VOA: NATO General: West Should Consider Arming Ukraine
NATO's military commander says the West needs to consider sending defensive weapons to Ukraine to help it counter Russia's continued involvement supporting pro-Moscow separatists fighting Kyiv's forces.
U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove told a Brussels conference that he does not think "any tool of (the) United States or any other nation's power should necessarily be off the table."
But Breedlove acknowledged that sending weapons to Kyiv could destabilize the country amid concerns about the implementation of a shaky month-old cease-fire between the pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian troops.
More News On NATO's Top General Calling For The Arming Of Ukraine
U.S. Should Consider Arming Ukrainians, Top NATO General Says -- Bloomberg
West should consider all tools, including arms, for Ukraine -NATO general -- Reuters
NATO Commander Calls For Using 'All Tools' To Help Ukraine -- Radio Free Europe
NATO Military Chief Philip Breedlove Flags Ukraine Risks -- WSJ
NATO Commander: West Must Fight Russia in Information 'War' -- NYT
1 comment:
This would seem to be a bad idea. Unfortunately to many American leaders play a game called "poker." I've played this game myself and not to be boastful was/am quite good at it. In this game a player decides how much to bet or should they fold. Another option is to go "all in."
While I realize this is only a game and not real life, the unfortunate part of this is many of America's leaders treat the concept of poker as though it is applicable to real life. Hence they use the terms "good hand" and "bad hand" to describe real life situations and much evidence suggests many of these people are expert poker players.
The problem with "defensive weapons" to Ukraine is they only prolong the agony for Ukrainian forces and will be viewed as a declaration of war by Russia, if our actions already are not viewed as such. In any event, this will only inflame the Russians further and NO ONE ever won a war by playing defense only!!
If the analogy of poker is used, it is time to "fold." Either fold or go "all in." Anything in between is insufficient. Frankly, we do not have the "hand" that would make going all in an advisable strategy.
Since this is NOT poker, I'm not sure we can "fold" at this point. We may already be in to deep. If this is so, we are looking at facing down the most powerful military force on the planet that has an impressive network of alliances that is far deeper and more reliable than anything we can muster. This was the case in the first Cold War yet somehow we survived even if the gaps are bigger this time around. Perhaps we can do so again.
Another problematic aspect of Cold War 2 is we had the moral high ground in Cold War 1. I'm not so sure we do this time. At least this is not the perception and as has been said "image is everything." While I don't think image is everything, it does count for allot and we are definitely losing the information war. If we can "fold," it would seem that Ukraine is definitely not worth military conflict with Russia.
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