(07-08-2023, 12:00 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: I will put my cards on the table: If Ukraine wins this war and gets all of their territory back as claimed by Zelensky, I will concede that Russia an overrated "super" power and start looking forward to Putin's imminent death from the terminal cancer. I will concede that our media is more on the up and up than I realize, and that maybe I need to reconsider my doubts about the role our elites play in manipulating the general populace.

However, If Russia wins this, coming out with a favorable treaty... considering ALL the money we've sent to Ukraine.... considering ALL the intelligence we've given Ukraine... considering, now, the weapons we're giving Ukraine... will you mainstream media consumers admit you have been lied to about Russian capabilities and possibly bring yourselves to admit that our media lacks any integrity which results in you being ignorant to the happenings around you?

No one can predict the future with any certainty.  The media selects a set of facts and presents them to us, and then some of them venture an opinion, sometimes about what it all means, or what is going to happen next, but that's just an opinion.   There's a lot of money to be made by people trying to predict the future.  

But I will say this.  If the war ended today, with everyone frozen in place, that is a massive loss for the Russians, when you consider the cost.  I think it's already obvious that Russia is an overrated "superpower."  They spent a lot of money modernizing their military, and most of it seems to have gone into the pockets of people Putin thinks are his friends.  

Russian capabilities: there's a lot to unpack there.  You could write a book about that.  They could not defeat Ukraine.  A country with a tiny, antiquated air force.  A country right next to Russia.  And yes, we pumped a bunch of weapons in there, but still, this is Russia vs Ukraine.  Anyone can see at this point, Russia's military sucks.  

And I will also venture this opinion:  I think there's a good possibility that the United States has never wanted Ukraine to completely vanquish the Russians.  There's a good possibility that we have set up a situation where the Russians take massive losses in men and weapons, and financially, and that was what the administration actually wanted.  I don't think the administration actually wants Ukraine to take back Crimea.  It's too dangerous.

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