How Europe Was Pushed Towards Economic Suicide
With the active help from Europe's 'leadership' the U.S. is succeeding in ruining Europe.
As Michael Hudson, a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, wrote in early February, before Russia's intervention in Ukraine:
America no longer has the monetary power and seemingly chronic trade and balance-of-payments surplus that enabled it to draw up the world’s trade and investment rules in 1944-45. The threat to U.S. dominance is that China, Russia and Mackinder’s Eurasian World Island heartland are offering better trade and investment opportunities than are available from the United States with its increasingly desperate demand for sacrifices from its NATO and other allies.The most glaring example is the U.S. drive to block Germany from authorizing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to obtain Russian gas for the coming cold weather. Angela Merkel agreed with Donald Trump to spend $1 billion building a new LNG port to become more dependent on highly priced U.S. LNG. (The plan was cancelled after the U.S. and German elections changed both leaders.) But Germany has no other way of heating many of its houses and office buildings (or supplying its fertilizer companies) than with Russian gas.
The only way left for U.S. diplomats to block European purchases is to goad Russia into a military response and then claim that avenging this response outweighs any purely national economic interest. As hawkish Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained in a State Department press briefing on January 27: “If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” The problem is to create a suitably offensive incident and depict Russia as the aggressor.
In mid February OSCE observer noted that the artillery bombardment of Donbas by the Ukrainians increased from a handful to over 2,000 explosions per day. Russia reacted to these attack preparations by recognizing the Donbas republics, signing defense agreements with them and by finally coming to their help.
Shortly after the launch of the Russian military operation Professor Hudson further developed his earlier thoughts:
The recent prodding of Russia by expanding Ukrainian anti-Russian ethnic violence by Ukraine’s neo-Nazi post-2014 Maiden regime aims at forcing a showdown. It comes in response to the fear by U.S. interests that they are losing their economic and political hold on their NATO allies and other Dollar Area satellites as these countries have seen their major opportunities for gain to lie in increasing trade and investment with China and Russia.
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As President Biden explained, the current military escalation (“Prodding the Bear”) is not really about Ukraine. Biden promised at the outset that no U.S. troops would be involved. But he has been demanding for over a year that Germany prevent the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from supplying its industry and housing with low-priced gas and turn to the much higher-priced U.S. suppliers.
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[T]he most pressing U.S. strategic aim of NATO confrontation with Russia is soaring oil and gas prices. In addition to creating profits and stock-market gains for U.S. companies, higher energy prices will take much of the steam out of the German economy.
In early April Professor Hudson took another look at the situation:
It is now clear that the New Cold War was planned over a year ago, with serious strategy associated with America’s perceived to block Nord Stream 2 as part of its aim of barring Western Europe (“NATO”) from seeking prosperity by mutual trade and investment with China and Russia.
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So the Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions were shelled with increasing intensity, and when Russia still refrained from responding, plans reportedly were drawn up for a great showdown last February – a heavy Western Ukrainian attack organized by U.S. advisors and armed by NATO.
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European trade and investment prior to the War to Create Sanctions had promised a rising mutual prosperity among Germany, France and other NATO countries vis-à-vis Russia and China. Russia was providing abundant energy at a competitive price, and this energy supply was to make a quantum leap with Nord Stream 2. Europe was to earn the foreign exchange to pay for this rising import trade by a combination of exporting more industrial manufactures to Russia and capital investment in rebuilding the Russian economy, e.g. by German auto companies, aircraft and financial investment. This bilateral trade and investment is now stopped – for many, many years, given NATO’s confiscation of Russia’s foreign reserves kept in euros and British sterling.
The European response to the U.S. proxy war against Russia was based on media driven hysteric moralizing or maybe moralizing hysteria. It was and is neither rational nor realistic.
The European 'leadership' decided that nothing but the economic suicide of Europe was sufficient to show Russia that Brussels was seriously miffed. Dimwit national governments, including the German one, followed that program. Should they stay on their course the result will be a complete de-industrialization of western Europe.
In the words of one serious observer:
Today, we see that for purely political reasons, driven by their own ambitions, and under pressure from their US overlord, the European countries are imposing more sanctions on the oil and gas markets which will lead to more inflation. Instead of admitting their mistakes, they are looking for a guilty party elsewhere.
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One gets the impression that Western politicians and economists simply forget basic economic laws or just choose to ignore them.
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[S]aying no to Russian energy means that Europe will systemically and for the long term become the world’s most costly region for energy resources. Yes, prices will rise, and resources will go to counter these price hikes, but this will not change the situation significantly. Some analysts are saying that it will seriously or even irrevocably undermine the competitiveness of a significant portion of European industry, which is already losing ground to companies from other parts of the world. Now, these processes will certainly pick up pace. Clearly, the opportunities for economic activity, with its improvements, will leave Europe for other regions, as will Russia’s energy resources.This economic auto-da-fe… suicide is, of course, the internal affair of the European countries.
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Now our partners’ erratic actions – this is what they are – have resulted in a de facto growth in revenue in the Russian oil-and-gas sector in addition to the damage to the European economy.
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Understanding what steps the West will take in the near future, we must reach conclusions in advance and be proactive, turning the thoughtless chaotic steps of some of our partners to our advantage for the benefit of our country. Naturally, we should not hope for their endless mistakes. We should simply, practically proceed from current realities, as I said.Vladimir Putin, Meeting on oil industry development, May 17 2020, Kremlin, Moscow
Posted by b on May 18, 2022 at 14:01 UTC | Permalink
« previous page@ william gruff... thanks for your enlightening post!!!
@ et tu and scorpion... did you see this video i shared @ 298? i think these are lasers being used...
https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/14657745
use a translation page to read what is said on the video..
Posted by: james | May 19 2022 17:43 utc | 402
Posted by: William Gruff | May 19 2022 15:48 utc | 39
Russian troops are often identified by the letter "Z" on their vehicles or uniforms. We can thus call them the "Zees".Those setting themselves opposed to the Russians have gone so far as to shun and "cancel" the letter "Z" itself. We can thus refer to them as the "Not-Zees"
How did I not notice this before?
I feel very fortunate to be here and to be able to hear/catch stuff like this. People here are excellent!
Posted by: Seer | May 19 2022 18:09 utc | 403
@ seer... yes! but that was on the other thread, lol! the new thread!
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/ukraine-open-thread-2022-69.html#comments
Posted by: james | May 19 2022 18:19 utc | 404
@278 Scorpion - That Viktor Schauberger vortex water power information is quite interesting! Thank you!
And thanks to the other folks for the book and movie recommendations. Especially Amigo by the great John Sayles.
And of course, for all the collective info on 404.
Posted by: lex talionis | May 19 2022 18:28 utc | 405
It's so very sad how easy it is for the media to steer entire populations into doing eaxactly the opposite of what is in their interest. The media campaign that promoted Covid19 is identical to the anti-Russian campaign we see today. Edward Bernays is laughing in his grave.
And that's how Europe was pushed to suicide.
Posted by: the grand wazoo | May 19 2022 19:06 utc | 406
"You have to wonder why somebody didn't think of this before."
Posted by: Bemildred | May 19 2022 14:34 utc | 391
It helps that whether due to stupidity or conspiracy the West seems hell bent on the civilizational suicide b kicks today's discussion off with.
But it has happened before perhaps when the flower of Europe's upper class youth died in the far more merciless trenches of France. For them 1000 dead a day on the entire front would have been a picnic. In that case the international financial class coordinated on all sides, including the infamous boat and train caravan from Manhattan to Moscow which sent all Russia's gold back to their credit cartel syndicate and the beautiful but doomed Royal family to a sordidly conducted tribally motivated execution.
The point is: history shows us that the elites on both or more sides can cooperate and coordinate even whilst their lower classes choke in blood and gore following their entirely corrupt imperatives whilst skillfully getting the minions on both sides believing their cause is righteous.
@ scorpion
Please elaborate on speculation.
Thx.
Posted by: Forest | May 19 2022 16:01 utc | 400
Better not!
I think there are two types of speculation namely guessing at key networks or players in top down initiatives (or insisting no such factors apart from institutional inertia-stupidity are at play similar to mindless random genesis in Darwin's materialist theory of evolution) or stepping back to attempt to objectively gauge the overall trends and underlying character of any given nation or civilization.
So let me do neither and just offer a mundane observation :
Societies are groups. Groups require organizational systems (aka culture, traditions etc). Over time with any group small or large there is a cycke: birth growth decay death. And during that cycle between birth and death, climaxing perhaps in decay, there are always underminers, usurpurs, parasites, pirates and other profiteers who feed on the underlying collective, take over its leadership sectors and seem to cause its eventual collapse.
One could liken these elements which are present always in any given society to opportunistic pathogens. And here too there are two main sporiaches: pathogen as enemy to be repelled or destroyed, and immune system needing to remain vibrant enough to maintain equilibrium without having to depend on either (a little of each is fine but the pathogen will continue on its merry way notwithstanding).
I am of the second approach corrupt networks are inevitable. A healthy society channels the above average intelligence and drive of such elements within spurring them to greater creativity, productivity as well as granting them the status they desire. An unhealthy society succombs to being overwhelmed by them, becomes chronically ill and at some point must die before a new cycle can begin again.
I suspect the West has lately ended now irreversible decay phase with its rapacious elites in an orgy of sociopathic feeding frenzy no matter how surreal and unprincipled things get whilst Central and Eastern Eurasia are early in a rising cycle following China's and Russia's Great Reform periods following calamity in the 70s and 90s respectively.
For Europe to rise she must claim independence from US and the existing credit cartel system after which she can find ways to join Eurasia by adopting Russian and related federal models - no more EU.
For US to have a chance she needs to drop Empire, abolish credit cartels and Intelligence and rebuild constitution from ground up. First the old Republic needs to be officially disbanded. Best if happens peacefully but most like will involve plague famine and war, ie a painful death first.
And that's precisely what the Great Reset was aiming to do globally. Stopping that initiative is what's at the core of the current struggle, which is why Russia must be supported by all who are Pro-Humanity.
Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 16:40 utc | 402
Suffering as I do from latent sociopolitical schizophrenia, although part of me for years now is fully on board with Putins seemingly admirable geopolitical vision, part of me warns lest we all 'get fooled again.'
I am especially alarmed by the Reset elements such as Digital ID and govt issued Digimoney linked to mass social credit schemes and get the impression from scattered reportage that Canada, US, Mexico, Ukraine, Russia, India, China and others including most European states are deep into final development. It seems totalitarian to me aka 'techno fascist' and 'global.'
So I cannot quite jump fully on board and want to see which direction the great Eurasian liner is truly headed before doing so.
karlof1 @402
Yes, I've always been a big fan of Asimov's work. I've always felt that Asimov's "psychohistory" was a veiled reference to Marx's historical materialism with a thousand years of refinement and advances... veiled, of course, to avoid the McCarthyism and Red Scare hysteria of the period.
Agreed that neoliberalism has no ability to drive economic progress. It is just trying to survive at this point.
Posted by: William Gruff | May 19 2022 20:51 utc | 410
psychohistorian@302 - I'm honestly not universally negative on all this and I do believe things will get better - in a broad enough context over a long enough time span. I'm only opining on what I see as the immediate degenerate US/ZATO obsession to 'bleed Russia white'. Primary problem with that is that Russia is not really in a full war with Ukraine. A fractional Russian SMO logistic effort looks nothing like a fully-mobilized Russian logistic effort - they haven't gone that far... yet. It is ultimately, of course, an existential war for both Russia and China against US/ZATO. Yet all wars are logistics wars. US/ZATO will collectively soil our pants if/when Russia fully mobilizes. Worse yet, if China ever starts moving men and material in support of Russian efforts. See how that works? Probably never get there as there are too many other moving pieces, like b's observation of Europe's economic suicide. The US Ponzi-scheme economic freak show's shelf-life has long passed as well. Ukraine will cease to be of significance to US/ZATO for other reasons. Russia can wrap things up at that point.
But let's zoom out a little further. The two things that gives me solid conviction about things getting better on the planet:
1. People are using the term 'psychopath' and slowly recognizing their consistent manipulative technique of needing to demonize a greater external enemy with cringeworthy propaganda efforts (deflecting ire that should be aimed at the psychopaths, themselves). The cat is out of the bag on that one. The US and Europe are just a little slow on the uptake.
2. Oligarchs eating each other. U.S. sanctions against Russian oligarchs? Common Russians love this on some level because they hate their oligarchs, too. Russia (and eventually China) sanctioning U.S. and western oligarchs? Yes! Name them all. I dance with glee and shriek like a little girl at the possibility! Parasitic oligarchs are without exception psychopaths, add nothing to humanity and are eminently disposable.
I can't wait for a broader conviction by civilization to finally take out the trash. Maybe not in my lifetime, but humanity is definitely getting there.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 19 2022 21:59 utc | 411
Oil high price = Putin's fault
Gaz high price = Putin's fault
Wheat shortage = Putin's fault
Ukronazis = Putin's fault
Ukronazus killing civilians = Putin's fault
Next solar eclipse = Putin's fault
More than stupid western leaders = Putin's fault
Posted by: Olivier | May 19 2022 22:12 utc | 412
Posted by: Rob | May 19 2022 16:11 utc | 401
Even in this phrase that you quote from Scott Ritter, he includes the proviso "unless it is willing to expand the scope and scale..." In other words, he does not say that Russia cannot win the war, but rather that it can only win if it does what he recommends. I am not qualified to comment on the correctness of his view.
This is the same as with covid. Self designated "specialists" publish some out of mainstream media opinions and they attract a mass of followers disgusted by the main corporate and corrupt media. Direct way to celebrity. Easy. Raoult in France and several others of the same kind. Now with the SODD, we got another batch of "specialists", armchair generals who know nothing except what is published on different channels. They do not have access to the information the real generals have. So that their predictions - like the one above - have zero value.
I undestand that this SODD is generating much stress. But defeatism is not the way to care about that stress. It is enough to see that the ukronazis are panicking, that yankees called Shoigu and Gerasimov, that western leaders are asking for negotiations, that Italy is proposing a peace plan, and so on.
It is also enough to see what is happening on the field. Period. And it is enough to trust the real field generals.
Morality: to listen to people like Ritter or Lira is time waisting.
I very much pefer to read b.
Posted by: Olivier | May 19 2022 22:45 utc | 413
Posted by: c1ue | May 19 2022 14:54 utc | 396
Due to the Triffin paradox the US is forced to run a trade deficit with the ROW.
At the same time Biden sends billions of USD to Ukraine for a war of choice while Americans face a high rate of inflation likely to exacerbated by the Fed attempt to keep inflation in the low double digits, a policy choice likely to drive the US into severe recession resulting in significant job losses and a decline in tax receipts in all jurisdictions. If the purchasing power of the dollar is inflated away at 8 to 10 % a year (In seven years the value drops to $0) then countries holding US denominated reserves will ask not why America should be allowed to export its inflation - the real question the ROW will begin to ask is why are we supporting an agreement incapable global hegemon totally indifferent to any interests including its own?
Couple this with the growing US fear that China is going to eat America's lunch, dinner, and breakfast, out compete us, set the technical specifications for advanced technologies, and fail to purchase the goods and services that we refuse to sell to them and these policies will greatly increase the US trade deficit, not to mention the fact of China making significant investment that will result in the rapid obsolescence of the US technical portfolio, that taken together all these factors will result in further declines in the USD in trade, plus the liquidation of USD holdings in favour of more stable currencies issued by less morally bankrupt states backing their currencies with unprintable commodities (the Poszar thesis).
This exposition makes no reference to the declining standard of living to be encountered in the US, the general insanity of government policies in all jurisdictions (these negative effects could easily be avoided through increased hiring of black transvestite lesbians but this will never occur due to deplorable white rage and the associated racist burden imposed upon the country by the AZOV symbols we applaud and defend). Also not mentioned is the unending west coast heat wave which will likely burn the Sierras, kill old people, scare off tourists, reduce food output, increase the electrical demand on the antediluvian grid compounded by a reduction in electricity production due low water levels and increased electrical usage as hot citizens crank up the a/c while waiting for their house to be repossessed by the cold hearted bank.
If you had an academic leaning you could call this mess of potage the "cultural contradictions of capitalism" and blame conspiratorial Putin and inscrutable Xi; the other option is to simply apply a practical description such as FUBAR and thank the gods we killed the French UK US sub deal because that would be FUKUS and nobody has the least interest in reality, organic farming, or what happens when the indispensable nation turns disposable.
And if you are upset by the lack of paragraphs in this comment, please understand paragraph breaks are expensive and this body of text serves to answer your query about the future. I do not know when the system finally breaks only that something that cannot go on forever usually doesn't at which point all the above will impact synchronistically (read it through out loud as fast as you are able and you will get a sense of the impact). I'm glad to learn you cook your own food; when you start to hunt for it as well let me know and I can provide a few tips. I'm confident ol' Joe Biden has a plan.
Posted by: Sushi | May 20 2022 5:07 utc | 414
To: PavewayIV,
Russia is allowing all Ukrainians who to go back to the West. It is possible that, at some point people in the west will make their way east, as the Donbass region become free.
You can put blackwater, Polish , USA and all others in the West Ukraine and then missiles from hell is going to reign down on kviv and Lvov. People seem to have no idea of the actual firepower of Russia.
Russia would be stupid to take control of West Ukraine, for they would be obligated to build it back. That is the west's obligation, but since the have never built back any country they have destroyed. Good luck with that!
( et TU) above says that Russia is okay with Finland and Sweden joining NATO. He is insinuating that Russia is somehow backing down. What he has not read or is hiding is that Russia says if they put NATO troops or nuclear weapons on their lands, there will be an immediate response.
I take that to mean the same type of missiles mentioned above, will reign down on them. In otherwords, join who you want but when it is a threat to us, accept the consequences much like Ukraine is doing.
RHS goes much deeper in comments below.
#---Posted by: Merkin Scot | May 18 2022 14:08 utc | 2
that with their masks compliantly tied on.
I would rather say conveniently, but then I'm a troll in these matters.
Posted by: Anne B | May 20 2022 6:27 utc | 416
Posted by: c1ue | May 18 2022 15:58 utc | 56
Also, gasoline is taxed, while hydrogen and electric is subsidized.
If tomorrow everybody drives electric or hydrogen, there is no money to pay the subsidies.
An current-day example of this is Norway: the country exports petrol and gas abroad, and subsidizes electric vehicles domestically.
Posted by: Passerby | May 20 2022 9:57 utc | 417
@ Sushi | May 20 2022 5:07 utc | 416
Really, this comment of yours is too good to be stranded on a dying thread. Save it and recycle it sometime.
Posted by: malenkov | May 20 2022 13:11 utc | 418
@Sushi #416
Several misconceptions you have:
1) The so-called "Triffin paradox" is literally nothing more than junk economist "US-splaining".
2) 8% to 10% declines a year for 10 years does not end with 0.
Even 10% declines a year for 10 years end up with 62% overall drop. However, the US hasn't had even a drop greater than 3.5% for at least 100 years (2020 was a 3.49% drop).
China didn't catch up to the US GDP because US GDP fell; China caught up because it averaged over 11% GDP growth for 25 years.
The reality is that the US is most likely to have 0 to 2% absolute growth for the foreseeable future. This is effective -0.6% to 1.4% growth since the population is increasing.
The rest of your response is clearly based more on fantasy and/or China propaganda than reality.
Note China's growth has slowed as their GDP increases such that they're only targeting 6% growth a year now, and China at purchasing power parity to the US in GDP means the average Chinese is still 25% income vs. the average American - i.e. significantly poorer.
Posted by: c1ue | May 20 2022 14:51 utc | 419
@Passerby #419
Gasoline taxes, at least in the US, go towards maintenance of the road network. Hard to see how they will not transfer to EV and hydrogen should these types of vehicles ever gain significant presence.
Note EV presence on the roads is still way under 1%, but there are already state tax schemes to impose the "gas tax" equivalent onto EVs...
As such, I don't see your response as being material.
Posted by: c1ue | May 20 2022 14:54 utc | 420
Posted by: c1ue | May 20 2022 14:51 utc | 421
While it is true that "8% to 10% declines a year for 10 years does not end with 0," it is also true that the system under which this operates isn't going to wait to collapse at ZERO. Tipping point. It happens slowly and then all at once...
A system that ONLY knows growth and is NOT programmed/conditioned for long-term growth-destruction (negative growth) isn't something that I'd wager on being able to be self-correcting. I don't see hitting 38% (reduction by 62%) as survivable in our "economies of scale" environment. That all is so heavily leveraged means that it's more than just a simple exponential (Law of 72) that is governing things. Derivatives (of derivatives, of derivatives...) is, as ultra-pretend-capitalist Warren Buffett claimed, a financial nuclear bomb waiting to go off: the US has managed to keep the fuse wet, but when all is residing in HELL it's only a matter until all becomes dry enough to launch all into the abyss.
So, we hit zero before we hit zero. Make sense? :-)
Posted by: Seer | May 20 2022 17:55 utc | 421
laguerre
Who's going to bankroll your beloved EU with the "deindustrialisation" of Germany?
Posted by: Glasshopper | May 20 2022 19:49 utc | 422
The Ukrainian flag may be upside down but the Flag of the United States appears to be the FEDERAL flag, the red, white , blue stars and bars without the GOLD fringe. I think the gold fringed flag represents MARITIME LAW not Consitutional Law. Are the three stooges begining to realize they have committed Treason and want to make up for it? To late to slip out of a trial for beleiving Henry Kissassinger, do the crime, do the time.
Posted by: Stritchplatte | May 24 2022 16:17 utc | 423
Not only Europe.
The US sanction regime threatens the whole world. Everyone is being made to pay the price for Biden's War.
They are not on side, and rebellion can only get stronger.
Europe is not the half of it.
Posted by: Mark Thomason | May 27 2022 23:52 utc | 424
The comments to this entry are closed.
I'll continue to support Russia's/Putin's initial aims as being: 1) Demilitarize Ukraine; 2) De-natzify Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military is essentially at the breaking point. If one watches Dreizen's (sp?) vid from the other day there's some great history on how Azov and such military elements/influences were formed and why they have been essential to a workable Ukrainian military force. With Mariupol neutralized that means the bulwark of Azov's forces have been neutralized. Azov was the glue that held the Ukes military forces together. The unraveling will accelerate to the tipping point of a sudden ceasefire, after which all Ukrainian military forces will be processed.
The US/West/NATO can funnel more weapons but on-the-whole they cannot appear in sufficient enough sizes to escape pre-deployment destruction by the RF. As long as the US/West/NATO isn't staging from Poland, that they're not actually firing weapons from there, I cannot see how Russia's command over the Ukrainian airspace control can be neutralized (most certainly not in the east, and, most likely not in the west). IF the US/West/NATO wish to push for strikes from Poland then that's outright war with NATO and the nuke option comes into play. Do they feel that lucky? AND, China most certainly will step up if Russia is starting to take too much heat. There's really no way that Russia is going to be beat. Fighting from lands of peoples that support you (Donbass) and allow ready transport of supplies isn't matched by the US/West/NATO (yes, Poland, but how much is Poland going to support things if their country starts getting hit by Russia? folks in the Donbass are already hardened and have the Great Patriotic War mentality as their basis).
Where Russia stops is a question that I see little value in asking. IF its main objective have been met then I see little reason for it to push wholly into Western Ukraine. Pushing up against the boarders of Poland? Battles among less Russian-supportive people (in the west)? Disarm (via missile strikes) and let them sort it out, with the "understanding" (threat) that missiles will be kept in reserve.
Again, pushing up to Poland's borders does nothing but put the Russian's closer to a [an open- an action that garners sufficient public support] clash with NATO.
The economic element of this war is yet to be fully embarked on (Russia has yet to fully engage it). Energy toward this effort will make far more sense than trying to mollify/tame western Ukraine (which will, by the end of the primary campaign/operation, have zilch for power and have no real way to reconstitute- even if it were to reconstitute one would have to ask where troops would come from? most of the younger people will likely evacuate knowing that it's all pretty much a total collapse).
There will always be a line of friction. Where would such a line be located that would serve Russia the best? (relative to the immediate geographical region!)
I'll give a nod to this post:
Posted by: Scorpion | May 19 2022 13:26 utc | 389
Posted by: Seer | May 19 2022 17:38 utc | 401