We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Looks like a proxy war, with NATO (aka USA). I am unclear re US interest there. Clarify it for me, please. I do not understand why Russia has to be an adversary. They do not have a nice government, but few countries do.
I trust no information from anybody, but this makes sense to me. I hear people talking about Ukraine as if it were part of the United States. Why? They are not even an ally.
It has never been a confusing issue for me, but I am an expert. In my education I majored in it.
One thing had me wondering. If the nominated Justice Jackson is not sure what a woman is, how can she be comfortable being the first black woman Justice? Is she sure what she is?
Of course I feel badly for all victims of this stupid war - Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian fighters, Russian soldiers, etc. Bad for all involved. We all like narratives of good vs bad.
Let's look at every reason but the expansion of a hostile and aggressive military alliance to Russia's border, because if we look at Putin's stated reasons, which every foreign policy expert who wasn't a neocon took for granted since we promised Gorbachov not to expand NATO east, that makes us the baddies, therefore we do these Putin mind-reading exercises to avoid dealing with our own culpability in this matter.
Russia's border is NATO's manifest destiny, right? My country, right or wrong, right? Ignorance is strength! We have been here before and it is not a proud chapter in our history.
Why did the Ukrainians undertake an offensive operation into Donbass (Where they have been committing war crimes like using white phosphorus artillery on civilian populations, BTW, for 8 years) , striking a match in the tinderbox, when Russian troops were massed on Ukraine's border, except to instigate a war?
Now the US strategy, cheered on here, is to drag out the war to maximize Russia's losses, no matter the cost in Ukrainian lives. We will see who comes out of this beloved by the victims in this war.
We are returning to something resembling the “Great Game” of the 19th century, which saw Britain and Tsarist Russia struggle over the resources of central Asia, while others in Europe—France, Germany, Belgium—strove to expand their empires into commodity-rich Africa. Following a lull after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Great Game has now been renewed, with the US and China now occupying critical roles. The humiliating retreat of the US from Afghanistan, a country central to the old Game, has emboldened China and Russia to win the new one. The players have changed and today’s Great Game sets the stage for a new conflict—the “duopoly” of Russia and China, with their associated allies like Iran and Venezuela, against America and the democratic West.
Zelenskyy’s request was expected. Ukrainians and pro-Ukraine think tanks and activists have been relentless in their calls for a no-fly zone over the Ukrainian skies. One can sympathize with the Ukrainians. For some reason, they expected NATO cavalry to arrive over the gray hills. Ukrainians have also been misled for decades about their chances of joining NATO. Zelenskyy has been exemplary and brave in his stoic leadership, heralding a return to the Great Man Theory of history and drawing comparisons to Winston Churchill.
If there is one glaring similarity between Zelenskyy and Churchill, it is that Zelenskyy understands as much as Churchill that dragging the United States into a potential world war—even a nuclear war—is in the interest of his country. Whether it is in the interest of the United States is a different question altogether.
Sad, but Ukraine never had a prayer and that has been clear for months.
What comes after is unclear but the Ukraine will be back in the Russian fold instead of moving towards the EU and the NATO (aka American) fold. The efforts of the latter to play this game were not likely to succeed because Russia would never put up with that. It was said repeatedly.
Ace
Enjoying your Russian civil war 
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