep fires capabilities, which target Ukrainian military industry and transportation networks throughout the depth of the country. The Russian army has also suffered from Ukrainian cross-border attacks and acts of sabotage, but at a smaller scale. The rate of ammunition and equipment consumption in Ukraine can only be sustained by a large-scale industrial base.

 

This reality should be a concrete warning to Western countries, who have scaled down military industrial capacity and sacrificed scale and effectiveness for efficiency. This strategy relies on flawed assumptions about the future of war, and has been influenced by both the bureaucratic culture in Western governments and the legacy of low-intensity conflicts. Currently, the West may not have the industrial capacity to fight a large-scale war. If the US government is planning to once again become the arsenal of democracy, then the existing capabilities of the US military-industrial base and the core assumptions that have driven its development need to be re-examined.

 

 

Presently, the US is decreasing its artillery ammunition stockpiles. In 2020, artillery ammunition purchases decreased by 36% to $425 million. In 2022, the plan is to reduce expenditure on 155mm artillery rounds to $174 million. This is equivalent to 75,357 M795 basic ‘dumb’ rounds for regular artillery, 1,400 XM1113 rounds for the M777, and 1,046 XM1113 rounds for Extended Round Artillery Cannons. Finally, there are $75 million dedicated for Excalibur precision-guided munitions that costs $176K per round, thus totaling 426 rounds. In short, US annual artillery production would at best only last for 10 days to two weeks of combat in Ukraine. If the initial estimate of Russian shells fired is over by 50%, it would only extend the artillery supplied for three weeks.

 

https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/return-industrial-warfare

 

About the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)

For two centuries RUSI has engaged in forward thinking and careful reflection on defence and security matters

Anonymous ID: b1cb54 June 23, 2022, 5:15 p.m. No.16497069   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>16496830

somebody should tell them "the Big Lie" doesn't mean what they think it means.

Hitler said the Jews spread the Big Lie about Eric Ludendorf selling Germany out in the Armistice after ww1.

 

so they are Hitler and Trump is the Jews in this scenario

Anonymous ID: b1cb54 June 23, 2022, 5:20 p.m. No.16497089   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7137 >>7269 >>7348

"No One Gives a Bleep" January 6th Select Committee Hearing Ep. 5

 

 

Started streaming 16 minutes ago

Robert Gouveia Esq.

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Become a Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQa6…

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The January 6th Select Committee finished Episode 5 of their Book Report to America, featuring Richard Donoghue, Jeffrey Rosen, and Steven Engel.

 

#Jan6Committee #Insurrection #J6

 

https://youtu.be/5htFtFdSs6U