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by dismalaf 490 days ago
The Europeans and Biden administration had nearly 3 years to do something, Ukraine was still losing territory when Biden left office...

All they do is talk, which is why the Ukrainians got fed up with them and for better or worse Zelenskyy is now talking up Trump...
2 comments
motorest 490 days ago
> The Europeans and Biden administration had nearly 3 years to do something (...)

They did. They supported Ukraine and turned Russia's 3-day invasion into a 3-year-and-counting quagmire where:

- Russia suffered a humiliating defeat and pushed out of Kiev,

- barely made any progress beyond the initial blitzkrieg,

- got it's black sea fleet sunk and destroyed,

- saw parts of it's territory invaded and captured by Ukraine,

- is helplessly seeing it's oil industry being decimated,

- is begging the likes of Iran and North Korea for help, including boots on the ground.

As much as it pains Russia to admit, this is exactly what Russia's defeat scenario looks like: a long drawn out conflict that forces Russia to self destruct without a single boot on the ground from NATO.

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dismalaf 490 days ago
Russia has been here before, many times. They're remarkably resilient and good at sacrificing their own population to achieve their goals.

At the time Biden left office, Ukraine was losing territory. There's no saying Russia would have or will lose, unfortunately. A stronger response from the US and Europe was/is needed...

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motorest 490 days ago
> Russia has been here before, many times.

Not really. Each time a quagmire like this takes place, Russia collapses. The last time was Afghanistan.

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UncleOxidant 490 days ago
Zelenskyy is talking to Trump because he doesn't have any other choice now. Trump is most likely to let Putin keep what he's captured while also requiring Ukraine to "stay neutral" (and pledge to never join NATO)... and requiring Ukraine send the US rare earth minerals.

Yes, the Biden admin was slow to let Ukraine use the weapons we gave them in an effective manner. He was afraid that Putin might go nuclear (at least initially, I think they were realizing that Putin's threats were more bark than bite in the last year or so). He was also wary of the rhetoric coming from the Trump campaign during the last year about how Biden wanted to get the US into a boots-on-the-ground war in Ukraine - in that sense he was trying to thread a needle. But Biden was very supportive of NATO, whereas Trump wants out of NATO. And Ukraine has managed to draw out a war that Russia was "supposed" to win in a couple of months to a stalemate after 3 years while also managing to capture a bit of Russian territory.

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dismalaf 490 days ago
> But Biden was very supportive of NATO, whereas Trump wants out of NATO.

Trump's threats have caused most of Europe to rapidly ramp up defence spending, meanwhile Biden's "support" accomplished basically nothing, practically speaking. Nice words without action are useless.

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varsketiz 489 days ago
The russian threat is why military spending is increasing in europe (look at countries which increased spending and their proximity to russia).
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