The War in Europe

Analogous critiques were made of U.S. military doctrine in the wake of the Vietnamese fiasco.The 'tighten the screws' incremental approach led to years of increased U.S. combat forces on the ground; targeted bombing eventually ginned up to carpet bombing, and then the moral and environmental horrors of napalm and Agent Orange. By the time U.S. military strikes peaked, the tunnels were deep, and the targets (and the population) were hardened by years of war.Thus we saw the "shock and awe" approach to Iraq, et al.I should note that, if memory serves, our current sanctions on Russia are calculated to especially impact the power elite in Russia, relying on the corrolary notion that attempts to shift the burden to the Russian masses would make them restive.I'm skeptical about both the precision of the targeting and the likelihood of a restive-under-Putin Russian people.

I'm of two minds on it. Some of it is political posturing, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If the US had done nothing, that would have looked like a green light in Moscow.There is also the effect of US companies leaving Russia. This is especially true for the oil sector which relied heavily on major oil companies for production (e.g. Exxon, Shell, BP). Those companies left within days of the invasion because they wanted nothing to do with sanctions, and nothing to do with the image of working with Russia. Russia may not be able to keep those oil fields running in the long term without those western oil companies. If I understand the global markets correctly, Russia is a major supplier of some very important commodities other than oil. If memory serves, they are big in the platinum metal series and in fertilizers, to name a couple. It's as much about the rest of the world needing time to find alternatives as it is Russia.I will give Germany a lot of kudos for taking one for the team. They took a shot to the balls when they cut off Russian oil and especially natural gas.

Because of recent developments (e.g., Biden gives Ukraine permission to carry out limited strikes within Russia using US weapons), I thought I'd list some things Russia has been permitted to do that Ukraine has not:

1. Target sites in the other country
2. Invade the other country
3. Safely mass troops and supplies at the border
4. Fly modern weaponry
5. Employ the military of foreign allies

If our goal has been for Ukraine to lose as slowly as possible then I guess we're doing a bang up job. Ukraine is essential for western security, and our support should have recognized that reality from the beginning.Oh, and about sanctions again. There was an opinion piece somewhere recently saying we should again increase sanctions on Russia. Incredibly, after two years there are still more things not sanctioned than are. Declaring sanctions is for the idiotic sector of the public who still doesn't understand that sanctions don't work (ask Cuba) and are merely symbolic.Using a sports analogy, my coaches always told us to attack weaknesses relentlessly right out of the gate. Make the other guy or team experience futility as early and often as possible. Only in this way can you minimize your losses to lesser players or teams (there are no guarantees that the better team wins). We should have demonstrated our resolve right at the beginning by using western power directly on Russia and enough of this nonsense of "But they have the nuclear option."I know it's been said many times in this thread, but we're following right in Chamberlain's footsteps.Ukraine *is* going to lose this war. That outcome is baked into how we're handling things. It's just a matter of when.--Percy

Hey Europe guys, I’m hearing a sharp increase in emotion on immigration issues over there. I’m hearing/reading a pronounced increase in anti-Islam sentiments especially. Over here we are told of major crime/rape/murder sprees all throughout Europe by Islamist militants out to convert all of Europe to the peaceful ways of Islam. We are shown how all of European society is being rent by this issue and that a major backlash is brewing in the right wings of your society.Is this as “in your face” impacting your local personal social order or is this the hype of the neo-right trying to find voice? Are you guys really forming up into gangs ready to go out and burn down mosques?

We need some of that over here for the churches and synagogues too!Pay taxes or face the flame!

I would love to see a law where churches are heavily taxed and when they cannot pay their building is turned over to the fire department to be used in a controlled live-fire exercise. Then sell the burned-out property to a porn shop. I like that.

Well, the porn shops are doing ok on their own. I would rather see free clinics and homeless shelters.

Well, OK, if you want to be all woke about it. But, at least one QuikTrip that sells Penthouse.

Hell, the free clinics and shelters can give Penthouse way free! Is Penthouse still in print?>>>googling...I guess it's still around in some form. I remember Penthouse Letters took on a persona of its own as a popular erotic story feature.

First I’ve heard of it. Am I missing all the fun?btw, I’m on an American ship cruising the Baltic and so I've been exposed to your TV ‘news’ channels. Wow, that’s poisonous, malign and disturbing stuff. Goebbels would have been proud of it.

So, you're not being chased around deck by a knife wielding Imam? This is good.My perception, and it may be only that, is the sharp increase in caustic rhetoric above the usual background noise. Heavy anti-Islam, especially in memes and blogs out of Germany and France. If there is no fire then why are we seeing all this smoke? What is going on? More than a few additional instances of the usual violent humanity? Disinformation because of the election? Errant perceptions?If you recall, what channels were available and which struck you as poisonous, etc.?

I’m sure I would have noticed.
​ Nope, can’t help, nothing out of the ordinary is happening apart from some Palestinian protests but that’s pretty healthy.
​ Fox ‘News’ is the most obviously vile one - wall-to-wall Trump disinformation. (It was the week of his trial.)

Good to hear. If you guys inside are not saying the house is on fire then the smoke is just that. With some mirrors we have the usual right-wing bullshit.Thank you, Tangle.

Finally, Ukraine has invaded Russia. Nowhere in the news is there any mention of that absurd claim, offered over and over again from the war's very beginning, that Ukraine dare not invade Russia for fear it would unchain the bear, possibly including nuclear retaliation? What happened to that other claim that we dare not provide Ukraine any air power assistance? Apparently it was nonsense as we're now providing Ukraine F16's.That Putin dared give the Ukrainian incursion the label of "provocation" shows how successfully he's drawn western commentators into his sphere of unreality. In what universe is an invading country's own territory off limits to counter-invasion?The moment Russia's invasion of Ukraine began there should have been calls from the west to provide Ukraine all the assistance it needed to not just repel the attack but to counterattack and take the war to Russia. That's how wars are won. They definitely are not won by providing barely enough assistance to guarantee the war drags on for years.Russian aggression should have been countered as early and as near to Russia as possible, and finally we seem to recognize this. The old strategy, apparently abandoned without mention, only guaranteed that Russia would have taken, one by one, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland. The old strategy would have returned us to the Cold War.Which, as an aside, is exactly what Trump wants. He likes dealing with dictators.--Percy

So in other words we are taking sides in a civil war. I say that the killing needs to stop.