What’s America’s view on this Tucker Carlson?

  • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “Sooner or later this will end in agreement,” was Putin’s message, arguing that Nato was coming to realise that defeating Russia on the battlefield would be impossible.

    Does Putin realize that NATO is effectively fighting Russia with both arms tied behind it’s back right now? We’re funding Ukraine (who are doing a phenomenal job, fwiw), but we’re not even giving them the top of the line hardware. If the US actually got involved, Russia would pretty much instantly lose any glimmer of air superiority they have, and Ukraine could advance all the way to Moscow under NATO air cover. Like, the only reason Russia still exists is because NATO hasn’t even tried to fight Russia on the battlefield yet.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      NATO isn’t even fighting. NATO gave Ukraine their old boxing gloves and some advice.

      • Wogi@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        And we’re learning that a teenager with a drone can be hilariously effective against modern weapons.

        So is Russia. Except Russia is learning how to combat the kids with drones too. They’re gaining invaluable battlefield experience that NATO troops simply aren’t.

        Reports vary from side to side, from showing that Russians are curb stomping Ukraine to Ukraine is holding it’s own. So, sure, NATO tossing the kid gloves to Ukraine and putting up a fight is comforting, but it isn’t the whole picture. Russia wins a war of attrition. NATO is made up of democracies and war fatigue sets in fast when it’s someone else’s war. Russia is a de facto fascist dictatorship with deep oil pockets. The only thing that turns their troops around is the head of state dying, or a massive coup. Reports of ether being imminent seem to be rather premature.

        • Tja@programming.dev
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          9 months ago

          War attrition sets in much slower when you’re not at war.

          Yes, my government is sending some old equipment and dedicating 10% of the military budget (which is like 2% of the total spending) to help Ukraine.

          That is much less shocking than “Dave from school came back without a leg, and my cousin John didn’t come back at all”.

        • rammer@sopuli.xyz
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          9 months ago

          They’re gaining invaluable battlefield experience that NATO troops simply aren’t.

          Oh, yes they are. Ukraine is in close contact with NATO countries and sharing intel. NATO countries are also buying drones in bulk right now. And developing ones that Russia will not see until they try to pick a fight with NATO.

        • Poach@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          How do you feel about Russia’s deep oil pockets now that Ukraine is going after their refineries and porta? Do you think Russia can continue to advance or hold ground while also defending large swaths of the western part of Russia? Genuinely curious

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      My guess is is does, but he wants the US to lose interest and move on so coloring this as an exercise in futility helps further that goal.

    • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Yeah right, NATO commands far more nuclear warheads than Russia! They’d definitely loose in a thermonuclear exchange!

      • Liam Mayfair@lemmy.sdf.org
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        9 months ago

        If the nuke comes out, it won’t make an ounce of a difference who has more of them: if only each side can manage to land a small handful, everyone is equally and utterly fucked.

        This principle alone is why NATO has not engaged Russia more directly.

        • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Yeah but they’d loose too! :D

          I wonder if people forgot, or maybe gen Z and millenials never really know how bad nuclear weapons are. Even a regional nuclear exchange would probably lead to a nuclear winter and then a nuclear summer, completely fucking the climate. As long as we have them, it’s inevitable that we’ll eventually use them. Just the law of large numbers / Murphey’s law. The wars climate change will cause will make that even more likely. But hey, lets keep playing stupid games.

          • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            At the same time, the world can’t just roll over and let every tin pot dictator do whatever they want just because they have a nuke.

    • LordOfLocksley@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      If the US actually got involved air superiority would be the least of our worries. The minute any major NATO nation gets properly involved, the war goes nuclear very soon after

      • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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        9 months ago

        Putin said that about lethal aid, Putin said that about tanks, Putin said that about f-16s, etc. Will Putin really start Wolrd War 3 over The Donbas and Crimea?

      • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        I’m betting there are a lot of people under Putin that don’t want to die for his stupidity.

        • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          There are people over Putin too. No ruler can rule alone and without consent, his rich oligarch buddies don’t want to cruise their yachts during nuclear winter.

          • Tangent5280@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Really dampens the mood. Not even the model-prostitutes will want to fuck in such dreary weather. Not that their consent matters to the oligarch.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        Mutually assured destruction is pretty much why no one will ever actually go through with that if their target also has nukes or is protected by a country that has them. It’s one of the major reasons no country that has nukes wants to disarm.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                9 months ago

                No worries. Libya did give up its nuclear program as well, but it was because all the countries that invaded Afghanistan in 2001 said, “do it or you’re next.”

            • 52fighters@sopuli.xyz
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              9 months ago

              Gaddafi would still be alive. Dictators now need nuclear weapons to assure survival. Look for the world to get real crazy real fast.

                • 52fighters@sopuli.xyz
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                  9 months ago

                  You realize Muammar Gaddafi only died 12 years ago and Russia only invaded Ukraine two years ago? Nuclear weapon programs take at least that long to develop. Ukraine and Libya had programs (Ukraine actually had weapons) and abandoned them, much to their demise. If they kept their programs, they wouldn’t have had these problems.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                    9 months ago

                    Okay, but that’s not what you said before. You claimed, and as I pasted: “Dictators now need nuclear weapons to assure survival.”

                    Please explain how the vast majority of dictatorships are surviving without them. Or do all 57 have nuclear weapons?

      • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        They should have thought of that before co-signing the Budapest accords. At least two NATO countries are already involved.

        The last time Russian units engaged Americans in combat they were so outmatched that the Russian chain of command disavowed their own guys and pretended not to know them. Nuclear conflagration would be a much better death by comparison.