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Gates: A lot of US military aid to Ukraine ‘could have been done sooner’
The hill ^ | 01/29/2023 | Lauren Sforza

Posted on 01/29/2023 9:58:53 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that a lot of the U.S.’s military aid to Ukraine “could have been done sooner.”

“I think the only thing I would have said is that a lot of this could have been done sooner,” Gates said when asked by Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he would have advised President Biden to do anything differently.

“And, you know, they’re talking about potentially being six months, a year or more before the Abrams tanks get there,” he added. “I think the key thing about the Abrams tank decision was that it unlocked the Germans.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aid; gates; graft; kickbacks; laurensforza; lootingthetreasury; military; moneylaundering; robertgates; ropetreebobby; someassemblyrequired; thehill; theshill; theswill; ukraine
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Why don't you get a room with Linda Graham and shut it. 🙄
1 posted on 01/29/2023 9:58:53 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Yes, Gates is 100% right!


2 posted on 01/29/2023 10:00:30 AM PST by AZJeep
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I disagree with Gates. While I am adamantly pro-Ukraine in this war the pace of support was rational in the way it ramped up in relation to the Ukrainian effort to fight back.

There was little sense in trying to support Ukraine at the outset when it was unsure if the regime would survive.

Once it was clear that the Ukrainians were not going to fold then it made sense to increase support.

The Ukrainians have stymied the Russian advance and now they need the help to oust the Russians from Ukraine.

Interesting thing is the way US-NATO support for Ukraine has escalated mirrors how US-Allied support for Russia escalated after they made clear they were going to fight back against the Nazis.


3 posted on 01/29/2023 10:04:56 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: ChicagoConservative27
Biden and Obama pretended to be pacifists on Ukraine.

So evil Putin went in and now Biden, Obama and the uniparty have changed their tune.

They're playing a very dangerous game and they are weakening our military.

All to the benefit of the Chicoms and The Big Guy.

4 posted on 01/29/2023 10:05:51 AM PST by FreeReign
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Not one dime until the border wall is completed, the border militarized, and the people illegally here, ejected.


5 posted on 01/29/2023 10:08:15 AM PST by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Goldwater 2024)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
A year from now we will have 4 significant militaries with severely depleted conventional munition supplies (U.S., NATO, Russia, Ukraine)

This leaves 3 of them with only nuclear options, while China retains its full set of options.

6 posted on 01/29/2023 10:08:44 AM PST by G Larry ( "woke" means 'stupid enough to fall for the promotion of every human weakness into a virtue')
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Which begs the question - did Biden, Germany and France want Ukriane to win???


7 posted on 01/29/2023 10:09:21 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Wuli

So Gates has 2020 hindsight!


8 posted on 01/29/2023 10:11:06 AM PST by Reily
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To: Wuli

Which begs the question - did Biden, Germany and France want Ukriane to win???
———
Think about senile Joe’s Afghanistan debacle. That should give you a hint. Everything vegetable head Joe does either by design or incompetence destroys America- Everything.

Biden’s Ukie war will fail, as we are witnessing.


9 posted on 01/29/2023 10:14:04 AM PST by delta7
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To: Wuli
"Which begs the question - did Biden, Germany and France want Ukraine to win???"

The US politicians wanted to protect their money laundering operation. The Europeans wanted to protect their energy sector. Ukraine is a corrupt government from top to bottom. We shouldn't be spending one dime. Has the administration ever told the American people why Ukraine is important to us? All they say is Putin Bad. That is not a war winning strategy.

10 posted on 01/29/2023 10:14:34 AM PST by mosaicwolf
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To: ChicagoConservative27

“Gates: A lot of US military aid to Ukraine ‘could have been done sooner’”

Probably should have also nuked Moscow long ago, but now they have S-400s on their roof-tops, so that option won’t work very well.

Oh well, live and learn!


11 posted on 01/29/2023 10:16:49 AM PST by BobL
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To: ChicagoConservative27
“I think the key thing about the Abrams tank decision was that it unlocked the Germans.”
Actually it was the other way around. Chancellor Scholz was under international pressure to send tanks and said he would do so when America sends tanks.
12 posted on 01/29/2023 10:16:56 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: ChicagoConservative27
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that a lot of the U.S.’s military aid to Ukraine “could have been done sooner.”

Gates is an oracle with the benefit of hindsight. He, like all the other neocons, thought the sanctions would ruin Russia, and substantial military aid to Ukraine was unnecessary.

13 posted on 01/29/2023 10:16:59 AM PST by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: ChicagoConservative27

This megalomaniac, who used to make buggy software and who wants to send a sunshade in space to cool the Earth, has nothing worthwhile to tell the world


14 posted on 01/29/2023 10:18:01 AM PST by I want the USA back (News media are pond scum. My pronouns: Theybe, thembe, theirbe, theirsbe, this be crazy.)
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To: I want the USA back

Robert not bill.


15 posted on 01/29/2023 10:19:10 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
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To: thegagline

bttt


16 posted on 01/29/2023 10:19:28 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: G Larry

China is a paper tiger with nukes. Vietnam beat China in one of their border clashes in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.


17 posted on 01/29/2023 10:22:10 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: ChicagoConservative27
Maybe prolonging the conflict is part of the plan.

Maybe NATO's plan is to slow-bleed Russia, all while getting big increases in military spending on armaments (to replace our generous gifts to Ukraine). And this while expanding weapons-making potential, live-testing equipment, evaluating tactics in real time, developing and refining intelligence collection in real time, scaring Finland and Sweden into NATO membership, and frightening the rest of NATO into a closer alliance - and it won't cost NATO countries a single soldier.

All it will cost is money and Uncle Sam has a printing press, so it's all politically acceptable. Americans don't seem to mind inflation but they really hate body bags coming home on transport planes.

Think about it. If NATO plays this right, in a couple of years NATO will come out bigger, more united, more energy independent (Germany's finally learned the lesson that it can't be dependent on Russia for energy), and Russia will be bled out enough that it won't be able to carry forward it's campaign to reconstitute the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe for another generation. If Russia wins and Ukraine capitulates (which seems to me likely at this point) then Russia is still weakened enough that it won't try for Moldova and the Carpathians. If Ukraine wins it could join NATO and NATO owns all of Europe or at least the parts that really count. Who knows? Maybe Belarus will fall into NATO's hands and Russia will be relegated to a fringe, Asian power.

Hopefully, if NATO succeeds in this, Russia won't collapse entirely in order to hold down the lid on Central Asia and as a potential counter weight to a rapidly imploding China. In general, it sucks really bad when Russia collapses. Causes all sorts of problems. For at least a century.

It's cynical enough to make Machiavelli puke but I'm thinking this all redounds to the dubious benefit of NATO and there's somebody someplace at NATO HQ that has precisely this in mind.

18 posted on 01/29/2023 10:27:01 AM PST by Thilly Thailor
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To: ChicagoConservative27

The Guy who destroyed the Boyscouts and will probably be the guy to decide to let men play women’s sports in the NCAA weighs in on stuff.

Go away. Forever.


19 posted on 01/29/2023 10:27:26 AM PST by UNGN
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To: MeganC
There was little sense in trying to support Ukraine at the outset when it was unsure if the regime would survive.

Bingo!

20 posted on 01/29/2023 10:32:34 AM PST by Lysandru
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