Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[Machiavellian]

Mandalore76 said:

KiigelHeart said:

Putin also planned this invasion to be done and dusted in few days. I don't believe for a second he anticipated such strong economic sanctions and global companies cutting their ties to Russia. All their industry and even agriculture will struggle immensely. Remember it's only been a week, way too early to say international military force is the only counter.

I agree diplomacy won't work as long as Putin and his regime is in power. It's obvious he isn't to be trusted at all. I can somewhat understand why Europe and US try to avoid direct involvement with military force, even though it's painful to stand by and watch Ukraine burn. But at the same time, in Putin's mind we're already in war against him. If he takes Ukraine he won't stop there.

Hopefully Russian citizens and military will turn on him. I don't know if people around the world even realize how brainwashed they are by Putin's regime. That's why sanctions are important, things will have to really go south in Russia for people to start asking some serious questions. 

The unfortunate thing is, the Biden administration picks and chooses which things to sanction.  For example, Russia invaded the Ukraine 9 days ago, but the US has still not sanctioned the import of oil from Russia.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill on Thursday to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil, saying the shipments could be replaced by boosting output in North America and other places.

The bill would have to pass the Senate and House and be signed by President Joe Biden to become law, but the White House has indicated reluctance to support moves that could increase the price of gasoline at a time when inflation is already high.

"I don't believe this country should be importing anything from Russia," Jon Tester, a Democrat from oil-producing Montana who supports the Manchin-Murkowski bill, told reporters. "It will send even a bigger message that the United States is in this with Ukrainians for the long haul."

"We don't have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy... that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.

Pressure grows on Biden to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil

You're either all in on standing with the Ukraine as a nation and ally, or you're not.  Saying you support the Ukraine while continuing to buy oil from Russia isn't a good look.  Russia is the 2nd largest exporter of crude oil after Saudi Arabia.  You would think that would be the first thing to ban import of in order to cripple a country's war effort.  But nah, let's ban athletes and esports players from competitions first, because that will really hurt Russia's war effort.

I disagree with this.  The reason is with any punishment you need to leave things on the table and escalate as the issue continue.  Throwing everything all at once only put Putin in a corner without any option but to continue.  You need to give a person a way out or they go into "The hell with it " mode. The first thing is to show that the world is against this war, the next is to continue to add increasing pressure to stop the war and last is to give the crazy person a way out even if it allows them to save face.  Also lets be honest, right now the GOP is questioning everything he does and you then have TV celebrities like Tucker Carlson promoting we do nothing with his huge viewership.  The main issues is that most people have no clue on the big picture.  There is a lot to this story outside of just what is happening in Ukraine but also there is the chance this could spill over into outright world war which is not a course any of us want.  There will be no quick solutions to this event not within the next week, month or probably the next few years.