[greenglass]

Why would they be motivated to do that?

If I were Ukraine, I would do all I could to exacerbate global food shortages.

If I were the United States, I might consider how massive aid packages interact with various incentives along these lines.

Supposedly the aid is help get around the sea blockade. Every cost is a negotiation.

[yucky]

Quite the opposite. The best move for the US would be to let Ukraine fall, which would re-stabilize food and fuel prices.

[rebuilder]

I really don’t think the USA can afford to let Ukraine fail. They are basically committed to destroying the Russian economy now, and having them lose the war in Ukraine is an important part in that.

If Russia is able to defeat Ukraine, end the war and stabilise the situation, they will be in a better position to convince countries to work around the sanctions they are facing, which would amount to an end-run around the dominanc e of the US dollar.

[yucky]

So this is accurate in my opinion, but you're essentially saying the quiet part out loud. You're saying the war has nothing to do with saving Ukraine, but rather protecting the hegemony of the US dollar.

I suspect if everybody understood that's what we're really concerned with, support for Ukraine would drop precipitously.

[rdtwo]

If the goal were to lower prices which I’m sure it’s not. Us oil production is only economical at 60-80$ a barrel

[greenglass]

I was not suggesting the opposite, by any means. But I am not sure I agree with your statement either. I won’t even get into hunter Biden’s Ukrainian business dealings and I agree the blame is technically all on Putin, who is an evil madman, maybe even literally going insane from cancer or paranoia or something.

But flooding Ukraine with cash and weapons, with zero oversight or public debate should concern people. It all seems a bit poorly managed, something that most intelligent people now agree is the overarching theme of the current administration. Dropping buckets of cash aid and weapons — 20 billion here, 40 billion there — will probably do more than intended. It usually does. We love regime changing the world, spreading American style peace and democracy, typically with an unwarranted optimism about the outcome. Let’s hope things go better this time.

[geoka9]

Yes, give Russia another weapon (in addition to gas used to influence decision makers in much of Europe) to wield upon the world.

[yucky]

We're weakening ourselves and doing massive damage to our middle class in the US because we want to get back at Putin for...what exactly?

Also, the Ruble is stronger than it's been in years, so all of this appears to be having the opposite effect - https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ruble-hits-7-year-high-gas...