Significantly, similar language was used by Sullivan, who had been needled by a question from a Ukrainian activist who suggested the US was “afraid of Ukraine winning”.
They want Ukraine to win.
But very slowly.
Very, very slowly.
They want a war of attrition, they want to weaken Russia without the backlash of losing their own soldiers, Ukraine can’t win too fast, there can be no peace agreements either.
They’ve found the best way to reduce the threat of Russia without committing troops.
Yes, using Ukrainians as meat shields.
The US (and the rest of NATO) is being cautious for a reason, and it’s not because they’re using Ukrainians as “meat shields.”
NATO stocks of war materiel were at historically low levels before February 2022, and it’s difficult for the US to commit fully when China is sabre-rattling over Taiwan. That’s Xi’s (and Kim Jong-Un’s, to a lesser extent) gift to Putin. Sabre-rattling keeps the US from engaging fully in Ukraine, even though China won’t be ready to invade Taiwan for several years yet.
Unfortunately for Ukraine, it’ll be several years before NATO materiel stocks start to grow above 2022 levels, but they will grow.
The question is, will they grow fast enough?
Personally I’m predicting world war in 2027-28 unless the West pulls its finger out.
I see, it is now fully justified of them to use Ukrainians as meatshields, thank you for your kind explanation.
The real meat shields in the war in Ukraine are Russian conscripts. At least Ukrainian conscripts have the conviction that they are defending their country’s internationally recognised borders.
I kind of surprised at the outburst happening in the first place. His Western relations have been slick as hell up until this point and are probably the most impressive thing about the war effort you can attribute just to him personally.
I don’t think anyone has seen Russia as anything more than a marketing tool for the US war industry exports business.
Prolonging the conflict is more about showing the potential outcome in Taiwan. Limiting support hardware is a show of strategic reserve capabilities.
The Russian economy is a joke. It is slightly smaller than the single US state of Texas. Advanced Russian hardware was a mirage to sell Soviet era surplus.
China has a reasonable economy, massive industrial capacity, and spends 1/3rd the same amount on the military as the USA. It would need to get super creative to buy a win in that conflict.
It sucks to be Ukraine. If it were up to me, give Putin an ultimatum to leave, admit Ukraine into NATO, and give Putin and his cronies a Neapolitan style escape option on an island somewhere remote. When Russia fails to retreat, send everything to Moscow. Its has already been shown that the roads are open.
Typical liberal point of view, hordes of people dying and he’s thinking about business and profits.
Observing is not endorsing
