Quote (Goomshill @ 26 Mar 2022 23:28)
Lmao this is some historic levels of backtracking. On one hand it undercuts Bidens entire messaging and presence as a leader during a crisis when his big star moment on his trip is a flub. But it also creates a rather unprecedented level of schizophrenic bluster from America at a crossroads in history. This was the moment for "Mr Gorbachev, Tear down that wall". Or "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". and we get "For gods sake, that man cannot remain power but actually we dont mean what we just said"
Theres being a gaffe machine and theres being so mentally incoherent that you start to jeopardize our national interests.
I unfortunately have to agree. Biden was clearly not intending to say the quiet part out loud, namely that the West would like to see regime change in Russia - Biden was just being a loose gun, as usual. Remember, this is the same guy who kept telling stories about children jumping on his lap or how he would drag Trump out and whoop his ass in some sort of backyard grandpa brawl. In moments like this, it becomes clear that no, the "adults in the room" are not in charge again since Biden took over - the "geriatric in the room" is, and everyone has to pray that he doesn't literally and proverbially shit the bed.
Quote (dro94 @ 26 Mar 2022 21:51)
I think Zelenskyy wants peace, but he knows if he concedes territory to Russia that it won't be popular with Ukrainians, even if it saves their lives. He could still be assassinated by Wagner Group or hit by a bunker buster bomb any day, even if Russia can't take Kyiv
Zelensky knows that peace talks will be coming sooner or later and he wants to enter the negotiations with the strongest hand possible. Already showing willigness to concede territory now would project weakness and strengthen the Russian negotiating position.
The other big factor is that Zelensky doesn't want to concede territory for a shaky peace treaty which doesn't provide him/Ukraine with any safety guarantees, like the Minsk agreements which Putin had just torn up a month ago. This point is particularly important because Ukraine will need massive investment from the West to be rebuilt - but no Western corporation will invest in Ukraine if there's a high risk that Russia bombs the country into the ground once again in 4, 6 or 8 years or so.
On the other side of the puzzle, we have Putin, who needs an official acknowledgement of Crimea and the People's Republics as the bare minimum to politically survive. After the death toll and the economic hardship Putin inflicted on his people, he cannot possibly come out of this war with less than that without getting axed.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 26 2022 06:19pm