As Trump and his Republican fascist comrades steal the life out of every 24 hour news cycle, some rather important news gets pushed off the news channels. A few days ago, This story about the U.S. announcing it would sell lethal weapons to Ukraine caught my attention.
U.S. officials said Friday that the Trump administration approved a plan to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, in a long-awaited move that deepens America's involvement in the military conflict and may further strain relations with Russia.
The new arms include American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles that Ukraine has long sought to boost its defenses against Russian-backed separatists armed with tanks that have rolled through eastern Ukraine during violence that has killed more than 10,000 since 2014. Previously, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with support equipment and training, and has let private companies sell some small arms like rifles.
The officials describing the plan weren't authorized to discuss it publicly and demanded anonymity.
Putin is bogged down in a stalemate in eastern Ukraine since he invaded several years ago. The reason he’s bogged down is not because he lacks the military strength to crush the Ukrainian forces, but rather because Obama put some tough sanctions on him and he knows the world will greatly increase those sanctions if he gets into a massive bloody battle for the remainder of Ukraine.
Now everybody knows the whole Trump/Russian collusion was about trading help in last years election for giving Putin some things he wants, and at the top of that list is lifting the sanctions. We also know Trump is basically a puppet of Putin’s and the way he drools over himself every time he talks about Putin makes most democracy loving people sick to their stomachs. So why in the world would Trump want to sell lethal weapons to Putin’s foes, especially since additional sanctions would probably be far more effective? How does this make any sense at all?
When word broke about these sales to Ukraine, there was an AWFUL lot of saber rattling and protesting from Moscow.
“The United States has crossed a line by announcing its intention to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Saturday. “U.S. weapons are capable of leading to new casualties in our neighboring country, and we cannot remain indifferent to that.”
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“The United States is clearly prompting them to a new bloodshed now,” Ryabkov said in comments posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry website. “Kyiv’s revenge-seekers have already been shelling Donbas every day and are unwilling to hold peace talks, while dreaming about doing away with the disobedient population. And the U.S. has decided to give them the weapons for it.”
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“By deciding to arm Ukraine with lethal weapons, the United States is giving a clear signal to Kyiv that it will support an attempt at a military solution,” Alexei Pushkov
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“An important line has been crossed, and it probably won’t stop there.”
So the weapons being sold to Ukraine aren’t nearly enough to turn around the conflict and give the Ukrainians some kind of victory. They’re not even enough to stop a determined Russian advance. All they really can do is expand the conflict. And now that Trump has expanded our role in the conflict, how will the U.S. respond to a new expansion of the conflict by Russia? In fact, how will the Russian people respond to an expansion of the war?
Polls show that Russians support Putin’s military efforts in Ukraine, and with increased military aggression there is likely to be a “rally around the flag” time for Russia.
During increased military “crises”, authoritarians will also take advantage of the situation to increase their undercutting of any democratic institutions that might be capping their lust for power. A military conflict can also be very useful during “election” campaigns.
This story is just so confusing to me. Who could possibly benefit from a bloody expansion of the Ukrainian conflict? Oh, did I forget to mention there are elections in both Russia and the U.S. next year?
RESIST!