10-14-2022, 03:27 PM
To those who want to negotiate a settlement that ends up with Ukraine losing some of its territory, a question:
Someone kidnaps two of your children because they don't like you. You ask for both of them back and are told you can have one back but the other one must die. Do you accept that compromise? Or, do you use everything you have to rescue both of them?
It's certifiably insane to allow someone to steal your property, and then enter into some negotiation that lets them keep some of it. They will come at you again. Moreover, the only thing Putin respects is force. That's the currency of his realm and that's what you use against him. The fact is Ukraine's allies have provided a lot of support and the ROI has been pretty damn good.
Saw a report today that said the Donbas region is extremely vulnerable to Ukraine counterattack because the morale of the troops has been destroyed and the conscripts from the mobilization don't want to fight. It was even reported that the Russian air strikes into Ukraine this week demoralized those troops because they were thinking "WTF are we firing these missiles into cities instead of using them to eliminate who is willing us (the Ukrainian Armed Forces)?!!?!?" And then there are the reports Kherson is soon to be re-taken by Ukraine.
I don't know what blow hards like Elon Musk are doing carrying Putin's water whining about fear of nuclear war, but I do know Russian information warfare is desperately trying to scare the world into stopping its support of Ukraine, and it joining NATO because Russia is WEAK. Anyone calling for a "negotiated settlement" now must be consuming the same fear porn about Russia as Musk. If Russia could sustain the attacks on Ukraine this week, maybe. I saw an estimate that Russia burned $100M worth of missiles this week. There was no military objective, just hope to get headlines that made Russia look way stronger than it really is and would get weaklings to say now we need to settle with Russia.
Yes, war sucks, and yes, it's really hard to continue fighting when the damage is painful. But winners don't give up when things are tough. They don't let up until the objective is achieved. Ukraine literally has Russia on the run. Now is the time to double down on support for Ukraine - including it joining NATO - if you really don't want this kind of shit to happen again in your lifetime. A recent poll showed Germans - who are getting crushed by energy prices worse than most thanks to Russia - want to continue supporting Ukraine because they understand the importance of smiting Russia for the damage, cost, and suffering it has caused.
Besides, Ukraine can't negotiate with Russia because it can't be trusted to abide by any agreement. I personally am impacted by this war because software developers I rely on have been unable to get things done on time, but I'm more interested in Russia losing and neutering itself as an influential power than having on time product releases.
Someone kidnaps two of your children because they don't like you. You ask for both of them back and are told you can have one back but the other one must die. Do you accept that compromise? Or, do you use everything you have to rescue both of them?
It's certifiably insane to allow someone to steal your property, and then enter into some negotiation that lets them keep some of it. They will come at you again. Moreover, the only thing Putin respects is force. That's the currency of his realm and that's what you use against him. The fact is Ukraine's allies have provided a lot of support and the ROI has been pretty damn good.
Saw a report today that said the Donbas region is extremely vulnerable to Ukraine counterattack because the morale of the troops has been destroyed and the conscripts from the mobilization don't want to fight. It was even reported that the Russian air strikes into Ukraine this week demoralized those troops because they were thinking "WTF are we firing these missiles into cities instead of using them to eliminate who is willing us (the Ukrainian Armed Forces)?!!?!?" And then there are the reports Kherson is soon to be re-taken by Ukraine.
I don't know what blow hards like Elon Musk are doing carrying Putin's water whining about fear of nuclear war, but I do know Russian information warfare is desperately trying to scare the world into stopping its support of Ukraine, and it joining NATO because Russia is WEAK. Anyone calling for a "negotiated settlement" now must be consuming the same fear porn about Russia as Musk. If Russia could sustain the attacks on Ukraine this week, maybe. I saw an estimate that Russia burned $100M worth of missiles this week. There was no military objective, just hope to get headlines that made Russia look way stronger than it really is and would get weaklings to say now we need to settle with Russia.
Yes, war sucks, and yes, it's really hard to continue fighting when the damage is painful. But winners don't give up when things are tough. They don't let up until the objective is achieved. Ukraine literally has Russia on the run. Now is the time to double down on support for Ukraine - including it joining NATO - if you really don't want this kind of shit to happen again in your lifetime. A recent poll showed Germans - who are getting crushed by energy prices worse than most thanks to Russia - want to continue supporting Ukraine because they understand the importance of smiting Russia for the damage, cost, and suffering it has caused.
Besides, Ukraine can't negotiate with Russia because it can't be trusted to abide by any agreement. I personally am impacted by this war because software developers I rely on have been unable to get things done on time, but I'm more interested in Russia losing and neutering itself as an influential power than having on time product releases.