An 'interminable and unwinnable war' in Europe
Food lines & gas lines in the US are growing longer as Biden sends $40B more in weapons to Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An interminable and unwinnable war in Europe? That’s what NATO leaders fear and are bracing for as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds into its third month with little sign of a decisive military victory for either side and no resolution in sight.
It’s been 75 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, and as the battle becomes a grinding war of attrition, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be preparing for “a prolonged conflict,” a top U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday, as the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved nearly $40 billion in additional aid for Kyiv. — Washington Post
US intelligence experts were telling us that Putin would use Russia’s Victory Day rally in Red Square to announce a new major offensive in the war. That never happened. Instead, he used this hallowed day in Soviet history to rightfully laud that country’s triumph over Hitler’s invaders — a victory that likely saved the world from Nazi barbarism — but at a cost of some 20 million Russian lives.
Putin’s current war against Ukraine has nothing in common with the anti-fascist war. That was a war fought against German invaders, a war of national defense as part of a worldwide united front against fascism. Putin’s invasion is an act of aggression, including the razing of entire cities and the bombing of civilian populations, tactics that have aroused global indignation and only weakened Russia’s claims of self-defense or anti-Naziism.
To make matters worse, the war has now evolved into a proxy war between the imperialist powers over the redivision of Europe with the US and NATO partners pumping a seemingly never-ending supply of weapons into the killing fields to keep the war going.
Before the invasion, Russia had expressed legitimate security issues over NATO expansion and the oppression of Russian-speaking people in Dunbas, where fighting has been going on since 2014. They were even more concerned about the threat of nuclear attack and wanted a guarantee from the West that short-range nuclear missiles will not be placed in nearby countries.
But the likelihood of those issues being debated before the international community now seems slim to none. The only issue now is how to end the killing and displacement of millions of Ukrainians who have become the war’s cannon fodder.
Both Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky once appeared ready to negotiate the issues of Ukrainian membership in NATO and a pullback of Russian troops. But it was Biden and his team of cold warriors, Sec. of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin, who put the kibosh on the potential high-level talks and seemed to welcome to war as a chance to “weaken the Russians” strategically and pull Biden and the Democrats out of their political doldrums back home.
Instead, both sides are now bogged down in an interminable and unwinnable war.
Just as Russian President Vladimir Putin has not signaled a willingness to intensify the invasion with either a general mobilization of troops or the use of unconventional arms, neither has he shown any sign of backing down. Nor has Zelenskyy, who is now asserting that Ukraine will not only beat back the current Russian invasion but regain control of Crimea and other areas that Russia has occupied or otherwise controlled since 2014.
More on the bleak situation comes from Ian Kelly, a retired veteran diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Georgia.
“It would be political suicide for Putin to withdraw,” Kelly said. “It’s very difficult to see how you could get a negotiated solution at this point. Neither side is willing to stop fighting and probably the likeliest outcome is a war that lasts a couple of years. Ukraine would be a festering sore in the middle of Europe.”
Maybe if he said, “pretty please…”
President Biden on Tuesday said tackling inflation is his top economic challenge. His remarks came as his repeated efforts have done little to stem record gas prices.
"My plan is to lower employer and lower everyday costs for hard-working Americans and lower the deficit by asking large corporations and the wealthiest Americans to not engage in price gouging and to pay their fair share."
Once gain, we find the priorities of USA are far from useful for the general population who are conditioned by popular media. Violence begets violence, What do we really need here?