I Should’ve Bought That Bunker

Since we’re in the midst of a conflict that could wreck our lives, I figured I’d offer my take on the matter:

What does Russia want?

• Recognition of Russian breakaway areas
• A demilitarized Ukrainian rump state
• A formal assurance of not joining or hosting NATO

What’s their strategy thus far?

• Wiping out Ukrainian military infrastructure and air units
• Avoiding destructive ground clashes in favor of encirclement
• Encouraging desertion
• Preserving civilian infrastructure such as utilities
• Leaving open humanitarian corridors
• Continuing to pump gas through Ukraine

Essentially, they’re avoiding our idiotic strategy of destroying Iraq and its state institutions during the 2003 invasion. If they wanted to recklessly plow through the place the way we did without much regard to human life, it’s well within their capabilities. Fortunately, their post combat objectives would be ill-served by killing Ukrainians en masse.

Pretty much everybody else around the world would be better off if the Russians got what they wanted as soon and as peacefully as possible. This is Russia’s conflict to lose. Nobody is going to benefit if that starts happening and they decide to escalate in order to change that situation.

Putin intervened because he saw America’s advance into the Ukraine as an existential threat. He’s not going withdraw in shame and then have NATO pour into the country in preparation for regime change in Moscow. Human rights/freedom/democracy/borders sanctimony is unadulterated, hypocritical nonsense. This is an unambiguous goal of U.S. foreign policy which has been pursued relentlessly for decades.

“Five days ago, I would have said that Ukraine is where we must fight the war against Putin. Five days later, I will say that Ukraine is where we can win the war against Putin — deal him a defeat that will be the beginning of his end…” https://t.co/uDpPBbARON

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) March 1, 2022

The Russians have been adamant that the underlying rationale for their military actions is self-defense. This was clear in Chechnya where the U.S. sponsored an insurgency during the 90s with the aim of breaking apart the Russian Federation, the Russo-Georgia War in 2008, the 2014 annexation of Crimea to preserve their Black Sea fleet, and the intervention in Syria to rescue a key ally and their only Mediterranean naval facility.

They also use humanitarian, pan-Russian themes. However, their actions are consistent with what they keep saying is most important. By contrast, the U.S. is constantly engaging in conflicts that don’t align with our national interests according to justifications that don’t make any sense and are often contradictory between various interventions. For instance, there’s hysteria about Ukraine’s sacred sovereignty, but look what we did to Kosovo and Serbia in 2008. Of course, it hosts a NATO military presence. Putin warned that would come back to haunt us at the time.

There are a couple of things I find particularly alarming. First, the fact that we simply can’t stop pursuing the objectives of our Zionist plutocracy no matter how badly and consistently they end in failure. Nothing dislodges these people or gets them to change course.

‘The damage is done’: Russians face economic point of no return .. Success! This is precisely what we planned for and hoped for. https://t.co/JPtroqK6Se

— Jennifer 'I stand with Ukraine' Rubin 🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@JRubinBlogger) February 28, 2022

The same people behind the War on Terror debacles are still there without any accountability, advocating for policies that will go catastrophically wrong. If they want to do something, they’ll keep trying to do it regardless of the consequences, fighting to the last drop of our blood.

This isn’t to say that Putin is against them. He wants a strong, independent Russian state (that includes many Muslims and non-ethnic Russians) and has a transactional relationship with these people where it suits him. That’s a sharp contrast to Western politicians who’ll literally get on their knees, which probably feeds some of the hysteria.

The second is how my former comrades who’ve made careers out of the military and have serious credentials are belligerent on this issue to the point where I wonder about mental retardation. I can’t fathom how they could acquire so much experience and training and still think it’s feasible to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, start downing Russian aircraft with our superior technology at minimal risk, thwart the entire operation, and not start WW3. However, that’s what they advocate.

I should’ve bought that bunker, but instead I kept my bitcoin. I’m no genius either.