With all the going on there is news, and important news other than Trump, GOP infighting, Biden’s age and the 2024 election. Ukraine has announced he complete withdrawal of forces from the key eastern town of Avdiivka just before dawn (over there) today after months of heavy fighting with Russian forces. Keep in mind that use of the word “months.” Because for months Ukraine has been fighting with one hand tied behind its back due to critical assistance that’s been held up. By REPUBLICANS. Too many GOPers either love their Trump/Putin or are too afraid of standing up to Trump. We’ve learned in recent weeks line units fighting in Ukraine have been rationing (in ever tightening amounts) artillery shells and even ammo! All because REPUBLICANS in Congress have held up aid.
You can read more about all this in this Newsweek article but the main thing is this:
General Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top military commander, who has been in command for a matter of days following the removal of his predecessor Valery Zaluzhny, said in a statement on Facebook: “Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense on more favorable lines.”
Think about this past week or so. Trump has issued orders to key Congress Critters to kill anything that might make Biden look good and they’ve been doing just that. Some in the Senate defied him and allowed a vote on an aid package for Ukraine and Israel, but half the GOPers (including Lyndsay Graham) opposed it. Schumer likely only got it passed by making sure the Israel part stayed in. Speaker Johnson, even before the final vote said it would be dead on arrival in the House. There are enough GOPers there to join with Democrats to pass it but it remains to be seen if the bill will come to the floor for a vote. European nations, NATO members have been trying to fill the gap but it’s not been enough. Or quick enough. The inaction, the REPUBLCAN opposition is having just the effect Putin has wanted and Trump does what Putin wants. Hell, he doesn’t have to be told!
I know people don’t want to hear or read about this. We have turned into an instant gratification culture with short attention spans. Many here in the U.S. including many Democrats are tired of having to think about Ukraine. Most don’t have a f**king clue how grinding this type of warfare is. Mention Ukraine and most people’s eyes glaze over. Even when quick, like we saw three decades ago with Desert Storm war is ugly. The kind of grinding, yards at a time trench warfare going on in Ukraine is as ugly as it gets. Americans don’t want to think about it. Ukrainians have no choice.
What’s infuriating is that as recently as a few months ago, despite the much ballyhooed counter-offensive began turning into the grind against formidable Russian defensive positions Ukraine was winning. Without American troops or troops from other NATO countries. Russia was back on its heels. But the effects of enough Republicans in the right spots in DC had forced DOD into fancy footwork to try and keep critical aid flowing. And the GOP led budget fights are the reason. Then things got to a point where Ukrainian needs were more than we could meet. As a result Russia got breathing room it desperately needed to reinforce its lines. And get organized to start going on the offense again.
Now we are seeing the effects.
The Republican, or perhaps we should say Russiapublican Party is doing Putin’s bidding these days. Either actively or via submission to the orders of Putin’s (still) puppet Donald Trump. Again, no U.S. or NATO countries have sent any troops to fight and die in Ukraine. Ukraine hasn’t once asked for them. From the start they’ve made it clear they’d do the fighting and dying, and that all they wanted from us and other free countries was the means to do so. Those things I mentioned earlier. The world is looking at US, the self-proclaimed leader of the free world. And we have been for seven decades. Until now. Due to Trump and his subservience to Putin. And to a Republican Party too afraid of him to do what they should do – the political equivalent of taking him out into the middle of the ocean and into a school of sharks and feed him into a political wood chipper aimed over the side of the boat.
So Ukrainian soldiers aren’t just dying, they are now losing ground. Because they also have run short on missiles they can’t properly operate their western provided defense systems and Putin’s war crimes of raining down long range missiles on their civilian populations not only continues but is now increasing!
Because Of REPUBLICANS!
In a key area Ukrainian defenders were surrounded on three sides and about to be cut off. With limited supply lines, a place Russia had targeted for months had to be abandoned by Urkainian forces. Now has a win, a key one to brag about to its people. You know who else is going to tout it? Congressional Republicans! Mark my words the talk will be how after two years we’ve “done enough” and after all we’ve done “Russia is winning again so why bother?”
So where does that leave things on the battle lines? From the linked article:
Mykola Bielieskov, military analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Ukraine, said: “Avdiivka is a very important strong point in the Ukrainian system of defense. Taking control of Avdiivka might create an opening for Russia.”
Because of the GOP’s actions Ukraine went from a position of having Russia being on its heels and being pushed back to now being the country on its heels and being pushed back. But I want anyone who’s done me the courtesy of reading this yet has thought “well, there’s only so much we can do” to think about the longer term. If Russia (and therefore Putin) isn’t soundly defeated they WILL go into an actual NATO country. Count on it. That means Aricle V will be invoked again, and this time WE will be coming to the aid of another nation and with troops. American boots on the ground and in the skies overhead. American blood.
And one least thought. While all this is going on and Republicans are pissing away our position of leadership and weakening western alliances China is lurking in the Pacific. They’ve been having issues of their own, and what the GOP has been up to has given THEM badly needed breathing room to regroup just as has happened with Russia.
No, I’m not sorry to be a downer on a Sat. evening. Folks need to think about this. To give thanks to Ukrainians fighting so that one day WE won’t have to. And to resolve to, if they haven’t been doing raise holy hell with Congress Critters to get this aid passed. And yes, that includes telling any Democrats who might object to a discharge petition due to lack of restrictions on the Israel part of the funding to STFU and deal with that problem later.
Traitors in every sense of the word. Should they enable fascism to take over our government, well…I’ll leave my response to your imagination. As Steppenwolf sang in Born To Be Wild…fire all your guns at once…explode into space.
And the Repugnican cowards have the brazen nerve to go on recess, rather than stay on the (highly paid) job of running our country and dealing with its global issues. They’re sitting at home, smug and safe, while their spinelesness means appalling losses to a key American ally in eastern Europe and a very real threat of future wars against NATO. Absolutely nauseating, every last member of the GOP.