The very way in which Ukraine became independent is worth anyone’s reading time. It was semi-chaotic and took the Russians completely off guard – it …
RUSSO-UKRAINIAN NEGOTIATIONS
RUSSO-UKRAINIAN NEGOTIATIONS
The very way in which Ukraine became independent is worth anyone’s reading time. It was semi-chaotic and took the Russians completely off guard – it …
RUSSO-UKRAINIAN NEGOTIATIONS
Comment from greymatters3830
I think this is pretty bang on the mark.
In comparison with the Operation Michael moment, you might also have compared the arrival of the Americans to the Western front to the re-emergence of Europe militarily and collectively. I think that Europe is in a very interesting position now that it has awoken from its slumbers of the last 80 years.
As another comparison with a different war, for me, the salient moment of Hitler’s downfall was when the allies declared that only Germany’s unconditional surrender and the application of justice against the Nazi leadership would be an acceptable outcome of the war. Whilst this put Germany on a path to Gotterdammerung, that was inevitable anyway from about 1938 given Hitler’s control over Germany and his ideological beliefs (read Stephen Fritz’s book, The First Soldier, for an excellent insight into this and how the destruction of Germany was inevitable once they crossed the line into Russia).
Whilst Putin and Russia have not yet crossed the line (IMHO) such that the only acceptable outcome of this war is unconditional surrender, the lack of a clear and fundamental statement such as this (in whatever form it takes) by Europe means that Putin still has the wriggle room he needs to fight on his own terms.
I agree with your conclusion that he will not turn up, but will instead send a patsy. His mind will be full of fears that a Ukrainian sea-drone armed with SAMs will be waiting for him if his flightpath is anywhere near the Black Sea.
Indeed, I am sure that the SBU has put fear into putler’s skinny bones. Those weird incidents lately in moscow will make it very unlikely to give the rat any confidence to safely leave his bunker. If he does, then only by Zelensky giving him a free pass, of course, behind closed doors.
“Yet in the end the Ukrainians ended up with the third largest nuclear weapons arsenal – although they had no real means of operating most of it, they were able to stop the Russians from doing so.”
People who say this let me know right away that they don’t have much knowledge about this topic. This is a ruskie troll talking point and has no basis in truth.
Fact is, that Ukrainian scientists and engineers were key in the development of the Soviet Union’s nuke programs and delivery systems. Saying that Ukraine couldn’t have used those nukes is pure hogwash. If not, then we can also forget lesser nations of ever developing or having developed nukes, in particular Pakistan, north korea, iran, and india.