Posted on 04/26/2022 11:06:08 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
As Russia launched its invasion, the U.S. gave Ukrainian forces detailed intelligence about exactly when and where Russian missiles and bombs were intended to strike, prompting Ukraine to move air defenses and aircraft out of harm’s way, current and former U.S. officials told NBC News.
That near real-time intelligence-sharing also paved the way for Ukraine to shoot down a Russian transport plane carrying hundreds of troops in the early days of the war, the officials say, helping repel a Russian assault on a key airport near Kyiv.
It was part of what American officials call a massive and unprecedented intelligence-sharing operation with a non-NATO partner that they say has played a crucial role in Ukraine’s success to date against the larger and better-equipped Russian military.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Not can’t. Won’t.
Tragic if true. Because what goes around, comes around. Sad to see America fighting for the nazi dominated Ukraine.
Why the %$&! is this info getting out in the media?
Biden’s Sec of defense is too stupid for the job!
Its not “real time” as the radio signals have to flow from our AWACS to the Ukrainians. That’s has to slow it down a little. //sarc
Direct U.S. military support for a large non-NATO country that shares a long border with Russia, a country with a huge nuclear arsenal. What could possibly go wrong? We are one miscalculation, error or mistake away from a catastrophe. All over a non-NATO country.
Russia knew we would be get deeply involved in this mess and in all likelihood has considered at what point and how to respond to U.S. participation. Not saying Russia’s war against its neighbor is just. Only saying that it doesn’t take much of a spark to ignite a fire that cannot be contained.
This is a European problem; let them provide all the support they want to Ukraine.
I agree.
The US fought for a Shiite-dominated Iraq.
The US fought for Royalist autocracies (Saudi Arabia and Kuwait).
The US fought for or otherwise supported a whole host of military or other dictatorships all over the place. (South Korea, South Vietnam, Greece, Indonesia, Pakistan, and, goodness, the list goes on forever).
The logic in every case was “better these guys than the alternative”, which has proven pretty sound on the whole.
Europe is more than happy to let us handle their military problems. As long as we foot most of the bill they’re never going to assume responsibility for anything. They are like spoiled children.
But at what cost in terms of blood and treasure?
As you said “the list goes on forever”.
That’s the problem.
Remember when the media said Trump was going to get us involved in war?
” Do the idiots in Washington not realize the fire they’re playing with? Will they actually be shocked when we’re in a nuclear war?”
Judging from what the US geopolitical analysts have been saying, they don’t think Putin would risk nuclear war and that we would be able to bleed his military and financial assets dry via this proxy war. I’m not so sure, I think Putin would consider using tactical nukes if NATO came knocking on his door and Russia appeared in danger of collapsing.
But it’s not just that, there’s always the chance of a computer glitch in the early warning system or similar error that in a time like this with the 2 nuclear powers going head to head, that neither party would hold off to confirm, they would just let those nukes fly. There have been a number of such incidents in the past where calmer heads prevailed and nothing happened. But that certainly isn’t the situation we are in now.
“A C-5 carries around 75.”
That’s in the cozy passenger compartment. The cargo bay can comfortably hold 150-200 troops and their equipment.
There’s some decent pix of troops on a C-5 here:
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-C5-Galaxy-bigger-than-a-747-yet-it-carries-less-troops-than-the-747
Welcome to the actual world. There is always trouble somewhere. And there was world-class, global trouble at times, notably 1945-1991.
There is no retreating to the shire or Fortress America for the USA. It would be nice, but thats not the way the world works. We still exist in the days of the Pax Americana, where the US is the implicit guarantor of the general peace and of the freedom of navigation. The problem is that this is much like riding a tiger. You may want to get off, but if you do you are likely to get bit.
A good place to start on the course of all this is the classic history of the Cold War, by John Lewis Gaddis “The Cold War: A New History”.
Good thing Congress voted to pass a declaration of war since it would otherwise be illegal for our military to be engaging in warfare.
They are, however, suddenly spending a lot more money.
Putin has done what Trump couldnt manage to do.
nbc I can’t seem to push hard enough to help start ww3
But its not “warfare-warfare”. Its much like what the US was up to in 1939-41 with respect to the Western Allies, or if you like, 1937-41 with respect to China.
[Direct U.S. military support for a large non-NATO country that shares a long border with Russia, a country with a huge nuclear arsenal. What could possibly go wrong? We are one miscalculation, error or mistake away from a catastrophe. All over a non-NATO country.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev#The_Vietnam_War
But the bigger picture - why we’re supplying Ukraine - is to prevent one regime from acquiring the population and resources of the other, which can be used in future military campaigns. It’s why the US evicted Iraq from Kuwait in 1991.
You’re an idealist. I’m a realist. The world is populated by various countries, many of which won’t exactly share our beliefs. When a country that has expanded its territory for 1000 years (Russia) and is, by itself, 69% of the territory of NATO, combined, and 4x the territory of the EU says it feels threatened, you know it’s lying. Germany, with 1/40 Russia’s land area, and the survivor of the cataclysmic 30 Years War in which many German regions saw 50% population declines, understandably felt it needed lebensraum.
Russia simply does not. It could move its key cities and industries 2800 miles east and still have 2800 miles left to go before hitting the Pacific. It keeps them near Europe not because it is threatened by Europe, but so it can threaten Europe.
The problem with Russia is not that it has been imposed upon, but that it imposes on others. Part of the Russian mythos, dating back almost a thousand years, and given firm foundation by its vast territorial expanse acquired at swordpoint, is its indomitable martial prowess. In 1898, the Russian General Staff carried out a comprehensive study of Russian warfare since the foundations of the state. In the summary volume, the editor told his readers that they could take pride in their country’s military record and face the future with confidence — between 1700 and 1870, Russia had spent 106 years fighting 38 military campaigns, of which 36 had been “offensive”.
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