@TheSillyMastiff
I think this is the most aggressive and pro war these threads have been, and I've been here since thread 1.
As I sit here this evening, I can't help but feel a little lost in all this right now.
Do we really want to risk the chance of direct conflict with Russia? Do we want to see a RAF jet shot down, do we really want to see russian jets carpet bomb Europe?
No.
But do we really want to see the continued horrific assault on Ukraine, women, children and children killed, men dying daily to simply defend their country?
No.
It's such a moral dilemma isn't it, do you roll the dice and take the risk, do you gamble the security and lives of hundreds of millions.
There has never been such a high stakes poker game has there, do we call that bluff and hope we come out on top?
I for one am glad I am nowhere near the table on this game of cards.
I just feel lost.
Think about this:
Before the conflict started, how do you think the West thought this would play out in terms of lives lost/western security?
Then after about day 2/3 how do you think they recalculated it?
The West are well aware of how Russia has been in other places around the world in recent years. There's been talk that we've been in a proxy war with Russia for a number of years. Certainly I have followed a couple of people on twitter who have been saying this for a long, long, long time. Particularly with reference to Syria.
The article on the White Hats and the advice about hospitals was published BEFORE the attack today.
Many Western leaders (certainly Macron has said it explicitly) have said they feared the worst was still yet to come.
None of this is coming as a surprise to them. It is to the public though.
On day 14, theres been no shift. Its playing out as Western governments have thought it might since about Day 2/3.
I think the public waking up, is perhaps overdue. Without it, governments can't act anyway because there would be no support for it, and the whole thing would fall apart anyway.
In that sense, the West can't intervene until the public mood is heightened to a certain point of horror (not anywhere near that point yet btw folks) or there is a clear undeniable crossing of the line that can't just sort of disappear or be denied like the Skripal affair or people with an unfortunate pattern of falling out of windows (obviously pushed by those toddler or nonagenarian Russia Hit Men).
The same kind of goes for Russia too. They will tolerate a certain amount of covert shit and supplies as long as we don't push our luck too much AND they have their hands full. Its not in their interests to declare war on a point of principle if they aren't at a point where they are ready for it.
We are stuck in this sort of staleman for a while yet.