There is No Way Back--article recommended by Vindman on Twitter by Molly McKew

[femmedem]

There is no way back. [Part 1]
If we want the war to stay in Ukraine, we have to win it in Ukraine.
Day 11

If we want the war with Putin to end, we must see why the Ukrainians have defied all expectations — as a government, as an army, as a nation, as a people — and learn to think as they do. We must learn to see not only the risk, but the opportunities that are born from taking those risks that would otherwise not have existed.

We see now the Russian war machine is hollow, and that their war planning is founded on delusion. Again, this creates more opportunity. They are second guessing themselves in the face of Ukrainian resolve. But we talk as if the war is essentially over.

Since the first boom, Ukrainian strategic decision-making was actually about looking for victory — which technically is what strategy is for; strategy is a theory of success in war — and about creating opportunity for something other than just dying quietly in the mud and the rubble. This has given them an incalculable advantage over Russia. And honestly, over us.

We haven’t caught up yet. We desperately need to.

Much more: https://www.greatpower.us/p/there-is-no-way-back-part-1?s=w

[Nevilledog]

1. Dupe, but the more people who read it, the better

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216450550

[femmedem]

2. Oops, sorry I didn't see yours. Folks, go rec hers.

I'll leave this up but go kick and rec yours.

[Nevilledog]

3. Her

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

4. Excellent read, trust someone who matters reads this...

spreads it far & wide.

Russia articulates quite clearly that they are at war with us already, and they have been for some time. Their primary interest — and why they have resorted to so many grey and below-threshold methods of attack in between whatever kinetic wars they think they can get away with — is that we never feel sufficient activation energy to fight them. A component of this has been constructing the trap of believing that there is nothing to be done. That inaction is always wisdom.

It is not. It is the trap. As Zelensky terms it — self-hypnosis. There are miles of things to do between direct US confrontation of Russia and where we are now [this will be discussed in part 3]. If there is too much risk in a no fly zone, for example, don’t just say no — imagine alternatives. Instead this job is left to the Ukrainians and their loose network of individual allies. The White House is now being dragged along by the Ukrainians, by some of our European allies, by the new zingier Europe — but too slowly, too slowly. This course creates more danger for what Russia might do — the space left open — not less.

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. Wow- jaw-dropping blunt, yet thoughtful assessment of the opportunity this war presents

This might be the best, albeit risky, chance to take out Putin and stop his madness.

My experience in the past 14 years, working in countries under various forms of attack from Russia and studying Russian actions in Syria and elsewhere, is exactly the opposite of “doing anything makes it worse.” It is not escalation that invites poor judgement or expands the potential for miscalculation/disaster by the supposedly cornered rat of Putin, but the empty space we leave before the Russians, into which they feel free to strike, when the worst moments of catastrophe come. The danger is not in action from us, action that comes with clear purpose or clearly articulated purpose, but in failing to act and leaving Putin to believe a greater risk taken yields greater rewards — and thus is worth taking.

[thomski64]

7. A risk of escalating out of control...

...a certainty that we fight later if not now! NATO migs to Ukraine !!
have we forgotten Chechnya, South Osetia, and Crimea? What was
NATO crated for? To stand by and watch, while one at a time emerging
democracies are crushed? we had no problem obliterating a retreating
column of Shia Iraqi defeated looters leaving Kuwait. seems like an advancing
column has somewhat more moral clarity.. Drones and Cruise missiles
,

[AnrothElf]

8. In some ways I understand the WH's strategy..

If as the OP article points out, Ukraine survives without US boots on the ground or air support, then we don't get to share in the "glory".

But maybe that IS the strategy. If this non-NATO fledgling democracy can stand up to Putin and survive, it's good evidence that the liberal tradition is alive and kicking ass

[usaf-vet]

9. ///