Should Fighter Jets Be Supplied To Ukraine? Vindman And Lawrence Discuss - The Last Word - MSNBC

[Rhiannon12866]

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell discuss whether to supply Ukraine with fighter jets as Vladimir Putin continues his war in that country. Aired on 03/09/2022.

[SheltieLover]

1. Kicking for visibility

[AlexSFCA]

2. Lawrence outsmarted Vindman

[caraher]

3. Lawrence was kind of annoying me with this one

He asked for Vindman's expert opinion and argued many points in what struck me as a deliberately obtuse way (e.g. when Vindman mentioned that Soviet personnel engaged in combat against US warplanes in Vietnam, O'Donnell started lecturing Vindman about how this war in Ukraine is not a "proxy" war. If anything, that reinforces Vindman's point. Nobody is talking about US personnel going into Ukraine to fight the Russians, which is the level of involvement Vindman is arguing was historically insufficient to trigger a wider conflict.

I thought Vindman made an rebuttal of the "military utility" rationale for not sending the MiGs. Current sortie rates are scarcely a measure of need or utility, and the ability to employ the planes grows as the possibility of having a meaningful reserve emerges. Moreover, its quite likely that only an early plane transfer will be helpful, as bombardment will progressively degrade Ukrainian airfields.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I had the same reaction.

I know that Lawrence has an impressive background in government, but I agree that lecturing Vindman, who was on to share his expertise, didn't add much to the interview.

[femmedem]

5. +1. But it still gave Vindman a platform.

Thanks for posting (as always).