By trying to play it safe, Biden & co. ensured that the conflict would become more drawn out and expand,
This is how you know it’s a proxy war.
As you point out, Biden’s decisions were obviously ones that would prolong the war rather than affording a decisive counteroffensive. This was because the goal of slowly bleeding Russia’s military out to weaken a rival power and bolster the American weapons manufactures was placed more highly than than trying to put Ukraine into a position of strength from which to demand a ceasefire on their own terms.
I don’t know what Zelensky wanted, or what his plans were. But I think the most obvious and sensible approach would’ve been to privately lay out the bargain: the US gives Ukraine more or less everything that it wants to kick Russia’s ass for a couple of months with the awareness that a full defeat of Russia by Ukraine is impossible, and pursuing a regime change would be inviting a nuclear world war. As such, the US goes hard, and puts Ukraine in a position to make the most modest concessions necessary to end the war in a way that lets Russia survive while having demonstrated that the overall approach was a disaster.
Could Putin decide to try again a few years later? Sure. Is it likely? And would that situation have been worse than what we’re about to watch Trump and Putin do? Jesus Christ, not by a Texas mile.
Letting the war continue under any terms into Trump’s presidency should’ve been viewed as the number-one all-time greatest military vulnerability to Ukraine, and should’ve been prevented at any cost.
I’m not quite as convinced as you are that there was that deliberate a strategy to prolong the war and let it fester, and I still think the description of it as just an American proxy war is overly simplistic. But we do seem to agree on many points, most importantly that Ukraine should have gotten, and still should get, a lot more support and not be artificially restrained. Thanks for the chat.
This is how you know it’s a proxy war.
As you point out, Biden’s decisions were obviously ones that would prolong the war rather than affording a decisive counteroffensive. This was because the goal of slowly bleeding Russia’s military out to weaken a rival power and bolster the American weapons manufactures was placed more highly than than trying to put Ukraine into a position of strength from which to demand a ceasefire on their own terms.
I don’t know what Zelensky wanted, or what his plans were. But I think the most obvious and sensible approach would’ve been to privately lay out the bargain: the US gives Ukraine more or less everything that it wants to kick Russia’s ass for a couple of months with the awareness that a full defeat of Russia by Ukraine is impossible, and pursuing a regime change would be inviting a nuclear world war. As such, the US goes hard, and puts Ukraine in a position to make the most modest concessions necessary to end the war in a way that lets Russia survive while having demonstrated that the overall approach was a disaster.
Could Putin decide to try again a few years later? Sure. Is it likely? And would that situation have been worse than what we’re about to watch Trump and Putin do? Jesus Christ, not by a Texas mile.
Letting the war continue under any terms into Trump’s presidency should’ve been viewed as the number-one all-time greatest military vulnerability to Ukraine, and should’ve been prevented at any cost.
I’m not quite as convinced as you are that there was that deliberate a strategy to prolong the war and let it fester, and I still think the description of it as just an American proxy war is overly simplistic. But we do seem to agree on many points, most importantly that Ukraine should have gotten, and still should get, a lot more support and not be artificially restrained. Thanks for the chat.