Re:US support to maintain UK's nuclear arsenal is in doubt
by roenxi on Saturday March 08, 2025 @09:16AM
(#43300429)
> Ukraine's incursion into Kursk does not realistically threaten the long-term integrity and security of Russia
The US is claiming 700,000+ Russian killed and wounded so far. Moscow obviously think something here is a threat to the long term integrity and security of Russia. That is serious commitment.
Unless the US is lying. I hope they are, to be honest. Mountains of skulls are fun in D&D but not in real wars.
Re:US support to maintain UK's nuclear arsenal is in doubt
by mannykannot on Saturday March 08, 2025 @09:28AM
(#43300506)
Neither the commitment nor the losses (and, for the sake of this issue, I'll take the US numbers as realistic) imply that Russia will lose Kursk indefinitely. Even if Ukraine could somehow hold on to it, I don't think it is realistic to think that any party would hold up a resolution of this conflict in an almost-certainly futile attempt to force Russia to cede any territory that it legitimately held prior to its incursions into Ukraine.
I share your feelings about the entirely avoidable horror of it all.
Maybe Putin's non-invocation (up to now) of the nuclear umbrella shows he is as eager as anyone to maintain it as the ultimate protection against existential threats. The US's sharp turn away from globalism is a gift to Putin, and, given that the US population is strongly divided over the changes the current administration is making, that might be threatened if Russia were to act more belligerently than it already is.
Personally, I'm more concerned over what will happen if and when the situation becomes one in which Trump realizes he's going to be seen as the president who 'lost' Taiwan.