Appeasing Russia? What does the corrupt, child-mutilating, warmongering West have to do with Soviet constituent republics to begin with? It's no more appeasement of Russia than Europe permitting the US to hold on to the territories it occupied in the Mexican-American War.
I think this is key. What's worse: Americans keeping their hands out of another countries business or Americans involving themselves in a war on behalf of a non-ally, then losing?
China really only cares abouy Taiwan because they think America could use it as a forward base to interfere in their domestic affairs. Do you think they'll be reassured by the US fighting a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine?
Important to remember too that this isn't Israel fighting a bunch of sand niggers. Russia once had one of the most powerful militaries in the world and, even though they've declined, they've been fighting conflicts for years. They have veteran forces where Ukraine was newly trained greenhorns. As we learned in Afghanistan, just giving the locals your fancy weapons does not win a war.
If the US goes all in on Ukraine, and doesn't win, China will definitely go after Taiwan and maybe even Japanese territory. If they do win, they'll waste trillions of dollars and years of public war exhaustion; no one is going to want a conflict with China after this, just to protect some island in the pacific, assuming China waits that long.
What's worse: Americans keeping their hands out of another countries business or Americans involving themselves in a war on behalf of a non-ally, then losing?
If you want to engage in ruthless geopolitics, then the second can be superior. If you believe that Russia is your enemy (which it's not, America made it one), and put weakening Russia above everything else, then it certainly can be worth it.
China really only cares abouy Taiwan because they think America could use it as a forward base to interfere in their domestic affairs. Do you think they'll be reassured by the US fighting a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine?
Yeah, I find it rather unlikely that China will be deterred. The best way to deter China, in my view at least, is to not worsen the situation for China. Shipping massive amounts of weapons to Taiwan will make it a now or never like it did for Russia.
They have veteran forces where Ukraine was newly trained greenhorns
I actually disagree. Ukraine has had 800,000 men spending the past 9 years terrorizing the Donbas. In total, not any given year. So there are a lot of men with military experience, though mostly shelling defenseless civilians. Russia has had low-footprint wars in Syria, and a pseudo-war in Chechnya against non-entities. So Ukraine definitely gets the + there.
I think this is key. What's worse: Americans keeping their hands out of another countries business or Americans involving themselves in a war on behalf of a non-ally, then losing?
China really only cares abouy Taiwan because they think America could use it as a forward base to interfere in their domestic affairs. Do you think they'll be reassured by the US fighting a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine?
Important to remember too that this isn't Israel fighting a bunch of sand niggers. Russia once had one of the most powerful militaries in the world and, even though they've declined, they've been fighting conflicts for years. They have veteran forces where Ukraine was newly trained greenhorns. As we learned in Afghanistan, just giving the locals your fancy weapons does not win a war.
If the US goes all in on Ukraine, and doesn't win, China will definitely go after Taiwan and maybe even Japanese territory. If they do win, they'll waste trillions of dollars and years of public war exhaustion; no one is going to want a conflict with China after this, just to protect some island in the pacific, assuming China waits that long.
If you want to engage in ruthless geopolitics, then the second can be superior. If you believe that Russia is your enemy (which it's not, America made it one), and put weakening Russia above everything else, then it certainly can be worth it.
Yeah, I find it rather unlikely that China will be deterred. The best way to deter China, in my view at least, is to not worsen the situation for China. Shipping massive amounts of weapons to Taiwan will make it a now or never like it did for Russia.
I actually disagree. Ukraine has had 800,000 men spending the past 9 years terrorizing the Donbas. In total, not any given year. So there are a lot of men with military experience, though mostly shelling defenseless civilians. Russia has had low-footprint wars in Syria, and a pseudo-war in Chechnya against non-entities. So Ukraine definitely gets the + there.