Russia-Ukraine War

[C0|dB|00ded]

Ukrainians shooting down Russian jets and helicopters with American F-16s means we have de facto joined the conflict, but Ukrainians shooting down Russian jets and helicopters, and destroying Russian tanks with American Stinger, Patriot, and Javelin missiles keeps our hands nice and clean.



Contorted and vigorous defense of poorly thought out logic coming in ... 3 ... 2 ...

You're misinformed.

The F16's are for the Polish, not the Ukrainians.

And weapons like Stinger missiles are defensive in nature. Jets are mostly offensive and MUCH more potentially damaging on an item by item basis. Stingers are also ubiquitous across the world. We might even attempt to deny directly supplying them. There's no denying the MIG/F16 swap which was broadcast across the world wires. The Poles need to be more discreet.

[Kung Wu]

Ukrainians shooting down Russian jets and helicopters with American F-16s means we have de facto joined the conflict, but Ukrainians shooting down Russian jets and helicopters, and destroying Russian tanks with American Stinger, Patriot, and Javelin missiles keeps our hands nice and clean.



Contorted and vigorous defense of poorly thought out logic coming in ... 3 ... 2 ...

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Yes, long road trips are still a problem. But there's no need to drive to certain parts of town. You can plug your vehicle in at night before you go to bed topping it off and enjoying hundreds of miles of range every morning as you leave for work. The vast majority of people drive the vast majority of their miles in town. For those folks, electric works (if they can afford it). And for going on the occasional road trip, renting a traditional auto may be a solution.

LOL! No thanks.

[C0|dB|00ded]

The problem with EVs is infrastructure and as you mentioned, cost. Until those two issues are solved, EVs will struggle to become more mainstream.

Most people don't want to have to drive to a certain part of town or plan out a trip based on where charging stations are at.

Yes, long road trips are still a problem. But there's no need to drive to certain parts of town. You can plug your vehicle in at night before you go to bed topping it off and enjoying hundreds of miles of range every morning as you leave for work. The vast majority of people drive the vast majority of their miles in town. For those folks, electric works (if they can afford it). And for going on the occasional road trip, renting a traditional auto may be a solution.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Translated: We shouldn’t do anything that might make Putin mad.

I assure you Pootin' is mad as hell right now.

As the world's Hyperpower, we have the luxury (and perhaps obligation) of weighing decisions carefully. We're not dealing with N. Korea or Iran. Russia is orders of magnitude more dangerous then those two combined.

Every decision is a risk/reward analysis. How can we put Pootin' back in his box with the least amount of economic disruption and lives lost. That is the calculus that should guide our every move. So far I believe we are making great risk/reward decisions as we steadily tighten the noose.

Would you prefer Trump and Pootin' lobbying nuclear insults back and forth? Do you think a quote from an American president promising "fire and fury like the world has never seen" is going to do the trick? It would likely only embolden the Russian people who are terminally indoctrinated and deluded.

https://nypost.com/2022/03/07/captured-russian-officer-apologizes-to-ukraine-for-genocide/

Listen to the preceding apology from a Russian officer if you haven't already. We need an Anonymous-esque hacking group to get this interview blasted across all Russian media devices non-stop for a week. We are in an information war - kind of like Covid, except this time, truth is winning (I think).

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

I'd arm every man, woman, and child with Stinger missiles so Russia cannot gain air superiority. Then it's guerilla warfare time. A horrible existence, but it will assure the Russians of paying a price they could never conceive of paying.

Then I would HEAVILY bolster NATO forces inside countries surrounding Russia. This, along with the sanctions, is about all we can do short of actively engaging. Then we wait...

As far as the energy crisis is concerned... high gas prices will convince a lot of folk to move on over to electric. That isn't such a bad thing. Once you drive an electric vehicle, it's hard to go back. They need to get cheaper though. Perhaps some creative leases or incentives can take the sting out for the average American. I like the idea of cooperative ownership programs as well. Americans will innovate in these times and come out better for it.

You do realize they have been trying to convince people to go all in on electric for like 20 years right? You think that is going to happen over night and make any impact on gas prices? That is an absolute joke. The reality is that Hiden Joe took over a country in a position of power that was energy independent and pooped his pants in less than a year. I think it has happened even quicker than Trump predicted or even thought. But, hey at least we don't have mean tweets...

[Maizerunner08]

I'd arm every man, woman, and child with Stinger missiles so Russia cannot gain air superiority. Then it's guerilla warfare time. A horrible existence, but it will assure the Russians of paying a price they could never conceive of paying.

Then I would HEAVILY bolster NATO forces inside countries surrounding Russia. This, along with the sanctions, is about all we can do short of actively engaging. Then we wait...

As far as the energy crisis is concerned... high gas prices will convince a lot of folk to move on over to electric. That isn't such a bad thing. Once you drive an electric vehicle, it's hard to go back. They need to get cheaper though. Perhaps some creative leases or incentives can take the sting out for the average American. I like the idea of cooperative ownership programs as well. Americans will innovate in these times and come out better for it.

The problem with EVs is infrastructure and as you mentioned, cost. Until those two issues are solved, EVs will struggle to become more mainstream.

Most people don't want to have to drive to a certain part of town or plan out a trip based on where charging stations are at.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I'd arm every man, woman, and child with Stinger missiles so Russia cannot gain air superiority. Then it's guerilla warfare time. A horrible existence, but it will assure the Russians of paying a price they could never conceive of paying.

Then I would HEAVILY bolster NATO forces inside countries surrounding Russia. This, along with the sanctions, is about all we can do short of actively engaging. Then we wait...

As far as the energy crisis is concerned... high gas prices will convince a lot of folk to move on over to electric. That isn't such a bad thing. Once you drive an electric vehicle, it's hard to go back. They need to get cheaper though. Perhaps some creative leases or incentives can take the sting out for the average American. I like the idea of cooperative ownership programs as well. Americans will innovate in these times and come out better for it.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

I too was unhappy that we didn't accept Poland's offer, but I recognize the difference between Poland making a knee-jerk decision and the United States. The Biden administration is the opposite of the Trump administration in that deference and deliberation is chosen over hubris and perhaps even recklessness. This is the way world superpowers should behave. If we defacto arm Ukraine with more jets (because that is exactly what we are doing by replenishing the Migs with F16's), Putin has every right to consider us part of the conflict. We may as well fly them over ourselves.

There is also the issue of logistics. How do we get the jets to Ukraine? The Poles aren't gonna fly 'em. So we'd need to transport Ukrainian pilots to Germany and have them fly back shooting their way into the country. That implicates Us, Poland, AND Germany. In consideration of all this... The Biden Administration MIGHT have made the right decision. If I'm wrong about Pootin' just trying to cause trouble to get attention; if he is indeed ready to upset world peace in a big way (that would mean he's ****ing nuts), then the very actions we are talking about could be the tipping point. Russia has already lost thousands of troops. Brand new jets means he's going to lose thousands more.

Translated: We shouldn’t do anything that might make Putin mad.

[C0|dB|00ded]

The Biden Administration is going all in on "virtue signaling", but don't care to do anything practical.

Poland really called out the U.S. yesterday. By them saying they would give the U.S. all their Mig-29 in exchange for F-16, and then the U.S. could transfer them to Ukraine. They were doing 2 things:

1. They were making sure the U.S. had meat in the game
2. They showed it really the U.S. that is stopping consequential military aid to the Ukraine.

Also, Saudi Arabia and another OPEC country on the Arabian peninsula refused to take Biden call this week (but they did answer the call from Putin). That left the U.S. to talk to Venezuela and Iran for getting more oil production online to try and flood the market. These oil and gas prices are a BOON for Russia, Saudi Arabia (and other OPEC countries).

Next the U.N. ordered their people to not refer to the Russia/Ukraine war as a WAR.

Ukraine is about to be thrown under the bus.

I too was unhappy that we didn't accept Poland's offer, but I recognize the difference between Poland making a knee-jerk decision and the United States. The Biden administration is the opposite of the Trump administration in that deference and deliberation is chosen over hubris and perhaps even recklessness. This is the way world superpowers should behave. If we defacto arm Ukraine with more jets (because that is exactly what we are doing by replenishing the Migs with F16's), Putin has every right to consider us part of the conflict. We may as well fly them over ourselves.

There is also the issue of logistics. How do we get the jets to Ukraine? The Poles aren't gonna fly 'em. So we'd need to transport Ukrainian pilots to Germany and have them fly back shooting their way into the country. That implicates Us, Poland, AND Germany. In consideration of all this... The Biden Administration MIGHT have made the right decision. If I'm wrong about Pootin' just trying to cause trouble to get attention; if he is indeed ready to upset world peace in a big way (that would mean he's ****ing nuts), then the very actions we are talking about could be the tipping point. Russia has already lost thousands of troops. Brand new jets means he's going to lose thousands more.

[Shockm]

Biden Administration: We are going to do everything to prevent Americans from being impacted by this conflict
Also Biden Administration: No new domestic drilling and no additional domestic actions to ease gas prices.
Also Also Biden Administration: Hey Venezuela, you've done some terrible things but we'd still like some of your oil that is dirtier than the oil that we can produce.

#Logic

FIFY

[ShockerPrez]

There is no question that our decrease in energy production played a role in Putin's decision. It has to be. It is too big of an issue at this time for it not to have been.

Imagine if the decision of the Biden admin to scale back and halt our domestic energy production was the reason this whole thing started.....

All in the pursuit of a fictional crisis.

[ShockerPrez]

Remember when the U.S. was not respected under Trump? Good thing we put Biden in and restored our standing in the world.

It just goes to show how much the media mis-portrayed Trump in so many ways.

There is no way to convince a sane person that we are better off with Biden as opposed to having Trump. At the very least, we would be negotiating from a position of power and strength right now. With, BTW, a person skilled in negotiating.... And pro American. And we would be energy independent.

[1972Shocker]

Putin snickers: Guess who owns a big chunk of Venezuela's oil?

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/03/putin_snickers_guess_who_owns_a_big_chunk_of_venezuelas_oil.html

Who owns Venezuela's oil? The information is pretty hazy give that these characters don't release much information anymore, and the news shifts often, but the preponderance of evidence suggests that Russia owns a big chunk of it.

Same author in 2017: Cold reality: Venezuela now a Russian puppet state

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/08/cold_reality_venezuela_now_a_russian_puppet_state.html

Investment banker Russ Dallen at Caracas Capital Markets points out a painfully obvious truth about Venezuela: it's no longer a sovereign state. It's actually a Russian puppet state.

All of this points to a hard reality that Russia has its hands all over in Venezuela's crude oil, the very crude that the Biden administration is proposing to buy in lieu of restoring U.S. and Canadian energy development, which by the way, can come online within a quarter, while Venezuela's raddled energy production state will take years to restore.

It's quite likely that with Venezuela not producing much crude based on its dessicated state, that the Russians will slip in their own oil to its Venezuelan entities and brand it Venezuelan oil. If not, they'll still take home the cash -- because they own so much of it already.

---

Biden has to know this having been in Congressional, VP and Presidential roles for the past 50 years. Although apparently what Biden and the Democrats have fine tuned over the last 5 years is how to deflect, gaslight and virtue signal and I have to admit they do that very well. No as for actually solving any problems? Well who needs that?

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

This administration is so idiotic and out of touch with reality. Jen Psucky has to stand up there and be the blathering mouthpiece and it is beyond ridiculous.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/former-keystone-pipeline-worker-says-us-energy-crisis-is-result-of-bidens-policies-we-tried-to-warn-you

A former Keystone XL pipeline worker said the energy industry "tried to warn" President Biden against policies hindering U.S. oil and gas production – policies the worker said have caused the country's growing energy crisis.

"We tried to warn this administration back when they canceled the Keystone Pipeline" that it was also "canceling national security, foreign policy and energy," Neal Crabtree told Fox News. "They all kinda go hand-in-hand."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration isn't against increasing domestic production and instead blamed oil companies.

"Federal policies are not limiting the supplies of oil and gas," Psaki said Monday.

"There are 9,000 approved drilling permits that are not being used, so the suggestion that we are not allowing companies to drill is inaccurate," she continued. "I would suggest you ask the oil companies why they’re not using those if there’s a desire to drill more."

In response, Crabtree told Fox News: "There's no energy company [that's] gonna spend the money to develop a new lease if they can't build a pipeline to move the project."

Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline his first day in office.

Biden administration officials discussed "energy security" in Venezuela, and the president is considering a trip to Saudi Arabia. Psaki also didn't rule out importing Iranian oil if a nuclear deal is renewed.

"When I’d first seen the reports of the president going to places like Iran and Venezuela to ask for more oil output, I said ‘this is fake news, he hasn’t gone this far off the rocker,’" Crabtree told Fox News. "But I guess that's the path they want to take."